I recently upgraded to a Ryzen 9 9900X and am cooling it with a DeepCool AK620. My case has six fans configured with four intakes and two exhaust fans, while room temperature is usually between 25°C and 30°C. The processor idles around 55–60°C and reaches about 85°C during a full load, which I understand is within the expected range. However, I wasn't confident about how evenly I applied the thermal paste and I'm wondering whether reapplying it could noticeably reduce the temperatures.
4 Answers
Probably not by a significant amount. Around 85°C under a full load in a 25–30°C room with an air cooler is already quite reasonable for a Ryzen 9 9900X. If the original application was especially uneven, repasting might improve things by a degree or two, possibly three, but don’t expect a dramatic change.
For a more noticeable reduction, look at BIOS tuning instead. A modest Curve Optimizer undervolt or lower power limit can reduce heat while preserving most of the performance. Adjust the CPU fan curve too if you mainly want lower temperatures during lighter workloads.
If you want to try it, carefully clean both surfaces and apply a consistent amount of quality paste. A better application can occasionally lower temperatures by a few degrees, but the result depends on how poor the first application was.
Your temperatures look normal, so I wouldn’t redo the paste unless you have another reason to remove the cooler. As long as the system is maintaining its expected performance and isn’t throttling, there’s no problem to solve.
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