How to get a ~40C drop in CPU temps

[Voodoo Rufus]

Replace your thermal material if or when it dries out!

I was benching my bare-die 9900KS and getting 100C on one core on Cinebench, 10C higher than the second highest core, and the others in the 80s. Took the block off, and the thermal grease (I don't remember what was on it) had visibly dried out and left no material on the CPU in some spots. Some fresh Conductonaut was then applied on the CPU, and now my temps are in the mid to low 60s on all cores.

 

[Woomack]

I have no idea what you were using, but most modern TIMs are designed to be good for at least 5-7 years and shouldn't dry. On the other hand, I had some tubes with already quite dry thermal grease from brands like Thermal Grizzly. Maybe just a bad batch, hard to say.

Btw. I had to remove the cooler on RTX4080 for review, so I used Streacom TX13 thermal paste, and temps are about 5°C lower under load now. Max is somewhere around 70°C on OC BIOS and has a higher power limit.
Btw2. I see that Alphacool is adding their Subzero TIM to all their blocks now. It's 16W/mK thermal paste, so at least looking at specs, it's the best non-liquid metal stuff that you can get. I still doubt seeing any significant difference compared to 12-13W/mK solutions, but it's good they are adding it as it's not cheap separately.

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

It may have been Thermal Grizzly, not 100% sure. But it was bone dry. I wonder if it exhibited pump-out from heat cycling.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

I know how to get a 40c drop in temps, turn the PC off