System is experiencing heat issues and fails to cool down properly.
System is experiencing heat issues and fails to cool down properly.
Hello everyone, welcome for your first post. Please be gentle—I’m really hoping you can help. Here are the main issues:
- After boot, idle temps sit between 48–56°C for 2 minutes. After an hour (just turned it on and left), they drop to around 70°C.
- Under heavy use (85°C–105°C), I shut down within a second or two if it goes above 90°C.
- Once under load, temps stay high. Stopping gaming at 85°C leaves me with nothing running; after about 15 minutes, temps hit 76–82°C on average. Watching YouTube afterward causes spikes to 90°C and stays between 85–90 with low load.
- System specs: AMD Ryzen 5 3600x, Thermaltake Th240 AIO cooler, MSI Tomahawk 450 Max board, 500W PSU, MSI 1660 Super GPU.
- Room temp is 18–20°C or lower if the window is open (the tower is right next to it).
- Troubleshooting steps tried: cleaned components, set CPU fan to max, ran all drivers, reinstalled thermal paste twice, updated OS, cleared unnecessary apps, tested all angles, and rotated the PC.
Problem summary:
In March 2021 I switched from my original cooler to a Thermaltake Th240 AIO. Initially normal temps, but after a game I saw frame drops to 10fps. After checking CorelTemp, temps rose quickly. When playing Farming Simulator, frames dropped again at 110°C. I cleaned everything, changed fans, and waited. Eventually, I found the pump and fan management issue on my board.
Questions I’m stuck on:
- My RAM isn’t a good brand—only 2800Hz, not 3200Hz as recommended for AMD CPUs. Could this be making things worse?
- My CPU has reached 100°C more than once in under a minute. Does this affect its cooling?
- If temps stay high after load is removed, what’s the cause?
- Should I replace the motherboard, CPU, or RAM?
- Any suggestions on why temps don’t drop after load is gone?
- Is it safe to stress test with these settings?
Looking forward to your advice. Thanks a lot!
RAM isn't the issue here. Thermal throttling shouldn't occur unless you intentionally turned it off. The lack of temperature reduction makes me question if the AIO pump is functioning properly, especially given the corrosion problems I've seen online. It's typical for temperatures to stay higher after the radiator fills up, but with good airflow it should gradually decrease over time. I wouldn't recommend stress testing in that condition.
The NH-D15 is quite large—are you confident it will fit in your setup? I’d prefer the SCYTHE FUMA 2 instead. Its performance matches the NH-D15, but it’s smaller and more compatible with other parts.
I thought RAM wouldn't be the issue but I'm really confused. I'm considering switching to an AIO and hoping my air-cooled setup works out. I won't do any stress tests.
Hello everyone, The issue started with my AIO thermaltake setup. I switched to the fan you suggested while running games, and temperatures have stayed below 60°C instead of reaching 90°C. Appreciate the support. I’m also hoping Thermaltake will reimburse me. Cheers!
It's much easier to avoid problems with an air cooler, which is why I never used AIO systems. After switching to mid to high-end models, I've never experienced a failure. The NH-D15 stands out because even the worst fans tend to work, and standard fans should always have replacements.