[SOLVED] Ryzen 9 3900x Voltage settings

Nitroe

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I recently changed my thermal paste because I reached 98 C while playing COD Warzone. While I think it helped my cpu a little I'm still getting high cpu temps. I recently watched Jay's video here
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssuqhyqah2k&t=889s
going over the stock voltage settings that motherboards use. I followed his guide and switched my voltage settings to 1.3 on the CPU. My temps are lower but now my CPU does not go over 3.80 GHz where as before it was boosting to 4.2-4.3 GHz. Is that just the trade-off for lowering the voltage? I didn't see much of a difference in FPS while comparing the two settings but I am sure it is there.
 
Solution
I'm using a Gamdias AIO liquid cooler. The case is not the best for airflow, it has a glass front and side panel. I had it on auto settings before and HW info had it around 1.4-1.45 voltage
1.4-1.45 is about right when boosting in light to moderate work such as gaming. But it seems to me a 3900X should be boosting higher than 4.2-4.3 in gaming. That could be because it was pulling clocks at such high temps...and a 240mm AIO really should get better than 98C.

How many fans do you have in top and back to exhaust air? Can you remove the glass panel in front to let it breathe freely? The glass side panel shouldn't be an issue with a front mounted radiator if it's able to breathe freely and exhaust out top and rear.

But, if you...
What cooler are you using?

What case and what is the fan arrangement?

What was the voltage setting before you changed it?

Lowering voltage to 1.3V won't let the CPU boost to it's high clocks so it makes sense it's now choked at 3.8Ghz max.

98C is high, especially just playing a game. You probably need much better cooling so start with the CPU cooler. But if using an air cooler even the very best Noctua NH-D15 can't do much if inadequate case ventilation leaves it the hot air from the GPU to try and cool the CPU with.
 
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Nitroe

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May 8, 2020
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I'm using a Gamdias AIO liquid cooler. The case is not the best for airflow, it has a glass front and side panel. I had it on auto settings before and HW info had it around 1.4-1.45 voltage
 
I'm using a Gamdias AIO liquid cooler. The case is not the best for airflow, it has a glass front and side panel. I had it on auto settings before and HW info had it around 1.4-1.45 voltage
1.4-1.45 is about right when boosting in light to moderate work such as gaming. But it seems to me a 3900X should be boosting higher than 4.2-4.3 in gaming. That could be because it was pulling clocks at such high temps...and a 240mm AIO really should get better than 98C.

How many fans do you have in top and back to exhaust air? Can you remove the glass panel in front to let it breathe freely? The glass side panel shouldn't be an issue with a front mounted radiator if it's able to breathe freely and exhaust out top and rear.

But, if you can't remove the glass front another thing is to mount the radiator on top to exhaust up and get better airflow over the radiator at least. Then, you could open the side and see how it affects cooling and clocks. The fans in top could be moved to front to draw in whatever cool air they can through the glass panel gaps; or just look pretty if RGB.

The last consideration, of course, is whether this is a new problem and how long you've had that AIO. Some AIO's have a problem with biologics growing in the liquid and gunking up the microfins in the water block: it can happen in as little as 2 years. But mostly, AIO's should be good for about 5 years before liquids have permeated out the tubing walls and the pumps starts to gurgle continuously, even good ones.
 
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Solution

Nitroe

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This is the PC I have, the radiator is mounted to the top, it has 3 120mm fans in the front, one in the back. I know it's a prebuilt, don't judge! I thought it was a great deal at the time.

https://www.newegg.com/abs-computer-technologies-mage-h-ala120/p/N82E16883102750

I opened the side panel and the temps are a bit better. The only thing is, I don't want to leave it open. I've been thinking about buying some mesh and cutting it to fit the side, I'm not sure how effective it would be though.
 
This is the PC I have, the radiator is mounted to the top, it has 3 120mm fans in the front, one in the back. I know it's a prebuilt, don't judge! I thought it was a great deal at the time.

https://www.newegg.com/abs-computer-technologies-mage-h-ala120/p/N82E16883102750

I opened the side panel and the temps are a bit better. The only thing is, I don't want to leave it open. I've been thinking about buying some mesh and cutting it to fit the side, I'm not sure how effective it would be though.
yeah, wow. that's not such a bad looking system...just terrible air flow into the front.

One trick I've seen is to go to the hardware store and buy a bunch of black rubber washers with a hole the same as the side panel mounting screws. Put as many as possible over screws betwen the glass side panel and the case edge then tighten down lightly. It should leave an air gap all the way around the side panel for additional air flow. Now make sure the radiator fans are working at a high setting to provide air flow across the radiator.

