TIM (Thermal Interface Material)

[Ether]

Over the past several years, I've become a magnet for computers that people no longer want.

I was recently given an 11-year-old old HP desktop machine that was no longer being used because it didn't work.

Following my normal process, the first thing I did was to boot a Memtest86+ live CD and let it run.

I got a variety of errors and strange behaviors, including lock-ups and stack dumps. This plus the high speed of the CPU fan led me to suspect a thermal problem.

Testing revealed the processor was hitting 70C just idling in BIOS setup, even after blowing the dust out.

I pulled the heat sink, cleaned off the old TIM, and reassembled with some good quality silver-based TIM. The CPU temperature dropped from 70C to 49C. Subsequent Memtest86+ testing over a period of 2 hours resulted in no errors, and the CPU fan never kicked out of idle.

This will make a good Linux machine for someone in need.


Does anyone else have a story to share?