Water cooling = 69C? WTF?

[MrGrim]

I just finished installing my water cooling kit and my CPU temperature is 69C! I'm not even doing anything, I'm just listening to MP3s and writing this message. All the parts are the best ones I could get from aquastealth, the radiator is massive and I used water weter as well. WTF is going on? Is the motherboard simply reporting incorrect temperatures?

Athlon 1.4GHz not overclocked
Asus A7V133

You can see the full spec from the link in my profile.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Whats your ambient system temp?

And Case Cooling?



Mike

 

[FlowerMan]

Do you by any chance have a fan on that radiator?

 

[JokerF15]

Is hte block mounted properly. is the pump pumping! again fan on radiator? air bubble? (unlikely). Lots of issues it could have.

Good Luck.

-JokerF15

 

[MrGrim]

Well everything is done properly and yes there is a fan on the radiator. Of course i don't want a big fan on it (I'm using a 20db one at the moment) since the reason I went water cooling was the noise that fans make. The abient temperature is about 20C and the case temperature 35C. If you need to have a big and loud fan on the radiator in order to keep the temperatures at the same levels as you would with a normal heatsink then what is the point of spending all the money on copper waterblocks and massive radiators?

We are talking about 70C here ppl!

Edit: There is absolutely NO air inside and the waterblock is on properly because all the heat is transfered to the rest of the water cooling kit. The hoses are very warm and I can't even touch the radiator!

 

[J3anyus]

Something is definitely wrong there, although it sounds like you're doing everything right...very very weird.

 

[Howard]

You need a better fan. Seriously. A lot of rads require a 100CFM fan to work efficiently.

 

[ModelM]

You need a better fan. Seriously. A lot of rads require a 100CFM fan to work efficiently.

My radiator is a cheapo $20 one that fits one 120 mm fan. If I run it fanless, my CPU idles at 52C. So I think the 100CFM rules is for maximum efficiency.

My bet is that the water block is not mounted on the chip properly. Make sure you apply thermal grease. Or maybe he is a cheapo pump that is not providing a decent flow rate.

 

[markrb]

You may need a larger radiator or even a second one.
Surface area is the key to reducing temps without outside forces like refrigeration.
Many systems I have seen use 2 radiators.
It could also be your pump. I know that when I was into tropical fish the pump was always
an issue in the summer and a blessing in the winter.
Try increasing the amount of water used if you can.

Mark

 

[PUN]

what kind of radiator do you have? If it's the aquacoil II, make sure it's not placed upside down, flow should be going downhill. Did you mount the waterblock very tightly to the chip? Tighten it until you can't screw no more.
Make sure you use ASII and get rid of all the air bubble. It took over 10 hours to get rid of all the air bubbles.

Do not use an extra radiator unless you have high rated pump (eheim 1250 or higher), it'll kill your flow.

 

[MrGrim]

Guys I had Aquacoil 2 and Eihem 1250. My waterblock is pure copper and it was tightly placed on the CPU (using ASII between the two), if the radiator gets so hot that you can't touch it then it can't be a contact problem really, can it?

Trust me, everything was done properly, there were absolutely NO air bubbles in there because I assebled the kit underwater.

Having a massive and loud fan on the radiator to keep the temperature under 70C is not what I spent my money for. Watercooling was supposed to be efficient and quiet! I mean even if I had put a big fan on the radiator how much would the temperatures have dropped? 10C? 20C? I think that 50C when using watercooling is pretty pathetic considering that I have now stripped the watercooling kit out my system and put my old heatsink back on and with a couple of more 20db fans the CPU temperature is now 52C!

I can't believe I wasted £150.

Thank you all for your help nonetheless.

