I'm checking whether my Ryzen 7 5700X3D is running hotter than it should. During an OCCT Extreme all-core load, it reaches about 89°C at roughly 119–120W package power and around 3.85 GHz all-core. The CPU is configured with Curve Optimizer at -10 on one core and -30 on the others, although the lower setting is unstable on core 0. Voltage is generally around 1.20–1.24V, with stock power limits.
Cooling is a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE with MX-6 paste that was applied about 1.3 years ago. All fans run at full speed during testing. The case has three 120mm intakes, one 140mm rear exhaust, and one 120mm top exhaust, though the fans are fairly inexpensive. Ambient temperature is usually 29–33°C and can occasionally reach 39°C. I also use four RAM sticks and recently installed a 5070 Ti, although the GPU is idle during the CPU test.
Gaming temperatures are usually lower, but can reach around 80°C during hot weather. I remember seeing roughly 60–73°C in cooler months, so I'm unsure whether this is simply the unusually high room temperature or whether the cooler mount, paste, fan curve, or case airflow has degraded. Would an Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 make a meaningful difference, and would this setup be suitable for a 7800X3D? I'd especially like comparisons from people testing in similarly warm rooms.
3 Answers
For a 120W sustained stress test with a 33°C room, temperatures near 89°C are believable. The CPU’s thermal limit is around that range, and the 3.85 GHz all-core result suggests it may be reducing boost slightly to stay there. Your gaming temperatures are the more useful measurement, and around 65–80°C in summer is generally fine. I wouldn’t buy an AIO solely for this result.
A 280mm or 360mm liquid cooler would probably lower the peak temperature and might recover some boost headroom, but it won’t overcome a 33–39°C room. Water coolers still have to dump that heat into the same hot air, and they add pump and maintenance concerns. The Peerless Assassin is already a capable cooler, so I’d only upgrade if you regularly run long, sustained workloads or want lower noise. It should be adequate for a 7800X3D as well, assuming the case has good airflow.
The ambient temperature explains a large part of the result, but I’d still check the basics before spending money. Reseat the cooler, inspect the mounting pressure, replace the paste if it has dried or spread poorly, and confirm the case panels and front filters aren’t restricting intake. A custom fan curve can also help. At 26–28°C ambient, the same cooler and CPU can reasonably stay below 80°C under full load, so your temperature delta is somewhat higher than ideal, though not immediately dangerous.
A restrictive case can easily add several degrees even with a lot of fans. Fan count matters less than how freely cool air reaches the heatsink and how quickly warm air leaves.
That makes sense. I’m mainly comparing it with older readings around 60–73°C, but the room is much hotter now. I also occasionally run AI workloads and other tasks that can keep all cores loaded, so those temperatures matter to me too.