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November 8th, 2017 02:00
Dell XPS 420 running hot (??) after Power supply replacement
I replaced a busted power supply in my old XPS 420 (with a MasterCool MasterLite 600). Everything has seemingly gone wonderfully. However, during the replacement I had to remove the heat sink from the CPU to get to the cables. I've never really installed heat sinks before so I got some thermal paste a put a dot tried to put the heat sink back on and it didn't fall into place. When I removed the heat sink I noticed the paste hadn't covered all the CPU so I added a bit more to make sure. Then was successful the next time putting everything into place.
I'm really concerned I might have not done it correctly so I installed speedfan to check temperatures. For the CPU I'm getting temperatures of 80degC (just posting this post). Which seems high, but I remember checking speedfan a while back and have a faint recollection of the temperatures also seeming high before. Also the GPU is at a similar temperature and I didn't touch that.
I'm just wondering should I pull the heat sink off and do the thermal paste again or is this a non-issue and these computers just run that hot normally?
fireberd
9 Legend
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33.4K Posts
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November 8th, 2017 06:00
I would redo the heatsink application, with Arctic Silver thermal compound. Fully clean off the old thermal compound from both the top of the CPU and the bottom of the heat sink.
Here is the link to the Dell manual
downloads.dell.com/.../xps-420_owner's manual_en-us.pdf
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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November 8th, 2017 15:00
Is the new PSU generating more heat than the old one?
After you re-do the thermal paste and reassemble everything, reboot and immediately press F12. Look for the option to run the Diagnostics and run the CPU fan tests to make sure it's working correctly.
EDIT: Unless SpeedFan has had a major update since the version I'm using, I don't think it can measure CPU temps in Dell PCs, only GPU and HDD temps...
bp2000
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November 8th, 2017 22:00
I heard people recommending arctic silver. I might give it a try. I redid the compound with the same stuff and checked the temps with realtemp instead of speedfan. I think I was reading the wrong numbers as realtemp for the 4 cores was reading around 55degC. Still not with any real strain on the CPU processing. The room was probably around 28degC.
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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November 9th, 2017 10:00
55ºC doesn't sound all that hot for a CPU, but use the Arctic Silver and see if it makes any difference.
Did you test the CPU fan using the diagnostics on the F12 menu?
BTW: You can always check Intel's site for a data sheet for whatever CPU you have. They usually list the safe operating temp range, so you can see if 55ºC is within the right range...