3950x Thermal Issues

[Gummy]

I am having issues cooling my new build under heavy load. I recently discovered my issues in staying cool when trying to setup folding@home. I have an all core overclock at 4.2ghz at the stock 1.3v and undervolted a lot of the other recommended items to attempt to deal with heat. I didn't have any luck with that so I took my cooler off and replaced the stock pre-applied thermal paste with some thermal grizzly. That didn't seem to help either so I replaced all my stock case fans with Noctuas as well as adding two more on top of the default three. I also switched my rad fans to Noctua NF12s and moved my rad from a push config at the top of my case to a push config at the front of my case pulling fresh outside air. So far throwing money at my issues has not helped any so I am coming to you guys for help. I have done my research and I shouldn't have this much trouble keeping my 3950x cool with this cooler compared to other people, and most of people I found with issues similar to my own were running much higher voltages than I am. I reached these temps after about a 5m stress test, I am quite confident they would keep climbing had I left it running. Ambient temperature roughly 24c. Thanks in advance. If anyone would benefit from a screenshot of my BIOS OC profile let me know and I will supply it.

 

[DailyProcrastinator]

1.3V is not considered undervolting for 3rd gen Ryzen, in fact it's a higher voltage than I would recommend.

 

This is a good read on voltage issues with the new Ryzen CPU’s: (And why I recommend low voltage)

https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/ejd5c9/1325v_is_not_safe_for_zen_2/

 

 

I'd recommend adjusting your voltages as follows:

-          CPU Core Voltage – Manual Mode – 1.2500V (offset mode if you want to get into more fine tuning)

-          CPU SOC Voltage – Manual Mode – VDDSOC 1.1000V

-          1.8V PLL Voltage – 1.8000V

-          1.05V SB Voltage – 1.0500V

 

In my case some of these voltages were all set very high at stock, not sure why Asus does so. For safe stock operations this is recommended. 3rd gen Ryzen performs best under cool temps, so lowering the voltage to 1.2500V is safe and best for long term use.

 

I have improved system stability and overall performance while lowering temps with my R7 3800x following this method. And my CPU can now sustain max boost speed for longer because of the lower temps.

 

[Gummy]

12 hours ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

I'd recommend adjusting your voltages as follows:

-          CPU Core Voltage – Manual Mode – 1.2500V (offset mode if you want to get into more fine tuning)

-          CPU SOC Voltage – Manual Mode – VDDSOC 1.1000V

-          1.8V PLL Voltage – 1.8000V

-          1.05V SB Voltage – 1.0500V

Thanks for your recommendations, as per your suggestions I did the following:
Lowered my all core overclock from 4.2ghz to 3.8ghz as I did not think 4.2ghz would be stable at 1.25V
CPU Core Voltage from 1.300V to 1.250V
CPU SOC Voltage from 1.125V to 1.100V
1P8 Voltage from auto to 1.800V

As for SB Voltage, I am not sure what MSI calls this in their BIOS as I did not see it so this did not get changed.

Saved my changes and attempted to post and failed. I am unable to get to my BIOS

 

According to my motherboard LEDs I achieve the following:
SEC Progress Codes
01 Power on. Reset type detection (soft/hard)

02 AP initialization before microcode loading

03 System Agent initialization before microcode loading

04 PCH initialization before microcode loading

06 Microcode loading

07 AP initialization after microcode loading

And then I am stuck on 07 without further initialization

My CPU debug LED is also lit up indicating CPU not detected/fail

 

Resetting my CMOS did not appear to do anything other than reset all my custom fan curves. 

[Gummy]

Alright, I succeeded in getting my PC back. CMOS reset didn't seem to work fully the first few times I tried it, reset my fan curves but not anything else. A combination of leaving the computer unplugged for longer and shorting my CMOS for 20s instead of 10 seemed to fully reset it. Back to the glorious stock motherboard settings including a lovely CPU voltage of 1.481v. Will see if I can successfully alter my voltages without killing my system again.

[nick name]

How is the CPU block oriented on the CPU?  My AIO works best (on my 3900X) when the block is oriented with the tubes at the bottom of the block.  While I'm pretty sure your AIO isn't an Asetek it probably behaves similarly ie orienting the coldplate/block for better coverage of the CCDs.  Also, double-check you're using enough mounting pressure.

 

For Folding I've found I can run my CCD 1 at 4400 and my CCD 2 at 4250 with 1.2625V with the second highest LLC setting.  That gets me into the low to mid 80s with my 12 cores.   

 

 

[nick name]

Here is an HWiNFO screen during a CPU Folding work unit running to completion.  Ambient room temp ranged from 75*F ~ 80*F.