Need some help - Custom loop but something aint right

Hi All.

Put a new PC together with a custom loop a few months ago now and been playing along happily.. posted in a thread about GPU overclocks yesterday and someone mention my GPU temps seem really high for being under water.. So now I am thinking something is not right with my set-up.

Original Build thread is here

So I have the following

EK 360 RAD
EK Waterblock
EK D5 pump / res combo
MSI Seahawk with EK full block

Now temp wise on the GPU in overwatch and battlefront I am seeing 65-72 degrees with ultra settings running G-sync @144hz

First thing I thought maybe pump is not working.. although i could not see the fluid moving around the tubes I felt the bottom of the pump and its vibrating so guessing means its working.

Second thing i though maybe the rad fans are not ramping up.. they are controlled by PWM from the CPU mobo header and are based around CPU load.. CPU temps seem fine and max out around 50 degrees so maybe as load is not high the fans are not having to kick in (fans cant tell if GPU is getting hot) so what i did was change the fans over to fixed rpm of 1500 and played overwatch again.. temps came down about 5 degrees but still high..

So what next??? i just purchased a Thermaltake P5 case so am going to drain the loop and fit the PC into that but if the problem lies somewhere else what can i try??

Looking to anyone for suggestions / help

Sounds like a bad mount of the gpu block or too much thermal paste.Remove the block,and re mount it.IIRC some1 else posted recently with the same issue regarding the seahawk card.

Hi Enigma,

75 degrees is way hot for a newer card (1080 isn't it?)

Could be a few different things:

GPU waterblock fitment This could maybe be the most likely reason that your card is hot. Did you fit the block yourself? Could be that the tim isn't sat right or I've seen before people leave plastic covers on the blocks by accident. First recommendation would be to take the block off the card, clean the tim off the die and the block and re-seat with new tim.

Air in the loop Does the loop make any odd noises when running? Did you tilt the chassis every which way when the loop was filled? Air pockets can hammer cooling performance.

What voltages and clocks are you running for your CPU and your GPU?

Alz_D said:

Hi Enigma,

75 degrees is way hot for a newer card (1080 isn't it?)

Could be a few different things:

GPU waterblock fitment This could maybe be the most likely reason that your card is hot. Did you fit the block yourself? Could be that the tim isn't sat right or I've seen before people leave plastic covers on the blocks by accident. First recommendation would be to take the block off the card, clean the tim off the die and the block and re-seat with new tim.

Air in the loop Does the loop make any odd noises when running? Did you tilt the chassis every which way when the loop was filled? Air pockets can hammer cooling performance.

What voltages and clocks are you running for your CPU and your GPU?

Click to expand...

Waterblock is the one fitted to the MSI card out of the box (joint effort between MSI and EK)

Checked for air in the Loop and it looks fine

CPU is running @ 4.5ghz around max 1.3 volts although this is being controlled by the auto overclock set-ups in the bios so voltage might be less. Temp i games seems to hover around 50C under load

GPU is running @ 2ghz (auto boost) and memory has +400mhz as an overclock.

System itself is very stable.. never crashes and games run fine.. if someone had not mentioned any problem in the other thread I probably would not have noticed.

Am I right in thinking that your loop order is pump>gpu>cpu? If so try swapping the tubing on the gpu. You have it configured with the inlet on the right when the inlet should be on the left. Look at your picture of the card before installation and you can see the block has a built in jet plate that only comes into play if the flow is from the left. I know they say it doesn't make much difference but if it didn't make a difference why would they have spent money developing and including it in the design? It could help with some of your temp problem.

pastymuncher said:

Am I right in thinking that your loop order is pump>gpu>cpu? If so try swapping the tubing on the gpu. You have it configured with the inlet on the right when the inlet should be on the left. Look at your picture of the card before installation and you can see the block has a built in jet plate that only comes into play if the flow is from the left. I know they say it doesn't make much difference but if it didn't make a difference why would they have spent money developing and including it in the design? It could help with some of your temp problem.

Click to expand...

Yep Pump>GPU>CPU>RAD

I actually emailed EK about this and asked if there was a proper way round for the inlet and oultet and they said it wouldn't make any difference.. When i drain the loop I will swap them around see if it helps.

Maybe someone in the MSI factory forgot to put thermal paste on the GPU before fitting the block? lol. If you're draining the loop I would remove the GPU block and check, swapping the tubes over won't make that much difference, if any at all. You should be sitting 40c ish under load, there's no way using the outlet as an inlet would contribute 30c more than where it should be.

Bluntwrapped said:

Maybe someone in the MSI factory forgot to put thermal paste on the GPU before fitting the block? lol. If you're draining the loop I would remove the GPU block and check, swapping the tubes over won't make that much difference, if any at all. You should be sitting 40c ish under load, there's no way using the outlet as an inlet would contribute 30c more than where it should be.

Click to expand...

I think that is what i will do any recommendations on replacement TIM?

I've used THIS on my 980's and have had zero issues at all. It really does sound like a tim / seating issue.

By contrast my overclocked SLI 980's rarely hit 50 degrees even with a 5930k sitting at 1.3v in the loop, albeit with a much greater radiator area

These new cards run much cooler, so I'd be worried with your temps and definitely do something about it.

