8 ms·

An advice: get a decent cooling for 3900X, stock Wraith Prism can't hold it.

ChuckNorris89 7y ago
I feel it's safe to assume that any enthusiast building his own system with high end parts won't be using the stock cooler which I feel needlessly increases the cost of the product that's passed on to us for something that will end up in the seller. Although you can buy the CPUs in TRAY format without the cooler, the prices are almost identical to the BOXED version and your warranty is lower since they're designed to be sold to businesses not consumers.
- rekoil 7y ago
  To the point where I question the legitimacy of including stock coolers with such demanding processors. My own Wraith Prism is just sitting in the basement, and I don't see myself ever using it, unless something happens to my high-end cooling system and I need to install something while getting it fixed, at which point it'll go back to the basement again. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many Wraith Prism coolers sold together with 3900X CPU:s actually end up being used. I expect the number to be quite low.
  - JimmyAustin 7y ago
    The first gen of Ryzen 7 chips didn't even include a cooler. I suspect they throw in the cools just so reviewers don't put "no cooler included" in the cons section of reviews.
    - opencl 7y ago
      The 1700 came with a cooler (I know because I have one), it was just the higher TDP 1700X and 1800X that didn't.
  - pkroll 7y ago
    I'd expect it to be pretty high: given reviews, I went with the stock Wraith Prism, and it's been fine. If I did bump up, I'd go to a Noctua, as the water cooling just seems like theater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vjWtUpItk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vjWtUpItk
- p1necone 7y ago
  The stock coolers on Ryzen processors are really really good compared to Intel stock coolers. Maybe not so great for a 3900x, but they'll even support light overclocking on most of the other Ryzen options.
  - sundvor 7y ago
    The AMD 7nm TDP might have something to do with that. :)
    - jagger27 7y ago
      No one will argue with that, but my 2700X ran fine under the stock Wraith cooler until I decided I wanted to overclock.
  - mrguyorama 7y ago
    I was under this assumption, but I bought a 3600 which comes with the "Wraith Stealth" or similar. The cooler is nearly identical to Intel's crap stock coolers and can't keep up with the CPU under load (as in, at all) and with the fan at 50% at near idle, the CPU runs 40 degrees C
    - Macha 7y ago
      The reputation originally came from the original Wraith (now Wraith Spire) that you get with the 3600x (the main value add for the X model), the 3700x and 3800x. The Wraith Prism was also apparently pretty good in its first outing on the 2700x, but apparently the 3900x/3950x are a bit much for it to handle gracefully.
    - garaetjjte 7y ago
      >can't keep up with the CPU under load (as in, at all) I think this is exaggeration. I have 3600 with stock cooler and at full load clocks doesn't seem to fall below 3.8GHz, 86°C (well, I tested on linux make -j12, maybe on some AVX loads it is worse).
      - 7y ago
dTal 7y ago
More advice: don't get carried away with liquid cooling solutions - they will always leak eventually, and if the pump fails your CPU instantly fries. Just get the biggest honking Noctua fan+heatsink you can fit in your case and call it good. It's silent, simple, reliable, and if the fan does fail the heatsink will save your CPU.
- deadbunny 7y ago
  If the pump fails the CPU will thermal shutdown and be fine once you've replace the cooler/pump. Also not sure if you're counting AIO coolers in with water cooling but they are very reliable.
  - simias 7y ago
    I agree with you that a properly designed CPU shouldn't instantly fry for lack of cooling but is water cooling really worth it? As far as I can tell outside of very esoteric special-purpose equipment it seem very uncommon in the professional world and seems mostly popular with g4m3rs looking to impress their peers with their $10k gaming PC builds. In my experience air cooling with a sufficiently large heatsink is simple and very reliable. Water cooling is more expensive, trickier and can fail catastrophically.
    - deadbunny 7y ago
      I use the AIO water cooler on my home system because I can get the system essentially silent (0.5m from my ears) at reasonable temps. They are also a lot less fiddily to deal with (install, ram access, etc...) compared to the huge air cooler you would need for comparable performance IMO.
      - idsout 7y ago
        All in One (AIO) also known as a closed loop cooler for the uninitiated. They're water coolers that come in a single pre-built piece that you just attach like any fan. Source: Been rocking Corsair AIO coolers for around a decade now. I did have have the pump fail in one of them after around seven years of use.
philliphaydon 7y ago
The stock cooler can handle it just fine.
- Macha 7y ago
  It can handle itself in the sense that CPU won't overheat or spend its entire time throttled. It can't handle it in the sense that it's very loud in doing so, and the CPU will boost more with a better cooler, even with no other changes. I bought a 3900x and planned to use the stock cooler initially, but that lasted about 3 weeks before I replaced it due to noise primarily (I got a be quiet dark rock pro 4).
  - philliphaydon 7y ago
    I think a after market cooler is always going to be better, but I think it's disingenuous to state it can't handle it. In your specific case it handled it fine but was loud.
    - duncanawoods 7y ago
      IMHO it crosses the line from "loud" to something unacceptable enough to call broken. At idle with default fan curves, it was on the knife-edge of max-speed not just loud but continuously revving up and down so incredibly distracting. It would continually grab my attention even with headphones on. I barely lasted a day before ordering a Dark Pro 4 and now it's silent.
      - philliphaydon 7y ago
        Do people just leave the side of their case off or something. At 100% it's definitely not loud unless I remove the side panel off my case. It makes a noise for sure, but everyone makes it sound like it's the end of the world noise.
        duncanawoods 7y ago
        Eh, mine was in a heavy-duty steel tower and it definitely wasn't fit for purpose. Maybe you just got lucky... or perhaps double-check that you aren't accidentally under-volting :)
gameswithgo 7y ago
>stock Wraith Prism can't hold it. It can, just fine. A better cooler keeps it cooler, and you might get an extra 0.1 mhz from it. With the Prism, if you have had/having trouble with it keep in mind two things: 1. there is a switch on it for a higher or lower fan setting 2. you have to crank that little lever HARD all the way over to properly clamp it down. Lot of people miss that.