 

[Kroffty]

Did you check the pump?
now that you have it off your system , fill a bucket of water and put the pump in it . hook up the system and put the return line in a one gallon jug and time how long it takes to fill the jug.I have a 210gph pump and it pumps about 80gph with the waterblocks and radiator and all the tubing. also make sure you dont have any kinked lines or debris in the line that could restrict the flow. some times if you have an air pocket in the pump itself it will not prime and impeller will free spin. You will not get any water through the line.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Yeah, I'd suspect the pump. The only way I can see temps getting that high is if the water is just "standing" over the waterblock gaining heat. Can you feel the water flowing through the tubing? Something's not right here. I'm sure if I was there I could spot it right away...good luck!

 

[Texun]

How long does it take to get hot? If it takes a while that should rule out any possibility of having the block installed incorrectly, which you have already checked. Since the radiator is too hot to touch, it seems that the kit is moving water as it should.

The missing piece here is heat dissipation, or the lack thereof. I would look at the coolant capacity or the air flow moving across the radiator grill as the logical solution for removing heat from the system. Just my .02 worth.

Sorry about the bad luck... that bites a big one.

R

 

[lastig21]

How is the hot air escaping out of the case? Your system temp seems high as well.

 

[MrGrim]

Well exactly. It seems like a silent 80mm fan is not enough. The temperatures with a heatsink and the same fan were lower! For a little while I dipped the radiator in water and ice and the temperature dropped to 40C almost immediately.

I never imagined that a water cooling kit could perform worse than a heatsink with the same ammount of fans.

 

[GoldMember]

I feel your dissapointment..

If you have a digital camera.. or a webcam.. then take pics of your setup and post them.. if you can't post them here then tell me and I'll upload them to my website for all to see.. this way we can help you fix your problem more accurately..

 

[GoldMember]

Actually, maybe I missed it.. but how are you getting these temps? Where is your thermometer mounted??

 

[MrGrim]

Heh, thanx GoldMember but the watercooling kit is safely cooling the basement now.

 

[teddymines]

Even though you are certain there are no bubbles since you assembled it underwater, I have personally seen hoses hang on to an air pocket while water runs around it, particularly around a kink. It is possible that there is a bubble in the water block. You may be able to dislodge it by increasing the water flow. When you dump into the gallon jug, look for bubbles.

My theory is that your block has an air bubble, it gets very hot at that site, and water flows through this area and picks up a lot of heat. Your flow is probably too slow (and maybe piping too narrow) and the radiator cannot cool the hot water because the fan does not pump enough CFM.

 

[BeauJangles]

My watercooling kit consists of a maze2 knockoff, a radiator that is 1" thick and can take 2 120 mm fans a 138 gph Rio pump. My setup is soooooooo queit. I idle between 29 and 30 c and that's with my radiator fans 7 volted. They are nearly silent ( I believe they are around 60 CFM NMBs). I don't use ASII (seeing as I can't afford it, i borrowed Radio Shack stuff from a friend). My temps stay damn low even with the fans 7 volted. So you CAN get quiet watercooling easily.

Oh, my setup cost me $80 US, including the waterblock.

If you want any other tips feel free to PM me with questions, etc.

Good Luck!

BlinderBomber

 

[MrGrim]

I'm sorry but 2 120mm fans, 1 fan in the powersupply and 1 fan on the video card is not my idea of a quiet setup. Maybe my standards are too high ...

 

[BeauJangles]

First off, i have no fan on my GPU. My powersupply fan is virtually silent (enermax PS), I think you would be quite amazed at how silent my rig is. It's quiet enough that sometimes I wonder if everything is running, no joke.

 

[MrGrim]

Well it's probably just me because all I have in my system is 2 20db fans and the tiny fan that came with my GF3 and I can still clearly hear them when I go to bed.

 

[BeauJangles]

Yea, I hate lots of sound too, but my system right now is perfect (for me). If noise bothers ya that much I would have to say either get a P4 or that shuttle box with a via C3 processor in it. Or you could turn off your pc when you go to bed

Either way, good luck, sorry watercooling didn't work out for you.