[SOLVED] Do I Need Better Cooling?

[rcampbell578]

Hello all!

I recently upgraded to a Ryzen 9 3900x from a Ryzen 7 2700x. On my 2700x, I just used the included Wraith Prism cooler and managed to cool my CPU pretty well. So when I decided to upgrade, I figured I'd need to go with a beefier CPU cooler. However, I decided to install the 3900x with the Wraith Prism and spend a couple of days going through my normal workflow and checking temps on a regular basis just to see how it handled it. Here's how it's performing:

Idle Temps: Usually hold pretty steady at around 40-41C
Normal Usage (Watching movies, typing documents, surfing web): Mid-40s or so
Rending Video: Topped out at about 75C after about a half hour of rendering
Light Gaming: Hovered around Mid-60s-ish
Cinebench: Benchmarked for 10 minutes and it hovered in the low to mid 80s

Not really sure what kind of temps to expect. I think for what I usually do, temps look pretty good. The hardest I ever work my PC is video rendering for maybe 2-3 hours at a time, but usually not much more than that.

I was considering a better air cooler. I've been looking at a couple of them, the main one being a Dark Rock Pro 4 from Be Quiet!. My question is this: Do I really need better cooling? If I decided to go with something like the Dark Rock Pro 4, would I see any benefit? And how much could I expect it to lower my temps on average? Keep in mind that I'm not overclocking either, just running the CPU normally.

Any info or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[davidgirgis]

You don't "really need better cooling", however, a better cooler is just good practice. IMHO.
You'll see better temps, but bear in mind that your current temps are just fine, especially because you're not overclocking...yet...

Every new computer I build, I normally live with it stock for a while, then upgrade the cooler later, of course, it's a no-brainer.
The lower temps might prolong the life of your CPU, especially if you choose to start overlocking a bit. I'm against leaving any free performance on the table, if you know what I mean. A little OC for the RAM and VGA card as well can't hurt.

Having said that, earlier this year, I upgraded from a Noctua U9s (w/ 2 fans) to a EKWB 240 AIO. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see that much of a difference in temps utilizing my most aggressive OC of 5 GHz on all cores of the CPU. I leave it like all the time, even though I know it throttles big time under synthetic testing. I'm just hoping that the throttling doesn't affect me in game.

It's really up to you, but I recommend the Dark Rock Pro 4 or similar. Some of the guys around here are totally in love with Noctua, so if your case fits a D15, that will certainly improve thermals.

PS: my current setup has the EKWB AIO 240 installed in the top with two blacknoise M12-P fans.

 

[rcampbell578]

You don't "really need better cooling", however, a better cooler is just good practice. IMHO.
You'll see better temps, but bear in mind that your current temps are just fine, especially because you're not overclocking...yet...

Every new computer I build, I normally live with it stock for a while, then upgrade the cooler later, of course, it's a no-brainer.
The lower temps might prolong the life of your CPU, especially if you choose to start overlocking a bit. I'm against leaving any free performance on the table, if you know what I mean. A little OC for the RAM and VGA card as well can't hurt.

Having said that, earlier this year, I upgraded from a Noctua U9s (w/ 2 fans) to a EKWB 240 AIO. Unfortunately for me, I didn't see that much of a difference in temps utilizing my most aggressive OC of 5 GHz on all cores of the CPU. I leave it like all the time, even though I know it throttles big time under synthetic testing. I'm just hoping that the throttling doesn't affect me in game.

It's really up to you, but I recommend the Dark Rock Pro 4 or similar. Some of the guys around here are totally in love with Noctua, so if your case fits a D15, that will certainly improve thermals.

PS: my current setup has the EKWB AIO 240 installed in the top with two blacknoise M12-P fans.

Thanks, this is great advice!

Yeah, I've looked at the Noctua cooler. That was one that I considered. However, I really like the looks of the Dark Rock Pro 4 and it kinda fits with the whole look of my build so I'll probably go with that one eventually.

Thanks again!