Ryzen 7 5800X Cooling

I seemed to me that the temperature rose suddenly (seconds) when any activity above idle begins. I was using the factory installed pad and thought that I might do better with heat sink paste. My paste seemed to offer a slightly lower initial temperature, but faster rise. I have not been stressing the unit and it did not rise to critical temperatures, but I'm concerned about the fast rise with virtually no rise in the Kraken X63 coolant temperature. The unit will idle at about 30°C and quickly run up to 40-45°C. If I go back to idle, the temperature will slowly recede to the idle temperature.

I decided to remount again and I noticed a very slight scar on the cooler. On investigation I noticed that there is a small ridge on the top edge of the processor heat sink. It's not very visible, but I can feel it with a fingernail on about three sides. My cooling paste is a little less viscus than the factory paste and may not have filled the gap as well.

Has anyone else noticed the ridge?

I'm debating how I might remove the ridge without creating a larger issue. I'd really like to mount the processor in a dud socket in order to protect the pins from bending and keep any metal particles from flowing into the pin farm or motherboard. Rather than filing or sanding the edge, I may be able to simply to roll the edge with a blunt tool, thus avoiding any particle creation.

Comments?

Comments

  • Hello @Builder and thanks for posting on the Microcenter Community Forum. Describe the Scar on the cooler or attach an image. Also on the ridge, share an image of this as well as to what your are mulling on removing from the cooler.

  • Builder
    Builder ✭✭
    First Comment Name Dropper
    edited March 2021

    White edge is the ridge. Similar issue along most of the adjacent two sides. What you are seeing is a reflection off of the raised edge.



    Here you can see the edge impression. Probably I could repair this with a pencil eraser.



  • @Builder looks like a heat sink stain from too much pressure when installed. What cpu cooler do you have and was it purchased from Microcenter? We need to compare your cooler as the picture with the red lines looks as if the 3 edges are chipped. But we need to know your cooler and so we can cross reference its design.

  • Cooler is NZXT KRAKEN X63. Unfortunately the cooler was not purchased from Microcenter, but the remainder of the system is from Microcenter.

  • PowerSpec_MichaelB
    PowerSpec_MichaelB ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Answer 5 Insightfuls First Comment 5 Awesomes

    Greetings,


    What you are actually seeing here is a CPU IHS that is a bit concave while your cooler is machined to be more towards the flatter side. AMD CPU's are commonly concave while their coolers are slightly convex to offer a proper mating surface. Anyone that has ever used a stock AMD cooler and had the dread of pulling their cooler off without "breaking the seal" knows the fear of pulling their processor out of the socket due to how strong this mating surface vacuum can be.


    The scratching you are seeing won't impact performance at all as thermal paste is designed to fill the micro-gaps and surface imperfections between the mating surfaces of your heatsink/AIO and CPU IHS, but you'll likely still experience higher thermals for a different reason entirely.


    The Ryzen 7 5800X is a single CCD CPU, meaning there is only one core complex die on the CPU substrate:


    The image above is a delidded 5600X (destroyed, but still illustrates my point). The die on the top left corner is the CCD die where your CPU cores reside. The larger die towards the bottom center is the IO die, where your memory controller and PCIe lanes reside. Your AIO cooler's fin array, the fin stack that defines the surface area and cooling potential of your AIO, is centralized, meaning the cooling is focused on the center of the CPU. Since most of the heat of your processor is generated on the corner, AIO's are often less efficient for cooling AMD's single CCD processors.


    Der8auer, a renowned overclocked, managed to drop temperatures by 7C simply by creating a bracket to offset the location of his AIO back on Ryzen 3000: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/new-amd-ryzen-3000-overclocking-mounting-brackets-debut-for-just-dollar33


    That said, the idle temps you are seeing are not a cause for concern. You are going to see higher idle temps on Ryzen because Ryzen's turbo algorithm is very aggressive during low-current "idle" workloads. When current drops below 20A, you typically see voltage values spike above 1.48-1.52V and turbo clocks of over 4.8ghz or more depending on power/thermal overhead. These will cause higher reported thermals during idle workloads, but should not be seen as a bad thing. As long as your processor is remaining cooler during your typical workloads (preferably under 80-85C for extended periods), you'll be fine.

  • There is no stain. That large, irregular white area is an artifact of my cross lighting scheme used to highlight the raised edge.

  • TSMichaelB,

    Thanks for your comment. In your opinion, that slight "rim" highlighted in my image is normal. I'd be more comfortable if the rim was consistent around the perimeter. Admittedly, this is simply a "fingernail" test and not definitive.

