Assisting in lowering the temperature of AMD RYZEN 5 1600
Assisting in lowering the temperature of AMD RYZEN 5 1600
Mike's observation isn't entirely off. I'm running a 1700X at 3950 with 1.375v using the average Corsair H60 and an aftermarket 120mm fan. When under load with Prime 95, temperatures rise significantly. They stabilize around 85.6c (core temperature), not the higher reading you've heard about. During a stress test in Realbench, it stays below 76, which is a solid performance. Corsair has now released brackets for the H105 and H80iv2. I'm expecting one soon to test an H80iv2 with an 1600X for comparison against the H60.
Mike's concern remains valid, though—your CPU performance still plays a bigger role than the cooler when using Ryzen. The chipset usually caps you at around 3.9 or 4.0 in most scenarios. If your voltage needs push it further...
I believe H100 would suffice. Air coolers from the CM 212EVO series should handle up to 4GHz, offering a solid OC outcome. You're likely targeting frequencies between 3.8 to 3.9 GHz, which should stay under 100W TDP.
Currently they struggle to overclock effectively. 3.9-4.1 is the limit, which can be achieved with a $29 212 EVO.
It's wise to maximize cooling when you can. A cooler with 200W TDP on a 95W processor will operate at minimal speeds, ensuring quiet performance. By chance and timing, I ended up using a large Mugen3 CPU cooler for a 65W Athlon II x2 260BE, and the fan wasn't even needed.
Mike's perspective isn't far off...
I'm running a 1700X at 3950, clocked at 1.375v using the average Corsair H60 with an aftermarket 120mm fan. When under load and using Prime 95, temperatures rise significantly. They stabilize around 85.6c (core temperature), not the higher reading you've heard about. During a stress test in Realbench, it stays below 76, which is a solid performance. Corsair just dropped the brackets for the H105 and H80iv2. I'm getting one soon to test an H80iv2 with an 1600X on it for comparison against the H60.
Despite this, Mike's observation holds true—your CPU often plays a bigger role than the cooler when using Ryzen. The chipset usually caps you at around 3.9 or 4.0 most of the time. If your voltage needs are under 1.4, you won't need a lot more. I discovered that pushing from 3.95 to 4.0 required a jump to about 1.43, which caused temperatures to spike above 90°C quickly under load, so I settled on 3.95 long-term. A better cooler could help in this case.
My personal advice would be to choose an H105. I build many Intel systems and have used that cooler for years (usually with solid high-static third-party fans that don't make noise) and it performs well. I've had direct comparisons between the H105 and H80i v2, finding the 105 about 5-6°C cooler under load.