[SOLVED] Ryzen 5 3600 cooling

[MNR1776]

Hello,

I want to build a computer with a Ryzen 5 3600.
I was going to use the stock cooler (Wraith Stealth), but I read that it is difficult to fit, comes with too much thermal paste, and other complaints.

Then, I started looking for an aftermarket cooler. Everyone recommends Noctuas, but they are too expensive (especially with import fees and everything). So, trying to find something cheap, I found the Arctic Freezer 34 eSports, which is cheap on Newegg.

The thing is, I don't want to have high temps, and might overclock a bit in the future. Does anyone know how good that cooler is?

What would the temps be around? Is there a noticeable difference between that and the stock Wraith Stealth?
If not, what other cooler could I get for a similar price?

Alternatively, I could buy a 3600X, that comes with the Spire cooler. Again, the problem here is AMD's stock cooling (with the issues I mentioned above).

The other option is the stock 3600, without an aftermarket cooler, so I save some money, but I don't want the CPU to run too hot.

What would you recommend?

 

[tennis2]

AMDs wraith coolers are good. Not sure who's saying they don't fit... that's about the best chance you have of fitting a cooler. If there's too much TIM, remove it and apply your own.

Always try the free option first. Anything under 70C is perfectly fine.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The Wraith Stealth coolers are much easier to fit than any aftermarket cooler.

I just swapped my far inferior Wraith Stealth out for a Freezer 34 and I almost gave up installing the cooler. My fingers weren't small enough to put the screws in place and the screws weren't magnetic. I had to remove my RAM and GPU to give me more space. The instructions online weren't great either as they didn't tell you what standoffs and screws to use even though there were multiple incompatible types included. The stock coolers are way easier to install/remove, especially with the board already in the case.

Also, these coolers are much smaller than aftermarket coolers so they will actually have a better chance of fitting in regards to memory clearance.

As for temps with the stock cooler, it will be okay for stock operation, although the Freezer 34 is much much better. The R5 3600 is very efficient and the Wraith Stealth is decent.

As for overclocking, you will need a better cooler. My stock cooler brought my overclocked 1200s temps up to 70s and mid 80s after a long Aida run. With the Freezer 34, the temps are in the 40s and 50s, only topping out at 60c after an hour of Aida 64.

However, Ryzen 3000 doesn't overclock much so I wouldn't consider it worth it to get an aftermarket cooler. If the temperatures are high, you can always replace the cooler down the road.

 

[MNR1776]

AMDs wraith coolers are good. Not sure who's saying they don't fit... that's about the best chance you have of fitting a cooler. If there's too much TIM, remove it and apply your own.

Always try the free option first. Anything under 70C is perfectly fine.

I don't know. Some people said that you have to struggle a bit to get it in well and it moves. I'm not sure.

The wraith stealth coolers are much easier to fit than any aftermarket cooler.
I just swapped my far inferior wraith stealth out for a freezer 34 and I almost gave up installing the cooler. My fingers weren't small enough to put the screws in place and the screws weren't magnetic. I had to remove my ram and gpu to give me more space. The instructions online weren't great either as they didn't tell you what standoffs and screws to use even though there were multiple incompatible types included. The stock coolers are way easier to install/remove, especially with the board already in the case.

Also, these coolers are much smaller than aftermarket coolers so they will actually have a better chance of fitting in regards to memory clearance.

As for temps with the stock cooler, it will be ok for stock operation, although the Freezer 34 is much much better. The R5 3600 is very efficient and the wraith stealth is decent.
As for overclocking, you will need a better cooler. My stock cooler brought my overclocked 1200s temps up to 70s and mid 80s after a long Aida run. With the freezer 34 the temps are in the 40s and 50s, only toping out at 60c after an hour of Aida 64.
However, ryzen 3000 doesnt overclock much so I wouldn't consider it worth it to get an aftermarket cooler. If the temperatures are high, you can always replace the cooler down the road.

I'd prefer to use an aftermarket to keep it at a low temp. I know it's okay up to 80°C or so, but just to be safe I'd rather have lower temps.
As for overclocking, I know there's not much room. I'll try to see the performance difference between stock and oc to decide.
I might stick with the stock cooler if it's not too great. But I worry temps may go high (or maybe it's fine. Perhaps I should use it for some time and then upgrade if needed.)

