Temps a bit high for water cooling. Help??

[nolij]

I recently bought a refurbed X58 SLI LE board as my main board is going through rma.Here is my build:

i7 950 with apogee gtz
16gb g.skill
120gb vertex 2
xfx6950 with EK copper block
X58 sli le
corsair 850
1tb
250gb
mcp655
swiftech micro res.with silver coil
480 rad 120mm nidec betas at 3200rom each on a push


Now my previous board was a gigabyte ga-x58a-ud3r. i had it going from res>pump>rad>cpu>gpu>res. using primochill 1/2ID tubing. Also if this may help, I RMA my cpu as i could not figure out if it was the cpu or mobo gone bad. anyways intel sent me a brand new chip.
so i have the same loop going in with the sli le board except in trying out the feser tubing 1/2ID.
My temps with the giga board and older cpu were around 32C and my graphic card 33C.

with this sli le board, my temps in real temp show 56C-62C and gpu at about 49C. I reseated the cpu and reapplied mx4 twice.
now on the board display, it reads at about 48C.

tubing is at same length at the other tubing used for the giga board.

Any thoughts.

 

[nolij]

I will try that today and come back with pics and results. I cant test with the older cpu as i sent it out to intel to get tested, and in turn the sent me a new(same chip) cpu. so if this cpu has a curve on it that would be the issue correct? the block is flat as i razor tested that last night. didnt cross my mind last night to razor test the cpu.

 

[nolij]

oh to answer your first question the temps i see on water are the temps i see with the stock cooler. stock cooler has normal stock temps for such a small heatsink.

 

[rubix_1011]

And your CPU is at stock speeds, no overclocking correct? (Just trying to rule out variables for temps).

 

[nolij]

yes the cpu is at stock temps.

 

[nolij]

i mean stock speeds. sorry

 

[rubix_1011]

You shouldn't see that CPU at stock idle temps of ~60C with any cooler, including the boxed Intel cooler. So, if you are seeing this bad of temps regardless of the cooler being used...something is definitely up.

Thinking more...you shouldn't see this on any stock CPU with any cooler at idle, unless you're outside and its 120F in the desert.

3 hours after putting it all together and using it, my cpu is jumping between low 50's to low 60's. this is affecting my gpu as it is now up to 50C since i have the cpu going to the gpu

This concerns me...the CPU temps shouldn't be getting warm enough to impact your GPU temps like this if the loop were functioning properly.

Just for clarity:

Can you state idle (stock speeds) of your CPU and your GPUs in the water loop

and

load temps of the CPU and GPUs in the loop?

You'd want to run some stress tests that don't require launching a graphics benchmark- so FurMark and Intel Burn test would do the trick. (I know there are concerns about how much FurMark can actually load certain cards, but for this, not as big a deal at this point).

 

[nolij]

the cpu is stock at 3.06ghz (i7950) 52 lowest on one core, 58 highest on another core idle.
the radeon 6950 is at 47/48C right now with stock speeds of 800mhz and 1250 on the memory

on load, using intel burn test, cpu dances with 73/72 but during the 10 minutes test stood constant at 71/70. GPU only went to 52 from the water.

 

[rubix_1011]

These temps are all high, especially the idle temps...by at least 10C.

I wish I had asked this question sooner. Ok, I doubt its CPU block mount, its air or restriction in the loop. All components are showing idle temps higher than they should be, not just CPU. You have air in your loop and/or an issue with flow or restriction...has to be it.

 

[nolij]

the cpu temp should have an effect on teh gpu temp though correct. the loop is from the cpu to the gpu. so if the cpu is sending hot liquid to the gpu, the gpu is hopeless to get lower temps. thats how i see it.

also, i should have mentioned this but its prolly not a big factor, is i have one of those koolance caps that bleeds air out a loop. its on my res. let me post some pics of before the rma's and after of my rig. images will help.

 

[rubix_1011]

the cpu temp should have an effect on teh gpu temp though correct

Not really...if so, you have a really bad delta. The water should never be hot...it should at very most, be lukewarm even at full load runs for several hours. There should never be any 'hot' water at all.

Yeah, pics might help identify anything we might potentially see.

 

[gbkinum1]

Just to add my own 2cents, have you made sure you've got good airflow going through your rad? I remember reading about a few people that tried to do a push pull setup through their rad and had the fans set up in opposite directions so almost no air went through.. or I remember someone that put the radiator against something solid where air couldn't flow through it. Just trying to throw an idea out there 🙁

Also, I doubt this is really your main problem.. but you mention that you used a card to apply your thermal paste.. and assuming I didn't misunderstand you, you can get better contact by just putting a small amount (grain of rice or pea size) in the center.. and let the pressure from mounting the heatsink/waterblock spread it for you. Pre-spreading the thermal compound will inevitably trap air bubbles in there, which will reduce performance.


video showing how thermal paste spreads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

some tests comparing different application methods
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/art [...] -1/1303/10

Good luck!