Also running an auto overclock could be raising the voltage higher than needed on your CPU (not that it would cause this jump in temp) but..... It's worth investing the time to learn what does what in the BIOS and organise a stable overclock at the lowest possible voltage. Will help longevity of the CPU and save on energy and heat.

Have you increased the voltage to overclock the GPU? What program are you using?

Alz_D said:

I've used THIS on my 980's and have had zero issues at all. It really does sound like a tim / seating issue.

By contrast my overclocked SLI 980's rarely hit 50 degrees even with a 5930k sitting at 1.3v in the loop, albeit with a much greater radiator area

These new cards run much cooler, so I'd be worried with your temps and definitely do something about it.

Also running an auto overclock could be raising the voltage higher than needed on your CPU (not that it would cause this jump in temp) but..... It's worth investing the time to learn what does what in the BIOS and organise a stable overclock at the lowest possible voltage. Will help longevity of the CPU and save on energy and heat.

Have you increased the voltage to overclock the GPU? What program are you using?

Click to expand...

Voltage on the GPU I don't think i have changed. all i did was raise the power limit to max and temp limit to 80.. In afterburner I used the curve to add 100hz to the core and 400 to the Mem..

The reason i am leaning towards the GPU being the problem is base don the CPU being well within range even overclocked.. max temp i have ever seen is 60 running high end benchmarks.

Luckily i have a second PC i can use while i strip this down (i5 with a 980 TI HYbrid) so have plenty of time to investigate and strip the GPU

The 360 rad i have should be enough for a GPU and CPU right? seeing as i have the option of moving this to a new case the P5 can accommodate a 480 RAD.. worth it?

How thick is the radiator? I'm sure I've seen a rule of 120mm per component plus 1 extra minimum (if that makes sense). I've always gone OTT and currently have 360mm and 480mm alpha cool 60mm radiators in my case. If you already have a 360 then the cost to performance ratio wouldn't be worth the upgrade in my opinion as long as you're satisfied with the temps once the GPU block is re-seated.

Alz_D said:

How thick is the radiator? I'm sure I've seen a rule of 120mm per component plus 1 extra minimum (if that makes sense). I've always gone OTT and currently have 360mm and 480mm alpha cool 60mm radiators in my case. If you already have a 360 then the cost to performance ratio wouldn't be worth the upgrade in my opinion as long as you're satisfied with the temps once the GPU block is re-seated.

Click to expand...

looks like its a slim one 38mm

enigma27 said:

looks like its a slim one 38mm

Click to expand...

If the limitation of the rad size is really in question then just run the GPU in the loop and put a random cooler on the CPU to see the difference. My gut feeling is you should not be seeing 70c maximums even with a CPU and GPU on a 360mm rad.

I'm in the process of running a EK Predator 280 with only a single 1080 Sea Hawk EK X. Will post temps when all is setup. At the moment I've only got it leak testing connected to a PSU while awaiting a 4930k and RIVE Mobo.

you could use the TIM that came with the cpu block, that is the stuff EK would have sent you if you got the gpu block seperately.

Doesn't sound like a seating issue or TIM at all.
You've upped the power limit and the fluid is just heating up too much, 50c on a CPU while gaming under water is hot.
1080s do run hot and you've upped that with the power limit, normally you'd look at 180w tdp but you're looking more like 225-250w tdp with the increase. A 360 isn't enough for an OC'd GPU and CPU. You'd want 480 with atleast 56mm thickness of rad.

Also get a fluid sensor and connect it up to your mobo, set the fans to ramp up based on Fluid temp, not CPU load or GPU load.

I've got CPU and GPU (a 390x so a hot one) on a 38mm 360 EK rad. My temps when gaming are 55-65° CPU and 62-64° GPU.

That's with fans set at a constant 80% speed when gaming. Both overclocked.

Considering the GPU on air would have been 75-85° I would have thought temps fairly normal?

Seems high to me, i have a EX360 rad and GPU doesn't go above 42c.

I have 2x 480's and a single 240. Both 1080's can still hit 42-43c and CPU around 55c.

60-70c seems far too hot for a single 360. One thing that stands out to me in your build log is you CPU port orientation?

Looks like your pumping into the out port on the CPU block?

Could cause a problem as it's a one flow direction only block.

A quick test of my MSI EK 1080 with Heaven on the extreme preset at 1440p gave me 36c Maximum looping for 15mins. 2100MHz constant with +128 on the core. Ambient is pretty low, Idling at 22c.

Yeah, I will probably be able to get higher temps in more GPU intensive games. You still shouldn't be seeing maximums double that surely, even considering my GPU is being cooled by a 280 Predator rad. This is the first time I've dabbled in anything more than AIOs, although the predator is kinda AIO in a way.

Thanks all for the help.

I have drained the system and am currently moving it over to a p5 case.. while doing that I am installing a thicker 360 radiator and also hard tubing with a bigger res and pump.. the one i have a bit small.

I will try and remove the extra power limit and see if that helps.. whats peoples preference for direction of water movement? GPU or CPU first?

I have 2x 480's and a single 240. Both 1080's can still hit 42-43c and CPU around 55c.

60-70c seems far too hot for a single 360. One thing that stands out to me in your build log is you CPU port orientation?

Looks like your pumping into the out port on the CPU block?

Could cause a problem as it's a one flow direction only block.

Click to expand...

it definatley goes from GPU into the in port of CPU then from the out port back to the RAD.