Hi, I have just built my new PC, its a Intel i7 930, 6Gb Corsair Dominator 1866Mhz and a PowerColor 5870 PCS+, I have water cooled the CPU, North Bridge and both Asus mosfets and the ATI 5870 PCS+ all on the same loop, the CPU and mobo are cooled by a 3x120mm fan rad with push and pull and the rad. The 5870 is on the same loop but has its own 2x120mm rad with just push fans. When running Furmarks on the card I am hitting 92c max and it says around 90c going from 89c to 92c and dropping. The water temps are all around 33c (4 placed around the loop) and case temp is 31c. Its a EK-FC5870 V2 block, used Arctic Silver 5 on GPU core, and the thermal pads on the memory and power. What do you think could be wrong? Does it need more/less thermal paste or different sort? I can't see it been the loop as the temps are low. Thanks Rob Holmes
The block probably isn't making very good contact with GPU. I would go around the screws checking whether they're fully tightened. Also, my signature is a pretty good example of what temperatures you should be hitting.
As above, check that block for contact, even spreading of thermal paste and don't apply too much paste on the gpu.
should be in high 40s to high 30s give or take cooling power high 90s indicates a problem check its connected reapply the paste
If you've got 5.120 of rad then the water temps look high (unless you have a high ambient). As well as the above I'd also look for a restriction in the block. EDIT: What pump are you using?
Water cooling doesn't work the way you think it does. That double rad doesn't just cool the video card, and the triple isn't just dedicated to the CPU/motherboard. Every heat-generating part of the loop is dumping heat into the water, which is releasing it into every radiator, yes, regardless of loop order - it sounds like you have it set up like CPU/mobo -> triple -> video -> double, thinking that the water will be cooler when it comes out of a rad and warmer when it comes out of a hot part. Seeing as you report that your water temperature is the same in four locations in the loop, you should understand that water temperature is the same no matter what. Like others, I think your video card block has mounting issues. Try remounting it with only as much thermal paste as you need (I recommend a rice grain or half rice grain sized drop, but others swear by the pea-sized droplet), and make sure the pressure is even on every screw. What other parts are in your loop? What make is your radiator, what fans, what blocks, what pump?
Hi, Thanks for reply's everyone very useful. Loop Information: CPU Block XSPC Delta North Bridge EK 2x Mosfets EK 3x120mm Rad Push and Pull using Xigmatek fans one side and different old red red LED fans other. Should all be running around 700/800rpm idle and get to 1000rpm when water temps goes up. Set target of water temp to 40c and case temp to 35c. 2x120mm Rad Push fans using Xigmatek fans Pump Swiftech MCP350 All 1/2 tubing with barbs. Also got a large 250mm res with cooling fins, I don't think it will remove a lot of heat. As sheninat0r has said i do see now that the water in and out on the rad is only effected by 0.6c at most. I tightened the GPU block while it was in the case late last night, ran the test again and got it down to 82c, so it must be a connection issue with the block. I will get the card out of the case today and remount it with a bit less thermal paste, the block fitting guide seemed to show putting a lot on in a +x kind of UK flag style. Should it be 40c on load or idle? Also Sh0cKeR thanks for your specs in sig, very helpful. Can I just ask have you lapped your CPU? I am currently testing mine and then hopefully going to over the weekend. That's if I can get it out without empty the water cooling system, fingers crossed. Thanks for your help guys. I will go try it and get back to you.
I know this could be a silly mistake, but make sure your inlet and outlet on the GPU are NOT on the same side, i.e both on the far left ports. And no, my CPU isn't lapped. I do have my Xigmatek fans running at 1500rpm so thats help. Mainly however, I think its because the GPU is idling while I run Prime95, so the CPU effectively has access to the whole of the PA120.4's heat capacity. Then after getting my voltage down to 1.3V while stressed, it knocked 5c off my temperatures compared to 1.36V.
Ok, I have got it down to 70c on load and 52 idle. Now its very slowly increasing as the water temp goes up, which will slowly mean the fans increase. The temp in my room is lower this morning with a case temp of 29c. I took the block off, removed all the thermal paste and applied a small rice size amount. I then used some plastic to spread the paste all over the GPU. I cleaned the GPU block as much as I could so it had a VERY thin layer left on. Refitted the block and did this reading? Its still I bit high right? I can't work it out! Should I not spread the GPU paste? When I tighten the screws the card starts to creak and bend, even with the spacers in? Is this ok? Should I keep going? Its not bending by a massive amount. Its just hit 72c now. But the water temp has gone from 30c to 35c, so fans are starting to speed up now. What you think? EDIT: And yes the inlet and outlet are different sides, inlet top right and outlet bottom left. EDIT: Leveled out at 75c with water temp of around 37c, the fans are now speeding up to cool the water down.
