High Core i7 Temps (Water Cooling) ...

[RoEy]

Hi all,

Recently put all my system back together and upgraded to a 920 D0. I've overclocked my CPU to 4ghz with ram at 1600mhz.

Vcore - 1.3
VTT - 1.3

My loop:

Heat Killer (Nickel Plated) - with back plate
Koolance full waterblock 4870x2
TFC Quad Radiator
XSPC-DDCRES18W - XSPC Laing/Swiftec DDC-Pump 12V Ultra(18w) Acrylic Reservoir

I have a TJ07 and I've removed the topgrill and replaced it with the MurderMod version. So the only air flow I have in the case is the two rear 92mm fans going at 1300 rpm.

I have immaculate cable management with the 8pin & 24pin under the motherboard. I have a fan at the front of the case also for cooling the hard drives. When installing the heatkiller I got it as close as possible to 19.6mm.

Temps in IBT (Max run / 8 threads) after 20 mins were 76 74 74 70

NB / SB get to 59-60

GPU - at idle sits around 35/36 load - 40 - 42

A good friend of mine, PaulyD, told me these were too high and I should have lower cpu temps for my water cooling spec, even with a 4870x2 in the loop.

Fans on the rad are turned up over a quater of the way on the fan controller as I see no point in turning them up full while trying to test because I want to see if it's stable with normal/gaming fan use.

Initially I overclocked to 4ghz using 21 multi and 191bclk with 1.275vcore and 1.23vtt and ram was at 1532. Temps got to around 72 but it needs so much more for 20 multi and 200 bclk.

Feel gutted that I've spent a fortune and it's stuggling to cool at 4ghz.

Any help would be great.

RoEy

P.S. Forgot to mention, not sure what ambient temp was but I don't have radiator on in my study so it's cool.

 

[RoEy]

Hi Biffa,

Yes I have the inlet as the central fitting and the outlet below it.

Setup is - res/pump - rad - cpu - gpu - res/pump.

I do have the fans quite low on the rad but that's because I want my system quiet, like we all do.

Not sure how fast they are going but when I test pc I have fans just over a quater of a turn on controller.

Is it ok to run them higher while testing, then drop them back down for normal use / gaming?

As the temps never get as high when not testing. I think ITB runs hotter than prime too but I'll check tonight.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

i wouldn't worry too much, i'm hitting 74/75 highest core on linx with 1.33vcore (1.28vdroop)

That makes me feel better.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

I did tilt it on its side but not a great deal. I might try tilting some more.

Thanks,

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Your temps look normal, you aren't going to get much lower unless you disable Hyperthreading.

I've thought about doing that. Is it something that others do as I was reading that HT doesnt make much difference to perfomance but adds 10-15c.

Apparently you get worse performance in games when HT is on! PaulyD said I'd be a fool to disable it because HT is what the core i7 is all about. Sorry to quote you mate.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

As others have said as long as it doesn't go over 80 you are fine.

One other thing to consider is what fans you are using because its important to match the fans with the radiator type. I'm not an expert on fans, I'm sure someone will come along and help with that. But I think you need high pressure low speed fans. Anyway this might help http://martin.skinneelabs.com/img/TFC480-Thermal9.png

Its from this review http://martin.skinneelabs.com/The-Feser-Company-X-Changer-480-Review.html

Got the Scythe flex 1600rpm mate. I'll have a read of the links now, ta.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

what are you using to measure temps ? are those readings from real temp / core temp ?

Those temps are from real temp. Everest ultimate edition reads slightly lower.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Well did some more testing last night. Certainly helps turning the fans up he he

Put the two rear fans to 90% (1400rpm) and turned the fans up on the rad to half way on the controller so they just went red on the displays (Zalman MCF1 Plus).

I managed to get PC stable on IBT for 10 runs, max mem and 8 threads:

4.1 - 21x196

vcore - 1.3
vtt - 1.325

Temps - MAX 72 70 70 66 - Was hovering around 67/68

NB/SB - 56

Gaming got to 62 59 59 57

I'm thinking I may drop down to 4ghz - 21x 191 as it needs a lot less volts.

Vcore 1.275
Vtt 1.23

Has made a big difference upping the rear fans.

Thanks all,

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Don't stop playing with it yet, I think there's still something wrong here.

