Latitude E6430 running hot (55C idle, 100C Prime95)

So I picked up an E6430 with a decent i7 (3720QM) and made a few upgrades (16GB RAM, SSD, replaced optical drive with hd caddy.) However, I've discovered that this thing runs freaking hot. I'm seeing idle temps at 50C - 60C, and if I put it under load with Prime95 I saw a max temp of 101C. Now Tjunction for this CPU is 105C, so it's probably not throttling, but that still seems awfully hot.

Any suggestions on what to check? I've opened the bottom while doing the upgrades, and it looked pretty clean - no dust bunnies visible. Two thoughts occur to me - maybe a bad heat pipe, or maybe it just needs a re-paste.

 

Idle temps don't mean anything.

The Latitude CPU heatpipe is 6mm for dual cores and 8mm for quad cores. If you had a dual core and reused your heatsink then you have a weaker heatsink. The for the E6530 at least there was also a stronger fan, but this may only be present in the dGPU version of the heatsink.

 

The E6430 came with the quad pre-installed. That doesn't preclude the possibility that the seller upgraded the CPU and not the cooling.

Is 100C excessive for this laptop, or par for the course? It does have a dGPU, though it's the fairly anemic NVS 5200M. Good enough to play Skyrim, though.

I'll try to measure the heat pipe when I get home from work. I don't really have anything fine enough to measure a 2mm difference with.

Random thought: I'll check the Dell service code and see if it shipped with a quad. If it did, it probably has the right cooling solution.

EDIT: It shipped from the factory with an i7-3720QM, so it *should* have the proper heatpipe.

 

The E6430 was produced in 2012/2013. Thermal Paste can deteriorate much in 5 to 6 years.

I just happened to apply new thermal paste on the CPU of my Precision M4800. The Laptop is a "Late 2013" model, produced in December 2013. The Thermal paste I found wasn't only almost completely dried up, they additionally applied too much. A lot had squeezed out.

So yes, having deteriorated thermal paste and a too thick layer can both jump temperatures.