• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

i7 temps seem too high for my water cooling setup

B

blm_dk

Junior Member
Hi

I think my cpu temps seem too high for my water cooling setup, so I would like an opinion on whether or not my suspicion is correct.
Thanks.

Temps @ ~25 °C (77 °F) ambient:
Idle: ~50 °C (122 °F)
Load: ~75 °C (167 °F)

System info:
i7 920 D0 4,2 GHz @ 1.4125 V (Vdroop is enabled so the voltage is a bit lower)
Asrock X58 Deluxe3
3x 2GB 1600 MHz RAM
3x GTX 280
Corsair 850 W PSU

Water cooling:
Waterblock: Swiftech Apogee GTZ (AS5 thermal compound used)
Radiator: XSPC RS360, 3 fans in push, 2 in pull configuration (all with decent cfm value)
Pump/Reservoir: XSPC 750 Dual bay Reservoir w. pump (750 L/h)
 
Water temp. is 41 °C (Delta: 9 °C, Ambient: 32 °C) and it was at 3,7 GHz 1,3 V full load.

Do you think something could be wrong with the waterblock?
 
Are temperatures even across all 4 cores? Were you sure to follow Swiftech's mounting orientation instructions?

A delta of 9c is very good for your water.

What's your Vtt voltage at? That also can affect temperatures pretty dramatically. Your overclock has changed since your original post too.
 
Last edited:
i need a picture of your setup.

is your radiator mounted horizontally?

But b4 you come in with any problem, we need a picture of your setup in its entirety.

This way we can tell you the obvious problems, and go onto the real debugging.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies.

#5:
Yes they are reasonably even, 3-4 °C difference.
The mounting instructions were followed precisely, but I did recently try changing to normal screws and nuts. Unfortunately the temperatures were completely unaffected after remounting the waterblock.

Yes I lowered the overclock because of the high ambient temperatures.

Frequency and voltages:
http://img96.imageshack.us/i/p7050064.jpg/
http://img231.imageshack.us/i/p7050066.jpg/

-----------------
#6
The radiator is mounted horizontally.

Here are several pictures, let me know if you need more pictures:
http://img824.imageshack.us/i/p7050059.jpg/
http://img153.imageshack.us/i/p7050062.jpg/
http://img692.imageshack.us/i/p7050058.jpg/
http://img809.imageshack.us/i/p7050060.jpg/
http://img340.imageshack.us/i/p7050067.jpg/
http://img696.imageshack.us/i/p7050068.jpg/

Regards blm
 
Why is the radiator blowing air out of the case? You want the radiator to have the absolute freshest source of outside air possible. You should have the fans blowing into your case sitting on the radiator (I.E. pulling air).

You might even be able to eliminate that RAM cooler if you flipped the radiator fans around since at least one fan would be blowing directly through your RAM.
 
Last edited:
okey looks like you got barbs pointed down and a horizontal rad.

You might have a bleed problem.

What could be happening is an air bubble stuck on the top of your rad.
Since your barbs are pointed down the air bubble will be very difficult to get out.

analogy would be you in a swimming pool with a cup... put the cup in the water and you got an air bubble on the top... u will notice the only way you can get that bubble out is by:

1. forcing the bubble out by pulling it.
2. Tilting the cup so the bubbles escape

Use the rear of your case as a pivot point, and gently tilt your case up from the front.
See if you exhaust bubbles.

Remember do it gently.. you dont need to shake the living thing out of your system.
Just a gentle tilt to see if you got bubbles shooting out while your system is on.
 
I think your problem is too many fans.
May sound like you could never have too many but you can. For a fan to output its full capacity it has to have that amount of air at the intake. If you have 3 fans on the top , one on the case back, another on the motherboard, fans on the ram they are probably creating a vacuum in that area.

