First time installing a cpu cooler myself. Are these temps okay? I5-12600K and Noctua nh-u12a

[Yerbluez]

I'm concerned I may have installed my CPU cooler incorrectly. It was my first time installing one, and so in my over cautiousness and inexperience it probably took me about 15 minutes between applying thermal paste and finally figuring out which way the cooler went and then another 5 minutes to screw it down (because I didn't want to overdo it and hadn't realized it took that long to fasten it).

 

Now I'm wondering if I might need to redo it. The below photo is of my CPU temps while playing Hell Let Loose on Epic settings for about 20 minutes.

. It's a demanding game, but I wasn't expecting to see the CPU cores peaking at 79 degrees. My old i5-6600k never went above 65 on this game. 

 

I haven't done any benchmarks yet, only had time to try this out tonight. Hoping someone can help me out or offer advice so I can makes decision on what to do. Is there a way I can compare these temps to someone else's with similar set up?

 

Thanks!

 

https://ibb.co/54QYfqN

[BiotechBen]

12th gen is a certifiable furnace, expect those kinds of temps from a small tower cooler. Would still recommend checking the thermal paste application though and the mounting pressure of the cooler.

[TeamBeasted]

Honestly I'd go with liquid cooling for Alder Lake. 

[jones177]

The 12th gens are lower than your last CPU so contact may not be good.

 

All my coolers need new hardware for 12th gen and I use 5 different brands.

[Tech87]

What kind of cooler do you have?

Download and install cinebench, and do a run while monitoring temps. Report back.

[dilpickle]

Did you get the LGA1700 adapter kit for your cooler?

[krakek]

1 hour ago, Yerbluez said:

I'm concerned I may have installed my CPU cooler incorrectly. It was my first time installing one, and so in my over cautiousness and inexperience it probably took me about 15 minutes between applying thermal paste and finally figuring out which way the cooler went and then another 5 minutes to screw it down (because I didn't want to overdo it and hadn't realized it took that long to fasten it).

 

Now I'm wondering if I might need to redo it. The below photo is of my CPU temps while playing Hell Let Loose on Epic settings for about 20 minutes.

. It's a demanding game, but I wasn't expecting to see the CPU cores peaking at 79 degrees. My old i5-6600k never went above 65 on this game. 

 

I haven't done any benchmarks yet, only had time to try this out tonight. Hoping someone can help me out or offer advice so I can makes decision on what to do. Is there a way I can compare these temps to someone else's with similar set up?

 

Thanks!

 

https://ibb.co/54QYfqN

79 is within norm for CPUs. While you may want those temperatures to go lower for better thermal budget CPUs are not going to go bad till they get closer to (and above) 100 degrees.

[Yerbluez]

Thanks to all who responded. @dilpickle and @Tech87 I have the Noctua NH-U12A chromax black air cooler and I can confirm it comes with a mounting kit for LGA 1700. So the cooler fits, I was just a bit more concerned about my install. I will download cinebench and do a benchmark? @BiotechBen and @kraken, I appreciate that input. I know these are supposed to run hot. I will check thermal paste at some point, but in the meantime is there a max temp I should be careful of with this Alder lake gen?
 

[BiotechBen]

6 hours ago, Yerbluez said:

Thanks to all who responded. @dilpickle and @Tech87 I have the Noctua NH-U12A chromax black air cooler and I can confirm it comes with a mounting kit for LGA 1700. So the cooler fits, I was just a bit more concerned about my install. I will download cinebench and do a benchmark? @BiotechBen and @kraken, I appreciate that input. I know these are supposed to run hot. I will check thermal paste at some point, but in the meantime is there a max temp I should be careful of with this Alder lake gen?
 

T-max is usually 105C for those chips, so having it in the upper 70s and low 80s on a smaller air cooler is about what is to be expected. An NH-D15 iirc put it somewhere in the mid 70s to low 80s under full load when LTT tested it.

[Yerbluez]

5 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

T-max is usually 105C for those chips, so having it in the upper 70s and low 80s on a smaller air cooler is about what is to be expected. An NH-D15 iirc put it somewhere in the mid 70s to low 80s under full load when LTT tested it.

Okay great to hear. I did find another post on Tom's Hardware and a guy had some success turning off the MSI stock OC which I think is called "enhanced tune". I did that last night and now it seems like it's getting just in the upper 60s and around 71 Max. Much better, hopefully that holds. If not I'll look at redoing the paste.

 

So you would say this isn't something that would degrade the chip too fast since it's within normal range?

[BiotechBen]

1 hour ago, Yerbluez said:

Okay great to hear. I did find another post on Tom's Hardware and a guy had some success turning off the MSI stock OC which I think is called "enhanced tune". I did that last night and now it seems like it's getting just in the upper 60s and around 71 Max. Much better, hopefully that holds. If not I'll look at redoing the paste.

 

So you would say this isn't something that would degrade the chip too fast since it's within normal range?

60s and low 70s is  beginning to be the new normal for load temps. The laws of physics can permit only souch perfomance on a certain lithography which Intel pushed nearly to the max with 14nm and 12nm. The days of daily driving a 6700K @ 45C under load with liquid cooling are a thing of the past.