I feel it's safe to assume that any enthusiast building his own system with high end parts won't be using the stock cooler which I feel needlessly increases the cost of the product that's passed on to us for something that will end up in the seller. Although you can buy the CPUs in TRAY format without the cooler, the prices are almost identical to the BOXED version and your warranty is lower since they're designed to be sold to businesses not consumers.

rekoil 7y ago
To the point where I question the legitimacy of including stock coolers with such demanding processors. My own Wraith Prism is just sitting in the basement, and I don't see myself ever using it, unless something happens to my high-end cooling system and I need to install something while getting it fixed, at which point it'll go back to the basement again. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many Wraith Prism coolers sold together with 3900X CPU:s actually end up being used. I expect the number to be quite low.
- JimmyAustin 7y ago
  The first gen of Ryzen 7 chips didn't even include a cooler. I suspect they throw in the cools just so reviewers don't put "no cooler included" in the cons section of reviews.
  - opencl 7y ago
    The 1700 came with a cooler (I know because I have one), it was just the higher TDP 1700X and 1800X that didn't.
- pkroll 7y ago
  I'd expect it to be pretty high: given reviews, I went with the stock Wraith Prism, and it's been fine. If I did bump up, I'd go to a Noctua, as the water cooling just seems like theater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vjWtUpItk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vjWtUpItk
p1necone 7y ago
The stock coolers on Ryzen processors are really really good compared to Intel stock coolers. Maybe not so great for a 3900x, but they'll even support light overclocking on most of the other Ryzen options.
- sundvor 7y ago
  The AMD 7nm TDP might have something to do with that. :)
  - jagger27 7y ago
    No one will argue with that, but my 2700X ran fine under the stock Wraith cooler until I decided I wanted to overclock.
- mrguyorama 7y ago
  I was under this assumption, but I bought a 3600 which comes with the "Wraith Stealth" or similar. The cooler is nearly identical to Intel's crap stock coolers and can't keep up with the CPU under load (as in, at all) and with the fan at 50% at near idle, the CPU runs 40 degrees C
  - Macha 7y ago
    The reputation originally came from the original Wraith (now Wraith Spire) that you get with the 3600x (the main value add for the X model), the 3700x and 3800x. The Wraith Prism was also apparently pretty good in its first outing on the 2700x, but apparently the 3900x/3950x are a bit much for it to handle gracefully.
  - garaetjjte 7y ago
    >can't keep up with the CPU under load (as in, at all) I think this is exaggeration. I have 3600 with stock cooler and at full load clocks doesn't seem to fall below 3.8GHz, 86°C (well, I tested on linux make -j12, maybe on some AVX loads it is worse).
    - 7y ago

