[trebligdivad]

They don't say what temperature the CPU was reporting which seems like an odd omission. Whatever the specs of your cooler etc check the temperature it's actually running at. Go by what the CPU is saying! I've got the older 3950x, and the first one died after a few months (still in warranty) with a cooler in spec, but it would go into the 90s at full load just doing big builds. I replaced the heatsink with a basic watercooler when the replacement chip arrived and it's running at least 20c cooler at full load.

[Symmetry]

A modern CPU should be able to detect temperature excursions and bring itself to a safe halt even if you power it up without any cooler attached. It's normal and expected that people making mistakes around the cooling systems of their CPUs will accidentally give themselves terrible performance. It is not normal that the CPUs will break.

[account42]

Zen 2 is supposed to be able to work up to 95 C so that shouldn't have caused your CPU to fail. And it should clock down before it fails anyway, way below the specified "minimum" frequency if needed - got to experience that with a failing AIO. A better cooler should only be required to make full use of your CPU not to protect it.

[trebligdivad]

I kind of agree with you and Symmetry; but having had a fried CPU I'm more careful. No electronics like running very hot - so even if you're just inside spec on something for the heat it's likely to live a shorter life than if you kept it more comfortable - and it'll let it clock faster if you keep it cool! And really my points are: * the standard spec coolers just don't manage that on these hot CPUs, even if they claim to. * If you're building a machine and you know you're pushing it hard, just check the temperatures to check that cooling you bought is working.

[wkat4242]

Maybe they didn't have anything logging the temperature. They didn't expect it to die after all.