Custom Loop with 360 rad - 50° C Idle on 3950X normal?

[JoHo]

Hi guys, 

so I recently built a custom watercooling loop with all EK parts and a 360 radiator with 3 120mm EK Vardar RGB fans for my Ryzen 9 3950X. So far so good, everything stays quiet (except from some annoying whine but hey) but I'm wondering about the temps. The CPU is always at 50° C and sometimes spikes up to 60-70 for one second before it then tones itself down to 50 again. When I start Prime 95 or CineBench, the temperature and noise level pretty much stay the same. So 55° when it was at 50° before and 65° when it was at 60° before and then stays there. I tested it for like an hour each time. So far I don't really see the problem but is 50° C on idle normal on a 3950X? The CPU hit 85-90° easily on the old air cooler Noctua NH-D15 so there definitely is improvement but I just thought it would be bigger. Or is that normal?

[Boomy Beatle]

That seems a tad high, maybe as little as 3°. Most I can say is make sure you have good contact with the IHS and enough thermal paste.

[HM-2]

A 50°C idle seems very high. Do you just have the CPU in the loop? I'd expect idle temps around high 20s to mid 30s assuming normal indoor temperatures of about 20ish. But idle temps aren't really that important anyway- what are your high load temps like?

[For Science!]

I think this is fairly normal for 3950x, the idle behavior is a bit unusual with zen2 in my experience, since your load temps are under control I wouldn’t sweat it. Idle bolts and clocks are probably quite high but there is little you can do about it.

[Deli]

Idle can mean iCUE, MSI Afterburner, Stream, Windows update....running in the back ground.

 

I see many comments their Zen 2 running relatively hot at idle. My 3900X and 3600 both idle at low 30C'. But I only represent a sample size of two.

[bowrilla]

3 hours ago, JoHo said:

Hi guys, 

so I recently built a custom watercooling loop with all EK parts and a 360 radiator with 3 120mm EK Vardar RGB fans for my Ryzen 9 3950X. So far so good, everything stays quiet (except from some annoying whine but hey) but I'm wondering about the temps. The CPU is always at 50° C and sometimes spikes up to 60-70 for one second before it then tones itself down to 50 again. When I start Prime 95 or CineBench, the temperature and noise level pretty much stay the same. So 55° when it was at 50° before and 65° when it was at 60° before and then stays there. I tested it for like an hour each time. So far I don't really see the problem but is 50° C on idle normal on a 3950X? The CPU hit 85-90° easily on the old air cooler Noctua NH-D15 so there definitely is improvement but I just thought it would be bigger. Or is that normal?

You haven't mentioned how you mounted the rad. I hope it's at the top? I assume then as exhaust? Do you have 3+ case fans as intake mounted?

 

Idle temps are indeed a bit high (but not by a big margin, more like single digit K) BUT Zen2 tends to run hot at idle. Your load temps are perfectly fine. Always remember: you're running 16 cores!

[imreloadin]

4 hours ago, JoHo said:

Hi guys, 

so I recently built a custom watercooling loop with all EK parts and a 360 radiator with 3 120mm EK Vardar RGB fans for my Ryzen 9 3950X. So far so good, everything stays quiet (except from some annoying whine but hey) but I'm wondering about the temps. The CPU is always at 50° C and sometimes spikes up to 60-70 for one second before it then tones itself down to 50 again. When I start Prime 95 or CineBench, the temperature and noise level pretty much stay the same. So 55° when it was at 50° before and 65° when it was at 60° before and then stays there. I tested it for like an hour each time. So far I don't really see the problem but is 50° C on idle normal on a 3950X? The CPU hit 85-90° easily on the old air cooler Noctua NH-D15 so there definitely is improvement but I just thought it would be bigger. Or is that normal?

What vcore are you using? Ryzen 3000 series is NOTORIOUS for using stupidly high voltages on Auto so if you're on that then I'd suggest setting it manually to something like 1.25v and see what your temps look like then.

[JoHo]

On 10/28/2020 at 1:59 AM, imreloadin said:

What vcore are you using? Ryzen 3000 series is NOTORIOUS for using stupidly high voltages on Auto so if you're on that then I'd suggest setting it manually to something like 1.25v and see what your temps look like then.

Hmm, I actually never checked that because I'm quite satisfied with the performance of the chip. I will give it a try. 

[JoHo]

On 10/28/2020 at 12:38 AM, bowrilla said:

You haven't mentioned how you mounted the rad. I hope it's at the top? I assume then as exhaust? Do you have 3+ case fans as intake mounted?

 

Idle temps are indeed a bit high (but not by a big margin, more like single digit K) BUT Zen2 tends to run hot at idle. Your load temps are perfectly fine. Always remember: you're running 16 cores!

I have the rad mounted in the front and use the fans to suck air in through the radiator. The only reason why I have it like this is because the fans are RGB and it looks really good. 

[JoHo]

On 10/27/2020 at 10:10 PM, HM-2 said:

A 50°C idle seems very high. Do you just have the CPU in the loop? I'd expect idle temps around high 20s to mid 30s assuming normal indoor temperatures of about 20ish. But idle temps aren't really that important anyway- what are your high load temps like?

I currently only have the CPU in my loop but will add the GPU soon. The loop is sucking air into the case and it really heats up the graphics card, which is why I will add it. Probably will worsen both components but if it does, I will add a second 240 radiator. 

[Deli]

On 10/28/2020 at 1:59 AM, imreloadin said:

What vcore are you using? Ryzen 3000 series is NOTORIOUS for using stupidly high voltages on Auto so if you're on that then I'd suggest setting it manually to something like 1.25v and see what your temps look like then.

No, the mobo knows the CPU is 3950X. The default Vcore is different for 3600, 3700x, 3950X etc. For example, my Gigabyte mobo will use 1.25v for 3900X, but switch to 1.34v for 3600.

 

All mobo I see use less than 1.2v Vcore for 3950X. 3950X is a highly binned chip.

[Deli]

On 10/28/2020 at 12:38 AM, bowrilla said:

You haven't mentioned how you mounted the rad. I hope it's at the top? I assume then as exhaust? Do you have 3+ case fans as intake mounted?

 

Idle temps are indeed a bit high (but not by a big margin, more like single digit K) BUT Zen2 tends to run hot at idle. Your load temps are perfectly fine. Always remember: you're running 16 cores!

3950X uses highly binned silicon. It uses no more power than a 3900X, even it has 4 more cores.