3600 idling around 55c, high of 95c in Gears 5

[kinger8938]

Hi All,

Just wondering if theres anything i need to do in the bios etc to make sure my CPU cooler/fans are working as they should be or if i need to consider a aftermarket cooler etc.

Ive noticed on the windows balanced power plan i get the higher idle temperature. If i change it to power saver, it idles a fair bit lower.

Mother board is a b450m Mortar Max.

1 intake 120mm fan, 1 exhaust 120mm too.

Gtx 1070.

Just checking woth core temp at the moment, resetting it and reading the max heat after a game session and it was 95c. The case felt rather warm too when i shut it down for the evening.

Any advice would be appreciated

*also noticed when idle you can hear the fan kick in, and drop off, and repeat randomly

 

[kinger8938]

There is some stuff you can set in bios to help,
Global C-state control > enabled
Amd cool n quiet > enabled
PPC adjustment > pstate 0
Also make sure PBO is disabled as sometimes auto can mean enabled.

Set Windows power plan to "ryzen balanced"

If your on the stock cooler it will heat up a bit but shouldn't be hitting 95 while gaming so maybe worth reseating it.

A really cheap option for a cooler is https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-wraith-max-am4-rgb-cpu-cooler-hs-002-am.html
At £13 it keeps my ryzen 5 3600 @ 30c idle 50c gaming 67c max load.

Thanks for those tips I shall explore the bios and see what I can find.

For some reason the AMD power plans aren't being listed in windows for me? Only the usual windows balanced, power saver or high performance ones are there.

Thanks

And I could try resisting the cpu fan. It was a bigger to install if im honest and I'd probably be best to remove the stock paste and try some aftermarket stuff too?

 

[kinger8938]

I thought the driver package was a one and done thing but I looked deeper into the download and found the apps section and now have the amd profiles in windows. Will try that too.

Will any of these options negatively impact performance?

Running a brief Prine95 just to see how it goes. It might have been a one off random spike to 95c yesterday, core tempt doesnt give enough detail I guess

Also, any case fan settings I should change? Should I add another intake or is 1 generally ok? Not sure if they are ramping up and down as they should. I just assume they are

*after about 10 mins Prime 95 had the temp up around 95c so I stopped it there

 

[kinger8938]

Does the temperature slowly climb or shoot up?

Hard to tell, I shall try again and watch it properly. I think it climbs up to it, but it held at around 70c for a good while so maybe the test put more strain on it and then it stepped up to the higher temp.

Even idle then downloading a game on steam gets it up to around 60c

I guess when gaming I'm not maxing all cores like you do in these tests. Usually it's around 25-40% load in the games I tend to play (before this much needed upgrade I was usually always at 100%)

 

[kinger8938]

What case are you using?

I have a Phanteks Pro M with 3 x 140mm fans (2 intake and 1 exhaust). The fans are set at a constant speed of ~ 750 rpm and are very quiet.

I would also suggest a aftermarket cooler. The stock cooler may work ok, but it will not be as good or as quiet as a tower cooler.

Hi there

My case is https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cool....1-micro-atx-case-black-window-ca-36r-cm.html

I may nick an old fan from my previous system just to make it 2 intake, then buy a better one to match the one I installed when I built this unit a week or so back

 

[kinger8938]

What is PWM, not a clue with cooling tbh.

I have the one included with the case as the rear exhaust, then one of these at the front! So I'll probably grab another then and see if that helps too

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akas...per-silent-120mm-fan-4-pin-pwm-fg-057-ak.html

 

[kinger8938]

Is the cooler seated correctly with aste covering the entire CPU face?

Tbh this was a main concern from the start. Using the stock cooler with its preapplied paste. When I seated it, it was sliding all over the place while I was holding a bracket from the underside of the mobo trying to fix the cooler from the front. Not ideal. so probably made a bit of a mess of the paste

So I should probably remove it, and apply a better paste.

What would I need? Is it easy to do in side the build or will i need to remove the motherboard completely to make it easier? (Its been a while for me)

 

[kinger8938]

This post implies I may aswell just run the Windows Balanced power plan now instead of the AMD one?

https://community.amd.com/thread/244159

The front of the case looks like my previous Phanteks p400s. Very poor airflow.
Even the stock cooler shouldn't be that bad, but considering the possible lack of airflow, the GPU may be dumping a lot of heat around the CPU area, and the cooler is using the hot air.
I would suggest inverting the rear an to intake and see how it goes. If improves, airflow problem.

I do wonder how much air actually gets in due to the front panel only having small vents at the top and bottom.

If i do as you suggest though, which makes sense, I wouldnt have an exhaust fan to take the hot air out if the case?

 

[kinger8938]

with your case its best to have the front fans set to a farily high rpm to overcome the lack of ventalation on the front pannel, yes it will be louder than normal but its the only way to get sufficiant airflow into the case, with regards to no exaust fan simply buy another fan to replace the other one that way you have positive airflow through your case

I'm guessing that's all done in the bios? I'll take a look! I sit far away and its behind the TV as I use it to play games on the couch just as a console basically. so I'm happy to up the sound a bit as currently it's much quieter than my previous system.

 

[kinger8938]

Not tried with side panel off yet will do

Just looked in Bios. It has options per fan (CPU/Fan1/2/3) for Smart mode on or off? The case fans are all currently set to DC. CPU to Auto with smart mode on.

I guess I could mess about here and see some better results.

Not a clue if my rear included fan is PWN or not. The one I bought with the Case is, that's in the front. And my temporary old fan for the front is just 3 pin

 

[kinger8938]

Have you tested temps with the side of the case off?, this will give you a good idea about airflow in the case as in if temps are a lot different.

