Temperatures during idle seem elevated.
Temperatures during idle seem elevated.
I just began setting up my new system. R7 3700x with an RTX 2070, B550 Aorus Pro AC motherboard, Noctua NH-D15s heatsink, and a B550 cooler. Recently, the PC has been idle but temperatures have spiked from 40°C to as high as 55°C. That’s unusual—especially since gaming temps stay around 70–75°C when pushed hard. I haven’t changed the CPU settings except adjusting RAM configurations. I tried tweaking the BIOS fan curve but couldn’t adjust each speed point. It seems I gave up. I experimented with MSI Afterburner, increasing core and memory clocks by about 100 and 500 respectively, and it helped somewhat. I’ve heard from others that idle temps above 50°C aren’t typical, so you might want to double-check cooling setup or consider a more robust cooler.
That's a bit low, but it's fine as long as it stays cool when things are under pressure
I aimed for a temperature range of approximately 40-45°C on the CPU.
The spikes come from the boost feature in Ryzen processors. No major concerns here. Performance drops noticeably after just a brief moment during high boosts, then returns to normal around mid to low 40°C temperatures.
Mounting pressure plays a significant role. With my 3700x and the old EK Supremecy block, I’d run in the 45-60°C range at idle and reach about 80°C under load. Using the new Optimus PC Waterblock has lowered idle temps to 40-45°C and load temps near 75°C. Still, it’s manageable as long as you control load temperatures. Idle spikes happen because at normal voltages you’re applying around 1.4-1.45V until a load kicks in, after which the drop is much steeper.