First time using a liquid cooler, need help!

[nishant56]

I built my PC in May of 2013, it's running an i7 3770K, 8 gigs of RAM, a GTX 670 all on a Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H. I had been using the stock Intel cooler for a while until I noticed the CPU would hit 100 degrees © just while playing Battlefield 4. So I recently installed a Corsair H55 because I didn't mean to overclock and nor did I want to spend too much. I simply wanted an AIO unit that would keep it cool, look neat and stay operational for a long time. While installing I placed the waterblock in a wrong manner, so I had to lift it again. When I lifted it off the CPU I noticed the pre-applied thermal paste had stuck onto the CPU (only a little) and I thought if I put it back correctly without messing up it wouldn't make a difference. So I went ahead with it and after installing it was much better. It would run 25 degrees or so on idle and hit 45 while playing games (haven't tested on full 100% load). A month or so after installing I noticed that it now runs at almost 35 degrees on idle and would even sometimes hit 60 while playing games. Why the sudden hike in temperatures? I wrote of the thermal paste incident since it was the only thing that went wrong (mildly) while installing. Is there any reason for the sudden hike? Yes, I do know 35 degrees on idle is still very 'dandy' but my inner OCD wants it to stay between 20 and 25 degrees on idle.

Would re-seating the cooler with new thermal paste help? I plan on doing it anyway.. 

All help is appreciated! Thank you!

 

 

[scaryjam823]

Did the room temps change (due to weather etc.)? That would explain it.

[nishant56]

Nah, in fact I installed it in Spring (not sure what season September comes under in India) and when I saw the hike it was winter. Haha So temperatures must've fallen here.

[AlwaysFSX]

Dust in the radiator? You should change your thermal paste every 6 months or so too, just to keep it fresh and temps low.

[nishant56]

Well my case gets quite dusty, but that's because India's arid and dry. But I clean it up every few weeks. Haven't cleaned the radiator though.. So I just take a cloth and brush it?