I personally would keep the rear fan as it is as you want to be moving hot air out of the case.

Yeah I dont like the idea of having them all as intake. I'll leave the rear as is

Not tried with the side off yet.

I bet messing with these settings will improve things. I've noticed when just idle in windows, and with core temp on, I hear the cpu kick in, and drop off, kick in and drop off at random but fairly often when idle. Looks like core temp holds 45c then spikes up to 55-60 and back down again. Wonder what causes there random jumps? Probably just the way these cpus work?

 

[kinger8938]

All cases are nearly the same now, squarish block with front fully covered and 120mm (140mm if you are lucky) fans starved of airflow and glass side panel (most important part today due to many having RGB.

I kept my Phantom 630 for this very reason and would not have any of the modern cases and hope for the return of 200mm fan/cases.

Yeah its silly really. Tbh I dont even see my case as its behind the TV.

I messed with the bios fan settings and can actually hear them working harder now (not loud, happy with the sound levels in general).

Temps diet seem to be greatly improved but its probably getting that hot air out faster.

I think I need to redo the thermal paste first and gi from there.

Will try panel off tonight too

 

[kinger8938]

Might reseat the cooler with some aftermarket paste or even grab the Wraith Max cooler mentioned on the previous page.

What paste do I need and what do I do to remove the current pre applied stuff? Only been on a week or so. Hopefully easy to remove.

 

[kinger8938]

90+% isopropyl alchohol and preferably a lint-free cloth of some sort, though kitchen towels that don't drop much fluff can be fine. Instead of the alcohol, you could get some Arctic cleaning materials for the long term which works really well:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Arctic Silver ArctiClean Thermal Material Remover and Surface Purifier - 60ml Kit= £6.95

Total: £11.61 (includes shipping: £4.66)
​

Should be easy to remove. First wipe off whatever you can after the PC has been on so the paste is warm. Then apply the alcohol or Arctic material remover liquid, give it 30 seconds to loosen the stuff, then wipe. Repeat as needed. If you use the Arctic liquid, then you finish off with the purifier bottle.

For safety before doing this or whenever working with anything inside the case, always switch off the PSU, then hold the PC's start button down for 10 seconds to drain all power from the motherboard. Then unplug the PSU.

Excellent thanks! Any preference as to what paste to use?

 

[kinger8938]

You definitely need to just let it run with the panels open first, and ideally somewhere out in the open etc. It removes any airflow restriction from the equation to see how much of a problem is purely with the CPU/cooler contact. If you see see huge drops at idle then its likely airflow. If its still pretty high, then likley contact.

Paste wise I dont really think theres that much difference between then, only small amounts, from my experience of a few brands. Prob best value will be MX4, but if you want to spend more then things like Kryonaut and Gelid Extreme might be better.

But I would totally be trying an open air run for a bit to see what the deal is.

EDIT - also worth just leaving taskmanager open to see if you have something constantly requesting CPU usage, based upon what you say on fluctuating fans on idle. And just noting things down like usage percentage over time on idle. You seem to have high peak temps too, so my money is on the seating of the cooler, but that fluctuating idle would bother me.

Thanks, will do!

I noticed it ramps up and down if say steam is downloading a game.

I messed with fan curves a bit more. Still not seeing drastic changes. I played Witcher 3 for about an hour last night and coretemp recorded a high of roughly 82-85 during that session.

It seems to spike up then come down, rather than hold a consistent high temp

 

[kinger8938]

MX4 as suggested, or Noctua NH-1 or NH-2. I tried Kryonaut and it was within margin of error of the Noctua (1C in Kryo's favour) but it can and did scratch the CPU IHS badly. For 1C, and the increased cost, it's not worth it imo.

Appreciate all the help, thanks. I've been silly and accidentally ordered MX2 instead of MX4 somehow! Is it worth changing?

 

[kinger8938]

There won't be much in it. Will say I did buy a tube of MX2 once that was bad and runny. Was very cheap and probably been in warehouse for years. If it's fine it'll be fine. That said, if they haven't shipped the order you can change it with a phone call first thing tomorrow.

Thanks, unfortunately it had been dispatched when I realised. It's a 2019 edition whatever that means so hopefully it's of a better consistency to how yours came that time

 

[kinger8938]

That sounds reassuring then.

Cant be any worse than the stock stuff

I've only really used aftermarket paste once before. Pea sized dot in the middle still the way to go?

 

[kinger8938]

Yes, depending on CPU. Pea is fine for 3600. I like the dice method these days (no. 5 on dice). One bigger dot in centre (not as big as pea) and four smaller dots (all five dots should make up a pea size in total) forming a square, each smaller dot half-way between the centre and the corners. Just needs a bit more patience aiming and squeezing.

Might try that then! Recieved the Wraith max and paste stuff today so hopefully I can have a try this evening. Fingers crossed I can get away without having to remove the motherboard from the case. May take the GPU out at least

 

[kinger8938]

The pea is better for Intel CPUs for ryzen I like to spread a thin layer to make sure all the dies are covered.

I'll see what happens, bit worried I'll go too far and get it everywhere

Size of TIM dob in middle of IHS depends on size of CPU chip under IHS. The area of IHS that really transfers heat is only slightly bigger than CPU chip it covers. IHS size is not for heat transfer by to distribute cooler mounting weight to edges of CPU socket to keep cooler base from defelcting the CPU die's PCB with it's thousands of socket contacts.

I'm not afraid to admit that this post has gone way over my head appreciate the help though! I'm fairly clueless when it comes to this stuff these days. My last full build was like 7-8 years back