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Perhaps I should use it for some time and then upgrade if needed.

That is the most wise thing to do. Best not to waste money if you dont have to.

 

[MNR1776]

That is the most wise thing to do. Best not to waste money if you dont have to.

Okay. Maybe I'll do that. Btw, would you recommend to use aftermarket thermal paste? I've seen people saying that the amount of thermal paste in the stock cooler got the CPU stuck when they removed it and they bent some pins.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Nah. My wraith stealth didnt have too much paste. It did pull the cpu out of the socket when i tried to remove it no matter what paste i used. Didnt damage the cpu at all.

Amd is more likely to save money and not include enough than they would be to spend nore and give too much.

 

[MNR1776]

Nah. My wraith stealth didnt have too much paste. It did pull the cpu out of the socket when i tried to remove it no matter what paste i used. Didnt damage the cpu at all.

Amd is more likely to save money and not include enough than they would be to spend nore and give too much.

But doesn't aftermarket thermal paste perform a bit better? Or is that difference small?
If I get thermal paste, what would you recommend?

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The difference is small. Maybe a couple of degrees.

Dont get ultra cheap paste, but no need to go overboard.
Here is a good recent video. Sure its on gpus, but the jist is the same.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTzf6dpCpo

 

[Karadjgne]

There's 2 clip holes on the amd coolers. When installing, you'll want the top hole, the tightest one.

The only ppl who complain about hard fitting coolers are those who are scared of damaging the cpu and treat it like it's made of fragile glass. It's a common issue. Coolers are supposed to be tight to the cpu, so this will require a little effort on the installation. If you use the bottom holes, naturally the cooler will be loose and flop around/move.

 

[MNR1776]

The difference is small. Maybe a couple of degrees.

Dont get ultra cheap paste, but no need to go overboard.
Here is a good recent video. Sure its on gpus, but the jist is the same.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTzf6dpCpo

I'll watch it when I can and see. Thanks!

There's 2 clip holes on the amd coolers. When installing, you'll want the top hole, the tightest one.

The only ppl who complain about hard fitting coolers are those who are scared of damaging the cpu and treat it like it's made of fragile glass. It's a common issue. Coolers are supposed to be tight to the cpu, so this will require a little effort on the installation. If you use the bottom holes, naturally the cooler will be loose and flop around/move.

Oh, okay. Thanks! I will use the stock if the temps are okay then.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yep. Stock should be fine. AMD did a serious think job on those coolers, they are far superior to any prior stock heatsink.

 

[MNR1776]

Yep. Stock should be fine. AMD did a serious think job on those coolers, they are far superior to any prior stock heatsink.

The thing is that I wasn't sure about the Stealth. It's a lot smaller than the Spire and it doesn't have copper. And the R5 1600 used the Spire, so I thought maybe the Stealth wasn't too good for the 3rd gen.

 

[tennis2]

3rd gen is more power efficient than even the 2nd gen.

 

[rigg42]

I've never found any cooler to be that hard to install personally. It's best to do large air coolers with the motherboard out of the case if possible. The AMD stock coolers are pretty strait forward to install and the paste is fine.

The stealth coolers are garbage IMO. It isn't even worth installing. It works well on a 1200/1300x but that's about it. Your boost performance will be directly affected by thermals so its important to keep them in check. The Spire and Prism are pretty good coolers but the stealth is not. It's like an Intel stock cooler with better mounting and a better fan. They also changed the spire cooler and not for the better. It doesn't have the copper slug anymore. They stuck a higher RPM fan on it to compensate.

Just grab a $30-40 120mm tower air cooler and be done with it. It will do great with the 3600. I have a 3600 running on a Be Quiet Pure rock slim and it does a pretty good job. Keeps it under 80c in stress tests. I know that cooler is superior to a wraith spire which is worlds better than a wraith stealth. The stock settings are pushing the limits of the Be Quiet cooler during stress tests which is rated at twice the TDP of the stealth. I picked up a Hyper 212 RGB for a second 3600 build. I'm confident that will give her all she's got.

 

[MNR1776]

I've never found any cooler to be that hard to install personally. It's best to do large air coolers with the motherboard out of the case if possible. The AMD stock coolers are pretty strait forward to install and the paste is fine.

