Hot 13600k paired with AK620, need assistance?
Hot 13600k paired with AK620, need assistance?
Recently, I upgraded my CPU and cooler to address frequent bottlenecks in many games (1440p, mostly max preset except Cyberpunk). My older 12400f was paired with an AK400 cooler, but I upgraded to a 13600k and a Thermalright PA120se. Despite the changes, temperatures remain extremely high. Reviews and benchmarks suggest this is unusual. Cyberpunk pushes temps into the high 70s to low 80s, with spikes reaching mid-90s occasionally. Cinebench hits 100°C instantly. I swapped coolers twice, tried different lubricants, but results were similar. The Thermalright contact frame helped a bit in gaming, though not in Cinebench. After experimenting with BIOS settings and disabling Intel Turbo Boost, temps dropped to around 55°C on the 13600k, but clock speeds plummeted, making it feel like a toy. In games, the difference was minimal from stock, so I’m considering keeping Turbo Boost enabled but exploring undervolting options. I’ll test various CPU load profiles and monitor voltage/watt changes once home. If anyone else faces this or knows how to lower voltage safely, please share tips or links.
It's quite warm inside the CPU. You may want to verify the cooler bracket is snug and see if you can tighten the cooler screws further. Use just the right amount of paste—don’t overdo it. A slight line or cross on the die should spread the paste evenly with cooler pressure across its surface. Looks really hot. Even this model is reaching high temperatures compared to how much effort it’s put in for cooling: https://www.igorslab.de/en/supercool-com...lder-lake/ My mistake, he’s running the 12900k which could be even cooler. Uncertain.
I placed one main dot and four smaller ones, I believe that covers it. But maybe there’s too many—next time I’ll reduce it and check. Regarding multi-core boost, should the feature be turned on or off? And how significant are the differences in temperature and performance?
Yea, the cooler is definitely on right. As for the thermal paste theres a chance I put too much, doubt that's the issue here though. 1 big dog, 4 smaller dots around it, same as I had on my old chip, idk ill try a remount with less paste and see how it goes. I've heard lots of ppl say that MSI puts the CPU Lite Load higher than it should be. It's default is 12, hoping reducing that fixes the issue, not sure honestly, im just gonna look into undervolting at this point unless theres another other thing to try.
It lacks a single-core enhancement and consistently runs at 5.1.
Adjusted voltage to auto and entered CPU Lite mode 5. Started R23 for a 10-minute cycle to check temperatures. Observed stable performance without crashes. Proceeded to Lite mode 4 and continued testing until stability was confirmed. After reaching a safe temperature range, increased back to 1 or 2 modes for better reliability. Noted that the CPU reached around 70°C in R23, which is within normal limits. The stock 13600K was drawing about 230W under full load; with power limits disabled, it handled up to 150W. I’m now considering lowering the voltage further to see if it maintains stability.
Understood, PL2 (same as PL3) with 255W power cap, essentially no extra. Dropping Lite to 5, benching, dropping one unit until it fails, then keeping the higher setting. Why did auto voltage give lower output and wattage? Seems like stock behavior. Default should restore Intel Turbo Boost to full capacity. Performance was poor overall, though games ran okay. Tested PL1 at 181W power limit too—still not great.