    I have not yet stressed the CPU, I'm still kicking tires and have not seen anything approaching 80°C.

  • PowerSpec_MichaelB
    PowerSpec_MichaelB ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Answer 5 Insightfuls First Comment 5 Awesomes

    It's normal, as these IHS's are stamped. My 5950X has the exact same lip:


    Mine also did the exact same marring to my Noctua D15 cooler. (Don't have a picture of this now, but I can snap one when I get off work).


    If you look very closely on mine, you'll notice every single corner has those lips. This is because the IHS is concave, the center of it dips inward while the corners raise outward. You can't see it well from this image, but the entire bottom part of my CPU has a full lip as well, while the rest does not.


    If you are worried about this, you can lap your CPU using a flat glass surface and some sand paper, but know that this will absolutely void your warranty. Also be mindful that polishing and lapping are not the same thing. Lapping is done to achieve a flat surface, while polishing can be achieved without a surface being flat. People often incorrectly lap CPU's to a mirror finish and end up with worse temperatures because the CPU isn't really flat. If you do lap your CPU, you also have to be careful and make sure the heatsink or water block is also flat. If it isn't, it will need to be lapped as well. This is especially tricky for AIO blocks as they don't have much material that is available for removal, and removing too much runs the risk of leaks.


    I'd say if you are not having thermal issues and it's running fine, that it isn't much of a concern. If you are worried about the finish on your cooler, it would be easier to polish the surface to remove the imperfection, but it won't have any impact on your actual cooling performance.

  • Builder
    Builder ✭✭
    First Comment Name Dropper
    edited March 2021

    Thanks. I'm not worried about the AIO scratches, they are mild and at the perimeter of a couple corners. And, I don't need a lapping chore at this point.

    'Scratches' in general are a misnomer because we think of them as removing material. Actually they are mostly displacements. Using a mud or oatmeal analogy, dragging a finger through the mud will create a depression and might remove a little, but it pushes up material around the margins.

    Overall, I was surprised by how quickly the CPU temperature rose and wondered if I had poor thermal contact. I suppose that my temperature reporting program, the NZXT utility, is misleading me. As indicated by the AIO scratches and paste spread, I obviously had contact.

    While I didn't observe my paste running all over, I may have used a little more than necessary.

  • Builder
    Builder ✭✭
    First Comment Name Dropper
    edited March 2021

    I see various schemes for applying the paste. Some suggest a pea in the center, the document packed with my paste suggested an 'X' pattern, some suggest spreading the pea with a spatula. I used an 'X' and no spatula. On removal of the AIO, the paste was uniformly distributed over the CPU footprint.

    I'll note that the AIO factory applied paste did not flow to fill the CPU footprint.

  • PowerSpec_MichaelB
    PowerSpec_MichaelB ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Answer 5 Insightfuls First Comment 5 Awesomes

    I personally subscribe to the "pea sized dot" method and let the mounting pressure of my cooler perform the spreading. It's yet to fail me, and I've never seen any difference in performance vs manually spreading. My problem with manually spreading is my preferred thermal paste (Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut) is extremely viscous and difficult to spread, so attempting to spread it results in excess paste being wasted as it doesn't spread all that well with their included spatula.


    As long as you have enough paste to cover the microscopic gaps of air, you'll be fine. With an AIO, you might need to press down on the cooler a bit after you tighten the mounting screws to make sure it spreads properly, as they typically don't have a lot of mounting pressure like your tower air coolers or custom water blocks would.

  • Interesting. Now I used the 'pea' and the idle temperature can be just a couple degrees above the water temperature, but the spikes are higher and faster up and down. I'll see spikes up to about 60°C. There was a W10 update and an NZXT update today. Perhaps these change the rhythm.

    Anyway I'm using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut too.

    I took the liberty of rolling those CPU edges a little. I didn't fully remove them, but the high points are reduced. The CPU cap is harder than I expected. I had been expecting soft aluminum.

    Thanks for your comments.

  • PowerSpec_MichaelB
    PowerSpec_MichaelB ✭✭✭✭✭
    First Answer 5 Insightfuls First Comment 5 Awesomes

    The IHS is actually nickel-plated copper, which might explain why the material felt a little different than anticipated. Glad to hear you were able to smooth those edges out, I didn't bother once I got my water block attached. So far, thermals are fine on my end.


    The spikes in thermals sound normal, especially factoring in AMD's Precision Boost Overdrive and it's behavior with low-current, high-voltage at lower loads. Oddly enough, if you put your CPU under a heavy multi-core load, you'll likely see lower, more stable temps than what you'll see under a lighter, single-threaded load. At least that is what I've noticed with my 5950X.

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