AMD’s Robert Hallock has clarified that temperatures up to 90C for the higher-end Zen 3 based Ryzen 7 and 9 parts are quite normal, and won’t affect the life-cycle of the chip. Replying to a Redditor, Hallock said that AMD views temperatures up to 90C (for the 5800X/5900X/5950X) as typical and by design for full load conditions.
Q. There have been many posts about thermals for these chips and I’ve read a few of your responses to them, as well as this graphic. Basically what you are telling us is that we have to change our understanding of what is “good” and “undesirable” when it comes to CPU temps for Zen 3, right? Cause I see you repeating the same info about how 60-90C is expected(i.e., where 78C may have been the top range, 90C now is, hence your statements about extra thermal headroom) and yet people keep freaking out because of what they have been used to, whether it’s from Zen 2 or team blue?
RH: Yes. I want to be clear with everyone that AMD views temps up to 90C (5800X/5900X/5950X) and 95C (5600X) as typical and by design for full load conditions. Having a higher maximum temperature supported by the silicon and firmware allows the CPU to pursue higher and longer boost performance before the algorithm pulls back for thermal reasons.
Is it the same as Zen 2 or our competitor? No. But that doesn’t mean something is “wrong.” These parts are running exactly as-designed, producing the performance results we intend.
Apparently, the Zen 3 silicon and firmware allow the CPU to reach these temps to pursue higher and higher boost clocks and for longer durations extracting every ounce of performance from the chip.
Interestingly, Hallock also said that the highest temp for the hex-core 5600X is 95C before it starts throttling. However, in our testing, it barely crossed 70 degrees in even the most taxing loads.
Temps in the 80-90C for the 12-16 core parts are quite expected, but for a hex-core part, you just shouldn’t get to that point unless you’re running multiple instances of Furmark.
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