dTal 7y ago

More advice: don't get carried away with liquid cooling solutions - they will always leak eventually, and if the pump fails your CPU instantly fries. Just get the biggest honking Noctua fan+heatsink you can fit in your case and call it good. It's silent, simple, reliable, and if the fan does fail the heatsink will save your CPU.

deadbunny 7y ago
If the pump fails the CPU will thermal shutdown and be fine once you've replace the cooler/pump. Also not sure if you're counting AIO coolers in with water cooling but they are very reliable.
- simias 7y ago
  I agree with you that a properly designed CPU shouldn't instantly fry for lack of cooling but is water cooling really worth it? As far as I can tell outside of very esoteric special-purpose equipment it seem very uncommon in the professional world and seems mostly popular with g4m3rs looking to impress their peers with their $10k gaming PC builds. In my experience air cooling with a sufficiently large heatsink is simple and very reliable. Water cooling is more expensive, trickier and can fail catastrophically.
  - deadbunny 7y ago
    I use the AIO water cooler on my home system because I can get the system essentially silent (0.5m from my ears) at reasonable temps. They are also a lot less fiddily to deal with (install, ram access, etc...) compared to the huge air cooler you would need for comparable performance IMO.
    - idsout 7y ago
      All in One (AIO) also known as a closed loop cooler for the uninitiated. They're water coolers that come in a single pre-built piece that you just attach like any fan. Source: Been rocking Corsair AIO coolers for around a decade now. I did have have the pump fail in one of them after around seven years of use.

philliphaydon 7y ago

The stock cooler can handle it just fine.

Macha 7y ago
It can handle itself in the sense that CPU won't overheat or spend its entire time throttled. It can't handle it in the sense that it's very loud in doing so, and the CPU will boost more with a better cooler, even with no other changes. I bought a 3900x and planned to use the stock cooler initially, but that lasted about 3 weeks before I replaced it due to noise primarily (I got a be quiet dark rock pro 4).
- philliphaydon 7y ago
  I think a after market cooler is always going to be better, but I think it's disingenuous to state it can't handle it. In your specific case it handled it fine but was loud.
  - duncanawoods 7y ago
    IMHO it crosses the line from "loud" to something unacceptable enough to call broken. At idle with default fan curves, it was on the knife-edge of max-speed not just loud but continuously revving up and down so incredibly distracting. It would continually grab my attention even with headphones on. I barely lasted a day before ordering a Dark Pro 4 and now it's silent.
    - philliphaydon 7y ago
      Do people just leave the side of their case off or something. At 100% it's definitely not loud unless I remove the side panel off my case. It makes a noise for sure, but everyone makes it sound like it's the end of the world noise.
      - duncanawoods 7y ago
        Eh, mine was in a heavy-duty steel tower and it definitely wasn't fit for purpose. Maybe you just got lucky... or perhaps double-check that you aren't accidentally under-volting :)

gameswithgo 7y ago

>stock Wraith Prism can't hold it. It can, just fine. A better cooler keeps it cooler, and you might get an extra 0.1 mhz from it. With the Prism, if you have had/having trouble with it keep in mind two things: 1. there is a switch on it for a higher or lower fan setting 2. you have to crank that little lever HARD all the way over to properly clamp it down. Lot of people miss that.