 

[nolij]

Just to add my own 2cents, have you made sure you've got good airflow going through your rad? I remember reading about a few people that tried to do a push pull setup through their rad and had the fans set up in opposite directions so almost no air went through.. or I remember someone that put the radiator against something solid where air couldn't flow through it. Just trying to throw an idea out there 🙁

Also, I doubt this is really your main problem.. but you mention that you used a card to apply your thermal paste.. and assuming I didn't misunderstand you, you can get better contact by just putting a small amount (grain of rice or pea size) in the center.. and let the pressure from mounting the heatsink/waterblock spread it for you. Pre-spreading the thermal compound will inevitably trap air bubbles in there, which will reduce performance.


video showing how thermal paste spreads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4

some tests comparing different application methods
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/art [...] -1/1303/10

Good luck!

i pressure tested my rad and im getting good flow through it. i have 2 fans pushing air in it on the top, and two on the bottom pulling air off of it and the bottom two are hitting the gpu. like damn near kissing the gpu so its getting the air form those fan.

i was thinking about the push pull but seen the downfalls and gains and its not really worth it.

here is a link to the video of my rig on youtube. things look a mess as i was testing it. but that is my setup before the cpu and board rma. thats when it worked fine, temps where were they should be on water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evYg5tFgKaI

so an update. i figure i do each component in a loop by itself. i did the gpu earlier and it was fine. so i now have the cpu in the loop by itself and the temps are still too high for it on water. so learning towards rubix's idea of the mount, this block is old, screws seem worn, maybe i can try a new water block, or get all new mounting hardware for this block. i do remember now i had to cut the screws short cause they were hitting the back of the case.

I have tried applying paste everything which way that can be done other than throwing the damn tube at it. lol. even then i wont see a high hike from what i previously had. now i wish i had two different 950's to test. i got two boards and both boards show same results. i will work with the rad again but i see its down the the cpu area, be it the mount or cpu, but it has to be in that area.

 

[gbkinum1]

At 13 seconds in your video it sounds like you've got air in your loop (and not a small amount). Try physically shaking/tilting your case with the pump running to bleed your loop. It also looks like you only have half of your radiator getting any air flow through it. Maybe I just can't see it from the video, but it looks like the bottom half is obstructed and is unlikely to be doing much of anything.

 

[rubix_1011]

I think the :13 seconds thing might be airflow past the mic pickup on the camera...it sounds like wind, but could be wrong.

Even with some air in the loop, temps shouldn't be that bad...you'd have to really have almost 1/2 a rad full of air to get as bad as he is reporting...which is almost impossible unless the loop is that low on water. (Let's hope not).

If you have the CPU and GPU in the loop, does the GPU stay cool at load temps, regardless of the CPU temps?

aka...GPU nice and cool vs CPU running a bit warm?

 

[nolij]

yes you hear is the wind from those fans. loud and fast they are. loop is full of water. i do tilt the rig to make sure i get as much air out as possible. like i said that koolance port helps with air release also. the gpu was was at 40 when powered on and at load hits only 48. its a very short trip from the cpu to gpu so i was assuming the water from the cpu was somewhat effecting the gpu. the water was very warm, warmer than it should be. so i have to take it all aprt and redo everything. now that the cpu is on the loop on its own, temps are still way up there for water cooling. i think i will buy a whole new mounting kit for my block and see if it is a mounting issue. but holding the board eye level i can see the mount making very good contact. it is also nice and even so it has good coverage across the cpu. i just turned on my pc right now and jumped on here.

temps right now are 38C on one core, 48C on another. if i were to load the cpu, as i have done these last few days, it hits up to the mid 50's. then it stays in the 50's for a long time. never really goes back down to the 40's.

 

[rubix_1011]

When I load my CPU on Intel Burn test, all 4 cores easily hit the mid 50's C...they also drop down to low 40's or so, depending on what ambient is at the time. Of course, my CPU is overclocked pretty heavily vs. stock, so this is why my temps are like this.

 

[nolij]

those are nice load temps. but mine are just so high at stock speeds, at idle and on water. when i overclocked to 3.83, my temps were 33C on the cpu. i forgot to say that when they stay in the 50's, ill to the intel burn test again and they jump in the 60s. i just got done gaming from the time of my last post to this post. temps right now are 44 to 52 jumping around on the cores. let me burn test right now and see what happens.

this house is always at 68/70F so that is not a factor. im in the Chi so its cold. might just set the damn pc outside in an igloo with long cables. lol.

 

[gbkinum1]

So the gurgling sound I hear is just camera trickery? You don't hear it at all?

 

[nolij]

So the gurgling sound I hear is just camera trickery? You don't hear it at all?

yes the gurgling sound you hear is that fan. it is pulling air off the rad into the case going out the back of it. camera got in the area of the fan wind.