Temps High on Custom Loop

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mk1_salami

mk1_salami

Hi all,

I'm struggling a bit with temps on my custom loop build. During CPU stress tests like Cinebench I'm immediately hitting 90c with fans and pump on full blast. Gaming I'm seeing the GPU hit 68c in something like Warzone 1440p. The specs are:

System:
Ryzen 9 5900x (undervolted PBO curve -20)
Asus 570f- gaming
32gb Tforce CL14 3600mhz RAM
EVGA FTW3 Ultra 3090 with EK waterblock & Backplate (non overclocked).

Cooling Equipment:
1x EK-CoolStream PE 480 Quad Radiator
1x EK-CoolStream CE 280 Dual Radiator
Corsair 180ml Hydro X XD3 Pump / Res combo
EK Quantum Waterblock
EK Pre-mixed fluid

Case:
Fractal Design Define 7 XL

Fans:
Front 480mm rad:Noctua NF-F12 fans.
Top: 140mm EK Vardar Predator F2-140
Airflow: 2 exhaust airflow fans from the case (cant remember the model)

Any idea if this is normal? It seems like the temps are pretty high and they're the largest radiators I can fit in the case. Help! :)


 
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Bubo said:
Did you do the usual rocking, flipping upside etc, to make sure the radiators are fully bled of trapped air? That is another possible reason for reduced performance. Looks like you would have the best chance of initial bleeding with the case on its side, then rock it about as usual afterwards. I'm guessing you used a temporary flexi line attached to the fill port on top of the pump to do this? That would be how I would go about it with a hard line system like this.
Click to expand...
I re-did the line yesterday so it now enters the other outlet of the GPU.

For filling the loop, I am just squeezing the fluid into the top of the res using one of these: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-filling-bottle-1000ml-wc-9ej-ek.html

Should I be using a length of soft tubing to it's above the level of everything in the system?
 
The 4 front fans are intake, and the rest are exhaust (2x 120mm case fans) and 2x Static Pressure 140mm radiator fans.

Since fixing the inlet / outlet on the 3090 I'm seeing max GPU temps around 64c with 3dmark on loop. The CPU still hits 90c almost immediately on Cinebench r23 but the boost speeds are strong (4.55ghz) and a multi-core score of 22500, which seems about right. I'm using PBO with -15 curve.

I guess I could drain the loop (COMPLETE PAIN IN THE ARSE) and re-seat the CPU block. Might even be worth checking contact on the GPU too. I just hate draining this loop and re-filling.
 
You got me worried about the GPU. I just checked the latest installation instructions for the waterblock and they say to use ONLY 1mm pads. I could have sworn when I received that the instructions said to use a mix of pads on each component. It has me thinking I got one of the very early units with wrong install instructions (I waited months for it to be released and was one of the first to receive it). This would make sense because LTT had the same issue on an early EK block on a 3090.

Also worth noting the card has the active backplate too.

It seems to me the thing to do is:

Order 1mm thermal pads
Drain loop
Reinstall Waterblocks with 1mm pads on GPU
Re-seat CPU waterblock with new thermal paste.

Fill & cross fingers.
 
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Mcnumpty2323 said:
@pastymuncher
I asked about the loop order
But the op didn't confirm what it was
But in his picture he is using the left inlet on cpu block
If I followed it correctly
Since left is the outlet on the xd3

The xd3 also has a temperature sensor on it
But questions about coolant temperature also weren't answered
So no idea if they can monitor that or not
Click to expand...
Sorry the loop order is:

Xd3 left outlet > front rad > gpu > too rad > cpu inlet left side with arrow > xd3

Water temps don’t exceed 34c during tests when I see GPU at 64c and CPU at 90c
 
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After more testing … the gpu temps are actually higher now than before! Just found out the inlet and outlet is supposed to be like that on the GPU when you have the ek active backplate. D’oh!!!

Reckon I’m gonna drain the whole thing. Re do the thermal pads on gpu and new thermal grizzly on the cpu block.
 
I bought some Gelid Extreme pads for the GPU memory and Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for the CPU and GPU core. Should arrive Monday so will see how I get on next week. Not cheap though! Including new fluid around £85 for all the necessary pads. Urgh.
 
I've ordered a D5 pump/res combo. Might as well do what I can to fix the issue once and for all.
 
All dismantled and ready to receive new paste & pads and D5 pump/res combo. Let's see what happens. Predictions?

Before: CPU 90c, GPU low 70's.


 




case convertor

Getting there. Waiting on more thermal pads arriving for the backside of the GPU but mocked up for now to allow me to plan the runs. Only have one left to do (cpu to top of front rad) but ran out of time this evening.

More updates tomorrow.
 
There was an area in the middle which was pretty clear of fluid, like it was squashed out to the side. I thought maybe the lid of the CPU wasn't completely flat and considered lapping it, but "spinning" it on some glass revealed it was ok. I think maybe the thumb screws were not bottomed out.

Thing is, the more I read about 5900x it seems to boost to the moon until it hits 90c then stops. So it may be the case the CPU is simply seeing available headroom in the temps and boosting to accommodate for that? I guess I'll find out soon when it's all back together.
 
From what I've read, loop order doesn't matter.

Even if it did, there's a Rad between each component. I have the active backplate for the GPU from EK, and I'm 100% the orientation I had the tubes originally was correct.

