... 10900K ... NH-D15S ... can't even run prime95 at stock settings without hitting 100c ...
What is your ambient (room) temperature?
Have you disabled all AVX test selections in Prime95?
There's a few important details concerning stress test utilities which must be pointed out and explained.
Don't thrash your system using P95. Stress test the system using Aida64 which is much better to determine thermals and rail voltages.
Although
MeanMachine41's previous advice is excellent, the portion of his comments quoted above, when left as a blanket statement without further explanation, is misleading.
“Stress” tests vary widely in load levels, Power consumption and the Core temperatures they produce. As such, it's critical to correctly configure stress test utilities, rather than run them at default values.
Stress tests can be characterized into two categories;
stability tests which are
fluctuating workloads, and
thermal tests which are
steady workloads. When configured correctly, Prime95 Small FFTs
(AVX disabled) is ideally suited for testing thermal performance, because it conforms to Intel's Datasheets as a
steady-state 100% workload with
steady Core temperatures. No other non-proprietary utility can so closely replicate Intel's thermal test workload.
As per Intel’s Datasheets, TDP and Thermal Specifications are validated “without AVX”.
Prime95 with AVX test selections
enabled will impose a
brutal and unrealistic 130% workload which can
increase Core temperatures by up to 20°C. To correctly set Prime95 to run your CPU at
100% workload, simply click on the AVX test selections that are
not greyed out so that
all three AVX boxes are checked, as shown below.
Utilities that don't
overload or
underload your processor will give you a valid thermal baseline. Here’s a comparison of utilities grouped as
thermal and
stability tests according to % of TDP, averaged across six processor Generations at stock Intel settings rounded to the nearest 5%:
Although these tests range from
70% to 130% TDP workload, Windows Task Manager interprets every test as
100% CPU Utilization, which is processor resource activity,
not %TDP workload.
Core temperatures respond directly to Power consumption (Watts), which is driven by workload. Prime95 Small FFTs
(AVX disabled) provides the correct workload for testing thermal performance. If Core temperatures don't exceed
80°C, your CPU should run the most demanding
real-world workloads without overheating.
AIDA64 has 4 CPU related stress test selections (CPU, FPU, Cache, Memory) which have
15 possible combinations that yield
15 different workloads and
15 different Core temperatures. The individual FPU test is about 115% TDP workload, the CPU/FPU combination is about 90%, all 4 tests combined is about 80% and the individual CPU test is only about 70%. All other AIDA64 test selections are fluctuating workloads which are suitable for
stability testing, but not for
thermal testing.
In recent games with AVX, as well as real-world apps with AVX such as those used for rendering or transcoding, the AVX code is
less dense than Prime95 with AVX. So when heavy, fluctuating AVX workloads in games or apps spike to "peak" Power consumption, Core temperatures will typically
approach, but not exceed P95 Small FFTs
without AVX. The CineBench R23 Multi Core test shown above in the
%TDP Scale is a good example of a utility which replicates heavy, real-world AVX workloads.
If OCCT's first test, called "CPU", is configured for
Small Data Set,
Normal Mode,
Steady Load and
SSE Instruction Set (no AVX), then it's a
steady-state workload at more than 97% that's nearly identical to the
steady-state 100% workload of Prime95 Small FFTs without AVX.
A steady-state 100% workload is key for
thermal testing so the CPU, cooler, socket, motherboard and voltage regulator modules (
VRM) can thermally stabilize.
Although the Noctua NH-D15 and the NH-D15S are excellent air coolers, your 10 Core 20 Thread i9-10900K is a high power consumption processor which demands top-of-the-line cooling that can extend beyond big-air into the realm of 280, 360mm AIO or custom loop cooling.
CT
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