I recently built a PC for my friend featuring a Ryzen 7700X paired with an Arctic Liquid Freezer III 240mm AIO cooler. We're a bit worried about the cooling performance, as the radiator and tubes feel quite cold, and the air blowing out of the radiator doesn't seem warm at all. I understand this CPU is designed to reach its thermal limits, but I'm concerned about where the heat is going. The pump is operating at 2000 RPM in BIOS, and here are some temperature readings I've taken: BIOS: 42°C, Desktop: 45-60°C, CPU-Z bench: 96°C, Cyberpunk: 80-90°C, and unpacking a game: 97°C. After reapplying the cooler with new thermal paste, I got: BIOS: 36°C, Desktop: 39-55°C, CPU-Z: 85°C, and the game install: 96°C. The scores in CPU-Z seem stable and higher than average for the 7700X during a stress test, so I'm wondering if everything is normal or if I'm just being paranoid. My previous CPU, the 7800X3D, with the same cooler runs hotter air out of the radiator and has lower temps, so I'm unsure if there's an issue here.
1 Answer
It sounds like you're just seeing a typical behavior of some coolers. Your 7700X isn’t drawing a ton of power, especially with the undervolt, and that means your cooler might not have to work as hard. My setup is similar, and my cooler stays cool too. It's all fine, trust me!
But if the radiator and air feel cold, doesn't that signal something's off?