3600X reaches 90°C with stock cooler—should it use additional liquid cooling?
3600X reaches 90°C with stock cooler—should it use additional liquid cooling?
Are you considering a liquid cooler for your 3600X? With temperatures reaching 90°C during gameplay, especially in PUBG, it’s likely you’ll need one. Your recent cooler adjustments helped, but repeated fixes suggest it might still be insufficient. The M22 Kraken NZXT setup is solid, but if you’re on a tight budget, exploring alternatives could save time and money. Regarding CPU damage, short bursts at high temps are usually safe, but prolonged exposure above 90°C can affect performance—monitor temperatures closely and consider cooling improvements.
Check for improvements by removing the side panel—are the idle temperatures lower? (Keep panel out all the time) What type of case are you using?
The max temperature on that CPU is 95, so it looks safe. You might want to tweak the fan curve on your CPU cooler—your stock cooler should handle the 3600X well. What cooler are you using? Have you applied enough thermal paste? Idle temps between 50-70 seem a bit high. You could also switch to a more affordable tower cooler like the NH-U12A or a 212 Evo, which should perform much better than the stock option.
Without the panels it runs at 70-78°C, but still stays between 50-70°C during idle. The fan is set to full speed on Gigabyte BIOS. I own a NXT H500i case. The thermal paste wasn’t applied properly initially; after three careful refits it’s still the same. I get why it’s an X—it needs a liquid cooler. How can I downclock it? I plan to purchase one and want peace of mind before it arrives. Motherboard model: Gigabyte B450 Aorus M.
You don’t have to use a liquid cooler. Improving airflow and possibly adding more thermal paste should suffice. At most, a good ~$40 air cooler will do, though you should still focus on boosting airflow. Modern CPUs usually don’t fail unless they encounter problems that prevent them from running fast. If something goes wrong, try to resolve it—there’s no need to panic.
I owned an R5 2600 in the same machine before upgrading for proper airflow. Temperatures stayed around 60°C during gameplay. Even at 50–60°C max, I experienced 8600K back then. I’m convinced the issue was the CPU.
120mm AIO doesn't always match lower-cost options; dual 120mm towers often outperform. Consider a Gelid Phantom or eSports Duo 34 for better value.