Is the Noctua NH-D15 G2 struggling with No Rest for the Wicked?
I couldn't believe it—my cores were hitting 92-96℃ despite having a top-of-the-line cooler. I was honestly panicking. The NH-D15 G2 is a beast on paper, but I noticed a massive 12℃ delta between Core 1 and Core 4. In a desperate attempt to fix it, I tried undervolting in the BIOS, which just led to a blue screen during the loading screen. That failure made me realize this was a physical contact issue, not a software one. I ripped the cooler off and found the factory bracket was slightly tilted by about 0.5mm, leaving the paste uneven. After recalibrating the mount and switching to a high-conductivity paste, full-load temps plummeted to 68-74℃, and my clocks finally locked in at 5.2GHz. I wasted so much time early on just cranking the fan speeds; the noise went through the roof but temps only dropped by 1℃. Total waste of effort. VRM temps are now a cool 55-60℃. I ran Cinebench R23 loops and the curve is rock steady. It's a relief to have it sorted.
