I recently built two identical PCs, both equipped with a 9060XT graphics card and an R5 7600X processor. One runs Linux, and the other runs Windows 11. While testing No Man's Sky on ultra settings, I noticed a significant temperature difference: the CPU temperature on the Linux PC peaked at 74°C according to MangoHud, whereas the Windows PC is constantly stuck at 95°C. Interestingly, when switching to Discord, the Windows PC's temperature drops to around 75°C. I've heard that the Ryzen 7000 series is known for throttling at high temperatures, but I'm puzzled as to why one PC is performing normally while the other isn't. Could there be a reason for this discrepancy?
2 Answers
It's actually normal for Ryzen CPUs to throttle when they hit 95°C, but they shouldn't be running at that temp all the time. If the cooler is installed properly, you might want to check the wattage settings in the BIOS – it could be that one of the PCs is drawing more power than the other. Make sure both are set to the same limits.
My first guess is that there might have been a mistake when you mounted the cooler on the Windows PC. You could have forgotten to remove the protective plastic from the cooler's base, or maybe the mounting job didn't go smoothly. It might be a good idea to take off the cooler and reapply the thermal paste for better heat transfer.
That makes sense! I'm going to reapply the thermal paste tomorrow and see if that helps.
We made sure to set the BIOS the same way, even enabled the CPU eco settings, but I'll double-check everything!