Abnormally high temps with 9950x/NH D15 G2

[KitOaken]

Hi, I recently built a PC and have seen some abnormally high temps that have stumped me a bit. Latest AMD chips do operate at high temps but these are hitting 95 Some key specs are:

- Ryzen 9 9950X with no OCs
- Zotac Solid RTX 5090
- NH D15 G2 (Mistakenly ordered HBC, but it's mounted with the 7mm offset)
- Fractal North case

Temps seem to sit on the upper-end of normal at idle within 50-60C, going up to 70 with fairly trivial load. The temps rise quickly under synthetic and regular loads (Prime95, Cinebench, Minecraft chunk gen), constantly sitting around ~92C and sometimes hitting the max 95C temp within 10 minutes. I thought it was the NA-TPG1 paste guard being knocked off-center at first, but two attempts at re-pasting, completely removing the guard, and checking the cooler's screwed in securely have largely come out the same. I've got some extra case fans for exhaust on the way, but it still seems like the D15 is being hit too hard. Does anyone have any good suggestions on what to test next before an exchange with OCUK? Thanks for reading

 

[JollyJamma]

Can you apply fresh thermal paste, fit the cooler, remove it and take a photo of both the CPU and cooler?

This will indicate the mounting pressure and contact and if you have some patches where the thermal paste is almost at zero (ie a very very thin layer), you may have an issue with either of the mounting surfaces being convex and causing inefficient contact.

There should be other good techniques to determine the contact patch but that’s how I’ve done it historically.

Also, the CCD for the AMD CPUs is lower and not in the middle of the CPU - some people will offset the mounting mechanism to help focus the pressure over the hottest part of the CPU.

You shouldn’t be seeing 50 to 60 degrees at idle which makes me think that a little contact tweaking will help a lot.

 

[GoRedwings19]

Although not the same chip exactly I have had/got numerous 9950x3d’s.

My latest one idles higher than all the rest. It idles at a minimum at 50-55c depending on ambient temps however it loads temps only hit 80c tops that is under extreme testing. In gaming the load is 65c.

I am using the artic 420mm which is cheap and cheerful aio. I bought it as I didn’t want third party software like ique or lconnect.

I do worry about idle temps with the summer months upon us but that is due to having intel idle mindset as I have been using them for years and just expect it to idle stupidly low.

Even my other 9950x3d idled at 45 ish and I can’t be bothered to keep ordering them just to find one that idles low.

The d15 is a great cooler but invariably newer cpus will push it. And I love noctua coolers. Even that garish colour fans it so cringe I love it……

 

[JollyJamma]

Aaah ok. That does make sense since it’s a boatload of cores in a relatively small IHS area.

You could drop temps by doing thermal lapping of the CPU IHS but then you void your warranty.

 

[GoRedwings19]

Aaah ok. That does make sense since it’s a boatload of cores in a relatively small IHS area.

You could drop temps by doing thermal lapping of the CPU IHS but then you void your warranty.

I mean you could run it without the core override as that adds a lot of temps or maybe even use liquid metal.

 

[JollyJamma]

I mean you could run it without the core override as that adds a lot of temps or maybe even use liquid metal.

The first option sounds great.

The second option gives me the shivers since I killed my 980 TI when I mishandled it.

I did quite a few i7 3770 delids with Liquid Metal and that worked amazingly but you can seal off the Liquid Metal using adhesive which you can’t do with it on top of the IHS (I’m sure you know all of this, just talking out loud so that OP knows this)

 

[GoRedwings19]

The first option sounds great.

The second option gives me the shivers since I killed my 980 TI when I mishandled it.

I did quite a few i7 3770 delids with Liquid Metal and that worked amazingly but you can seal off the Liquid Metal using adhesive which you can’t do with it on top of the IHS (I’m sure you know all of this, just talking out loud so that OP knows this)

You can use kapton tape. Apply it around teh edge of the ihs to protect your components. Personally the last time I use liquid metal was on a 12900k I think. I can't remember why I stopped using it. I think it was because I dropped some on my woodern floors and it was a bugger to clean up.

 

[JollyJamma]

You can use kapton tape. Apply it around teh edge of the ihs to protect your components. Personally the last time I use liquid metal was on a 12900k I think. I can't remember why I stopped using it. I think it was because I dropped some on my woodern floors and it was a bugger to clean up.

I remember it being incredibly difficult to clean up yeah.

What about using an aftermarket AM5 contact frame from Thermalright or Grizzly?

Any experience with them and the 9950X3D?

 

[GoRedwings19]

I remember it being incredibly difficult to clean up yeah.

What about using an aftermarket AM5 contact frame from Thermalright or Grizzly?

Any experience with them and the 9950X3D?

You don’t really need them for am5 however I still have them all fitted to my am5 rigs just as I got into the habit of using them with intel alderlake onwards. Does make a difference? Don’t know I never used a stock ILM am5 board. Soon as I got them I replaced them with the Thermalright contact frame.

 

[KitOaken]

Thanks for the replies folks, going through them now. I've set a PBO -20 offset on all cores to help for the time being.

