Water Cooled: GPUs and CPU gradually warming up
Water Cooled: GPUs and CPU gradually warming up
I have been trying to sort out this problem for a few months now, with little improvement. Hopefully someone might be able to shed some light on some paths I can take to remedy the problem.
I had installed my first water cooling loop around this time last year. It consisted of the following:
Res -> Pump -> Rad -> CPU (i7-4970k) -> GPU (GeForce 780Ti) -> Res ->
I had great temps at the time. At load my GPU was around 45-50C, and CPU around 60C.
I got a hold of a second 780Ti and decided to SLI it into my system. I didn't include it in the loop, but it ran without any issues on air only.
I subsequently decided to add it to the loop, so I bought a second radiator and a new PSU and hooked it all up. As follows:
Res -> Pump -> Rad1 (Ex240 (top)) -> CPU -> GPU1 (water bridge) GPU2 -> Rad2 (RX240 (bottom)) -> Res
I subsequently started to get worse performance and a LOT of heat in my case during load.
Idle : GPU and CPUs all mid 30Cs
Load: GPUs - 65-70C, CPU 75-80C
It didn't shoot up all at once, it would start off with great temps but after about 15 minutes they would slowly build up. The inside of the case would be too hot to touch, and the water temps would be hanging somewhere around 45-50C.
I decided that I had poor ventilation, so I changed my initial fan setup (All pull except for a single exhaust on push) to all push. That didn't work very well, so I changed it to the setup you can see in the attached image (Bottom rad pull, top rad push, front pull, rear exhaust). That helped a bit, but it really just slowed down how long it took to heat up. So I decided to buy some more powerful fans. Again, some improvement, but just slowed down the time it took to heat.
I tried pulling the GPUs and CPUs apart and applying more thermal paste and reseating, no change.
All the tubing is going into the correct ports.
I have currently ordered 2 high static pressure Noctua industrual fans for the bottom radiator, and will put the fans currently on it onto the top radiator (which has poor static pressure). However I am not confident that this will fix the problem. I've also tried adjusting the fan speeds, and even at all of the fans at 100% it still heats up.
As such, I was hoping there might be something I missed? With water temps hitting the 50C mark I am worried that I will damage my components.
My setup can be found here:
http://imgur.com/jM9SDNX
My Specs:
CPU - i7-4790K (RayStorm CPU Waterblock)
GPU - i) EVGA Geforce 780Ti with EK Full waterblock
ii) Geforce 780Ti with EK half waterblock
Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5
RAM: Kingston DDR3 8gb x2, Kingston DDR3 4gb x2 (24Gb total)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO
PSU: Cougar 1050W GX1050
Case: Corsair C70
Water cooling - D5 Dual Bay Resevoir, D5 Vario Pump
XSPC Ex240 Dual Radiator with (Fans: XPSC 1650rpm 120mm (x2))
- Mounted top (push)
XSPC RX240 Dual Fan Radiator V3 Black with (Fans: Corsair SP120 x2)
- Mounted bottom (pull)
Additional Fans:
Noctua 120mm NF-S12B Redux Edition 1200RPM Fan (rear exhaust - push)
Corsair SP120 x2 (Front of case) - Pull
Corsair SP120 x1 (post HDD) - Pull
Thanks
He has sufficient radiators (the large one at the bottom is enough to cool the CPU and one GPU alone), but since this kind of heat buildup usually means poor heat dissipation, the main issue seems to be insufficient airflow. Therefore, it's likely the bottom fans aren't moving enough air through the big radiator, though I'm confident the Noctua industrial fans will help. We'll just have to wait, probably.
First of all let's get out of the way that push or pull does not affect temps. This has been tested and proven. The only difference is how your rig looks. My guess is that the bottom fans have trouble pushing enough air through that thick rad. I'd say wait for the Noctua fans and report the results.
It seems you're wondering about the fan speeds of your radiator fans and whether the water appears cloudy.
He has sufficient radiators (the large 240 in the lower section would handle cooling a CPU and one GPU alone), but since this level of heat buildup usually points to poor heat removal, the main issue seems to be insufficient airflow. Therefore, while the radiators are adequate, the fans might not be strong enough to push enough air through the big radiator, which is why I think the Noctua industrial fans could be a better choice. We'll just have to see how it turns out.
Thank you for the feedback, I'll test the Noctuas and see what happens. The water is clear, it's just the photo that's giving them an off appearance.
Push and pull indeed have an impact - I've verified this. But it varies based on the fans selected and the radiator they're installed in. It also relies on the thermal demand the system handles. Even with around 300 watts of power, you can notice a temperature difference of up to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius.
It seems the main concern is a low flow rate in the water loop system. The current pump being used is unclear, but adding more fans to the radiators might help without affecting performance. I also found a thread that explains how low flow rates impact system performance.
The Noctua fans were installed today. I also raised the PC off the ground slightly to improve airflow beneath it. They certainly helped, though not as much as I had hoped.
When FurMark was running at full speed with 99% usage on both GPUs:
Before Noctua:
@ 15 minutes:
GPU1: 65-68C
GPU2: 63-65C
After Noctua:
@ 25 minutes
GPU1: 59-61C
GPU2: 57-59C
There was some improvement, though not as significant. It now takes longer for the system to heat up and it maintains a comfortable temperature for a longer time. Based on similar configurations I’ve seen, I expect even better results. A friend with the same SLI setup has a closed-loop CPU cooler, both cards are air-cooled, and they’re overclocked—her temperatures remain higher than mine.
@ toolmaker_03 - I’m using an XSPC D5 Dual Bay Reservoir/Pump Combo
So far I’ve been measuring water temperatures with a turkey thermometer, and I’ll receive a proper probe soon to report the water temps.
Checking your water temperatures with the new probe, during idle this season it stabilizes near 26°C after a while. The internal case air temperature with another probe remains 2-6°C lower based on workload. The peak I've recorded during several hours of summer gaming reaches around 35°C.