Question R7 5800x running 80-90c on light use with 360mm AIO

[Shenhav159]

I am running an R7 5800x system with ENERMAX liqmax iii 360, in the LianLi O11 dynamic case.
the CPU used to go around 30c idle a year ago, allowing PBO on 70-80c and or just normal boost clocks with around 60-70c
for a long time now the temps turned very high even on light use, reaching 90c steady while gaming or even browsing/other light work.

today I took the initiative to replace the thermal paste and found out it wasn't too well spread (some areas were not covered)
I applied a good amount and spread a square covering 80% of the CPU area, leaving the copper squish to spread the rest.
full idle (0 use) is able to drop down to 60c which was now possible before, yet light use still drives it to rush to the 85+ area.

Pump running 3500+rpm, temps read through HwInfo

any ideas?

add-ups:
-one tube is hotter than the other
-AIO is 2 years old

 

[DSzymborski]

Are you sure the pump is working properly? Feel the hoses when the PC is at load; are the hoses roughly the same temperature or is one hotter than the other?

 

[geofelt]

How old is your aio?
In time, air will intrude through the tubes or the pump will collect debris, making it less effective.
Think a useful life of 5 years

 

[drea.drechsler]

Also: I believe some of the Liqmax line of coolers was pretty famous for contamination that obstructed the micro-fins on the cooling plate in the water block. If you wish to do it, a fix is to disassemble the pump/water block, clean the fins and thoroughly flush the hoses and radiator. Then reassemble and refill with proper mix of distilled water and coolant which includes a corrosion preventive so it doesn't happen again.

Or, complete replacement. Hopefully you can get yours replaced by Enermax (see above) even though the recall was for S. Korean models.

 

[Kona45primo]

IF you can fit a good air cooler in your case that would be my recomendation. AIO's are cool but I can't deal with a product with such a short lifespan, and the pump sound was always annoying

Deepcool AK620 would be my personal choice

 

[drea.drechsler]

IF you can fit a good air cooler in your case that would be my recomendation. AIO's are cool but I can't deal with a product with such a short lifespan, and the pump sound was always annoying

Deepcool AK620 would be my personal choice

In defense...most AIO's don't have the problems that Enermax's and MSI's and one or two others have. I have a CoolerMaster 240mm AIO is six years old and going strong and a bottom-of-market ID Cooling 120mm AIO that's about 3 years old is still chugging along just fine.

The problem here is centered on one or two OEM's (the company that actually makes the part for the selling company) who don't do an adequate job cleaning out soldering fluxes used to manufacture the radiators. The flux reacts with the glycol coolant and turns it into a gel like substance. It's been reported on by Gamers Nexus. The point is that it's by no means a universal attribute of AIO's so if you can avoid those brands known to have put bad product on the market you'll most likely be fine.

 

[beyondlogic]

the problem with enermax in general has had 2 failure generations 2-3 of pumps

one was a gasket if i remember correctly disintegrating along with contamination.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xl5lXRcmrk

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTlCV1AgoA


as the link drea.drechsler shows it appears they had even more recalls of a third generation like yours so i wouldn't be surprised if it came out of a bad batch

 

[Shenhav159]

Are you sure the pump is working properly? Feel the hoses when the PC is at load; are the hoses roughly the same temperature or is one hotter than the other?

one of the tubes is hotter, i'd assume it indicates working properly
correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[DSzymborski]

one of the tubes is hotter, i'd assume it indicates working properly
correct me if I'm wrong.

If one is noticeably hotter, it means the opposite. AIOs cool in large part because of the speed of the flow; the tubes shouldn't be 1-2 C different at *most*.

 

[Shenhav159]

Also: I believe some of the Liqmax line of coolers was pretty famous for contamination that obstructed the micro-fins on the cooling plate in the water block. If you wish to do it, a fix is to disassemble the pump/water block, clean the fins and thoroughly flush the hoses and radiator. Then reassemble and refill with proper mix of distilled water and coolant which includes a corrosion preventive so it doesn't happen again.

Or, complete replacement. Hopefully you can get yours replaced by Enermax (see above) even though the recall was for S. Korean models.

how can I prove its the AIO's fault? is it even required to prove it? how can I dictate it for myself nonetheless?

 

[Shenhav159]

If one is noticeably hotter, it means the opposite. AIOs cool in large part because of the speed of the flow; the tubes shouldn't be 1-2 C different at *most*.

OK so a big noticeable difference indicates slow liquid flow? whats a good way to measure the real temp in each tube?

 

[drea.drechsler]

how can I prove its the AIO's fault? is it even required to prove it? how can I dictate it for myself nonetheless?

I think the only way to confidently prove it is to disassemble the waterblock/pump assembly and look for gel-like substance in microfins. That's difficult, obviously, and you'll never get Enermax to help you out with an exchange (assuming they will).

The best you can do is basically what you have done: make sure the pump/block is mounted correctly and properly pasted. If it heats up quickly, even when lightly loaded or "idle", it's the most likely source of the problem due to the history with Enermax's LiqMax AIO's.

OK so a big noticeable difference indicates slow liquid flow? whats a good way to measure the real temp in each tube?

You can't accurately measure the temp of liquid inside the tube but the return tube exterior (returning liquid to the radiator) might be substantially warmer to the touch than the supply tube (unless flow is 100% blocked). Touch both: you should be able to clearly sense a significant difference. A normal running AIO you may not be able to when the CPU is idle; I can't sense a difference with my 240mm AIO even 20min's into the CPU (5800X) running a batch video encoding. You might also see it in a thermograph, if you have an IR capable phone camera, or an IR thermometer. Even if you can feel or measure a temp difference what you don't know at this point is what "normal" is since you probably never baselined this so it will still be judgmental.

It also assumes the pump and impeller are functioning fully. You can check that the pump is operating with 12V constantly (either in BIOS profiles or by connecting it to a SATA drive power cable using an adapter). Also check pump RPM: but do you know what normal is (check the AIO's specs)? The impeller could have come loose from the motor shaft (rare these days) so the moter is free spinning because it's not moving liquid: RPM will be much higher than normal then. A bound pump or impeller will spin much slower than normal, or not at all.