Your card's temp just shouldn't be that much above the coolant temp if the block is working properly. You've got a shed load of radiators going. I'd say the block is duff, clogged, fitted wrong or just ludicrously restrictive. Pics!
Now this is odd, I have the case side off to take some pictures for you. I started to run the Furmarks test again (1280x1024) stability test and it started at 53c, then slowly got to 55c and pretty much stopped for a long time there. So i stop the furmark render and it dropped to 48c. Then after a bit started it again and its hitting 55c to 56c and not getting a lot hotter? Slowly increasing like before but got to 57c and its dropping to 55c so it looks like its a lot lower. I just wonder if I got a air in the block when I took it out and refitted it, I heard it bubble a little. So would you call that ok or still a little high? I will get back to once its finished a full page, I will also refit the side panel.
If you take into consideration that the block is on tight, and you have used less paste, you can only come to two conclusions ; either the block is faulty or there is a problem with flow rates in the loop. And yes, your temperature at 100% load shouldn't be more than 10c above the water temperature. Also, the temperature slowly rising is actually a bad sign. For instance, I can run Furmark for an hour and the temperature will stay the same. If its rising, then clearly not all of the heat is being moved away from the card to the radiators, whether that be flow rates or the block itself. The fact that your card temperature didn't drop much after you quit the test also suggests this. Normally, the GPU will drop back down to idle temperatures immediately, give or take a few degree's c due to the water temperature rising.
Hi, Ok ran if for a bit and got a max of 58c and a min of 48c. Water temp gets to 33c. Here is a screenshot of the test. Screenshot I will just check one screw is tight and test again. I can't see it been flow as it seems to shot round the loop fast enough. It was fine when filling it and pump easily move the air out and the water in. I am sure I am not mounting it correctly, just can't work out whats wrong. I will test again with the screw a bit tighter and if its not better I will take it off again and take some pictures for you. Thanks for feedback
Unless you're running a high overclock then your heatload is less than mine on similar raddage. Even overclocked to a high level it should be within 20-30W of mine. I generally get water temps above ambient of around 2ºC at idle and under 5ºC at load. Does the block have an acrylic cover, can you see any gunk in the block? Did you flush it out before fitting?
I am lost with this now. Just tightened the screw and it was getting to 70c, so shut it down and loosened it a little and getting 70c under load again. WTF is wrong with this block? Idle is around 55c now. Its not a acrylic block so can't see in, and no I didn't flush it. I am pretty sure this is the last every water cooled PC i build. I can never get them right some how. I have so many problems. Water is around 33c and case 31c.
If it were me I'd take it apart and check it, also that the 6 spacers are in the correct place. Also put the fans on full when testing although with 1000rpm fans you're not going to get brilliant temperatures but they shouldn't be anywhere near as bad as they are. What is your ambient temperature? EDIT: What are your CPU load temps?
Problem is to take it apart would mean draining it again, something that isn't easy in this case. Just running Prime95 with my Intel 930 @ Stock Speeds (Turbo) and its hitting 58-56-56-56 using real temp. Max is 59-57-56-57. Is this any good? I didn't think it was great but low enough not to worry, the termal paste might not be on correctly on the CPU and I am hopefully going to lap it too. Water is around 32c.
Way too hot for the rads you have (I'm assuming as you're in N Yorks that the ambient is in the low 20ºs. I'd strip it down, clean all the blocks, flush the rads and start again.
Do you think the CPU is hot too or just the GPU? The case temp with the sides off is 29c, its pretty hot in my room really. Just took the card out again and made sure it didn't have any air in it, still getting 68c on load and 52c when idle. Looks like I need to strip it down then.
Both. If you're getting motherboard temps of around 30ºC then the ambient is likely to be in the low 20's. Just looked up the specs of your pump. It could also be that with the chipset blocks as well as the GFX block you have too much restriction which is affecting your flow rate. What make and model rads do you have? They're not Black Ice GTX's are they? If you look at the system in my sig I get 37ºC load temps at stock speeds in an ambient of 20ºC and only the RX480 is really contributing to those temps, the GT240 does sod all (1ºC ).
