Am I missing something? High GPU temps (60c load - EKWB 3080ti FE)

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Hello there, long time forum lurker - i finally went and bought the components for a custom loop. I am familiar with watercooling having used AIOs for a while and moving to the expandable Alphacool Eisbaer Extreme system to add the Alphacool Nexxos GPU block and have a semi custom loop running for a while.

Putting together the loop was ok - Removed all the old paste from CPU/GPU, flushed the new rads and washed out new components with distilled water. Ran leak test for 3 hours with no problems and powered up everything which ran ok. Loop goes as follows:

Pump >> GPU >> CPU >> 280x45 Rad >> 280x30 Rad >> Pump

I have a Founders Edition 3080ti and got the Quantum Vector FE block on. From initial testing of the first boot after setting this all up i was getting very high temps - 74 under load (390ish watts). I must have done something wrong so I removed the block and i didn't use enough paste + not enough mounting pressure. Cleaned all the gunk off with qtips and isopropyl alcohol and reapplied the paste and this time ensured the block was mounted properly.

Running some testing again and this time was much better - with the GPU maxing out at 60c. From the reviews I saw of this GPU block, this seemed too high - reviewers would max out at 50-55c.

Thinking i may have applied to much paste again, i removed the blocked, cleaned and reapplied the paste - similar story, though i feel it takes slightly longer to read 60c.

Am i missing something here? Why am i not able to achieve better temps - a max of 60c with fans at around 1000rpm is not bad at all, i dont mind it - but just wondering if i am doing something wrong here? This is the temp with no panels on - the case is completely open. Once all the panels are on this temp will rise by ~5c i imagine (this case has terrible airflow).

Any insights would be much appreciated. If i've missed a bit of information here please let me know.

These are the components in the loop - i used the EKWB Cryochill coolant. The reservoir is 90% full.
  • EK Water Blocks EK-Quantum Vector FE RTX 3080 D-RGB Water Block - Black Special Edition
  • Alphacool NexXxoS ST30 Full Copper 280mm Dual Fan Water Cooling Radiator V2 - Black
  • EK Water Blocks EK-STC Classic 10/13 Soft Tubing Compression Fitting - Nickel
  • Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 Full Copper 280mm Dual Fan Water Cooling Radiator V2 - Black
  • EK Water Blocks EK-Quantum Kinetic TBE 200 D5 PWM D-RGB Pump / Reservoir Combo - Plexi
  • EK Water Blocks EK-Velocity Digital Addressable RGB CPU Water Block - Nickel + Plexi
  • EK Water Blocks EK-Duraclear Tubing 13/10 - Clear 3M
  • Phanteks Pump Mounting Kit
  • Alphacool Eiszapfen 13/10mm Threaded Rotatable 90 Degree G1 / 4 Fitting - Black
  • Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Liquid Metal Thermal Paste - 1g
  • Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm
PC Components:
- Intel 7820x (Delidded - conductonaut used between IHS and Copper EHS)
- 32gb RAM
- Nvidia 3080Ti FE
- Case: Phanteks Evolv X
 
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maxing out at 60c is still good on water.. i wouldn't worry to be honest... plus not every GPU would max out at 55c.. all depends on their cooling setup, ambient temps etc
 
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Depending on your fan RPM that mght just be what you're going to get with the amount of rad in your loop, especialy if your CPU is OC'd (??).

When you say 60, is that core or hotspot? As mentioned, 60 is pretty reasonable all in all so I wouldn't be too disappointed with it. If you're after better temps and you haven't already got them maxed out, you could test it by just ramping up the fans and see if it makes a difference.
 
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Have you ensured all the air is out the system? I found the EKWB had a large air bubble on my GPU. Set pumps to 100% and rotate the case.
Also, are you undervolting or at stock? I have a 3090 and my temps on the core are about 55°C, but I am undervolting to 0.925V @1930 Mhz.
 
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Maybe a 3090, but my 3080ti (with a different block) is getting to low 50's core and maybe touching 60 hotspot at stock. I'd only expect to have to undervolt for temps that low on a 3090 with those extra memory modules on the back of the board.
 
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Depending on your fan RPM that mght just be what you're going to get with the amount of rad in your loop, especialy if your CPU is OC'd (??).

When you say 60, is that core or hotspot? As mentioned, 60 is pretty reasonable all in all so I wouldn't be too disappointed with it. If you're after better temps and you haven't already got them maxed out, you could test it by just ramping up the fans and see if it makes a difference.

that is for the core - the hotspot tops out at 70 when the core is 61. The CPU is overclocked - 4.5 on all cores at 1.15v - the Skylake X do run quite hot i know that.

Have you ensured all the air is out the system? I found the EKWB had a large air bubble on my GPU. Set pumps to 100% and rotate the case.
Also, are you undervolting or at stock? I have a 3090 and my temps on the core are about 55°C, but I am undervolting to 0.925V @1930 Mhz.

Yeah all the air bubble are out. I am undervolting but running 0.918v @ 2000Mhz - i could run it a little slower for sure.

Thanks everyone - just seems that this is my lot. Wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something obvious
 
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So a review was getting lower with that block. With the exact same amount of radiator and air flow? 60C with fans at 100rpm is impressive I would say. Why are the fans at 100rpm or do you mean 1000?

hah - yes i meant 1000rpm! This is a good point - I found another review which is more in line with what I am getting (slightly higher as they only used one rad to cool a CPU + GPU) so suffice to say 60c isn't too bad it seems
 
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that is for the core - the hotspot tops out at 70 when the core is 61. The CPU is overclocked - 4.5 on all cores at 1.15v - the Skylake X do run quite hot i know that.