With just the 3 fans at the top , if each is rated at 60CFM that is 180CFM or 180 cubic feet per minute of air = 3 cubic feet per second. 3 cubic feet of air is 1ft wide x 1ft length x 3 ft height. Basically those 3 fans need the entire air volume of your case every second for them to reach their capacity. Even with the case open you can barely supply enough air for all the fans. Add more fans and the demand for air increase until you end up with fans running at 30-40% of what they should.

Also be careful of where a fans intake are located. Placing multiple fans so that their intakes cross creates turbulence that again lessens how much air they can push. Try to think of air as a liquid and the fans as pumps, you have to have as much flowing into the case as going out and the fans can't compete for it or performance will suffer.

I would remove all the fans except for those on the radiator inside and see what happens. Fans on the outside pulling out can also interfere because they create standing waves that push back against the inside fans blowing through the radiator.
 
Last edited:
Those are pretty high Idle temps, but I think your loads are reasonable for 1.4something volts. These things get really friggin hot lol. If you game and just want high frequency turn HT off watch your temps fall through the floor.
 
I have a similar system; i7 930, similar voltages, and even on a super hot day in a stuffy room I'm hitting 37c idle, and 61c under full load OCCT stress testing after an hour. I also have a very similar waterblock, although not quite the same one.

So to me those temps do seem a bit high.

Question:
* Did you double check the orientation of the Apogee block? The reason I ask is that on mine, the output loop is oriented closer to where the RAM is; on yours it's 90 degrees different (closer to the video card). Since you have a different water block I'm not completely positive, but in this thread below they mention the orientation:
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=462172&page=3
EDIT: I also see you're using the GTZ, not sure if you where aware of it or not but there is a proper orientation for that block! I originally installed mine with the orientation wrong, after correcting that issue my temps dropped a few deg C. I originally had the text going parallel to the ground/bottom of the case but the correct orientation in relation to the cpu meant that the block needed to be mounted with the text going vertical/perpendicular to the ground. You may have already done this but it was something I overlooked when I first installed the block and it definitely makes a difference and was noted in the install literature.
Click to expand...

waterblockorientation.gif
 
Thanks again for all the replies.

I will try tilting the case.

Also it seems I did not follow the instructions as closely as was needed. I assumed the Swiftech logo should be horizontal, as it was shown in pictures like this.
Tomorrow I will re-mount the waterblock in the correct position and report back.
 
Hi again

I tilted the case and re-mounted the waterblock correctly. Unfortunately it didn't really have much of an effect. Maybe the temps dropped a couple of degress C, but not more than that 🙁

Any other suggestions?
I am considering buying a new waterblock just to try something. Do you guys think that would be worthwhile?
 
blm_dk said:
Hi

I think my cpu temps seem too high for my water cooling setup, so I would like an opinion on whether or not my suspicion is correct.
Thanks.

Temps @ ~25 °C (77 °F) ambient:
Idle: ~50 °C (122 °F)
Load: ~75 °C (167 °F)

System info:
i7 920 D0 4,2 GHz @ 1.4125 V (Vdroop is enabled so the voltage is a bit lower)
Asrock X58 Deluxe3
3x 2GB 1600 MHz RAM
3x GTX 280
Corsair 850 W PSU

Water cooling:
Waterblock: Swiftech Apogee GTZ (AS5 thermal compound used)
Radiator: XSPC RS360, 3 fans in push, 2 in pull configuration (all with decent cfm value)
Pump/Reservoir: XSPC 750 Dual bay Reservoir w. pump (750 L/h)
Click to expand...

LOL?

You're putting 1.4V into your chip and expect 75C load to be high? 25C idle with 1.4Vs through it? These are not high temps.
 
blm_dk said:
Hi again

I tilted the case and re-mounted the waterblock correctly. Unfortunately it didn't really have much of an effect. Maybe the temps dropped a couple of degress C, but not more than that 🙁

Any other suggestions?
I am considering buying a new waterblock just to try something. Do you guys think that would be worthwhile?
Click to expand...