But hitting 98C is still bothersome...that suggests the liquid in the radiator might be thermally saturating. It should be two hours at least in a heavy workload (like rendering or transcoding videos, not gaming) before that happens as water can absorb a massive amount of heat before saturating (basic physics at play here). If it's getting that high really soon, maybe 1/2 hour or so, then suspect low liquid levels. If it's getting that high immediately something's wrong either with water block mounting, pump (check RPM...it should be running MAXED, with max voltage, all the time) or the microfins gunked up.

For reference: I've a 240mm AIO on a 3700X in a small mATX case and it's never saturated even after 4 hours of video transcoding. Not even a solid week running Folding@Home, which runs both the GPU and CPU on maximum heavy work, made CPU temperatures bloom out of the 70's.
 
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Nitroe

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Okay that's a really smart idea, I'll go to the hardware store tomorrow. As far as the cpu cooler, I have never installed one so are you saying I should add more water to it?
 
Okay that's a really smart idea, I'll go to the hardware store tomorrow. As far as the cpu cooler, I have never installed one so are you saying I should add more water to it?

How old is the AIO? You MIGHT need liquid added, but if in warranty I'd be working with who sold you the system first.

You can add liquid to many makes if they left an accessible fill port. There are some how-to's on YouTube, but the basics include remembering that liquid flows down with air bubbles at top and that the liquid won't always flow easily through the radiator tubes because of it's surface tension. So you have to get the fill port up, then gently jostle and tap over the whole thing to make the air bubbles rise to the fill port. Then open it and squirt in the liquid...I used a 10CC syringe. Also, leave a small air gap since the liquid will expand as it heats up and this is a closed system.

Also: do not use water. Use automotive antifreeze in a 60-40 mix (60 water, 40 antifreeze) or 50-50 if that's all you can get. More water is better; but not too much since the antifreeze has necessary anti-corrosives and other stuff to keep your system healthy. It's also good to add an anti-biologic if you can get some. If you add water to your mix use distilled water, not tap water and not de-ionized water.

If yours does not have an accessible fill port then the refill process is much more difficult; you have to cut a tube and then reconnect it. Not something to attempt unless you've a solid backup you can go to.
 
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Nitroe

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This sounds really complicated and stressful. I'd rather just buy a air cooler tbh. What would you recommend for one of those? I'd like to get a noctua but as you can see from the pictures there isn't much room
 
Okay that's a really smart idea, I'll go to the hardware store tomorrow. As far as the cpu cooler, I have never installed one so are you saying I should add more water to it?
Oh...i just took a closer look at your system picture.

If the fans are installed as shown in the picture they're worthless. I'd remove them from the space between the glass and the case metal front and move them to to the inside surface of the case front bulkhead. That way there's a space for air to actually pass into the fan front.
 
This sounds really complicated and stressful. I'd rather just buy a air cooler tbh. What would you recommend for one of those? I'd like to get a noctua but as you can see from the pictures there isn't much room
Yeah, it can be involved and messy if there's no fill port.

I'd think there's enough room to fit a Noctua...or BeQuiet. It really looks roomy compared to my mATX cases LOL.

But seriously, an air cooler won't perform any better (maybe worse) if you can't get those front fans unblocked. I'm pretty sure that's your problem in fact; if you buy anything it should be a better case first. One with decent ventilation. Or just try moving the front fans as I suggest above.

https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-meshify-c-dark-tg-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352072

That would be good...the mesh front shows a bit of the RGB fans yet still flows air. And about the same price as a Noctua cooler LOL.
 

Nitroe

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Yeah I'd love to get a new case but I am terrible at building a PC when it comes to all the cables and wires. So you're saying I should pull the front 3 fans back a little so they're not right in the front?
 
Yeah I'd love to get a new case but I am terrible at building a PC when it comes to all the cables and wires. So you're saying I should pull the front 3 fans back a little so they're not right in the front?
If they are installed as shown in the picture on the Newegg web page, yes. Mount them to the interior wall of the case, blowing IN, instead of exterior.

It's terrible the way pre-builts often take shortcuts with assembly that kill system performance potential. Even with good hardware they just mess it up. That's been the topic of several GamerNexus videos recently, but if you're willing to dig in and move things around it's often fixable.
 
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Nitroe

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I took the whole front glass panel off and I bought 2 mesh magnet panels I'm going to put behind the fans. I have to game on it to see but idle my temps are much better. That, combined with the washer idea you had will really help out my temps. I think I'm going to go back to the auto voltage settings in the BIOS once I have it all configured so I get those nice GHz. Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate all your insight, I would not have known what to do without it!
 

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