Stock E6700 temps & water cooling help

[nanaki333]

I have an E6700 with GIGABYTE GH-WIU02 120mm Blue LED Light 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling. My IDLE temps fluctuate between 40-42C. This can't be right. What are everyone else's idle temps with stock air cooling?

I got that kit all hooked up properly, at least it seems so. The tubes going in and out of the radiator on the back are both about the same temp. I don't get it.

 

[nanaki333]

i had a kink in one of the lines, but that didn't really help when i got it out.

 

[LouPoir]

E6600 air cooled running at 3.4 - vCore 1.49 with BigTyphoon - 35 idle and 49 load


Lou

 

[tersome]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
My IDLE temps fluctuate between 40-42C. This can't be right.

Originally posted by: nanaki333
GIGABYTE GH-WIU02 120mm Blue LED Light 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling

There's your problem.

Anyways, motherboard sensors can be off by 20C or more, especially with Core 2 Duo. The best thing would be to measure the water temperature and see if it's more than a few degrees above ambient.

 

[nanaki333]

i guess i could check that. touching the tubes going in and out of the radiator are the same temp, which is pretty damn warm. i thought it'd be a little cooler coming out of one of the tubes, but it isn't.

 

[nanaki333]

i think i may try reversing the way the water cooler is flowing or something. right now the pump/reservoir is pumping to the cpu fan which goes to the radiator then back to the pump again. which is how the instructions tell you to do it. looking at some of these other kits, it's the complete opposite. think that would help? make it worse? won't change a damn thing?

 

[thilanliyan]

I had the EXACT same kit hooked up...wait the GH-WIU01 it was(same waterblock and radiator as your kit) and was getting about 42-44C idle. It's the waterkit that's the problem. I can get the same temperatures out of my TT Big Typhoon so I ditched the kit, also because a crack developed in the waterblock plastic housing.

You're not gonna get much better with that kit unless you put a powerful fan blowing on the radiator. I tried that and it lowered my temps several degrees but was too noisy. I say ditch the kit and go aircooling or if you have money do a custom watercooling kit.

 

[Duvie]

My load temps at 3.26ghz with my E6600 and 1.42v and running 2 nstances of F@H is only showing 44-46c...This is with a Ninja Scythe, Gigabyte DS3 moboa dn Gigabytes monitoring software...heatsink and heatpipes and cool to the touch. hottest thing on the board is the NB chipset and thatnks to active cooling is luke warm at best which is nice considering I am running an FSb of 466....

 

[nanaki333]

Originally posted by: thilan29
I had the EXACT same kit hooked up...wait the GH-WIU01 it was(same waterblock and radiator as your kit) and was getting about 42-44C idle. It's the waterkit that's the problem. I can get the same temperatures out of my TT Big Typhoon so I ditched the kit, also because a crack developed in the waterblock plastic housing.

You're not gonna get much better with that kit unless you put a powerful fan blowing on the radiator. I tried that and it lowered my temps several degrees but was too noisy. I say ditch the kit and go aircooling or if you have money do a custom watercooling kit.

damn. that was the answer i was looking for but hoping i didn't get. what if i were to just get a new radiator in the back? or is the pump and everything in that kit just straight up junk?

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
i think i may try reversing the way the water cooler is flowing or something. right now the pump/reservoir is pumping to the cpu fan which goes to the radiator then back to the pump again. which is how the instructions tell you to do it. looking at some of these other kits, it's the complete opposite. think that would help? make it worse? won't change a damn thing?

Loop order isn't all that important from what I've read. It might make a 1-2C difference but not worth switching everything around.

I'll echo everyone else and say that your kit is holding you back. You can get into a nice watercooling setup for ~$200 if you just want to cool the cpu. I personally think the extra $45 for a gpu block is well worth it and is one of the main benefits of watercooling. Otherwise I'd just get a high-end air cooling solution (Scythe Ninja has been my favorite for customers) as it will cool just as well and be a lot less hassle.

I'm not too familiar with that kit but I imagine that Gigabyte matched the components pretty well, meaning that the pump is probably sufficient for a single 120mm rad but would be inadequate for a double. Sounds like the block is rather dumpy too if it has a plastic top.

 

[Ayah]

That kit sucks.

 

[nanaki333]

the block itself for the cpu isn't plastic. the plastic fan on top is more for cooling the board around the socked. the block itself is pretty damn solid.

 

[Elfear]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
the block itself for the cpu isn't plastic. the plastic fan on top is more for cooling the board around the socked. the block itself is pretty damn solid.

Is it just the barbs that are plastic than or the hold-down bracket? I realize the block itself couldn't be plastic as that would be a horrible way of conducting the heat away from the processor.

 

[nanaki333]

nah. the block itself screws on to the provided back plate. the fan clips on the top of that block. there's 4 little notches for you to attach that fan. kind of worthless in the long run really, but hey, it keeps the inside of my case nice and blue.

 

[thilanliyan]

The block is a copper base, plastic top(where the barbs are) and metal holddown correct?
For me a crack developed where the plastic top is screwed into the copper base. Thankfully I caught it before it leaked.

Originally posted by: nanaki333
damn. that was the answer i was looking for but hoping i didn't get. what if i were to just get a new radiator in the back? or is the pump and everything in that kit just straight up junk?

Even if you get a newer, better radiator...it may be too restrictive and the pump may not have enough pressure to give good flow. Again, I say go back to aircooling or buy a custom kit. I don't think watercooling makes that much of a difference to Core2 CPUs. For me I'll only go back to watercooling if my GPU needs it (it made a huge difference in my OCed X1800XL previously).

Honestly, will going up an extra say 200MHz or whatever be really worth it? I COULD run my E6400 at 3.6GHz instead of the current 3.4GHz but the voltage required and the minimal gains just were not worth it so decided to stick with 3.4GHz at 1.375v. I think a good aircooler is much better for THESE CPUs rather than dealing with the hassles of watercooling for minimal gains.