This is why alder lake is hot
https://www.igorslab.de/en/bad-cool...cket-lga-1700-on-the-lane-among-all-remedies/
The IHS on alder lake is very curved and the LGA1700 socket is also curved, plus many boards don't produce enough clamping pressure
With some quick modifications to the socket and motherboard you can get 10c lower temps on a Noctua cooler however you may be able to get even lower temps if you also have a CPU cooler with a block that is better designed for alder lake (a better cpu cooler will not fix the motherboard problem, you will still need to modify the motherboard to achieve the 10c temperature drop)
Nothing scientific but I did remove the block from my Arctic Freezer II AIO due to using very cheap and old paste at the time of fitting - typically I could not find my decent paste.
My MX-5 arrived and so the block was removed to apply that.
I was pleased to see a thin and VERY even layer of paste distributed over the entire CPU as well as the plate on the block. I remember checking it for evenness and it was perfect on both.
Not thinking about any potential issues other than my pea sized blob in the middle might not have fully spread out, and done so evenly.
But it was fine.
That is with the AF II and a 1700 mounting kit on a MSI 690 Pro.
I don't see the AL to be any hotter than what my 9900k was capable of being - perhaps more relevant if running full core loads with AVX type needs. Otherwise it seems just typical of what I would expect, so far.
Then again the 9900k can certainly be toasty, more so at 5.1Ghz all core overclock. That's why I got the 420mm AIO, altho not needed as much in many games.