Bit concerned about temps.

[Deleted member 205776]

Here I am. AGAIN. Worrying about temps instead of enjoying my build. Only built this a year ago and I'm still paranoid.

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I have a Ryzen 9 3900X, stock operation with no PBO. I recently bought a NH-U12A to replace my NH-D15S (based on Noctua's NSPR rating). The D15S was too big for me to maneuver my hands inside my case, and I have to say I am very satisfied with how the U12A cooler looks and sounds. Very silent at 1350 rpm on both fans. Can actually move my hands around in the case now.

However, I'm a bit concerned about my temps. I get around 82-84C in Prime95 Small FFT with AVX disabled. I get around 85-87C in AIDA64. And in Cinebench, 76-78C. All of these after 5 minutes. Gaming temps are around 65C in GTA 5, 63C in PUBG.

I applied NT-H2 on the CPU using the 5 dots method described in their video. 4 small dots in the corners and a bigger dot in the middle. Tightened the screws until they wouldn't turn anymore, did 4 turns on each screw then went to the other screw, and repeat.

I have a be quiet! Pure Base 500DX case with three Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM fans running at 900 RPM, 2x front intake 1x rear exhaust. No top fans, top is closed.

Should I be concerned or is this normal behavior? Thanks.

 

[thesmokingman]

Your temps might be considered a lil higher than most but I wouldn't call it terrible.

 

[Deleted member 205776]

Well, going by this, it seems the 3900X is just naturally a hot boy:

I have my fan curves set a little bit more relaxed for added silence. So far this cooler is performing better than the D15S which apparently had a bad thermal paste application (two of the corners werent even covered), and because of that I did the 5 dot method this time around. So I doubt my application or mounting is the problem. I learned all my lessons from not installing my D15S properly the first time around.

My case is a cramped midtower, with a direct front to back airflow, components are really close to the front 140mm fans. Nothing in the way of the fans, aside from the dust filter and front mesh.

It would honestly be easier to worry less about temps on Intel at this point, since Ryzen is so unpredictable. Are these temps good or bad? Who knows.

 

[tabascosauz]

Well, going by this, it seems the 3900X is just naturally a hot boy:

I have my fan curves set a little bit more relaxed for added silence. So far this cooler is performing better than the D15S which apparently had a bad thermal paste application (two of the corners werent even covered), and because of that I did the 5 dot method this time around. So I doubt my application or mounting is the problem. I learned all my lessons from not installing my D15S properly the first time around.

My case is a cramped midtower, with a direct front to back airflow, components are really close to the front 140mm fans. Nothing in the way of the fans, aside from the dust filter and front mesh.

It would honestly be easier to worry less about temps on Intel at this point, since Ryzen is so unpredictable. Are these temps good or bad? Who knows.

You have to pay some heed to how the paste goes but it's not worth fretting too much about. 3 small grains clustered in the middle always does the trick on any of my AM4 CPUs, the chiplets aren't very far apart. Overdo the paste and you'll just end up cleaning goop off the side of the CPU and socket.

From experience even a low speed 120mm fan in the top rear of the case may help with exhaust, especially with stagnant hot air that tends to build up there without a fan.

Temps are pretty normal, honestly. Without PBO, Ryzen 3000 seems cooler on single threaded loads while Ryzen 5000 runs cooler on all-core loads when stock (except 5800X). The gaming and CB temps look about where they should be.

Don't worry yourself sick.

 

[Devon68]

If you use your PC for gaming and the temps dont go over 70 you are fine. Hell even 85 is fine in the summer.
Enjoy your build. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Deleted member 205776]

You have to pay some heed to how the paste goes but it's not worth fretting too much about. 3 small grains clustered in the middle always does the trick on any of my AM4 CPUs, the chiplets aren't very far apart. Overdo the paste and you'll just end up cleaning goop off the side of the CPU and socket.

From experience even a low speed 120mm fan in the top rear of the case may help with exhaust, especially with stagnant hot air that tends to build up there without a fan.