S-flex 1600 are very good fans, I use them on a feser radiator myself. In the interests of diagnostics put them up to full speed while running intel burn test, if temperatures are much improved then you know the limiting area is getting heat from water to air. If it makes little difference, it's probably getting heat from cpu into the water that's causing problems. It's probably air in either the cpu block or the radiator.

Also of interest is the temperature difference between gpu and cpu, as if this is large (I think over 20 degrees when both under load would qualify as large) then this points towards problems with the cpu block. If the temperature difference is slight then the block is working fine/both blocks are mounted badly.

PaulyD knows what he's talking about, trustworthy bloke.

What temps do you think I should be getting then?

Last night at 4.1 max temps were 72 70 70 66 running IBT max - half way on fan controller.

Then loaded L4D2 and went on that for 30 mins - cpu didnt get higher than 62 no higher than 59 on the other cores and the hottest the gpu got was 47, so real temp said - but normally stays around 42 when gaming.

You still think there's a problem then? I have the Heatkiller Nickel Plated if that makes any difference. But I can remember when I had the 920 C0 I was at 3.6 with that - 1.325vcore and 1.325vtt and temps were mid 60 and that was with two top fans in the tj07 too, now got murdermod togrill.

I seriously doubt I've badly mounted my gpu block. Plus, I fitted HK to 19.6mm

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

The res is filled 3/4 of the way. I tried tipping it last night but didnt hear anything. I have a bleed valve on the rad at the back so I'll try that again tonight.

So I'm really 10 degrees above what you think I should be, which is quite a lot isnt it.

Not sure what to do. Apart from put fans on full blast to see if it makes a difference, but terribly loud so would only be for testing.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

I'm not willing to run the fans flat out either, tend to stress test with them up to full speed to help ensure temperatures aren't the issue, then retest with them turned down. Time consuming though.

It might be a significant difference, or might not. Your ambients might be higher than mine, or I could have misjudged the heat load from your graphics card. Most important is that it's stable and temperatures are well under what can be achieved quietly using air cooling.

I should imagine that if I run the fans flat out the temps would go down by atleast 5-6 degrees possibly more. Plus, the 4870x2 pumps out a lot of heat, even at idle so I'm not worried about the cooling on that. I knew I was never going to get amazing temps with having the 4870x2 in the same loop but couldnt do two loops. If I drop overclock down to 4ghz with 21x191 that should lower temps a bit more also as I don't need nowhere near as much voltage. Just lose a little speed on NB and RAM though.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

well i sit at 75-80c on air cooling with prime95
i7 920 D0 @ 4ghz, 1.31v

I sit at 70 (4.1ghz) with IBT and 4870x2 in loop, so prime will run a bit cooler also. I don't think my temps are that bad after doing more research. Plus fans are on half way so room for improvement.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Did some more testing last night. Two 92 rear fans on 100% - 1600rpm, 4 120mm fans on TFC quad rad at 1600rpm.

4GHZ

21 X 191

VCORE - 1.275
VTT - 1.230

IBT 10 RUNS MAX MEM

MAX TEMPS - 65 62 63 59


4.1GHZ

21X196

VCORE - 1.3065
VTT - 1.3250

IBT 10 RUNS MAX MEM

MAX TEMPS - 67 65 65 61


4.2GHZ

21X200

VCORE - 1.3350
VTT - 1.3350
IOH VOLTAGE - 1.24

IBT 10 RUNS MAX MEM

MAX TEMPS - 70 67 68 64

FANS at 1/4 turn on rad (guessing 800 rpm) 76 73 74 70


Don't think I want to keep it at 4.2. I'll try 4GHZ 20X200 tonight and then decide which one I want.

Pleased with the temps though, they seem much better and I'm sure I'll be able to get system pretty quiet in normal/gaming use.

Thanks all,

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

I think those temps are damn good.

Cheers! That makes me feel much better about it!

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

are you using LLC roey?

Yes mate.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

you filthy boy i'm doing it without, i know the degradation caused by having it on is probably no better than having a constant higher voltage, but i feel more comfortable with it off... don't like the idea of 1ns 2v spikes going through my baby

LOL, I know it's dirty but I love it.

I had it on for 9 months when I had my 920 c0 and all was good. Never keep a CPU for more than a year anyway.

What is the general feeling about LLC, on or off? I guess it's a 50/50 thing.

RoEy