i'm now more confident in my assessment that it is heat related
Pre applied thermal paste wasn't common 20+ years ago, at least in my experience.
Ranak thermal paste is a dead easy thing to check for anyone with PC building experience. Clean the old paste off with isopropyl alcohol and apply new paste. If you want to get fancy, you can pick up this:
Amazon product ASIN B001JYQ9TM
My bottles have lasted me over 10 years.
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