[SOLVED] High temp spike with i7 10700k and EKWB 360 AIO during Cinebench

[steelystan]

Hi.

I recently upgrade my CPU cooling to an EKWB 360 AIO. I ran 3DMark Time Spy Extreme (4k) and during the CPU test my temp spiked up from 80 C to 102 C then quickly back down to 80 C. Running standard Time Spy my CPU temp spiked up to 87 C at about the same spot on the graph. I had some fans blowing the wrong way so I fixed my intake/exhaust, reapplied thermal paste, and reseated the pump. After that I ran Cinebench multi-core CPU test while running HWMonitor. At the start of the Cinebench test my CPU temp (all cores) spiked up to ~95 C then stabilized at ~73 C. My idle temps are between 28 C - 40 C.

Here are my HWMonitor logs for CPU package and CPU cores temperatures during Cinebench test.

All my fans, including the pump, are set to PWM with smart fan mode enabled in BIOS.

Is this normal? Acceptable with a 3 fan liquid cooler?

My setup:

CPU​	Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor​
CPU Cooler​	EK-AIO 360 D-RGB 66.04 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler​
Thermal Compound​	EK Pre-applied thermal pad​
Motherboard​	MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1200 Motherboard​
Memory​	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory​
Memory​	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory​
Storage​	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive​
Storage​	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive​
Storage​	Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive​
Storage​	Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive​
Storage​	Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive​
Video Card​	Asus GeForce RTX 3090 24 GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card​
Case​	Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case​
Power Supply​	Asus 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply​

 

[Darkbreeze]

Where is your radiator installed, front or top? Are the fans on the radiator configured as intake or exhaust? On which SIDE of the radiator, inner or outer side, are the fans installed ON the radiator?

Just as an observation, I'd initially recommend that it might not be the worst idea in the world to remove your cold plate, clean off ALL of the existing thermal compound/pad from both surfaces and then apply fresh compound consisting of something like Thermal grizzly Kryonaut or Noctua NT-H2, which usually tends to have better transfer properties than any of the factory thermal "pads". Those are generally used to make the product foolproof, for "fools", of which we know there are some out there who might botch a thermal paste application so this reduces the amount of comebacks the AIO or cooler manufacturer has to deal with. It's certainly not a commonality due to it being the BEST option in this regard.

Also, please outline what the problem was with your previous case fan configuration and how you "fixed" or changed it and what the orientation and location of all case fans is now?

 

[steelystan]

Thanks for the reply Darkbreeze, much appreciated.

My radiator is on the top with the fans underneath it setup for exhaust. Below is a picture of my setup before I fixed my fans. As you can see, the front three and the radiator were setup for exhaust while my rear was intake. I've changed the front three to intake, added a fourth intake fan at the bottom of my case, and replaced the rear 120 mm with a 140 mm and set it to exhaust.

I've already removed the included EK thermal pad and applied Arctic Silver (a tiny rice grain amount). I'll look into picking up some Kryonaut at Microcenter. One thing I am worried about is that I used a paper towel and q-tip with 91% isopropyl alcohol to remove the EK thermal pad from both the CPU and the cold plate. After that I read that I should have used a non abrasive cloth. Here is my cold plate after cleaning... think it's an issue?

After my original post here I received a comment on my reddit post recommending that I change my pump to DC and run it at max. Right now it's set to PWM with smart mode enabled.


Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Abrasion is not the issue. Micro-fibers CAN be an issue, when using paper towels and Q-tips. I recommend, whenever possible, using lint free type cloths (Think micro fiber or transmission rebuilding cloths) or paper coffee filters. These don't shed fibers like other types of textiles or cleaning products. Probably that is NOT the issue at play here, in fact I'd just about guarantee it isn't, but it is STILL something to consider when doing this kind of project.

I do NOT recommend running the pump at variable speeds. This is probably the issue with the initial heat response. I also do not recommend setting the pump header to DC, because EK specifically recommends that it be used with a PWM signal, but that doesn't mean that the PWM signal needs to be variable. I recommend that it is set to a static configuration, WITH PWM enabled for that header. Something between 90-100% of PWM signal, static, would be my recommendation.

Considering the CPU in question, I think 100% PWM signal at ALL temperature ranges is appropriate. Yes, it will be a bit louder, at all times, but you will likely eliminate the brief high spike and also likely lower the overall average temperature as well.

EK says specifically, for this pump:

System Requirements:

• 4-Pin PWM Header for pump and fan operation
• 3-Pin Addressable 5V D-RGB header

The rest of the cooling configuration is right, and configured the way I believe to be optimal other than maybe putting the radiator in front as an intake configuration, but you should only do that IF you can do and still be able to install it with the hoses oriented to the BOTTOM of the radiator. If you have to put the radiator there with the hoses at the top, then it is not recommended that you install it that way and in that case the way you have it now is a better configuration. In any case, the difference is likely less than 5°C on average anyhow, although with a 360mm cooler it could maybe range anywhere from 3-10°C difference in Delta with a front mounted radiator using the cooler outside ambient air rather than the already heated internal case air.

 

[steelystan]

Gotcha. I'll make those changes tonight.

I attempted to mount the radiator in front with the tubes at the bottom but my video card won't allow it. I also watched Gamers Nexus video on proper AIO installation and decided to buy a new case (I had a Corsair Air 540) and mount it on the top.

Thank you so much for your advice. You're very helpful.

 

[Darkbreeze]

My pleasure. Hopefully the change in the pump configuration is what is needed to overcome the temperature spikes. Let me know. Good luck.

 

[steelystan]

You were right. Setting my pump to 70% at > 30 C, 80% 30-40 C, and 100 % at < 40 C made a huge difference.

I'm going to remove the smart mode and leave it at 90%. I had issues setting it static in the BIOS, thinking I couldn't get it above 50%, but it was just the way my bios displays the fan speed in the graph.

I haven't tried playing any games but when running multi-core Cinebench test my temps look pretty good.

Thank you so much!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Right on man. I was pretty sure that would be the case, but you never know until you know. Glad it worked out the way it was supposed to. Good luck and if you ever have questions don't hesitate to ask.