I have just built my very first custom watercooling loop and want to see if these temps are what I should be expecting.

[grundles]

I have just build my first water cooling loop and while playing, what I don't think are very CPU demanding games, I get temps around 60degC. Which seem a little high to me as this is what I would expect from a decent air cooler. I have been running prime95 v26.6 build 3 for the past 10 minutes and only get up to about 66degC. See image below. I have no overclock at the moment as I am still testing my new loop. are these temps normal while gaming for a full custom loop?

My rig:
i7 6700k
Reference gtx1080
Asrock z170 extreme6
32GB HyperX DDR4
Full custom loop with 2x 240mm rads and 1x 360mm rad

 

[Dunlop0078]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

 

[grundles]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

 

[Dunlop0078]

Is that rigid tubing? Did you do all that yourself? Nice job. Anyway, What do gpu temps look like like under load? Is it also hotter than expected?

 

[grundles]

Is that rigid tubing? Did you do all that yourself? Nice job. Anyway, What do gpu temps look like like under load? Is it also hotter than expected?

Yeah it's rigid and I did it all myself. Even sleaved my own cables and painted my fan rings. It was a big project, first time I have done anything like this.

My GPU runs at about 41degC using heaven benchmark at 5760x1080 Ultra settings with a 2100MHz clock on a GTX1080 founders edition.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Is that rigid tubing? Did you do all that yourself? Nice job. Anyway, What do gpu temps look like like under load? Is it also hotter than expected?

Yeah it's rigid and I did it all myself. Even sleaved my own cables and painted my fan rings. It was a big project, first time I have done anything like this.

My GPU runs at about 41degC using heaven benchmark at 5760x1080 Ultra settings with a 2100MHz clock on a GTX1080 founders edition.

Well thats pretty good, what I would expect. So why is the cpu getting hotter with an even larger radiator before it while the gpu is not under load? Are you sure the cpu plate is mounted flush and tight enough to make full contact with the cpu? I would give the thumb screws a twist in a cross formation until you feel they are all torqued about the same.

 

[grundles]

Is that rigid tubing? Did you do all that yourself? Nice job. Anyway, What do gpu temps look like like under load? Is it also hotter than expected?

Yeah it's rigid and I did it all myself. Even sleaved my own cables and painted my fan rings. It was a big project, first time I have done anything like this.

My GPU runs at about 41degC using heaven benchmark at 5760x1080 Ultra settings with a 2100MHz clock on a GTX1080 founders edition.

Well thats pretty good, what I would expect. So why is the cpu getting hotter with an even larger radiator before it while the gpu is not under load? Are you sure the cpu plate is mounted flush and tight enough to make full contact with the cpu? I would give the thumb screws a twist in a cross formation until you feel they are all torqued about the same.

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's flush. I just tightened them thumbscrews to within an inch of their lives and they didn't turn much as I had already done this in the building. Plus I used the same amount of TIM as I always have done when air cooling using the pea method and never had a problem before.

 

[darky26]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

Plenty of thermal paste??? not sure what exactly you mean by plenty. but a lot of thermal paste doesn't actually make it more efficient but has the opposite effect.

 

[grundles]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

Plenty of thermal paste??? not sure what exactly you mean by plenty. but a lot of thermal paste doesn't actually make it more efficient but has the opposite effect.

I used the same amount I have always used and had no problems with.

 

[darky26]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

Plenty of thermal paste??? not sure what exactly you mean by plenty. but a lot of thermal paste doesn't actually make it more efficient but has the opposite effect.

I used the same amount I have always used and had no problems with.

Would recommend you to find something online on how to apply the thermal paste and make sure you are doing it right.
Also 65 degrees is not that bad but considering its running on Stock speeds I am not too sure. There must be some experts here who can help you with that.

 

[grundles]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

Plenty of thermal paste??? not sure what exactly you mean by plenty. but a lot of thermal paste doesn't actually make it more efficient but has the opposite effect.

I used the same amount I have always used and had no problems with.

Would recommend you to find something online on how to apply the thermal paste and make sure you are doing it right.
Also 65 degrees is not that bad but considering its running on Stock speeds I am not too sure. There must be some experts here who can help you with that.

I'm doing it right, trust me. I've been applying thermal paste to both CPUs and GPUs for years and years with no problems at all.

 

[darky26]

I am no water cooling expert but with that much rad space I would expect better temps especially at stock clocks. There are a ton of factors that could contribute to higher than desired temps in a full custom loop so I dont even know where to start in giving you a solution. Anything you can think of that you may have done wrong during your build?

I don't think so. I did tons and tons of research before I embarked on this project. Here is a pic so you can see my loop:

The loop goes:
Pump
v
240mm rad
v
GPU
v
360mm rad
v
CPU
v
240mm rad
v
Back to pump

I put plenty of thermal paste on and my ambient temps are about 22degC

Plenty of thermal paste??? not sure what exactly you mean by plenty. but a lot of thermal paste doesn't actually make it more efficient but has the opposite effect.

I used the same amount I have always used and had no problems with.

Would recommend you to find something online on how to apply the thermal paste and make sure you are doing it right.
Also 65 degrees is not that bad but considering its running on Stock speeds I am not too sure. There must be some experts here who can help you with that.

I'm doing it right, trust me. I've been applying thermal paste to both CPUs and GPUs for years and years with no problems at all.

ok I believe 65 degrees is pretty decent while running prime95. I would start really worrying when it starts touching 75. but not sure why while gaming it is in 60s. I use a i5 6600K with a 212 evo and hardly it reaches 40-45. and my room temperature reaches 40 degrees(India). I play games like Witcher 3 and CS GO

 

[Ecky]

CPU temp seems normal. These chips don't produce very much heat and are typically not thermally limited when overclocking before getting into unsafe voltage even with an inexpensive tower cooler.

With any cooler you have a thermal gradient between core and heatsink, and a better cooler will have a steeper thermal gradient due to the cooler being able to keep the surface contacting the CPU closer to ambient. This helps bring core temps down, but the CPU still needs to transfer its heat through the silicon, through a layer of thermal paste, through the IHS, through another layer of thermal paste and into the base of the heatsink. I'm fairly certain modern Intel CPUs appear to run warmer than much older chips and AMD chips because the temperature sensor is simply closer to heat-producing parts of the CPU.

66c won't harm the i7 or affect its lifespan in any practical way, and neither would 86c, so you have nothing to be concerned about. Great looking setup though.