My CPU's started overheating, oh dear!

[Pancrack]

I've had my pc without changing any hardware for about 2 years and it has always been pretty reliable and stable.
Recently though I started to get occasional lockups and crashes.

I took the cover off and the CPU heatsink felt very warm, when I looked in the bios it said cpu temperature was 72 degrees C. Normally it runs at about 55ish.

Although the processor only has a basic heatsink fitted, Its run nicely for a couple of years so why should it start to overheat now?
Also, it's not overheating all the time, sometimes it runs ok for hours and hours.

Any ideas please?

[Strawbs]

Welcome to SysOpt Pancrack .

it could be something to do with your thermal paste drying out and outdoor temps rising, or it could be something as simple as dust in the heatsink blades or the ventilation holes on your case.

have a good clean up inside your case before you start taking your fan/heatsink/cpu apart. :t

Just out of curiosity, what system are u running there?

[Kurylo]

I think you should apply a new thermal paste.

[Pancrack]

I've just ordered a new heatsink and fan and case fan so I will be putting new thermal paste in when I fit them.

My system is a 1gig thunderbird on an Abit KT7a mobo.

[TARP2]

You are doing the right thing. I think the CPU fan is failing.