Can you apply fresh thermal paste, fit the cooler, remove it and take a photo of both the CPU and cooler?
This will indicate the mounting pressure and contact and if you have some patches where the thermal paste is almost at zero (ie a very very thin layer), you may have an issue with either of the mounting surfaces being convex and causing inefficient contact.
[...]
Also, the CCD for the AMD CPUs is lower and not in the middle of the CPU - some people will offset the mounting mechanism to help focus the pressure over the hottest part of the CPU.
You shouldn’t be seeing 50 to 60 degrees at idle which makes me think that a little contact tweaking will help a lot.

I'm running low on thermal paste so unfortunately can't re-apply and take a photo, but from re-applying and removing the NA-TPG1 coverage actually seemed the best I've had on any CPU despite the shape. Almost none on the guard with full even coverage of the CPU. I've used the D15's 7mm offset for AM5. I'm not too worried about idle temps as it's generally getting pretty warm and the fan curve is fairly lax until load temps.

[...]
I am using the artic 420mm which is cheap and cheerful aio. I bought it as I didn’t want third party software like ique or lconnect.

I do worry about idle temps with the summer months upon us but that is due to having intel idle mindset as I have been using them for years and just expect it to idle stupidly low.
[...]
The d15 is a great cooler but invariably newer cpus will push it. And I love noctua coolers. Even that garish colour fans it so cringe I love it……

It's actually my first personal build without an AIO. Done a few with the original NH D15 for friends and seen good results, but honestly a combo like this wouldn't perform miracles with overclocking like an AIO. At least the colours work with the Fractal North wood

Aaah ok. That does make sense since it’s a boatload of cores in a relatively small IHS area.

You could drop temps by doing thermal lapping of the CPU IHS but then you void your warranty.

I could try delidding for OCs down the line, but I'm still within the 30 day return/exchange window for the purchase so if it feels needed before then I might have to buckle for an AIO or do warranty checks. For now, the -20 PBO offset has it sitting at 50 idle with 85 in Cinebench all cores which is much more comfortable. I'm yet to do long-term temp/stability tests (could probably push the undervolt to -30 in time) but it's made some changes at least. If some extra case fans on top still don't fix it over the next week or so, it'll be back to square one with less time to exchange

 

[ltron]

That sounds normal. Those CPUs are designed to boost as much as possible even if it means reaching 95C and staying there, it will get close to that even on the best coolers. They are designed to operate at that temperature.

 

[Tetras]

The temps rise quickly under synthetic and regular loads (Prime95, Cinebench, Minecraft chunk gen), constantly sitting around ~92C and sometimes hitting the max 95C temp within 10 minutes.

That's high, but it has been hot recently and Prime95/Cinebench are way higher load than typical load. The 9950X can use 200+ watts when under a full multithreaded load and that's a lot for any air cooler to handle. What does hwinfo say your CPU is using (power wise)? It is rather common for boards running "stock" to not actually be running stock.

High 'idles' are also not unusual on these CPUs, due to their boost behaviour.

For reference, TPU got 81.6 degrees running Blender on their Noctua D15.

 

[GoRedwings19]

Another thing to consider is the CPU IOD. If this this highish it doesnt matter how cool your cores are, you will have high idle temps.

 

[JollyJamma]

That's high, but it has been hot recently and Prime95/Cinebench are way higher load than typical load. The 9950X can use 200+ watts when under a full multithreaded load and that's a lot for any air cooler to handle. What does hwinfo say your CPU is using (power wise)? It is rather common for boards running "stock" to not actually be running stock.

High 'idles' are also not unusual on these CPUs, due to their boost behaviour.

For reference, TPU got 81.6 degrees running Blender on their Noctua D15.

All of that is helpful information.

I think we are all just used to AMD being great with temperatures and wattage but the 9950X3D is a beast so we should keep that in mind.

I do think that a contact frame with a lower mounting point and some top quality thermal paste would help lower the temperatures a bit.

Have you tried one, Tetras?

 

[GoRedwings19]

All of that is helpful information.

I think we are all just used to AMD being great with temperatures and wattage but the 9950X3D is a beast so we should keep that in mind.

I do think that a contact frame with a lower mounting point and some top quality thermal paste would help lower the temperatures a bit.

Have you tried one, Tetras?

It depends on teh CPU IOD hotspot jist stuck another 9950x3d in and this one has an CPU IOD hotspot that is different to my other one so I will assume variance just like some undervolts better than others.

And if that IOD hotspot is high then the cpu package temps cannot be lower than this idle.

 

[Tetras]

Have you tried one, Tetras?

No, I haven't tried any contact frames.

 

[Gray2233]

I believe I remember @pastymuncher mentioning he used a contact frame on his 9800X3D and saw some improvements?

Apologies if I'm confusing you with someone else.

 

[pastymuncher]

Not me although I do have a contact frame on my 7800x3d but it was purely to prevent thermal paste from going down the sides of the gpu. Then I went and used a phase change pad anyway!!