10/19/2022 at 5:05 p.m. by Torsten Vogel – AMD claims: AM4 coolers also cool AM5 processors. But it’s not quite that simple, as our look at the details reveals.
Ryzen 7000 is efficient, no question. But Ryzen 7000 is also fast. A lot of performance in combination with high efficiency does not automatically result in a cool processor; In the case of the specifications of the new AMD CPUs, which have been increased from 142 W PPT (socket AM4) to 230 W PPT, the opposite is actually true: cooling Zen 4 CPUs can become a challenge.
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From above, the AM4 cooler mount is the same as the AM5 – but the backplate is fundamentally different. Source: Twitter
In our video, we take a closer look at why the Raphael processors cause even greater problems than Intel’s Alder Lake processors, even though the latter are more inefficient and use more energy. The short version: Continued strong one-sided heat development and an even higher power density in the actual compute chips bring the heat conduction within the package to its limits, which can hardly be compensated for on the part of the cooler.
Challenge: Even if you take the hardly measurable advantages of an asymmetrical Ryzen 3000/5000/7000 mount with you, the Raphael package already reaches the temperature limit with around 20 percent less heating power than an Alder Lake processor. Source: PC Games Hardware On the other hand, we take a closer look at how coolers can be mounted on socket AM5 – and how not. Of the options available at AMD so far, retention bracket, mainboard backplate screw connection and your own backplate are only compatible between AM4 and AM5. The former even additionally with AM3(+), AM2(+), Socket 939, Socket 940 and Socket 754 – if it weren’t for the problem with the absolute cooling capacity of such old coolers from the Athlon 64 and Pentium 4 days. The third option, replacing the series backplate with a bracket from the cooler manufacturer, fails with AM4 bracket material on AM5 mainboards, as we show in our video. So far, this option has been used by around a third of the AM4 cooling solutions represented in PCGH test tables, which is a very clear limitation of AMD’s promise that “coolers are compatible”.
