Is the stock AMD Ryzen cooler acceptable for casual gaming use?

soulhunter123 · 28 Aug 2019 at 20:08

The last time I built a PC (years ago) the stock coolers were generally considered pretty sub-par and it was highly recommended to get a new aftermarket cooler.

Has that changed? Will the stock AMD coolers do a decent (and decently quiet) job of cooling for someone who will only be using the machine for casual/non-hardcore gaming?

Martini1991 · 28 Aug 2019 at 22:37

I'd have no qualms using either an Intel or AMD stock cooler for gaming.

Rroff · 28 Aug 2019 at 22:38

If you aren't overclocking they will work fine for gaming albeit you can do better noise wise but they aren't terrible for that either.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 00:11

Cheers. Won't bother with an aftermarket cooler at the moment, then. I suppose it's an easy enough part to upgrade at a later date!

I just remember the Intel ones being awful, 10+ years ago...

an0nym0us · 29 Aug 2019 at 01:04

soulhunter123 said:
Cheers. Won't bother with an aftermarket cooler at the moment, then. I suppose it's an easy enough part to upgrade at a later date!

I just remember the Intel ones being awful, 10+ years ago...

The Ryzen stock coolers are reasonable. Definitely worth using it first to see if it's suitable for your needs. Make sure to monitor your temperatures.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 01:18

an0nym0us said:
The Ryzen stock coolers are reasonable. Definitely worth using it first to see if it's suitable for your needs. Make sure to monitor your temperatures.

Will do. What's a reasonable range for a Ryzen 2600 assuming a normal room temp of ~20C?

an0nym0us · 29 Aug 2019 at 01:27

soulhunter123 said:
Will do. What's a reasonable range for a Ryzen 2600 assuming a normal room temp of ~20C?

Generally people seem to be comfortable running the Ryzen CPUs up to around 85°C. Personally, I try to keep mine cooler than that.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 02:32

Thanks; that's quite a high threshold. I'll try the stock cooler then. Cheers!

an0nym0us · 29 Aug 2019 at 06:38

soulhunter123 said:
Thanks; that's quite a high threshold. I'll try the stock cooler then. Cheers!

The actual thermal limit is higher than that, at which point the CPU should automatically throttle itself by lowering its frequency as a protection mechanism. Either that or the system would just crash. Probably not a good idea to be hitting the thermal limit on a consistent basis.

I have no intention of trying this on my own hardware though haha.

JTrickle · 29 Aug 2019 at 12:55

Tested the 3600 horizontally out of the case at first - the smallest AMD stock cooler. Was pleasantly surprised, but >80c for 65W all core isnt good enough with the high volts AMD is setting defaulting these new chips to. It wont exceed 80 in most older games at normal rpms though.

Put it in the midi tower, now at the usual 90 degree angle. Terrible whine even at idle no matter the rpm. Totally different acoustics compared to on a test bench. Had to order a new cooler.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 13:25

JTrickle said:
Terrible whine even at idle no matter the rpm.

Could it have been a part resonating against the fan or something, as opposed to the fan itself? I had something like that with a case fan and ended up sticking a tiny bit of blu-tac in the corner to stop vibrations.

zxh800 · 29 Aug 2019 at 13:46

It depends on which CPU you get. There are two kinds of cooler you'll get. Wraith Stealth and Wraith Spire. Examples being the Ryzen 3600 comes with the stealth and the 3600x comes with the Spire. The Spire is a decent cooler. You would do ok with that. But the Stealth isn't very good, best to replace.

Another factor to consider is your case. If you have a case with poor airflow then the stock coolers may not be good enough.

It's worth checking the temps with the stock cooler, but if you're gaming at 80c + then it'll be best to get an aftermarket cooler.

MartinPrince · 29 Aug 2019 at 13:59

zxh800 said:
It depends on which CPU you get. There are two kinds of cooler you'll get. Wraith Stealth and Wraith Spire. Examples being the Ryzen 3600 comes with the stealth and the 3600x comes with the Spire. The Spire is a decent cooler. You would do ok with that. But the Stealth isn't very good, best to replace.

Another factor to consider is your case. If you have a case with poor airflow then the stock coolers may not be good enough.

It's worth checking the temps with the stock cooler, but if you're gaming at 80c + then it'll be best to get an aftermarket cooler.

My 3900X came with the Wraith Prism. I always planned to use my Nocuta D14 but I tested it out and it cooled adequately but ths noise was above my personal threshold. My son claimed the Prism and uses it on his 2600 and it was much quieter; it obviously has less to contend with. Its RGB light show also looks way better than the D14.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 14:00

The Stealth and Spire are the non-RGB ones, right? Kinda annoying how you have to trump up for the better CPUs to get an RGB cooler.

MartinPrince · 29 Aug 2019 at 14:12

soulhunter123 said:
The Stealth and Spire are the non-RGB ones, right? Kinda annoying how you have to trump up for the better CPUs to get an RGB cooler.

I think you might be right but @zxh800 should be able to confirm that.

soulhunter123 · 29 Aug 2019 at 14:15

Actually it looks like there's a Spire with RGB lighting:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-wraith-spire-ryzen-am4-rgb-cpu-cooler-hs-003-am.html

The "basic" Spire definitely doesn't have RGB though, at least according to the pictures I'm seeing of the one boxed with the lower-end CPUs.

HeX · 29 Aug 2019 at 14:25

Stealth is the only rubbish AMD stock cooler. The others aren't half bad. Been using the RGB Spire from my original 1700 on the wife's 1500X for a couple of years now and I've never even thought about changing it. Gives decent temps, hits all the boost clocks, and is actually really quiet.

Marsman · 29 Aug 2019 at 19:40

soulhunter123 said:
Actually it looks like there's a Spire with RGB lighting:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-wraith-spire-ryzen-am4-rgb-cpu-cooler-hs-003-am.html

The "basic" Spire definitely doesn't have RGB though, at least according to the pictures I'm seeing of the one boxed with the lower-end CPUs.

That's correct.

There were two Spires that came with 1st gen and 2nd gen Ryzen CPUs, one non RGB, and the other has an RGB LED ring that you've linked to. None of the 3rd gen Ryzen CPUs come with the RGB Spire cooler though, that I'm aware of. It's either Stealth, non RGB Spire, or Prism.

an0nym0us · 30 Aug 2019 at 00:55

Marsman said:
That's correct.

There were two Spires that came with 1st gen and 2nd gen Ryzen CPUs, one non RGB, and the other has an RGB LED ring that you've linked to. None of the 3rd gen Ryzen CPUs come with the RGB Spire cooler though, that I'm aware of. It's either Stealth, non RGB Spire, or Prism.

I think the Spire that comes boxed with the 3rd gen Ryzens is solid aluminium, whereas the 1st/2nd gen Ryzen bundled Spires have copper chambers. The newer Spire supposedly has a higher RPM and noisier fan too.

HeX · 30 Aug 2019 at 13:02

Yup the newer Spire is downgraded compared to 1st/2nd gen ones. Temp wise there's only a couple of degrees in it, but that's due to the fan running faster and louder as mentioned to make up for the lack of copper vapour chamber.