Yeah all the air bubble are out. I am undervolting but running 0.918v @ 2000Mhz - i could run it a little slower for sure.

Thanks everyone - just seems that this is my lot. Wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something obvious
Mine has peaked tonight at 58°C playing RDR2 at 1440p, everything maxxed out. Fans as yours, 1000 RPM
 
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hah - yes i meant 1000rpm! This is a good point - I found another review which is more in line with what I am getting (slightly higher as they only used one rad to cool a CPU + GPU) so suffice to say 60c isn't too bad it seems
Have you tried ramping the fans up to see if it makes a difference then? I assume you have some rpm headroom in those fans?

Also, something to consider if you haven't already is your fan setup. I can't see any mention of what's intake/exhaust and whether you have any additional non-rad fans doing work in the case.
 
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I was going to say about the fans

Also how is the Fans Intake and outtake?

So mine is Pump > GPU > CPU > RADS (FANS OUT) > RADS (FANS IN) > PUMP. I also have 2 extra Fans blowing air out. This is on a 5700xt which are known to be hot.

Negative air pressure will cause higher temps, it's about trying to get your case and temps to reach equilibrium.

I am in process of changing my exhaust fans to Artic P12 PWM - Pressure optimised fans. Best bang for buck for thermal resistance. you think your temps are hot on the junction I had 106c so it's coming up for the 6 month maintenance including changing thermal paste and pads, coolant, and cleaning rads. 5 hours work.
 
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I do. Personally I set my fans up such that in a warm room, my GPU tops out at 50C. At the moment, 3080 + 5900x in a Corsair 5000X, dual thin 360mms and the fans spin at about 800rpm and the 3080 bobs between 45C to 50C.
I have the active backplate so also dumping all that memory heat into the loop. I would probably benefit changing the 240mm rad I have to a 360 but can't be bothered at the moment.
 
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Mine has peaked tonight at 58°C playing RDR2 at 1440p, everything maxxed out. Fans as yours, 1000 RPM

Hmm, that's interesting. Makes mine seem reasonable. I undervolted to 880mV @ 1930mhz and it tops out at around 54/55c

Problem is your case is an oven. Amazing build quality but awful airflow.

EDIT: reread the OP, something else is amiss here...

What fans are you using?

I was going to say about the fans

Also how is the Fans Intake and outtake?

So mine is Pump > GPU > CPU > RADS (FANS OUT) > RADS (FANS IN) > PUMP. I also have 2 extra Fans blowing air out. This is on a 5700xt which are known to be hot.

Negative air pressure will cause higher temps, it's about trying to get your case and temps to reach equilibrium.

I am in process of changing my exhaust fans to Artic P12 PWM - Pressure optimised fans. Best bang for buck for thermal resistance. you think your temps are hot on the junction I had 106c so it's coming up for the 6 month maintenance including changing thermal paste and pads, coolant, and cleaning rads. 5 hours work.

Using the same fan set up:
Pump > GPU > CPU > RADS (2x140mm FANS OUT) > RADS (2x140mm FANS IN) > PUMP.

All 140mm fans - plus one 140mm fan as another exhaust on the back.

The only thing I can think of is the fact I have 2x 280mm rads. I could have fit 2x360mm rads, or 1x280 and 1x420mm.

Not something in gonna do anytime soon

I do. Personally I set my fans up such that in a warm room, my GPU tops out at 50C. At the moment, 3080 + 5900x in a Corsair 5000X, dual thin 360mms and the fans spin at about 800rpm and the 3080 bobs between 45C to 50C.

The 3080 has a much lower TDP than a 3080ti - which can sustain just over 350w (400w if overclocked) - it makes sense it would run much cooler
 
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Just out of curiosity when was the last time you changed the thermal pads? so not the paste, i have 4 thermal pads 1 on the VRAM then 3 on the chips.

I just replaced mine to 1.5mm also done the thermal paste on both the CPU and GPU, also flushed out the old Coolant

Temps before 80- 106c under load between clocks of 1850 and 2000mhz bearing in mind it's a 5700 bios flashed to 5700xt for the extra performance.

NOW idle 36c (so this is the equilibium temp) on load 1750 - 2000mhz 50'c that's a massive change in temperature almost 50% change. the only difference is that i changed the top exhausts to Antic p12 which are pressure optimised. i can only think the fans that i had before where Airlow instead of pressure.

I can only guess that it's probably the case airflow if you have changed the thermal paste, and in the right setup you could get 50'c on load however 60c on a GPU is pretty good tbh.
 
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I have a 3080ti with the EK block. I've just rebuilt into a new case with a new loop, and thought while I was at it I'd repaste the gpu with liquid metal and 'upgrade' the thermal pads.

My last case was the highly unoriginal 011D XL with 3 360 Rads, and I had a fairly consistent max gpu temp of 50 degrees. That was a water to core delta of about 15 degrees. It all worked well enough but it was noisier than I was happy with and I like to tinker.

I've jumped on the Mora bandwagon and I've not used it much yet but so far it looks like my water temperatures have gone down a lot (along with a lot of the annoying noise), but my GPU temps have gone up to 60 degrees which is a 40 degree core to water delta.

After a bit of trial and error mounting and remounting the block I figured out it's because the 1mm thermal pads I've used are less squishy than the ones EK supply. They don't compress quite enough so the block isn't making good contact with core. It's close, but it's not right!

My advice would be to get a water temperature sensor if you don't already have one to see how your block is performing from a core to water temperature perspective, as that should help narrow down whether it's the block or the loop as a whole causing the high(ish) temperature. If the water temperaure is 40-45 degrees you're in the right ball park so more rad / fans should help. If the core to water delta is high, check the pads / core contact.
 
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