most people just never understand the amount of "hidden" dust in heatsink fins.
glad you got it sorted out now and its a good idea to remove the heat sink completely at least once after 2-3 years and replace the thermal paste on them since most factory paste isn't as good as what you can buy yourself.
also, the film of dust you see on fan blades can easily add 2-3 degrees running temps to it in lost airflow due to turbulence caused by the rough blade surface
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