4790k overheating on custom water loop

[Farranuk]

Hi,

My 4790k is going up to 88 degrees on load with a custom watercooling loop but when it was previously air cooled by a 212 evo it barely reached 70 even during summer.
This is at stock clocks with turbo boost enabled.
CPU idling around 30-40 with ambient room temp being around 20-26 degrees.

The loop includes a 390x which is hitting max of 70ish but usually in the mid 60s and idling around 30-40 which was previously hitting 95 degrees with the stockcooler.

Both in the same loop so I know the loop and pump aren't the issue as it's dropped my GPU by at least 25 degrees at load and keeps stable temperatures.

Reseated the block multiple times with fresh thermal paste each time, tried using the supplied thermal paste, also Mx 4 and the ek ecto stuff I got with GPU block.

Taken the block apart to clean potential junk out but still getting the same results
Made sure that the inlet and outlets are correctly positioned along with the metal (jet?) plate inside the block.

Voltages are at expected levels for a
stock clock.

Contacted ek support who made me take pictures of every individual step I took refitting it and they couldn't come up with anything helpful.
Even took a level to the block to ensure it wasn't warped

Unsure what else I can do to correct this.
Help would be greatly appreciated.

4790k stock (4ghz) + turbo enabled (4.4ghz)
MSI 390x
16gb 2x8 Corsair vengeance
MSI z97 gaming 5
Evga 750w GQ psu
Ek supremacy evo CPU block
Ek tf 390 block
Ek pump Res combo
Black ice 360 radiator in the top
Black ice 280 radiator in the front
Phanteks evolv ATX tg case (known for poor airflow but due to GPU temps I don't believe this is the issue)

 

[faalin]

Can you post a picture of your setup? With that amount of rad space you should be having temp issues.

My ideal setups are normally res-> pump-> rad-> cpu-> rad-> gpu-> res or if i cant fit a rad in between the cpu and gpu then ill put it right after the gpu to cool it before it hits the res.

 

[Farranuk]

Can you post a picture of your setup? With that amount of rad space you should be having temp issues.

My ideal setups are normally res-> pump-> rad-> cpu-> rad-> gpu-> res or if i cant fit a rad in between the cpu and gpu then ill put it right after the gpu to cool it before it hits the res.

Hi faalin, cheers for getting back to me.

My setup is currently res/pump>GPU>top rad>CPU>drain valve>front rad>res/pump.

https://imgur.com/iyC2iur

As you can see my res is currently only half filled but even when full to the top I'm getting similar temps with maybe 2 or 3 degrees difference.

The part of the loop you can't really see is the drain valve under the pump between the CPU and front radiator.

 

[faalin]

Is it a variable speed pump?

Most people will say to run the cpu first in the loop but it doesnt really matter. Im just wondering if you dont have enough head pressure for the loop, I also dont like putting in drain valves since you have to put T's in and it just gives water a place to deadhead instead of direct flow.

What fans are you running on the rads, those Black ice rads should be a high fin count so you would need good static pressure fans for cooling. Last time i ran Black Ice rads i ran a push/pull to get the most air through them that i could.

It also doesnt help that your pulling in cool air across the front radiator making it warm and then pulling that same warm air through the top radiator. Your trying to cool down warm water with warm air from the case.

 

[Farranuk]

Is it a variable speed pump?

Most people will say to run the cpu first in the loop but it doesnt really matter. Im just wondering if you dont have enough head pressure for the loop, I also dont like putting in drain valves since you have to put T's in and it just gives water a place to deadhead instead of direct flow.

What fans are you running on the rads, those Black ice rads should be a high fin count so you would need good static pressure fans for cooling. Last time i ran Black Ice rads i ran a push/pull to get the most air through them that i could.

It also doesnt help that your pulling in cool air across the front radiator making it warm and then pulling that same warm air through the top radiator. Your trying to cool down warm water with warm air from the case.

Yes its a pwm pump but even at 100% without the pwm plugged in I get similar results.
And surely if the head pressure and air flow was an issue my GPU would also be hitting high temps and not staying steady?

