I just put together my new build and i am idling at 60C. I am using a Ryzen 7 7700 paired with the Corsair H115I ELITE CapellIx XT. I have coolant temps of 30c and idle temps of 60C+. I should note, i am not using the tension CPU bracket that i thought this cooler came with(it doesn’t) and instead i am using the 4 screw AM4 bracket. I only mention this because i am worried it may be a tension issue since i always see them install these with the tension bracket when looking on youtube.
I actually built a PC for a mate with almost exact same hardware a couple of weeks ago. Temps were perfect from get go and this time round I used stock thermal paste from the cooler.
Unmount and clean off thermal paste. Reapply thermal paste. Carefully place pump back on thumb tightening each screw in a star shape. Do a few turns per corner to ensure even pressure. TBH, I didn’t really know when to stop screwing as it didn’t feel like it was getting tighter to an end point and I was also being aware of overtightening too. From memory, I think I did maybe 12-16 turns of each screw? Good luck!
That worries me because my four thumbscrews can be tightened all the way down.
Probably the bracket. Or you did the compound wrong and trapped an air pocket
I keep seeing people using this tension mount but this cooler did not come with one.
Your CPU is likely fine.
In your screenshot, we can see that the CPU utilization is at around 10%, this is means that you have the equivalent of one full core usage during that screenshot (and, in fact, we can see that around 3 cores are at their “all cores” maximum frequency).
As a reference point, idle equals:
- low to no CPU usage (2-3% maximum usage)
- No program running in the foreground. If one is, it shouldn’t have frequent updates (Your corsair whatever is a no go)
- Background running software should be lightweight, so no corsair RGB software running in the background as it is known to wake CPUs quite frequently
Considering that your PC is not idling, Ryzen CPUs are known to be “race to idle” (aka use as much power as possible to go back to sleep as fast as possible) and that 60°C is a normal temperature for 10% CPU usage in summer. Again, your CPU is fine.
I mean, what if they live in Australia or South Africa? Not summer there. It’s winter.
I’m curious if you ever figured this out.
It looks like you’re using an AM4 bracket on an AM5 CPU, was that the problem?
Since you have already taken it apart cleaned off the paste and put new paste on re-assembled with proper tension mount before considering asking your question, how did everything look?
This cooler did not come with a tension mount.
You completely skipped over what I inferred.
I have not tried to re-apply thermal paste. I came here to figure out the first steps I should be taking. Is thermal paste the first one? The cooler came with thermal paste applied.
Since you don’t know what the issue is, nobody can properly assess it until you take off the cooler, and check how tight it is when you do that, clean off the paste and dry it, put new paste on, put cooler back on with bracket and make sure it’s tight in all 4 corners, and then check it from there.
Rub everything off with alcohol and reaply thermal paste. A 3-4mm dot should be enough in the center. Put everything together again while applying even preassure on all corners/ screws. If there is no difference in temperature, the problem is most likely not the appliance of the thermal paste. Probably some manufacturing mistake. I would reach out to customer service then.