Questions:
* What are the new temps once you re-orientated the block correctly?
* What else do you have on the same loop as the CPU?
* I assume you are totally stable at 4.2Ghz, have you tried dropping down the voltage slightly on the chip to see if it's still stable? 1.41v is a bit high.
* Do you have a thermometer installed in the loop to see how hot the water is?

For reference, this is the block I'm using, dunno how big of a difference another block would make:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swapxtcpuwa.html
 
MJinZ said:
LOL?

You're putting 1.4V into your chip and expect 75C load to be high? 25C idle with 1.4Vs through it? These are not high temps.
Click to expand...

on water its a bit high.

His idle to load spread is too high.
That kind of spread you see on air, not water.

Can you also DOUBLE VERIFY you got the inlet and outlet correct on the GTZ.
You cant swap them.

Inlet means the direction water goes into the block.
Outlet means the direction water goes out.

If you have water going in the outlet, it could explain your temp spread.
 
Last edited:
#15: As far as I can see a 50 degree load delta is too high. Also even with 1.3 V @ 3.7 GHz the load delta is quite similar.

--------

#16:
1: I run at a lower speed due to the high summer temps, but it dropped around 2 degrees C.
2: There is nothing else on the loop 🙁
3: Not entirely, it won't do prime on all cores at 1.41 V (which is ~1.37 V at load). Even at a lower speed and voltage the temps are not much different.
4: I had a thermometer "installed" in the reservoir for some time. Water was ~9 degrees C above room temp.

--------

#17: Not with a room temp of 25 C I think.

--------

#18: I double checked and the pump outlet is connected to the waterblock inlet (marked by a dot), so unfortunately that cannot explain it either 🙁
 
blm_dk said:
#15: As far as I can see a 50 degree load delta is too high. Also even with 1.3 V @ 3.7 GHz the load delta is quite similar.

--------

#16:
1: I run at a lower speed due to the high summer temps, but it dropped around 2 degrees C.
2: There is nothing else on the loop 🙁
3: Not entirely, it won't do prime on all cores at 1.41 V (which is ~1.37 V at load). Even at a lower speed and voltage the temps are not much different.
4: I had a thermometer "installed" in the reservoir for some time. Water was ~9 degrees C above room temp.

--------

#17: Not with a room temp of 25 C I think.

--------

#18: I double checked and the pump outlet is connected to the waterblock inlet (marked by a dot), so unfortunately that cannot explain it either 🙁
Click to expand...

Room temperature is not necessarily the same thing as ambient temperature. For example, my bedroom is often 24-25c. That's not the temperature of the air my computer is getting. With a thermal probe just outside of my radiator openings, the air my radiators are getting is 30c.

Your waterblock should be getting around a 30-34 deltaT relative to your water. Your water should be getting a deltaT of at most 12C (9C you stated though) relative to your ambient temperature.

With an ambient air temperature of 30c, that means you could very easily be seeing 70-75C on your CPU.

What's your Vtt voltage? that can also massively affect temperatures.
 
blm_dk said:
#20
Please see these two screenshots (the same from #7):
http://img96.imageshack.us/i/p7050064.jpg/
http://img231.imageshack.us/i/p7050066.jpg/
Click to expand...

So you're giving it 1.45v Vtt? That's also a lot too.

You're temperatures are fine for the voltages that you're using.

At 3.7ghz with 1.28v core, an Apogee GTZ will have a delta T of ~33c (relative to water, not ambient air). You're slightly higher than that, so it's reasonable ot expect a delta T of 35C or so.

Lots of people on air see 80C temperatures at load using similar speeds.


Again where are you measuring your ambient temperatures? Right next to your radiator?

Do you have any power saving features enabled? Speed-step etc..? That would explain your high idle temperature.

Are you using distilled water for coolant?

I think a better focus would be finding a stable overclock that you can stick to, THEN troubleshooting your temperatures. You'll never figure things out if you keep changing your settings. Your temperatures are perfectly safe as it is.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top