My 2012 mini is running mid to high 80C idling or working. Is it time for a paste change?

At first I glanced over the activity monitor, as you suggested, but I guess my mind was set on something else because I didn’t notice it until a few days later. I did a lot of Googling and to make a long story short, someone somewhere mentioned a thing called “AddressBookSourceSync” that was utilizing most of his CPU. I went back to activity monitor and sure as heck, this was using 97% of my CPU. I had to check around to find out how to quit this “activity”. There are various ways of doing so. Some are sort of complicated but I found a fairly simple way of doing it. Go to System Preferences>Internet Accounts>and uncheck Contacts. This did the trick but someone stated that this is only a temporary fix so I am holding my breath. So far it’s been great. See below screenshots. 

I want to thank everyone for helping me out with this. Thanks to you guys I can forget about repasting.  One last question though - since you also are using MacsFanControl, after start up why does it take so long to stabilize? Mine jumps all over and doesn’t settle on the chosen preset for around an hour or so.

Thanks for the quick response. I am using Mac Fan Control to monitor and set fan speed.

The above screenshot was taken while no apps or programs were being used, other than the monitoring ones shown in the tool bar. According to apple and intel, these temps are fine but I'm still concerned. My research states that either I should leave it alone or change paste. My concern is that will these temps be damaging in the long run. I purchased my mini in Jan of 2014 so it has basically been running for 7 years. I'm hoping it will last another 5 or so. I'm only using it for internet research and doing spreadsheets.

Nice. Tomorrow is our day with the grand kids. My daughter is being selfish with them due to this covid thing.

Anyway, this is the way my fan control has been set for quite some time. Sometimes I'll change it to "full blast" and within a couple of minutes all the temps drop by about 10 - 15 degrees C. I can increase the fan speed to 2500 with no change in temps.

I was a little confused that the mini's housing is pretty cool but the inside sensors are telling another story. Then I put my hand near the mini's exhaust vent in the back and the air coming out is real hot so obviously the sensors are correct.

I googled around and concluded that the CPU proximity sensor is the one to monitor but it is always around 20 degrees C lower than the others and that is worring to me. I am planning on changing the paste but it's not something that I am looking forward to do but I see no other alternative.

woodmeister50, thanks for your input. I have been cleaning (blowing out) my mini every couple of years os so. The last time was about two weeks ago and there was only a little fuzz around the input above the wifi antenna. I have been playing around with fan speeds for about a week now. Naturally at full blast the temperatures are at their lowest - low to mid 70C. I wouldn't want to keep the fan always set to 5500 rpm. I think I will let it run a couple of days at it's current setting which is a constant 3200 rpm. CPU average is around 78 and CPU proximity is 57. I don't think they will increase much under load since the load is pretty small.

I replaced the fan about a year ago and this one is pretty quiet. My hearing has also decayed a little over the last year but my wife hasn't mentioned it. Hopefully she won't hear it at 3200 rpm either. Changing thermal paste is still up in the air.

I'll let you know what happens after running at 3200 or if I make another change.

OK. This is getting weird. I have the fan speed set at a constant 2500 rpm. With all apps closed and the monitor off, the CPU average temp is in the high 80C. With the monitor on and apps open, and as I write this the temp has dropped to 53C. It seems that the more use it gets, the cooler it gets. Any ideas? Thanks for your support.