I'm using a Lian Li Hydroshift 2 AIO with three AsiaHorse Dawn fans and a Ryzen 7 9800X3D. During Cinebench 2026, the CPU averages around 88°C. My room is fairly warm at 27–30°C, and the processor does not appear to be thermal throttling, but the temperature seems high compared with reports of around 70–75°C. I also had a Cinebench crash while trying a -10 all-core undervolt.
The pump block received some scratches during an earlier installation mistake, although I applied fresh thermal paste and removed the protective plastic. Could the fans be too weak, or could the damaged pump be affecting cooling? In regular use, the CPU reaches about 60°C while gaming, around 75°C when downloading large games, and briefly spikes to roughly 70°C when opening games. Should I replace the fans, request a refund, or replace the entire cooler? I like the cooler's appearance and LCD, but I want to make sure these temperatures are reasonable.
3 Answers
When comparing temperatures with other people, remember that their room may be around 20°C. A room that is 10°C warmer can make your CPU temperature roughly 10°C higher under the same workload. Your regular temperatures do not suggest that the AIO is failing, and the aftermarket fans are probably adequate unless their airflow or speed is unusually poor.
The crash while using a -10 undervolt points more toward an unstable undervolt than a cooling problem. Even a small negative offset is not guaranteed to work on every chip, so try stock settings first and confirm that Cinebench completes reliably. I would not replace the cooler based on these results alone. Check pump speed, fan curves, mounting pressure, and whether the block makes even contact, but the scratches are unlikely to matter if they are only cosmetic and the contact surface is still flat.
An average of 88°C during a heavy CPU benchmark can be normal, especially with a 9800X3D and a 27–30°C room. Synthetic benchmarks load the processor much harder than most real-world tasks, so they will naturally produce higher temperatures. Your gaming temperature around 60°C is much more useful for judging everyday cooling performance.
That makes sense. I was focusing too much on the benchmark comparisons, since my gaming temperatures are considerably lower.