Loop order is:

1. Pump/Res
2. GPU
3. 280mm Thick Rad. 2x EK Vardar Static Pressure 140mm fans
4. CPU
5. 480mm thinner rad, 4x Noctua Static Pressure 120mm Fans
6. Pump/Res
 
Thing is the 280 probably has the same volume of liquid the 480 does. It’s twice as thick.
 
Guess we’ll see! The loop is done now. Amazon delayed delivery of the thermal pads I’m waiting on so will just need to wait …


stunt cat
 
Used one of the multi purpose plates that come with the fractal case to drill a hole into and mount a nice fill port. I always fancied one but never got round to drilling a hole in the case. This way, the case structure is not affected and the plate can slide left and right on the fan mounts, allowing perfect alignment with the reservoir below. Quite pleased with it.


Relocating the rad outlet to the top and this fill tube lost me a top 120mm exhaust fan but it’s a trade off I guess.

Of course when the top facia of the case is clipped in, you wouldn’t even know it’s there.




 
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I wondered what that was for. It would have been ideal and I guess I could use the corsair one there but would require a large washer to stop it falling through the hole.
 
You guys scared me with the 90s on the fill tube. Ideally I'd go straight up, but I'd need to cut the case structure so the fill port is accessible. Instead, I did 2x 45 degree bends would should be more free flowing than the fittings.


 
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So a bit of an update here. I threw it all back together with new Gelid Extreme pads on the GPU, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on the GPU and CPU and honestly it didn't make much difference! Was still seeing 68-70c on the GPU during Heaven or 3dmark stress tests.

I had my top radiator fans in a "pull" configuration, so cool air was being sucked in from the front rad, but hot air pulled through the top rad. At 2am last night i drained the loop - CONSIDERABLY easier with my little air inlet at the top of the rad and drain port on the reservoir. Like - really easy. Nearly a litre simply poured out without any tilting.

Anyway, I changed the top fans to be an intake too. So ALL intake, bar the 1x140mm rear exhaust fan. Well wouldn't you know, my temps have plummeted. Now a maximum of 61c on the GPU no matter what I do (with case completely closed and fans on max). In real world gaming it seems to hover around 57-59c. So from the previous setup before teardown, I've dropped the GPU temp from 70-72c while gaming to under 60c. Very happy with that result, and means a much quieter computer.

Also, the CPU temp at 90c was largely due to PBO2 settings in BIOS. With the bios reset to defaults, the CPU would not get hotter than 65c during Cinebench R23. With PBO2 turned on it was 72c but only boosting to ~4100mhz across all cores. With other PBO2 settings I can boost to ~4550mhz on all cores, but it basically boosts until the BIOS imposed thermal limit of 90c.

So... a mixed result of the teardown. In hindsight I should have chaned the fan orientation first and it probably would have given me 80% of the gains I've seen in doing everything.

 
therealdippy said:
@mk1_salami - I have been interested in this thread because there are similarities between your system and mine. This is my first ever water cooled system so I must have made mistakes but I seem to be getting much better results than you.

Prompted by your thread I have been doing a few of my own tests, rerunning Cinebench and checking my PBO settings. However I don't have any need for CPU-intensive applications so I have focussed more on monitoring temps during gaming. I have my system balanced to be as quiet as possible by allowing temps to get near the operating maximum, which is dominated by the CPU. During gaming my 5900X peaks into the 80-85C range and my 3090 can reach up to 50C. That's with the CPU peaking at 4,900 MHz and around 175W. I managed to achieve -24 on the fastest 4 cores and -30 on the rest. The GPU is undervolted and limited at 0.875V and 1,980 MHz with a 360W peak.

As you have noticed, cooling certainly makes a difference. I have a more aggressive set of fan curves which will shave off 10C from the CPU peaks. This curve tends to increase the fastest fans from about 600-700rpm to 700-800rpm with a noticeable increase in noise, so I'm happy to keep with the quieter curves as long as my CPU never hits 90C. My front rad is a 420 HW labs Black Ice SR2 60mm with 3x140 as intake. I also have 2x140 in the base as intake (no rad). The top rad is a 420 Alphacool XT45 45mm crossflow with 3x140 as exhaust and the rear rad is a 140 Alphacool XT45 45mm crossflow with 1x140 as exhaust. I have dual D5 pwm pumps which run at about 65l/h at idle and peak at around 135l/h when the water rises to 37-39C.

Let me know if I can give you any more data to help compare to your system.

I should have noted that although it had good reviews, I mainly chose the HW labs rad as intake because it only has 9fpi as opposed to the 12fpi of the Alphacools, in the theory that it would be less restrictive in passing airflow. The two bottom fans are just to ensure that I am getting enough cold air into the case and try to keep a positive air pressure (to avoid extra dust - although I'm not sure how much effect that has). I think at load my case air hits nearly 40C although I have not paid much attention to that.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. Interesting to hear your GPU doesn't exceed 50c. Do you have the active backplate too? What model of 3090 is it? Seems you have 980mm of total radiators, vs my 760mm. I expect that'll made a decent impact on cooling.

Right now I'm still experimenting with PBO. My fastest cores are running -15 and the rest I incrementally spaced them down to -30 (-17, -19, -21, -23 etc).

Right now I'm not blown away by the performance of the watercooling and would like to run cooler, but I can't keep throwing money at it. I may look at adding a 140mm rear radiator.
 
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