Ryzen 9 5950x help
5950X hits 91°C at only ~64W light load and throttles to 1/4 performance. New cooler, case, paste and BIOS didn't help
Hey all, I'm stuck on a thermal issue and would appreciate a second opinion.
Specs:
- Ryzen 9 5950X, stock (PBO/Curve Optimizer untouched)
- Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE rev 1.3, BIOS FHd (AGESA 1.2.0.12, latest)
- DeepCool AG620 Digital (dual tower, 2x 120mm)
- 32GB DDR4-3200 (2x16GB, XMP on)
- RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
- New case
The problem: the CPU sits at its 90°C limit even under light load, and performance tanks because of it.
HWiNFO log at light load (game running plus a few light apps, ~6.5% total CPU usage):
- Tctl/Tdie: 91.2-91.5°C, constant
- CPU PPT: ~64W (PPT limit 45%, TDC 36%, EDC 24%)
- Thermal Limit: 100%
- Frequency Limit - Global: 2.9-3.6 GHz, highest core clock seen 3.69 GHz
- HTC / PROCHOT CPU / PROCHOT EXT: all No
- CCD1 ~90°C, CCD2 ~86°C, even though CCD2 was only pulling ~5W (one of its cores was ~98% in C6 and still reading 83°C)
- IOD hotspot ~84°C
- VRM MOS 52°C
- CPU fan ~1750 RPM (max is 1850)
- System sensor ~33°C
CPU-Z bench: 162 single-thread / 2087 multi-thread. A stock 5950X should be around 690 / 13,300, so it's running at roughly a quarter of its expected single-thread performance. In FFXIV I get ~35 FPS with the GPU at ~20% usage, so the game is clearly CPU-bound because of this.
What I've already tried:
- Replaced the cooler with the AG620
- Repasted
- Moved everything to a new case
- Updated the BIOS to the latest version
None of it changed the temps.
I know AMD says up to 90°C is typical for Zen 3 under full load. But this is at ~64W, less than half of the 142W PPT, and the chip isn't boosting. It's throttling down to ~3.5 GHz and scoring a quarter of what it should.
My read of the data: since even the nearly idle CCD and the IOD are above 80°C, the whole IHS seems to be hot, so the heat isn't making it from the IHS into the cooler. My plan is to check the mounting pressure and the paste imprint, and if that looks fine, test the CPU in another board.
Questions:
Does this point to mounting/contact, or could it be the CPU itself (IHS or sensor)?
Anything specific I should check with the AG620 on AM4?
Has anyone seen a 5950X behave like this, and what fixed it?
Thanks!