[SOLVED] 2600x high temperatures on stock cooler even after replacing thermal paste

Dec 24, 2020
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Greetings.

I recently upgraded from a 1300x to a 2600x. During installation, I had some problems keeping the backplate in place and lifted the cooler, and the put it back on without reapplying thermal paste as I didn't have any at hand at the moment, and I assumed it wouldn't be a problem. (Also, I did try booting the PC without the cooler at first to see if I had damaged the processor or anything, it did boot but it went up to over 100 degrees in about 10 seconds and shut itself down. Next time around the boot menu was saying something like "high cpu temps!". Lesson learned, however it might have potentially damaged the processor. Oops.) Anyway, I managed to get the cooler on. At first, idle temps were around 35-40 and load temps were around 65. This only lasted like 15 minutes though, as the CPU started going up to over 90 degrees under load and around 60 at idle. I ordered some thermal paste the next day (granted, the cheapest I could find on amazon, but the reviews seemed fine), and reapplied the thermal paste. The temperatures were basically the same. The day after, I tried putting on my older cooler (the stock cooler that came with the 1300x, which is actually smaller) and the temps are actually a bit lower now, though still too hot for prolonged use. Around 50 idle, 80-90 under load. I accidentally got some thermal paste right next to the pins (not on the pins, but just on the rim), but I did clean it off with some wipes and alcohol and the pc seems to be running fine now, so I'm assuming that hasn't added an additional problem to my list.

I'm hoping that this is just a case of bad quality thermal paste or something, and not faulty hardware. My friend will be sending over a better thermal paste in a few days, until then I won't be putting any unnecessary stress on the CPU. Any tips?

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
Forthua,

You know, unlike what you see in the movies, people don't die from being shot, they die from loosing blood after they've got shot.
I'm no CPU engineer and don't know exactly how it works.
Maybe your CPU is not dead but mortally wounded, or maybe he's like Jackie Chan - all broken but more alive than most.. ;)

Try getting good thermal paste, but do not try checking stuff in the way it never meant to function. You don't do test drive without breaks do you? ;)

Is it a new processor? You still can contact AMD and pretend that it's just not working good.
Dec 24, 2020
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Well mate, you may actually damaged the processor by checking if you've damaged it in the first place...
Haha, quite possible. Far as I know these new processors stop themselves before getting any real damage, though. That would have been the case if I there was prolonged high temperatures, I'm sure. You think the CPU will forever run hot now because it got that high once, though? I've heard some intel cpus running comfortably over 100, so I'm assuming mine won't die just yet.
 

allidsarebusy

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Forthua,

You know, unlike what you see in the movies, people don't die from being shot, they die from loosing blood after they've got shot.
I'm no CPU engineer and don't know exactly how it works.
Maybe your CPU is not dead but mortally wounded, or maybe he's like Jackie Chan - all broken but more alive than most.. ;)

Try getting good thermal paste, but do not try checking stuff in the way it never meant to function. You don't do test drive without breaks do you? ;)

Is it a new processor? You still can contact AMD and pretend that it's just not working good.
 
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Solution
Dec 24, 2020
17
1
15
Forthua,

You know, unlike what you see in the movies, people don't die from being shot, they die from loosing blood after they've got shot.
I'm no CPU engineer and don't know exactly how it works.
Maybe your CPU is not dead but mortally wounded, or maybe he's like Jackie Chan - all broken but more alive than most.. ;)

Try getting good thermal paste, but do not try checking stuff in the way it never meant to function. You don't do test drive without breaks do you? ;)

Is it a new processor? You still can contact AMD and pretend that it's just not working good.

I appreciate the analogy, I guess you could be right :)

You're right, that wasn't exactly the brightest idea to test it without a cooler. Lesson learned. Atleast there don't seem to be any problems apart from the temperature issue currently. I probably reduced it's lifespan by quite a lot, but oh well.

I'll replace the thermal paste soon enough. Bought the processor less than a week ago, so I guess I could ask for a replacement or something from where I bought it but I doubt they'd do much more than send it back. Thank you for the help, let's just hope some new thermal paste will fix things.
 
Dec 24, 2020
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Get yourself a better cooler, the stock cooler going to 90C is quite common under load, especially if your case cooling isn't done right.

How is your case cooling? You should have 1 fan exhausting up and at least 1 drawing in from a fresh source.
Thank you for the reply.

I have two fans in front drawing in fresh air and one exhaust fan in the back. Airflow is not exactly ideal, but not too bad that it would cause a problem. Ambient temps are about average room temperature.

I might consider getting an aftermarket cooler if the 2600x stock cooler isn't enough with a better thermal compound.
 
Thermal compound will help, but it's not going to shave like 20C off the temperature. You need a bigger cooler for that.

Did you get one of the coolers with a copper cold plate, or full aluminum?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfrdy3wG_g0


If you're only gaming, the stock cooler is probably fine, you'll see much lower temps because you likely won't be using all cores and threads to 100%. However, if you're doing video encoding or some professional task that requires 100% cpu usage, I would definitely buy a better aftermarket cooler.
 
Dec 24, 2020
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Thermal compound will help, but it's not going to shave like 20C off the temperature. You need a bigger cooler for that.

Did you get one of the coolers with a copper cold plate, or full aluminum?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfrdy3wG_g0


If you're only gaming, the stock cooler is probably fine, you'll see much lower temps because you likely won't be using all cores and threads to 100%. However, if you're doing video encoding or some professional task that requires 100% cpu usage, I would definitely buy a better aftermarket cooler.
I have the copper plate one. I will mostly be gaming on this PC, however I am planning on doing more resource-heavy work. I'm hoping a better paste can carry me for a while while only use it for gaming.