Question CPU Temps are hitting 87+ While Gaming, which Cooling Part Should I Upgrade First?

[viibrate192]

I've been playing more intensive games recently, Cyberpunk, Overwatch 2, Days Gone, etc.

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X, Stock AMD Wraith Cooler

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Eagle OC 8G, Stock Fans

Case: NZXT H510, Stock Fans and Stock Configuration, 120mm intake fan in the back, 120mm intake fan on the top. Fan Curves are defaulted to whatever BIOS set them to

GPU temperatures are fine, sitting around 65-75 degrees while gaming. Around 50 Degrees Idle. CPU Averages 85-90 Degrees while playing games, 55 Degrees Idle. My room gets a little warm sometimes, but otherwise, it sits at a normal 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit (21-24 degrees Celcius).

I really want to tone down my temperatures on my CPU to the lower 70s, as it gets quite irritating when it hits the high 80s. What part of my PC should I look to upgrade first? I was looking to upgrade my CPU cooler into a Noctua NH-U12A, but I don't know if that should be the best upgrade at the moment. I have a bit of money, so I'm just going to try and upgrade one part. Which part would decrease the temperature the most in my case--case fans or a CPU cooler?

 

[lvt]

Try another thermal paste, the best you can buy.

Always use a cooler with copper core for better heat dissipation.

 

[viibrate192]

Try another thermal paste, the best you can buy.

Always use a cooler with copper core for better heat dissipation.

Already tried that. I went from some random unmarked Thermal Paste to the Corsair XTM70. I didn't really see that much of a difference in temperature and I'm pretty sure I did a good job at applying the paste. Which cooler with a copper core would you recommend? Does the airflow of my case make any difference?

 

[Chicano]

• The CPU cooler is the first component to get replaced…

• Get the best CPU thermal grease you can find

• Change the BIOS CPU fan speed settings to constant speed

• Use the Windows Control Panel / Power Options / Power Plan / Advanced Power Settings / Processor Power Management / Minimum Processor State – Reduce the setting, starting with 50%, start gaming and checking the CPU temps, and lower as necessary. This setting will lower the power feed to what the CPU needs when the game becomes less intensive, and lower used power means cooler temps… and it will automatically increase from 50% to 100% or whatever it needs to keep up with the gaming program. An alternate option would be to use the power Saver Power Plan.

• Make certain the CPU fan is getting a fresh supply of cooling air…

• If the CPU is overclocked, better reset the clock to normal… the model doesn't need overclocking… if you're not convinced, replace it with a faster model.

 

[viibrate192]

• The CPU cooler is the first component to get replaced…

• Get the best CPU thermal grease you can find

• Change the BIOS CPU fan speed settings to constant speed

• Use the Windows Control Panel / Power Options / Power Plan / Advanced Power Settings / Processor Power Management / Minimum Processor State – Reduce the setting, starting with 50%, start gaming and checking the CPU temps, and lower as necessary. This setting will lower the power feed to what the CPU needs when the game becomes less intensive, and lower used power means cooler temps… and it will automatically increase from 50% to 100% or whatever it needs to keep up with the gaming program. An alternate option would be to use the power Saver Power Plan.

• Make certain the CPU fan is getting a fresh supply of cooling air…

• If the CPU is overclocked, better reset the clock to normal… the model doesn't need overclocking… if you're not convinced, replace it with a faster model.

Sounds good. I have some leftover XTM70 to apply to the CPU. As for the power plan, would switching to the Saver Power Plan result in a decrease in performance? As for the CPU getting a fresh supply, both of my fans are intake fans, if I remember correctly. Should I make one of them an exhaust or both of them exhaust? I don't know if that will have a change in temperature

 

[ChrisyR]

The stock AMD Wraith Cooler that comes with that CPU is a totally inefficient cooling solution for the 5600X. My friend had the same CPU and cooler and temps were idling at 80C, when gaming close to 100C.
An aftermarket cooler, for example the Cooler Master Hyper H410R would be perfectly sufficient to keep temps at an acceptable level, this cooler retails at around £25.
Another good option would be the be quiet Pure Rock 2 FX Black Single Tower CPU Cooler retailing at around £40.
In a nutshell, if you spend £25+ on a quality CPU cooler thats all you will need to do.
As Chicano said " change the BIOS CPU fan speed settings to constant speed ".
Imho this is all you need to do, cheers

​

 

[Chicano]

Sounds good. I have some leftover XTM70 to apply to the CPU. As for the power plan, would switching to the Saver Power Plan result in a decrease in performance? As for the CPU getting a fresh supply, both of my fans are intake fans, if I remember correctly. Should I make one of them an exhaust or both of them exhaust? I don't know if that will have a change in temperature

Not necessarily… the CPU should go down to idle when you stop demanding performance from it… this in turn should lower the power consumption, which means less heat to go through the CPU into the heat sink.

When the High Performance Power Plan is enabled, and will have both the Minimum and Maximum Processor States enabled to 100%, if you’re doing a low processor demanding task, the Taskmanager will display the CPU Utilization at a low single digit percentage, but the CPU speed will remain at the speed of 3.70GHz…

But if you configure the High Performance Power Plan / Processor Power Management / Minimum Processor State to; for example 30%, and keep the Maximum Processor State at 100% speed, both the CPU Utilization and CPU Speed (Ghz) will come down to low Utilization and variable CPU Ghz speed.

This means that keeping the CPU running at 3.70 Ghz will only waste power, which generates unnecessary heat, that goes through the CPU to the Heat Sink.

Fans should be intake and exhaust, which should make air current flow and make fresh air available for cooling, as opposed to be intaking fresh air from all sides, but not exhausting the warm air... that unless the case has an exhaust grilled side panel, that's probably not exhausting air at the same speed... so, if you have the means to make the fans intake and exhaust, you should try and see if it helps.