 

[faalin]

I had a GTX 580 with a volt mod running at 1000Mhz on a single 120mm radiator and it was fine, GPUs dont need a hole lot to keep them cool.

You're warming the water with the GPU then passing it through the top radiator that is pulling warm air from the case. You also have to take into account your room temps as well, water loops will not drop below ambient temps.

Get a cheap temp prob and drop it down in your res and see what the water temp is, that should be the coldest part of the loop since your cooling the water off by the front radiator before it dumps it into the res.


Here was my last water build, almost like yours, res/pump-> gpus-> cpu-> motherboard-> both radiators-> res/pump
https://i.imgur.com/0D0zCsv.jpg
I7 980x @ 4.2Ghz
Full cover Asus rampage 3 extreme
4 gtx 670 superclocked+ with 200Mhz OC
That all ran off a single pump with a XSPC 480 and 360 with Push/pull corsair SP fans

 

[Farranuk]

I had a GTX 580 with a volt mod running at 1000Mhz on a single 120mm radiator and it was fine, GPUs dont need a hole lot to keep them cool.

You're warming the water with the GPU then passing it through the top radiator that is pulling warm air from the case. You also have to take into account your room temps as well, water loops will not drop below ambient temps.

Get a cheap temp prob and drop it down in your res and see what the water temp is, that should be the coldest part of the loop since your cooling the water off by the front radiator before it dumps it into the res.


Here was my last water build, almost like yours, res/pump-> gpus-> cpu-> motherboard-> both radiators-> res/pump
https://i.imgur.com/0D0zCsv.jpg
I7 980x @ 4.2Ghz
Full cover Asus rampage 3 extreme
4 gtx 670 superclocked+ with 200Mhz OC
That all ran off a single pump with a XSPC 480 and 360 with Push/pull corsair SP fans

Do you think changing the top fans to exhaust would make that much difference?
Only issue I would have then is I wouldn't have any intake fans unless I mount one outside the rear of the case.

I will invest in a thermostat of some sorts, I was thinking about getting an inline temp monitor with an LCD screen mounted inside but haven't decided if it would look tacky or not aha.

Do you think delidding and reapplying the compound on the chip would help? this is something else I have considered as EK suggested I should try, Although I am unsure whether it would help that much considering I never had bad temps when air cooled so not sure if its worth the risk if thats not the issue.

Your last build looks pretty sweet I must say!

 

[faalin]

wait...... you have both the front and top radiators as intakes.


If so your building large amounts of pressure inside the case which would cause really bad airflow across the radiators. Your pulling in 640 square mm of radiator space of air and trying to exhaust it out a 120mm fan hole in the back. Yes air compresses, yes there are more holes in the case to let air out but its not good for flow. I cant tell what your fans are, but if they are static pressure fans they do better as pushing air through the radiator then pulling it through.

Take the side panel off and run it and see if you get better temps, this will answer the question if your getting enough air across the rads or not since all the intake air will blow out the side of the case.

 

[Farranuk]

wait...... you have both the front and top radiators as intakes.


If so your building large amounts of pressure inside the case which would cause really bad airflow across the radiators. Your pulling in 640 square mm of radiator space of air and trying to exhaust it out a 120mm fan hole in the back. Yes air compresses, yes there are more holes in the case to let air out but its not good for flow. I cant tell what your fans are, but if they are static pressure fans they do better as pushing air through the radiator then pulling it through.

Take the side panel off and run it and see if you get better temps, this will answer the question if your getting enough air across the rads or not since all the intake air will blow out the side of the case.

Oh sorry I meant intake not exhaust, my bad.
I have previously ran it with the side panel off and temps only drop by a few degrees on cpu as far as I can remember.

 

[faalin]

Sorry but here come a bunch of dumb questions.

What is your room temps?
What fans do you have on the radiators?
Front radiator is an intake?
Top radiator is an exhaust?
With your hand how much air is being pushed through the radiator?
Does the air feel warmer then room temp?
Most CPU water blocks come with a protective plastic, did you take it off?
Have you removed the cpu block and see what the thermal paste spread looks like, might not be seating properly on the cpu.
Have you tried to clean and reapply thermal paste?