Temps are pretty normal, honestly. Without PBO, Ryzen 3000 seems cooler on single threaded loads while Ryzen 5000 runs cooler on all-core loads when stock (except 5800X). The gaming and CB temps look about where they should be.

Don't worry yourself sick.

I would get a top fan but sadly all the fans I have left over are crappy Pure Wings and I hate how they sound and perform. I also want to keep the closed top as opposed to the ventilated top because it's quieter and it blocks some dust from getting in the case. Considering how small the case is compared to other "midtowers" I've seen, I don't think the front to back airflow isn't enough. I also sort of ran out of fan headers.

If you use your PC for gaming and the temps dont go over 70 you are fine. Hell even 85 is fine in the summer.
Enjoy your build. Nothing to worry about.

That's what I want to do, but I learned so much about cooling, pastes, fans, everything that now I worry about every little thing. I keep worrying that my paste application isn't good enough even though the NT-H2 spreads really well and I did the 5 dot method, after which I lowered the heatsink down and installed it evenly.

 

[tabascosauz]

I would get a top fan but sadly all the fans I have left over are crappy Pure Wings and I hate how they sound and perform. I also want to keep the closed top as opposed to the ventilated top because it's quieter and it blocks some dust from getting in the case. Considering how small the case is compared to other "midtowers" I've seen, I don't think the front to back airflow isn't enough. I also sort of ran out of fan headers.

That's what I want to do, but I learned so much about cooling, pastes, fans, everything that now I worry about every little thing. I keep worrying that my paste application isn't good enough even though the NT-H2 spreads really well and I did the 5 dot method, after which I lowered the heatsink down and installed it evenly.

The closed top and top exhaust fan makes a bigger difference than you might otherwise think. It doesn't even need to be a powerful fan, I get the same thing done with passive airflow from my C14S.

My NCASE and Cerberus both have liberally vented top panels that I can also easily cover up to test the thermal effects. Case and DIMM temps suffer significantly if hot air isn't allowed to escape the case naturally, because hot air from the GPU collects in a pocket at the top of the case, where it can't be removed by the rear exhaust or the CPU cooler.

Dust is an unwinnable battle. Get yourself a Metrovac and blow it out once in a while.

 

[Deleted member 205776]

The closed top and top exhaust fan makes a bigger difference than you might otherwise think. It doesn't even need to be a powerful fan, I get the same thing done with passive airflow from my C14S.

My NCASE and Cerberus both have liberally vented top panels that I can also easily cover up to test the thermal effects. Case and DIMM temps suffer significantly if hot air isn't allowed to escape the case naturally, because hot air from the GPU collects in a pocket at the top of the case, where it can't be removed by the rear exhaust or the CPU cooler.

Dust is an unwinnable battle. Get yourself a Metrovac and blow it out once in a while.

You reckon if I swap out the tops and put a 140mm exhaust fan in the rear it would help out that much?

Dust isn't really that big of an issue anymore honestly considering I have a blower now and I clean out my case every weekend.

 

[tabascosauz]

You reckon if I swap out the tops and put a 140mm exhaust fan in the rear it would help out that much?

It probably won't help CPU temps, that all just looks normal, you gotta relax man lol. Will probably make it a little cooler inside the case generally, when gaming. You had a 3070 right? The higher the TDP of the GPU, the more heat it dumps into the case, the more heat that can get trapped up top.

The mesh top on the 500DX looks pretty restrictive, dunno if it'd do much without a fan. Maybe without that fine mesh filter on there, the actual vents on the case itself look pretty sizeable.

If it's just the CPU temps you're worried about, there's nothing you should be worried about. Why make it harder on yourself? Minimize/close HWInfo, play some games and unwind.

AIDA is like Furmark for CPUs - utterly pointless. And AVX disabled P95 Small won't necessarily be cooler because the PB2 algorithm detects it's not AVX and raises the clocks. The Cinebench temps look okay. The gaming temps are spot on, I don't even think my 3700X ran any cooler in games even under my Dark Rock Pro 4.

