Finished build, good results?

Five.Stars

Five.Stars

Five.Stars

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2012
Posts
2,657
Finally got my loop up & running this afternoon. Wondering if anybody would like to comment on whether these are decent results?

Rig is:

i7 920 @ 4.0Ghz
7970 @ 1185/ 1625

Watercooling equipment is:

XSPC Raystorm CPU block.
XSPC EX360 Radiator (3x Scythe GT's)
EK-FC7970 - Acetal CSQ
XSPC dual bay res with D5 pump.

Prior to switching to my custom loop I had a Noctua heatsink (can't remember model) with 2x Akaska Vipers cooling it (running at around 1000-1200rpm controlled via Aerocool fan controller) and an Accelero Xtreme cooling the 7970. I did a few wee benchmarks prior to disassembling it to give me a base line for comparison:

Short run with prime95 (half an hour or so) I got the following results using CPUID HWMonitor:

Core #0 max temp 83º
Core #1 max temp 84º
Core #2 max temp 80º
Core #3 max temp 81º

I then ran a benchmark loop on Heaven 3.0 with 7970 clocked at 1150Mhz core and 1600MHz on the memory using Trixx. I set voltage to 1212mV which is a bump of around 100mV from stock. I set Accelero to run at 100%

I got a max temperature of 69º on the core, but I also got the following results from GPU-Z of VRM1 101º and VRM2 77º. I think this is down to either the poor quality of the heatsinks provided by Arctic or the poor quality of the thermal paste supplied.

Anyway, once the loop was up & running I run the same tests again under very similar conditions. I had the 3 GT's set to run at 1000rpm using my new NZXT external fan controller (had to replace my dual bay fan controller due to pump/ reservoir).

Run of prime95 for same duration I got:

Core #0 max temp 61º
Core #1 max temp 58º
Core #2 max temp 59º
Core #3 max temp 55º

The GPU idles only around 2 or 3 degrees cooler than with the Accelero. Currently idling at 28º as opposed to around 31-32 with air.

Run of Heaven 3.0 benchmark at 1150/1600 and then 1185/1625 with no increase in voltage or temps to distinguish between either run:

Max core temp of 42º with the VRM's coming in at 45º and 40º respectively.

Quite pleased thus far and temps suggest a bit of headroom for squeezing a bit more from the 920 and 7970.

Thoughts on the initial results?
 
Pics as promised.

Prior to start, this is what I was working with



Removal of the Accelero I was left with this. The G1 thermal "paste" or adhesive was quite tricky to remove.



The EK CSQ and backplate fitted. Could only get 3 out of the 4 screws in to secure backplate. 1 seemed to not line up and was biting at an angle. Was scared it would crack the pcb so just left it off. Seems secure enough with the 3 screws and the adhesive thermal pad holding it in place.



 
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The Raystorm and 7970 blocks fitted. Nearly there... Or so I thought.



Loop finished and everything running as expected...



Unfortunately it was at this point that I discovered a very small leak coming from pump housing, so had to drain. This put me back a day or 2 due to having to wait on more tubing arriving as all my off cuts were a little too short.
 
And finally on to today. Everything leak tested ok (for a few hours). Then secured radiator with GT's in to its temporary home until I get everything moved over to girlfriends at some stage in near future. You will have to excuse lack of pics from rear. Still to tidy fan cables etc up so a bit of a mess at present.



And inside with everything running good. Still got a few bits of kitchen roll down for while until I am 100% certain of zero leaks.

36892244.jpg


As you can see, the tubing from rad to GPU and from GPU to res isn't great and not 100% happy with it. I think I cut it a bit too long so have got it kinda tucked in with 1 of the 7970's power cables. And I might order a 90º rotary to go to gpu inlet. But going away for a few days with the mrs so will need to wait til weekend or next week. Other than that I am fairly happy with it.

Now to get a dremel and make a windowed side panel. :D
 
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Any advice of the 6º temperature disparity with regards core 0 and core 3?

Worth removing, cleaning and re-seating with better TIM? I used the XSPC K2 thermal compound that was supplied with the block, but wondering if there is anything better. Don't fancy using that liquid metal stuff.

Also quite difficult to judge that each fitting of the block has equal pressure applied.
 
Well looking at the cores and difference, I get an average of around a 23.75ºC drop and a 27ºC drop on the overclocked GPU core as well as a 56ºC drop on VRM1 and 37ºC drop on VRM2.

Bare in mind this is my first custom loop, would the more experienced amongst you consider that a good set of results? (again have to bare in mind the short nature of the tests I did).
 
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