Strange sudden temperature problem

[AganLex]

I just recently started having system stability issues so I checked my system temperatures and noticed my cpu was running at 72 C while idling. When the system was new (like maybe 1.5 years ago) it topped out at around 50 C.

I was looking at speedfan numbers and noticed the voltages seem kinda low, could that cause temperature increases? Any other ideas what could be causing this?

CPU: AMD AthlonXP 2400
Motherboard: MSI NForce1 K7N420 Pro
PS: Antec 330W
Cooler: Large copper/aluminum heatsink + 3" fan. The larger than normal fan came with the heatsink, it has always run at 3000 rpm (and still does). It was expensive at the time, I forget the name of it right now.

Voltages:
VCOREA: 1.65V
VCOREB: 1.70V
+3.3V: 2.91V
+5V: 4.70V
+12V: 11.67V
-12V: -12.03V
-5V: -5.20V
+5VSB: 4.76V
VBAT: 3.10V

 

[The[H]uman]

what kind of thermal paste did you use when you built the machine or did you use the TIM that could be the problem take off the HSF clean it really good blow the dust out etc and also re-apply new thermal paste that should help out alot

 

[AganLex]

I used artic silver, but yeah maybe it dried out or something. Ill try that.

 

[AganLex]

Yeah the problem was the artic silver. It sort of turned brownish and caked, it was no longer insulating the surface properly. So I replaced it with some old generic stuff that came free with a CPU I ordered months ago. It's still hot, at max load its 65 C (instead of crashing) but I guess it'l have to do..