Dust isn't really that big of an issue anymore honestly considering I have a blower now and I clean out my case every weekend.

Whoa bro, you live out in the dustbowl or something? Take it easy lol blow it out like once every few months

 

[Deleted member 205776]

It probably won't help CPU temps, that all just looks normal, you gotta relax man lol. Will probably make it a little cooler inside the case generally, when gaming. You had a 3070 right? The higher the TDP of the GPU, the more heat it dumps into the case, the more heat that can get trapped up top.

The mesh top on the 500DX looks pretty restrictive, dunno if it'd do much without a fan. Maybe without that fine mesh filter on there, the actual vents on the case itself look pretty sizeable.

I might experiment with one of my previous Pure Wings fans locked at a certain RPM, mounted on the rear, just to have a bit of exhaust. I have a fan splitter so that won't be an issue. It looks horrendous without the top filter so that's a no go.

The 3070 is undervolted to about 180-220w instead of the stock 250w. Still puts out heat but not as much.

you gotta relax man lol

If it's just the CPU temps you're worried about, there's nothing you should be worried about. Why make it harder on yourself? Minimize/close HWInfo, play some games and unwind.

Yeah I tell myself that I worry too much but idk. Just how I am.

Whoa bro, you live out in the dustbowl or something? Take it easy lol blow it out like once every few months

No but I hate seeing even one speck of dust in my case. My room is also dusty af no matter how much i clean it/clean the house

Uh, I switched the tops back to the ventilated one and am noticing warm air when I move my hand over my case now. Gonna keep it like this and see if anything improves. Trapping hot air isn't a great idea.

 

[tabascosauz]

Yeah I tell myself that I worry too much but idk. Just how I am.

I know what you mean, I used to be the same way when I was drugged up on medication.

If you can already feel a bit of a difference, you might first see a difference in your DIMM temps as I see you have Trident RGBs and they should have sensors.

How low are you running your CPU fan curve? You could try benching for a bit at max fan speed to see how much cooler perf is left on the table. Guessing maybe 3C difference at most.

 

[GerKNG]

why do you run Prime95 in the first place?

 

[Deleted member 205776]

How low are you running your CPU fan curve? You could try benching for a bit at max fan speed to see how much cooler perf is left on the table. Guessing maybe 3C difference at most.

I did that and not much. By about what you said. But the noise... nah.

My CPU fans top out at 53% which is about 1250-1300 RPM. After that, the noise starts becoming intrusive.

My intakes and exhaust are sitting at 900 RPM during loads, all set on CPU temp, all fans (including CPU fans) ramp up when the CPU reaches 60C. Otherwise, every fan is at 30% speed on idle (550 RPM for case fans, 750 for CPU fans).

why do you run Prime95 in the first place?

I don't know why I do 99% of the things I do.

 

[GerKNG]

I don't know why I do 99% of the things I do.

you run the heaviest stresstest you can find, have quite decent temps and you get concerned about the temperatures

imo you overthink the whole situation.
your temps are completely normal and in P95 actually pretty decent.
no worries, everything is fine.
just... don't buy a 5800X

 

[Deleted member 205776]

you run the heaviest stresstest you can find, have quite decent temps and you get concerned about the temperatures

imo you overthink the whole situation.
your temps are completely normal and in P95 actually pretty decent.
no worries, everything is fine.
just... don't buy a 5800X

But my brain man, my brain is dumb. How do I undervolt my brain

 

[Deleted member 205776]

Update: repasted, since the previous layer of paste was too thick. Saw 1-2 degree improvement in temps afterwards.

After that, I got a top exhaust fan and switched the top panel for the vented one with filter mesh:

The top fan is a regular, non-high speed model of the Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM that I have. Its extremely quiet even at 1000rpm, so it's not a problem leaving that fan at 850 RPM max during load.

I noticed an almost 10 degree decrease in idle DIMM temps after this, from ~40c to 32-31c.

Very satisfied, will stop worrying about temps, my case airflow is now pretty much maxed out. Thanks all for helping.