High water cooling temps

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 12:35

hello i have an fx8350 and a gigabyte hd 7970 under water using the xspc 240 kit and a 120mm x 45mm thick single rad. i had problems getting an air lock out but thankfully that has now disappeared however i am experiencing quite high temps under load.

with the cpu left at stock i hit 59c and if left to stress for more than 20 mins hits 67c before i stop the stress. likewise in gaming the 7970 at stock settings reaches 71c after about 20 mins gaming which is 8c higher than the stock cooler that was originally on the card.

both the cpu and gpu have been reseated numerous times so i know its not a poor fitting. im beginning to wonder if the xspc all in one pump/res is not powerful enough to cool the 2 components however numerous google searches say this is not the case.

one thing i did notice as you can see in the pic below is what appears to be scorch marks on the base of the cpu block which i have never seen before

i have tried routing the tubing various ways in the loop over the weekend but still no joy

does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to what to try next

stuie · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:02

have you got a pic of the cpu side?

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:06

stuie said:
have you got a pic of the cpu side?

what do u mean the cpu side? the pic is of the part that touches the cpu, the cpu itself is spotless not a mark on it

VIPER258 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:13

Did you use any thermal compound?

stuie · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:14

The reason i ask is cause if your getting "scorching" on the waterblock id expect to see some marks on the cpu itself, as there isnt I dont know does the block clean up?

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:14

yes obv i used thermal paste 2 tubes of the stuff the amount of times i have reseated the thing lol

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:16

stuie said:
The reason i ask is cause if your getting "scorching" on the waterblock id expect to see some marks on the cpu itself, as there isnt I dont know does the block clean up?

the block doesnt clean at all and i wouldnt have thought that the cpu itself would have got that hot to mark the heatsink itself but prob wrong there, but the cpu itself is flawless no marks whatsoever

DavidS14 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:23

If your mounts are OK then you will be getting heat transfer to the blocks and to the fluid, if it's your mounting then the heat transfer to the blocks/fluid will not be effiecient.

Is the cooling system getting warm (fluid/rads) when stressed or is it staying cool ?

What fans are you using ?

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:29

after an hour or so rads get warm to touch on the outside edges and the air being exhausted is warm to feel, im using the fans that came with the xspc 750 kit

DavidS14 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:37

Well you are getting heat transfer then so the mounts are working, the mark on the CPU block could just be staining from the TIM you've used as copper is easily discoloured, what TIM is it ?

Are the fans on full speed (12V) or running via a controller or motherboard header ?

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:42

i used as5 and the fans are connected to the 600t fan controller which ir ramped to the max whenever i stress test or game on the machine

DavidS14 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:48

Which XSPC kit is it ? I take it as you're concerned about flow it's not the one with the D5 ?

Are the blocks themselves getting hot as that could point to a weak pump or lack of flow ?

Have you got a pic of the tubing routing as you have it now.

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 13:53

thats routing at the moment

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-156-XS&groupid=962&catid=1532 is the kit that i am using which i believe is fine to run a gpu and cpu?

JGStonedRaider · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:15

Sounds like you have a blockage somewhere imo. Try taking the blocks apart to check for gunk in the cooling fins? Did you wash out the rads before installing?

I had a very similar issue to you, everything seemed to be working fine except high temps, then I cleaned my blocks and have been fine ever since.

DavidS14 · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:16

What coolant is that ?

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:17

DavidS14 said:
What coolant is that ?

]its the stuff that ocuk sell the clear blue coolant at 5 or 6.99 for 100ml, yeah the blocks etc are all clean and all jhad a good flush out etc

Kei · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:26

Have you got 2 radiators in there? If so it may be a flow rate/head pressure problem with the pump. I looked at the 750 pump/res combo and didn't like the look of the numbers coming back using martins liquid lab spreadsheet. (circa 0.7GPM @ 1.67psi with just the one rad vs about 1.6GPM @ 4.8PSI for a D5)

Have you got any way of measuring your coolant temperature?

ubersonic · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:34

Kei said:
Have you got 2 radiators in there?

He has a 120 and a 240.

DavidS14 · 25 Mar 2013 at 14:45

Blocks/mounting/res capacity/tubing look OK.

If it was me I'd drain the system, then flush with pump inlet from a bowl of water and the return from the loop down the drain. That will show the flow through your loop you can then test the res/pump on it's own to see the reduction you are getting with the blocks/rads.

That should highlight any issues with flow.

You'll need to rinse/flush with distilled water before refilling, it's a pain but I'd want to make sure the pump is doing what it should and is OK when linked into the loop I want to run.

rabc1690 · 25 Mar 2013 at 17:30

just stripped everythuin down and [ump is defo working fine, plenty of pressure there, in fact more than what i thought there would be, opened up the cpu block and no blockages etc, put everythin back together and still have the same temps and i have a 240mm and 120mm rads