Question Intel i9-9900K with Kraken X63 running a bit too hot?

[shiftyeyedkirk]

While I am fully aware that the 9900k was designed to cook eggs, I figured a Kraken X63 would likely do better than 100c while running Cinebench 23. Is this potentially an issue with airflow in my case, or maybe my cooler's pump going out? It has always run hot, but this is pretty bad. As soon as I run Cinebench, it stays pinned at 100c the whole time. It is definitely stable, as I can run prime95 for 30+ minutes and it doesn't crash or blue screen, but those temps have me worried.

I have not overclocked it because of these temps, but it would be nice to get some headroom for it. I've reseated the cooler multiple times and applied fresh thermal paste. For now, I would be happy with something south of 100c when it's going full tilt. Any data or suggestions about this particular cooler / cpu combo would be welcome.

Specs:

• CPU - Intel Core i9-9900K
• Cooler - NZXT Kraken X63
• Case - NZXT H510 Elite ATX Mid Tower
• Memory - TeamGroup T-Force Delta RGB 32*4GB
• Motherboard - MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC ATX LGA1151
• GPU - Asus TUF GAMING Geforce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB

 

[geofelt]

Where is the radiator mounted, and does it draw in outside air?

9900K is designed to run at 100c. all day long.
Yours is doing that well.
If you loaded the bios with such as"load optimized defaults"
You likely got an overclocked profile.
If you manage to reduce temperatures by some means,your performance will not be as good.
Is your prevalent workload cinebench? Or, is it gaming?
If it is gaming, you will be using only a handful of cores and should have little temperature issues.

How to do better?
The best cpu cooling happens when the radiator draws in fresh outside air.
But, this comes at the expense of hotter air directed through the graphics card and motherboard.
Take your pick.

 

[punkncat]

Drop the side panel and see if temps come down.

Do you have the cooler mounted in such a way that air bubbles can form in the pump? Do temps creep while in BIOS?

 

[shiftyeyedkirk]

The temps do come down temporarily when the side panel is removed, but they eventually end up right back at 100c. The cooler is mounted on the front of the case with fans pulling fresh air into it. I have checked in the bios and manually turned off the automatic overclock it had on it. It runs at 4.7ghz boost most of the time until it starts thermal throttling. I am just curious if there is a better cooling option out there, as the Kraken X63 is already a very beefy cooler.

 

[shiftyeyedkirk]

Oh, I also did make sure bubbles cannot form in the pump. The pump is mounted above, with the tubes down at the bottom.

 

[punkncat]

Can you post a picture of the setup?

Typically, you should not have the pump being the high point in the AIO.

 

[shiftyeyedkirk]

I phrased that incorrectly. The pump is not at the top of the loop. Just above the tubes. The radiator is large enough that the top of the loop is the top of the radiator. I actually checked this against the Gamers Nexus video on the topic to make sure I did it right to avoid air bubbles.

https://imgur.com/a/hZODAPG

To explain the fan config, I have two very large 240m fans on the front of the AIO pulling in air, with the back and top fans exhausting.

 

[geofelt]

If you want to try air, I can recommend the Noctua NH-D15S
https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nh-d15s-chromax-black/p/13C-0005-001M2

The radiator size is about the same as the X63.
Cooling should be at least comparable.

Or, for the ultimate, see if you can find their latest version:
https://noctua.at/en/noctua-release...gship-model-cpu-cooler-and-nf-a14x25r-g2-fans

 

[Phaaze88]

I have not overclocked it...

Some motherboard's defaults ARE overclocks.
More often than not, a Z-series board is default overclocked. You can tell by looking at a couple settings:
-Power limit is at an impractical 4096w long and short boost.
-The turbo boost frequency is the same regardless of load, instead of scaling with the number of active cores. Or, the all core load is running higher than advertised.
You can see default behavior here: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-9900k/17.html

NZXT H510 Elite
The cooler is mounted on the front of the case with fans pulling fresh air into it.

Not a good case to use AIOs with, even though they're used in NZXT's advertisements. That little grille they have at the side for air intake is quite narrow.
You have stacked up on the air resistance, making the fans' job harder:
-the narrow vent in the side.
-air has to turn 90 degrees, causing a further drop in airflow/pressure. It doesn't lose as much if it's flowing straight.
-the radiator itself is a source of air resistance.



TL;DR: Get an air cooler if you don't wish to change the case. Thermalright Phantom Spirit Evo(or non-Evo) or Peerless Assassin, and check temperatures again.
Cases are a personal choice, so I don't have any suggestions, other than to install radiators next to mesh surfaces only.

 

[thestryker]

Doesn't that case have a solid front panel?

If it's the one I'm thinking of it's really bad for airflow and you're going to be limited in how well it'll do. It'd be worthwhile to check what clockspeed the CPU is running at as the temps go up.