The stealth coolers are garbage IMO. It isn't even worth installing. It works well on a 1200/1300x but that's about it. Your boost performance will be directly affected by thermals so its important to keep them in check. The Spire and Prism are pretty good coolers but the stealth is not. It's like an Intel stock cooler with better mounting and a better fan. They also changed the spire cooler and not for the better. It doesn't have the copper slug anymore. They stuck a higher RPM fan on it to compensate.

Just grab a $30-40 120mm tower air cooler and be done with it. It will do great with the 3600. I have a 3600 running on a Be Quiet Pure rock slim and it does a pretty good job. Keeps it under 80c in stress tests. I know that cooler is superior to a wraith spire which is worlds better than a wraith stealth. The stock settings are pushing the limits of the Be Quiet cooler during stress tests which is rated at twice the TDP of the stealth. I picked up a Hyper 212 RGB for a second 3600 build. I'm confident that will give her all she's got.

Have you tried the Stealth that came with your CPU?
Anyway, if it's really that bad I might go for an aftermarket cooler, just to be sure and not have high temps if I do something too CPU-demanding.
Do you think the Arctic Freezer 34 esports (the one with a single fan) is better than your Be Quiet? According to their specs, the 34 esports is for TDP up to 200W.
It also comes with some MX-4 Thermal Paste. If I get the cooler, should I use it or get something better?

 

[rigg42]

Have you tried the Stealth that came with your CPU?
Anyway, if it's really that bad I might go for an aftermarket cooler, just to be sure and not have high temps if I do something too CPU-demanding.
Do you think the Arctic Freezer 34 esports (the one with a single fan) is better than your Be Quiet? According to their specs, the 34 esports is for TDP up to 200W.
It also comes with some MX-4 Thermal Paste. If I get the cooler, should I use it or get something better?

I have not. I've used them in the past on ryzen builds though. Based on the temps I'm seeing with the BQ (which is a far superior cooler) I would definitely not bother with it if you can spare the cash for decent cooler. I haven't used the Artic but I've heard good things and I'm sure it would do great. MX-4 is good paste. The Artic should do a bit better than my Be Quiet which is also fine for this CPU. This is probably the minimum cooler I would use on one though. There are plenty of good options in the $30-40 price range. Scythe/reeven, Cooler Master, and Deep Cool make good affordable coolers and are usually my go to brands for this type of price range. Thermalright and Noctua are generally considered top of the heap. Be Quiet usually does well in noise normalized testing. You need to pay the tax for those though. You can always slap better fans on decent heatsink as well. Keep in mind that some of these tower coolers can have clearance issues with VRM heatsinks and tall ram modules. Usually it's not an issue with single tower 120mm coolers.

I'll be doing another 3600 build later this week if you want me to slap the stealth on there quick and let you know how it does in some temp tests. At least that might give me some ammo for my rants about how terrible it is.

 

[DMAN999]

I would be interested in seeing the temps you get with the stock stealth cooler on a 3600.

 

[Karadjgne]

Just watch out for which beQuiet Slim model. The Pure Rock is decent, but it's more online with other 140w budget coolers like the Arctic 33/34 series. The Dark Rock Slim is heaps better, more inline with the higher wattage Noctua NH-U12S/A which are barely behind the NH-D15S in their wattage brackets for temps. All of the Dark Rock series are excellent, the TF actually is better than the NH-D15S all around, but only under @ 200w, the advantage going to its bigger brothers in sheer capacity at 250w+.

Coolers are rated in 2 categories, efficiency and capacity. The more efficient the cooler the lower its temp, but only inside its capacity range. For many years it was hard to top the hyper212 series under 140w, just based on price equivalents, but a similar sized Noctua would slaughter it in temps and volume, but cost close to 3x as much.

So that's your challenge, to get the most effective cooler, in the smallest bundle, with the best capacity. Cheap would be nice.

The Arctics are decent, but that's all. Pricing is ok, but you still end up with a cooler that bumps heads with a hyper212, or the 92mm Raijintek Aidos at $20.

