Reply 40 of 76, by KCompRoom2000
Although it's not my "gaming machine", here's something mildly stupid that I've done recently:
Yesterday, I received a Core 2 Duo E6600 CPU in the mail, so I installed it into my WIP Dell Optiplex 745 re-build, and applied a fresh thing of Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.
Today, I've decided to investigate the inside of the machine to figure out where the thermal sensor is supposed to go, and here's the (admittedly mildly) stupid part: Being under the impression that the thermal sensor connector could be underneath the CPU, I lifted up the heatsink and separated the newly-applied coat of thermal paste, making it not so new anymore!
Does this sound like a bad thing to you? I did let the machine power up for a few minutes after I put the heatsink back on, so hopefully that re-established the thermal paste's contact with the heatsink and the CPU. After all, I've done things like this before and I'm pretty sure everything was back to normal once I put the heatsink back on. Just how time-sensitive is thermal paste? 😕