Comment
Comment by dukezzz
Noctua recommends mounting their cooler so that the center is shifted toward the lower part of the CPU. From your picture with the thermal paste, it’s clear that your cooler is only making contact with about two-thirds of the CPU, meaning you mounted it incorrectly. The cooler’s contact area must always cover the entire CPU; otherwise, you reduce heat transfer capacity. On top of that, you’re already using an undersized cooler for this CPU. I think you don’t understand the basics of thermodynamics.