First Build, high temps, loop rout and pump control

[Jay1989]

Hi, I've just put together my first loop and I'm experiencing what I think are high temps. My GPU's and core Idle at about 40 deg c.
I'm running a core i7 x299 and 2 RTX 2080 cards.
The loop Starts at a Thermaltake reservoir and pump combo, connected to the GPU distributor block, to a 280mm ek 28mm rad, to the ek cpu block, to a 360 ek 40mm rad and back to the pump.
I've been running the fans on full speed, they are Corsair ML 3x 140mm and 3x 120mm.

The pump is set at half speed, unsure if this needs to be set higher for the amount of components in my loop.

When overclocking the CPU/GPU the temps reach +70 and the glass side panel of the tower is very hot to the touch, tbh its hot without overclocking.

One thing that concerns me is the air passing into the case through the front 40mm rad is then being recycled into the 28mm top rad thus warming the fluid back up and creating some never ending circle of heat. Should I mount my rear fan to point inward to provide more cold air to the top rad?

The D5 pump is on a 2pin molex connector and the control is on the base of the pump which makes it impossible to adjust without pulling the res combo out of the tower, can I set the pump to full and connect it to a controller?

I am going to change some sections of tubing for hard fittings when I am 100% sure on the rout as there is a couple of unnecessarily long runs to avoid kinks, the cpu block is also being swapped out for a EK X299 Monoblock to help control vrm temps.

Any help/input would be appreciated.

 

[area51]

Hi i would put the front fans to push so in front of rad not behind as mounted close to rad on pull you have dead spots where motors are plus airflow suffers turbulance issues if on pull need shrouds so mounted away.ie gap between fan/rad.
Should be shifting plenty of air drawing in through front and out via rear and top.
But your routing isn't the best!
I'd go Pump to 360-GPU's-280-CPU-Res as the cards kick out heat. which Rad disperses the most heat? and guess GPU's are hotter than CPU? run which ever is hottest to rad that disperses most heat

I'd run pump on 5 difference in sounds is tiny. Can you not get a small electrical flat screwdriver through the holes in grid/grill below to turn pump up?

*** No dealing outside the Members Market, thanks ***

 

[Jay1989]

Thank you so much for your response, I had my entire rig in pieces as you posted so I rebuilt as you suggested, It made a lot more sense and I'm getting considerably better temperatures as I'm no longer sending hot water to my GPU from my reservoir being heated up by the air from my radiator. I've kept the fans where they are for now just because it helps with spacing for my pipes and fittings. I can adjust the speed like that but I cant get to the control while its in my case.

 

[area51]

Thank you so much for your response, I had my entire rig in pieces as you posted so I rebuilt as you suggested, It made a lot more sense and I'm getting considerably better temperatures as I'm no longer sending hot water to my GPU from my reservoir being heated up by the air from my radiator. I've kept the fans where they are for now just because it helps with spacing for my pipes and fittings. I can adjust the speed like that but I cant get to the control while its in my case.

Hi was looking at what you had already installed and with minimum effort could route that way round and gives each component a rad each to play with rather than pump to rad to rad then cpu-gpu-res
So hopefully each item should see a better temp of cooled fluid to it. as you will have a slight negative effect from tubing.
I quite like the look of the pipework with coloured fluid.

Have you got all the AIR out yet? try giving it a shake while running see if anything shows in tubing/res?

I was going to offer a like for like swap if wasn''t too far away as neither of use is likely to be able to see/use the members market this side a few xmas times!

One i picked up is pwm version. one im using now is similar to yours manual gadget on bum end of pump.

Quite enjoy twiddling with water cooling! like you i'd never done before but got all the bits chopped case top out to fit rad to and grill and on my case can remove roof so have some slack on tubing so can do and get res out of front to undo compression fitting for pipe to cpu after drained rest.

Later thinking of having a play with Peltier effect "have an ice flow in tubing"!!! mind already using expensive "High tech" thermal poop £7 a tub! .Copper slip Grease.

 

[Jay1989]

I left it running overnight and all the air is gone, I tipped it around this afternoon and there was no bubbles or bubbling noises. It seems a lot better, I did point that rear fan inwards just to test. I'm going to run some tests over the next few days and see what its like with the fan like that and then without the fan at all. The NZXT H700 had plenty of mounting space for radiators, if I had gone for hard tubing or more fittings i could have probably got 2 x 360 rads in there. I'm quite happy with the build so far. My Monoblock is coming this week too The next job will be to hard line it. I'm tempted to sell the Thermaltake pump and res combo as I don't like it that much, I with I would have bought a res and pump separately. and mounted the pump out of sight under the cover that extends the length of the base of the case. That will all be a job for when I hard line the whole thing. Had the pump running full speed last night and could hardly hear it so I'm going to leave it like that for now.

 

[area51]

I left it running overnight and all the air is gone, I tipped it around this afternoon and there was no bubbles or bubbling noises. It seems a lot better, I did point that rear fan inwards just to test. I'm going to run some tests over the next few days and see what its like with the fan like that and then without the fan at all. The NZXT H700 had plenty of mounting space for radiators, if I had gone for hard tubing or more fittings i could have probably got 2 x 360 rads in there. I'm quite happy with the build so far. My Monoblock is coming this week too The next job will be to hard line it. I'm tempted to sell the Thermaltake pump and res combo as I don't like it that much, I with I would have bought a res and pump separately. and mounted the pump out of sight under the cover that extends the length of the base of the case. That will all be a job for when I hard line the whole thing. Had the pump running full speed last night and could hardly hear it so I'm going to leave it like that for now.

Hi yes was wondering about stuffing down below. i would have rear fan on exhaust still so pulls air out across board to cool.
How much room is there behind tray? As my thoughts was a fan fixed to rear of tray blowing through cpu hole to provide turbulance to lessen hot spots.

Well if you have the pump why not run it? but there is still some air in there as with mine had a drop other day been running two weeks as you get surface tension with water/air/parts so air bubbles stick in places
But mm food for thought!!! Softer water will clear air easier but wonder how it works with temps? I know high performance/race cars use water Wetter which to my mind of thinking will be a water softener! so transfers heat into water easier.

Where's those Tech head testers when you require them?

 

[Jay1989]

Update
I've installed the EK X299 Monoblock today, it required a little motherboard modification by drilling out the holes for the VRM screws (would not line up) and the cable for the LEDs is a bit on the bulky side pressed up against the ram. Other than that though it seems to be working ok. One thing that messed my loop up a bit though was the in/out ports, they are on opposite sides of the block to the one I had before. I've rerouted the water, Res > 360 > CPU/VRM > 280 > GPU > Res. Ran a couple of games and it feels ok, temps are high 50s with a 28% overclock on the CPU. VRM is considerably cooler. Still a couple of bubbles of air in the mono block that just wont budge :/ Also bought a 1l fill bottle which made emptying the loop and filling again really easy. I'm defiantly going to hard pipe it as I'm not happy with some of the bends in the soft tubing. I've got a hot spot on my CPU though :/ I don't think the top is completely flat as I've noticed high temps in core 3 and 6 every time its been re seated. I'm going to get it out when I harp pipe it and swap those front fans round in a few weeks.