I built a few weeks ago a new desktop with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600X. I'd like to overclock it since I'm gonna use it mostly for software builds and I want it to be fast.
I tried to OC it to 4.3GHz and it settled at around 85°C while stress-testing it. However, this happened in a chilly day. Today it's 30°C outside and I tested it again, I had to stop the test very quickly because it was going to rise above 90°C (I lowered it for now).
My question is, if I want to go back towards the higher frequencies, should I get a better cooler or get better thermal paste (or both)?
Currently I'm using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (which I bought before discovering the cooler tier list in this forum), and I'm still in time to return it to Amazon. I was considering to replace it with a Corsair Hydro H100X AIO since it's not too expensive, seems quiet enough and I read somewhere that "240mm AIO coolers are good for almost any set up". Also it's listed as "tier 1" in the previously mentioned list.
My biggest worry is that I noticed that, while the fan takes 2-3 seconds to get to full speed, the CPU takes very little to reach high temperatures, and once the fan is going it still tends to go higher (temp graph attached, each bar is 2 seconds, peak 90°C). I'm worried that this may cause trouble in CPU usage spikes, when the temp rises fast and the fan doesn't get the chance to go full-speed promptly enough.
I used the Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste, I'm also worried it might not be transferring the heat quickly enough.
AIO and air cooling both work for me, and I'm not too bothered if the cooling unit is slightly noisy when under load, but I wouldn't like to spend more than ~100€ on the cooler unless it's really needed. I don't really need custom GPU cooling since it's not a priority for me.
