How to make this cooler...

Woody...!!! · 2 Jul 2009 at 18:38

i bought a Swiftech H2O-220 Apex Ultima Watercooling Kit about 12 months ago, i have since changed my cpu and mobo, so i needed to buy a new water block, i bought the EK Supreme i7 and it works fine, i have tested my temps with coretemp 0.99.4 and my temps are 42,40,40,39.

my system is

Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme Intel X58
Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz
OCZ Blade Series 6GB

as far is i can see i have 3 choices (or all 3) lap the cpu, lap the waterblock, or change the standard rad to a deeper rad.

so my first question is, would a deeper rad like a Black Ice GT Xtreme 240 Radiator make any difference the standard swiftect rad? if so by how much?

and do you need to lap a I7 cpu?

and do you need to lap a EK supreme waterblock

Woody...!!! · 2 Jul 2009 at 21:56

Anybody got any ideas about this

Ducky Spud · 2 Jul 2009 at 22:08

There is a lapping guide in the stickies in this section

The advanced guide to overclocking and cooling I think it is. Anyone Ive asked about lapping has said its improved temps, sombody even said theirs dropped 10C on each core from lapping CPU and cooler, though Im not sure how hot that was in the first place lol

Also, the deeper rads will make an improvement. The top 3 that I know of are by Thermochill, TFC and the XSPC RX series, all should improve your temps

.:SAmSuNG:. · 2 Jul 2009 at 22:12

Dont lap your waterblocks. There made concave for a reason.

Ducky Spud · 2 Jul 2009 at 22:26

What reason? I was pretty much under the impression you got both as flat as possible to increase the contact area

.:SAmSuNG:. · 2 Jul 2009 at 23:20

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=221366&highlight=lapping

Ducky Spud · 2 Jul 2009 at 23:55

Fair enough. Struggle to find any explanation though about why its worse after lapping other than theres less pressure on the die... it still confuses me though haha

Blackhorse · 3 Jul 2009 at 06:46

Dont forget were in a heat wave at the moment! Temps are bound to be above normal whilst room temps are sat anything upto 10degress above their normal.
Maybe wait a little while to see how things settle down before you pull it to pieces and sand it down!

JonJ678 · 3 Jul 2009 at 13:54

The supreme isn't concave, it's convex, but you get the idea. Its bowed to make sure it makes very good contact in the middle, if it's flat and screwed down hard it'll tend to bend lifting the middle up. Imaging the copper flexing as the edges are pulled down, at the moment it tends to flatten. If you lap it, it'll tend to pull away from the core.

Lap both then don't screw down very hard, using a backplate would be fine I think, but it isn't recommended. Just lapping the cpu would be a good thing to do for temperatures.

Deeper rad will make a lot of difference if you're using 7V low static pressure fans, and rather less if you're using 12V high pressure high flow fans. What are you using, and are there shrouds between the radiator and the fans?

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:03

JonJ678 said:
The supreme isn't concave, it's convex, but you get the idea. Its bowed to make sure it makes very good contact in the middle, if it's flat and screwed down hard it'll tend to bend lifting the middle up. Imaging the copper flexing as the edges are pulled down, at the moment it tends to flatten. If you lap it, it'll tend to pull away from the core.

Lap both then don't screw down very hard, using a backplate would be fine I think, but it isn't recommended. Just lapping the cpu would be a good thing to do for temperatures.

Deeper rad will make a lot of difference if you're using 7V low static pressure fans, and rather less if you're using 12V high pressure high flow fans. What are you using, and are there shrouds between the radiator and the fans?

i am using 2x 120mm fans 7v but i am not using any shrouds (should i try them first)
Temps today are at 38,38,39,35. so by the sounds of it i have either tightened the supreme down too much or i need a new rad, shrouds, better 120mm fans, or try a re-seat of the waterblock

JonJ678 · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:13

Nah, not tightened too much. If its bad contact, it means you've tightened it too little. If you're using the ek mounting hardware you're compressing springs, so can be fairly firm with it. If you don't have backplate I'd be a lot more cautious, as the board isn't really meant to take stress in that direction.

What happens to temperatures if the fans go up to 12V? Static pressure increases with the square of fan rpm, so you may find it works a lot better. In that case, 12V in summer and 7V in winter may work for you.

Shrouds should definitely be used, have a look through the link above if you need convincing/evidence for this. I'm using old fans with the middles torn out then cleaned up with a very hot stanley knife myself.

You missed lapping the processor from your list

In order, Id try
Shrouds
12V the fans
Lapping + reseat block
Better fans
Better pump (laing ddc)

Roughly order of price oddly enough. I think the pump or the fans are the soruce of the problem though.

Which fans are they? Not all fans are created equal, and some are far better than others for forcing air through radiators. Fans you need high static pressure, pumps you nead high head pressure.

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:30

JonJ678 said:
Nah, not tightened too much. If its bad contact, it means you've tightened it too little. If you're using the ek mounting hardware you're compressing springs, so can be fairly firm with it. If you don't have backplate I'd be a lot more cautious, as the board isn't really meant to take stress in that direction.

What happens to temperatures if the fans go up to 12V? Static pressure increases with the square of fan rpm, so you may find it works a lot better. In that case, 12V in summer and 7V in winter may work for you.

Shrouds should definitely be used, have a look through the link above if you need convincing/evidence for this. I'm using old fans with the middles torn out then cleaned up with a very hot stanley knife myself.

You missed lapping the processor from your list

In order, Id try
Shrouds
12V the fans
Lapping + reseat block
Better fans
Better pump (laing ddc)

Roughly order of price oddly enough. I think the pump or the fans are the soruce of the problem though.

Which fans are they? Not all fans are created equal, and some are far better than others for forcing air through radiators. Fans you need high static pressure, pumps you nead high head pressure.

i have not lapped the cpu yet, but i have thought about it, when ip put the 120mm fans on 12v its like a plane taking off, i will try to locate some shrouds and new 120mm fans first, i will switch my fans to 12v now and let you know in 30 mins what the temps are

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:51

Ok the fans are on 12v now and it has made not a lot of difference temps are now, 37,37,38,34.

think i need to do something here

.:SAmSuNG:. · 3 Jul 2009 at 17:54

You cpu is at stock with what voltage?

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:03

Yes its at stock, i want to clock it to about 3.8 thats why i am trying to get my temps in order, i will restart now and see what the bios tells me, is there any other programes out there that i can try to get another temp reading to see if core temp is lying

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:14

Ok here are some figures for you...

cpu clock ratio, 20x 133x20
qpi, 4.8ghz
bclk, 133
cpu vcore 1.21250v
qpi, 1.175v

but when i go into pc health the vcore in there says 1.188v

.:SAmSuNG:. · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:17

You have a C0?

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:22

no mate its a DO

Woody...!!! · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:25

i have just run CPU-Z and i must have speedstep running, my mhz is jumping about

.:SAmSuNG:. · 3 Jul 2009 at 18:27

Thats fine. Whats CPU-z Vcore when underload?