[SOLVED] Yet another Ryzen 5 3600 Temperature question

[mkeMike]

About a week ago, I was playing Elder Scrolls Online when my computer started stuttering and ended up shutting down. When I booted up the computer again, I popped into the BIOS and it said the CPU temp was 85C. I installed monitoring software and noticed my CPU temp was climbing up above 70C while idling in the BIOS, was sitting at well over 60C while idling after startup, and even climbed as high as 98C while playing ESO.

I looked into issues causing high temps like these and found that improperly applied thermal paste could be the issue. I do recall that when I installed the stock cooler (my CPU came with the Wraith Stealth), I installed it incorrectly, had to pull it off, and failed to re-apply thermal paste. Why my computer had been working fine for so long ( I built it near the end of May) after this initial mistake and only now started to act up, I have no idea.

Anyway, I bought some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste and reapplied it. My computer now idles (based on Ryzen Master) at around 45-55C. While gaming it can sometimes crawl up to 85C, but usually hangs around the 77-79C range.

This is all background to the meat of my question. I contacted AMD support with my issues and included screenshots of Ryzen Master idle (Temp at ~45C), while playing ESO (Temp at ~77C) and while playing ESO after a stress test where the temp got to 95C (Temp dropped to 85C after the stress test). Despite my temps generally staying in the green and occasionally going into the yellow, they said my temps were unsafe and that I should claim warranty on my CPU if I am still able.

My question is: do I need to replace my CPU? My temps have stabilized compared to what I was seeing before replacing the thermal paste, so I figured that was problem solved. Of course, the recommendation to replace the CPU is straight from AMD support, so that makes me pause. I could really use some advice because my knowledge of PCs does not extend beyond the basics of simply putting the parts together and making them functional.

My PC specs :

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard: ASUS RoG Strix B450-F Gaming AM4 ATX
Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
SSD: Crucial 1TB MX500 2.5" Internal SATA SSD
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - SATA
GPU: GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5700 XT GAMING OC 8G
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G3, 80 Plus Gold 650W
Chassis: Phanteks Eclipse (PH-EC300PTG_BK)
OS: Win 10

I also had an old Samsung 120GB SSD (with Windows on it) and an old 1TB HDD that I kept from my old comp that I have re-purposed for my new comp, if that matters.

 

[kurdtnz]

If that's the case,id say 99% of AMD users will be claiming warranty!

 

[dorsai]

You had a cpu installed without thermal paste...I am surprised the magic smoke didn't escape from the cpu.

To answer your question, no I don't think you need to replace the cpu unless it's crashing your system or causing other issues when in use.

Consider yourself lucky and learn from the experience.

 

[mkeMike]

You had a cpu installed without thermal paste...I am surprised the magic smoke didn't escape from the cpu.

To answer your question, no I don't think you need to replace the cpu unless it's crashing your system or causing other issues when in use.

Consider yourself lucky and learn from the experience.

Yeah, I had no idea that even just removing the cooler to readjust required a re-application of thermal paste, so I am amazed I didn't have issues earlier and am so thankful I didn't totally wreck my computer

 

[mkeMike]

If that's the case,id say 99% of AMD users will be claiming warranty!

Thanks for the reply and glad to know it looks like I'm in the clear. Based on what I saw online, it seemed pretty normal for Ryzen 5 3600s to run at 80C+ while gaming, so I was surprised to hear that AMD considered those temps unsafe

 

[Zerk2012]

Yeah, I had no idea that even just removing the cooler to readjust required a re-application of thermal paste, so I am amazed I didn't have issues earlier and am so thankful I didn't totally wreck my computer

It still had some paste unless you cleaned it all off when you remounted the cooler.

I would replace the cooler the stock ones are rather bad anyhow.

they said my temps were unsafe and that I should claim warranty on my CPU if I am still able

Who is they?

 

[Furzumz]

What cooler are you using?

I've heard of a lot of people reaching max temp with stock coolers under a stress test

But you gotta keep in mind most stress test software pegs CPU's at 100% usage at all times. A video game on the other hand isn't going to do that. A demanding game might run at high usage depending on your processor but not 100% at all times 24/7 type of high

 

[Karadjgne]

Temps are normal. You own a Ryzen, not an intel, so throw out any pre-conceived notions of how it works.

At idle an intel will chop speeds and voltages, but all cores remain active. So all the background tasks are split up amongst all the cores. Temp monitors including bios will only read the hottest core at any given moment and thats what you see as services and processes start up.

With Ryzen at idle, it puts to sleep all cores but 1. That single core has the entire load of all the services and processes, so consequently shows not only a higher idle compared to Intel, but also a higher spike comparatively. It's not until you come out of idle that the loads get split up between cores. So you'll often get 40° idle, spike to 60° yet game at 55°C.


This is a Ryzen 3600. Prior generations of amd and Intel used a monolithic die, a single die dead center of the IHS. The pea sized drop of paste worked perfectly for that. With the Ryzens, that doesn't always work. The chiplets are spread out for thermal purposes, sitting next to corners/edges, so many ppl have paste issues and do not realize it. The dot doesn't easily spread or cover the very edges or corners, so there's no paste between IHS and cooler base. Far better with these cpus to use a spatula or credit card and completely cover the IHS in a uniform thin layer instead of Pea drop.

 

[mkeMike]

Who is they?

Some technical support person at AMD after I submitted a support request regarding my high temps

 

[mkeMike]

What cooler are you using?

I've heard of a lot of people reaching max temp with stock coolers under a stress test

But you gotta keep in mind most stress test software pegs CPU's at 100% usage at all times. A video game on the other hand isn't going to do that. A demanding game might run at high usage depending on your processor but not 100% at all times 24/7 type of high

I believe the stock cooler that came with my CPU was the Wraith Stealth. It's certainly functional, but I may look into upgrading to a newer cooler given the other responses here

 

[Furzumz]

I believe the stock cooler that came with my CPU was the Wraith Stealth. It's certainly functional, but I may look into upgrading to a newer cooler given the other responses here

Yeah a better cooler would cool better and probably be a lot quieter depending on what you get

The stock coolers are usually designed to be just "good enough" but not all that much more.

 

[John Chesterfield]

I believe the stock cooler that came with my CPU was the Wraith Stealth. It's certainly functional, but I may look into upgrading to a newer cooler given the other responses here

If you have the money and a large enough case, I'm using a BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4. Keeps my 3700x at 73c with all cores loaded using PBO and is extremely quiet. If you're wanting easier mounting, the Noctua DH-15 would also be very good.

Good cheaper options are the Evo 212 and Scythe Mugen 5 rev B, the latter is very good for the money.

 

[Karadjgne]

Cooler choice will depend largely on 2 things, not including budget. Case cpu clearance height and ram height/location. After you figure out just what will actually fit, then worry about looks.