 

[airwind]

Just built mine, r5 3600 on msi x470..

the cooler is "hard" to screw in as it does not have a base seating. i had to "aim" the screw hole but sadly it was hard.. so i just slide the fan abit while it is on top of the cpu.. so god knows what happened to the thermal paste xD (i do not have any thermal paste so i was not prepared to reapply).. screwing it in place then you would need to screw it in X fashin.. screw 1 side the proceed to screw the opposite edge.. else it tilt one side and will be hard to screw in the other side.

overall, it idles at around 48-55 C and 65-70 C when playing game (Battletech).. seems high but temperature here at night is around 26-30 C

 

[Karadjgne]

When screwing down cpu coolers, do so in an 'X' pattern, multiple times. Do NOT fully tighten one screw at a time, only a few turns each until snug, then half turns until screws stop or until tight. Single screw tightening stresses the cpu in the socket and not only ends up squashing the paste unevenly, but can flex the cpu inside the socket, resulting in at least bent pins, crushed cpu lid, or various other damages.

If there's only 2 screws, because of bracket design, then flip-flop back and forth, but same technique, couple turns until snug, half turns until stop/tight.

Ambient temps have little affect on load temps, pretty much only affects idle temps. Load temps are all about the efficiency of the cooler vrs match with the fan as to how well it'll dissipate heat. Idle temps are close enough to ambient that temps of the heatsink, cpu, air all play a part in the coolers effective temperature Delta. Room temp might be 30°C, but inside case ambient due to cpu, heatsinks, gpu exhaust, ram, controller chipsets etc, will be @ 4-6°C higher. So that's the coolers ambient, not outside case temp. Putting cpu temps at idle @ 6-12°C (generally) above outside case ambient. So with 26-30°C, expect idle temps to range from 32°C to 42°C, depending on how effective the cooler is, fan curves, airflow. If you are seeing 48-55°C then you either have bad fan curves or pretty lousy airflow as that's a @ 25°C difference at idle, far above normal(ish)

 

[rigg42]

Have you tried the Stealth that came with your CPU?

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ryzen-5-3600-w-wraith-stealth-cooler-temps.3501705/

 

[theonerm2]

Just built mine, r5 3600 on msi x470..

the cooler is "hard" to screw in as it does not have a base seating. i had to "aim" the screw hole but sadly it was hard.. so i just slide the fan abit while it is on top of the cpu.. so god knows what happened to the thermal paste xD (i do not have any thermal paste so i was not prepared to reapply).. screwing it in place then you would need to screw it in X fashin.. screw 1 side the proceed to screw the opposite edge.. else it tilt one side and will be hard to screw in the other side.

overall, it idles at around 48-55 C and 65-70 C when playing game (Battletech).. seems high but temperature here at night is around 26-30 C

I had a similar experience. It seemed harder than it should have been.

 

[airwind]

When screwing down cpu coolers, do so in an 'X' pattern, multiple times. Do NOT fully tighten one screw at a time, only a few turns each until snug, then half turns until screws stop or until tight. Single screw tightening stresses the cpu in the socket and not only ends up squashing the paste unevenly, but can flex the cpu inside the socket, resulting in at least bent pins, crushed cpu lid, or various other damages.

If there's only 2 screws, because of bracket design, then flip-flop back and forth, but same technique, couple turns until snug, half turns until stop/tight.

Ambient temps have little affect on load temps, pretty much only affects idle temps. Load temps are all about the efficiency of the cooler vrs match with the fan as to how well it'll dissipate heat. Idle temps are close enough to ambient that temps of the heatsink, cpu, air all play a part in the coolers effective temperature Delta. Room temp might be 30°C, but inside case ambient due to cpu, heatsinks, gpu exhaust, ram, controller chipsets etc, will be @ 4-6°C higher. So that's the coolers ambient, not outside case temp. Putting cpu temps at idle @ 6-12°C (generally) above outside case ambient. So with 26-30°C, expect idle temps to range from 32°C to 42°C, depending on how effective the cooler is, fan curves, airflow. If you are seeing 48-55°C then you either have bad fan curves or pretty lousy airflow as that's a @ 25°C difference at idle, far above normal(ish)

Thanks for the info.. Maybe time to get new case as this is more than 12 years cpu case.. Only has 1 back exhaust fan which survived till now..

 

[Karadjgne]

Owch. Many older pre-built pc's like Sony, HP, Compaq etc had only a single rear exhaust. Heat output consideration wasn't high on any priority list. As long as stock usage didn't go into throttle range it was considered good to go. All that stupid plastic, buttons etc right in the way of where a single intake fan would have made a huge difference. It's not unheard of for a cpu under high loads to drop 10, 15 or even as much as 20°C, just by the addition of a uncluttered intake fan.