Thermal Paste Renewal

[Alias218]

My computer has recently (last 7 days) been rebooting randomly while playing games, no blue screen just a clean reboot.

What could be causing this? My friend suggests overheating, perhaps due to degraded thermal paste - my computer is 5 years old (at least the CPU is) so is this plausible? If not, what else?

TIA.

[SS2.]

It's plausible.

An easy first step is to get rid of the dust which is likely to have accumulated in the case.

It's an obvious one, but it's also worth checking operation of the fan(s).

[xeny]

My suspicion would be a tired PSU, but check temperatures first, especially as it is easy.

[Alias218]

Thanks for the replies all.

Current spec is:

CPU: i5-4670K @3.5Ghz (not OC’d)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX1080
PSU: Seasonic 650W 80+ Gold

PSU and GPU changed last July.

I’ve had a look for temp monitoring software but I’m reluctant to download any as it’s unvetted. I’ve read bad things about CoreTemp for instance. I’m loathe to download anything I don’t trust.

[Hawkers]

Alias218 said:

Thanks for the replies all.

Current spec is:

CPU: i5-4670K @3.5Ghz (not OC’d)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX1080
PSU: Seasonic 650W 80+ Gold

PSU and GPU changed last July.

I’ve had a look for temp monitoring software but I’m reluctant to download any as it’s unvetted. I’ve read bad things about CoreTemp for instance. I’m loathe to download anything I don’t trust.

MSI Afterburner/SpeedFan/HWiNFO are all decent.

[Haltamer]

I'd second MSI Afterburner.

Quickly popping off the side panel should give you an idea of the state inside; If the heatsink is wedged with dust and if the fans are still spinning.

Personally, I've not experienced a degradation of thermal paste so severe it has lead to thermal shutdowns, however, combined with dust I'd certainly see it as a possibility.

[Alias218]

OK, thanks guys. I’ll give the MSI afterburner a shot seeing as it’s at least MSI affiliated. The internals should be fairly clean as I gave it a good clean out when I changed the GPU and PSU, although that was 8 months ago.

All fans are spinning FYI, gave it a check earlier.

[Haltamer]

One other thought; Assuming you're using windows, have you got any errors logged in event viewer (Kernel Power?)

[Alias218]

I’ve not checked the event viewer yet, will do so tomorrow along with the points raised above.

I’ll be most disappointed if the PSU is to blame.

Thanks for all your help, it’s much appreciated.

[deckster]

All of the above really - starting with giving the case a good clean out. It's amazing how much dust can accumulate in your heatsinks.

I would be stunned if your thermal paste was causing much of an issue - a dodgy or slightly unseated memory stick is much more likely to cause random crashes in my experience.

[Monty Python]

If it was the CPU temperature problem I'd have expected it to throttle down rather than restart - more likely to be a driver issue or something similar.

[maffski]

Have you checked the motherboard capacitors for bulges/leaks?

[captain_cynic]

SS2. said:

It's plausible.

An easy first step is to get rid of the dust which is likely to have accumulated in the case.

It's an obvious one, but it's also worth checking operation of the fan(s).

This. Dust can easily add 10° to the components.

I'd say the fan would be failing to cool the CPU before the thermal paste... But if you're replacing the CPU fan, you should replace the thermal paste as well.

But before doing that, I'd check to see what is overheating, It could be another component (GPU, I've even had a southbridge overheat on me... though that was 10 years ago). As others have suggested, MSI afterburner, also HWMON by the same people who wrote CPUID.

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

However first things first, get the dust out of that case.

[Alias218]

I installed Afterburner earlier to see how things look as they stand, and tbh things looked OK. In-game temps reached 55c CPU side and 65c GPU.

The game in question, War Thunder, has recently had an update which tally’s with the start of the reboots and I wonder if it’s an instability in the game.

When I get a bit of time later this week I’ll take a good look at the circuit boards and look for damage, and give it a good clean out.

[deckster]

Alias218 said:

The game in question, War Thunder, has recently had an update which tally’s with the start of the reboots and I wonder if it’s an instability in the game.

That changes everything. You said 'games' and neglected to mention that was actually 'game, which was fine before it had an update'

Reinstall graphics drivers, reinstall game. Check forums for said game to see if anybody else has the same issues. Run other games, see if they crash as well.

Do all the easy obvious stuff before you go anywhere near the hardware.

[Alias218]

Sorry, that’s my bad! It suddenly occurred to me that it’s only really happened while playing this one particular game.

I’ll have to get some hours on some other intensive games and see what’s what. KSP ought to do the trick.