Cooling Advice and Recommendations for an Upgrade

Hey Guys,
I recently have taken the plunge and upgraded to a Ryzen 2700X GTX 1080 system. I heard plenty of reviews that laud the AMD Wraith Prism (the stock cooler.) Given the reviews, I expected it to handle my system without any overclocks perfectly fine (even if it was a little bit toasty.) The entire reason I upgraded my PC was to have better performance when streaming, however, the only thing I have encountered was grainy, low quality footage, which was frequently interrupted by thermal throttling. I have attempted to divert the load to the GPU via NVENC, but needless to say, NVENC delivers paltry quality in comparison to x264. My Tdie temps according to HWinfo have maxed at around 94.3 C, which needless to say, is FAR out of my comfort zone. When referring the motherboard sensors, the temps say they have only reached 78 C. I am unsure as to which reading is more accurate.

Things I have tried:

  • Reseating The Cooler
    Reapplying Thermal Paste
    Adjusting the Fan Curve to Max

Is this workload just approaching the prism's limit, or is there a glaring issue I may be overlooking? I am able to shell out around $30 on a new cooler, and I've been eyeing the Cryorig brand for a while, but I'm open to any other recommendations. Just need a second opinion as to what's going on.
Thanks,
Noah
 
First, pay attention to how much air comes into your case.
What is your case?
Any cooler needs a supply of fresh air to do it's job.
Two 120/140mm front intakes is sufficient.
All that comes in the front will exit somewhere, taking heat with it.

How much room is available for an air cooler in your case?
160mm gives you many options.

Ryzen AM4 motherboards need coolers with AM4 mount capability.
Whatever cooler you buy, check to see that it comes with AM4 mounting capability.

I beloved patriot the $30 scythe kotetsu but it needs a am4 mounting kit.
Here is a review:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1391-page1.html
Note the comparison at the end for effectiveness vs. noise.

When you reseat the cooler, be careful about using too much paste.
Otherwise, it will act as an insulator.
A rice sized drop in the center will spread out under heat and pressure.

When mounting the cooler, be careful to tighten it down evenly.
Do diagonal corners, not a clockwise rotation.


 
I should've mentioned that Im running the case without any side panels atm (mainly to test temps), 2 140s intake, one 140 exhaust. Running in the P400S from phanteks, which has 160mm of clearance. The kotetsu looks really nice, but Im unsure of how it will perform with the 2700X, given the Dark Rock 4 only has a delta of 6 from the prism, and I'd consider the DR4 a very capable cooler, not sure on how the Scythe will do. AMD's mounting system for the prism does not permit an even distribution of pressure to begin with, so thermal application is mediocre at best for me. Currently debating if I should go for a double tower heatsink, or just invest in an AIO Watercooler
 
One of the strongest coolers that will fit will be the Noctua NH-D15s with the NM-AM4 mounting kit.
Here is the fitment info:
https://noctua.at/en/tdp-guide

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
Past that, A AIO radiator complicates creating a positive pressure filtered cooling setup which can keep your parts clean.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
Google for AIO leaks to see what can happen.
While unlikely, leaks do happen.

I would support an AIO cooler primarily in a space restricted case.
If one puts looks over function, that is a personal thing; not for me though.
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.