940XM Downclocking, Overheating - HELP!

My 940XM is getting into the 90s while doing absolutely nothing and clocking down to 980mhz... Yesterday it was sustaining 3.55Ghz with absolutely no problems whatsoever. My CPU fan's RPM is around 3700 constantly. What could the issue possibly be? I did repaste my CPU around four days ago, but I've done it about 3 times previously, and it was absolutely fine before tonight. I used high-end Noctua TIM and everything. I also wanted to mention that my laptop is elevated onto one of those USB docks with fans build in. They blow fresh air right into the CPU fan that expels hot air from the radiator straight out the back, as I'm sure many of you know.

 

Bump.............

 

Maybe something got in the vent? Or a heatpipe has been damaged?

You can test heatpipes by removing the heatsink and submersing one end into hot water and see if it transmits the heat.

 

have you tried repasting and reseating your CPU heatsink? Sounds like it might have come loose or something if your getting temps like that.

Edit: Meaker beat me to the punch

 

One of the screws not being tightened could cause it to come away and create a gap causing those temps too I suppose.

 

Ya I'll try opening it up to check that, as much as i don't want to >.< I screwed the things in as tight as they'll go in a cross pattern per usual. I'd be surprised if the heat sink could have gotten loose. Also - if my CPU is at 90 something degrees C, is it normal for the fan to be at 3700 RPM? I just want to check in case the fan is on its way out.

 

Fixed the problem. Somehow the last paste I did came out really poorly and didn't cover the entire center of the CPU die. Redid it with care and temps went down very dramatically.

 

I'm glad that you fixed it already. Here is an article about this specific type of issue.

 

I had the same problem, I did it plenty times with different pastes and no go. No matter how good it covered.
When i just tested DIAMOND for the first time, i could pretty much apply two close strips (after heating it with warm water to make it easier to apply)
and mount it with good results, making the pressure and heat during running do the spreading. Like they do on the 7970M mounting video.
Did want to try this before I was going to test a full cover of the CPU since the DIAMOND is quite hard at lower temperatures.

If I overclock my 940 CPU now I can pretty much go 5% in BIOS plus 27 X clock in Throttlestop and it will stop at apx 85 deg at absoulute max temp when running 3Dmark 11 or Vantage.
If i go above 27 my computer pretty much bluescreens on me before i get any temperature so i cant test it further. (I can do 28X if I dont overclock bios and apx same result) Perhaps i can tune my Throttlestop better but this is what i get from my limited knowledge. More wanting to describe the cooling part of it. Showing easily above 72Watts in HWinfo64.