Water cooling kit designed to withstand temperatures above 90 degrees Celsius during rigorous testing.
Water cooling kit designed to withstand temperatures above 90 degrees Celsius during rigorous testing.
Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a water cooling kit about a week ago and have been enjoying the improvements in both aesthetics and performance.
In the past few days, I've encountered some problems with my CPU temperatures. When idle, my PC stays around 35°C, but during gaming it reaches about 50°C.
About two days ago, I attempted overclocking and observed that under stress testing with Prime 95 (at maximum CPU load), temperatures rose to around 90°C across all cores. (Just an hour ago, after removing the old thermal paste and applying a pea-sized amount of thermal paste, the temps remained unchanged.)
I'm quite concerned because I had hoped for lower readings in the 50°C to 60°C range while overclocked.
I suspect a few issues might be causing this:
1) The water loop is connected to the wrong IN and OUT ports, leading to higher temperatures than usual.
2) The CPU block isn't properly seated.
3) The thermal paste application may not have been sufficient or correct.
4) I used the coolant included with the kit instead of distilled water.
I haven’t found any other solutions yet. The loop seems to be functioning correctly, but problems arose only during overclocking attempts.
Kit details:
Name: Alphacool NexXxoS Cool Answer Complete Kit 240mm D5/XT
Build specs:
- Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core
- Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150
- G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
- Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" SSD
- Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" HDD
- EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0
- NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower
- Cooler Master VSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX PSU
- Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
- Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
I also have some photos that might help:
[Link to image 1]
[Link to image 2]
This additional information came from a friend who helped me understand the setup.
Increase the pump speed to at least the 3 setting for normal operation. Your picture indicates it is set to 1. Remember to always run a D5 at 5 during initial setup to remove all air from the loop. Once the loop is free of air, you can reduce the speed. For optimal results in most cases, use the 3 setting for daily use. However, testing different speeds may help you find the best cooling performance for your system. Keep the reservoir filled to about 75% capacity; this is lower than ideal. I don’t particularly like the new Alphacool fill port design on that reservoir, but you can fill it further by adjusting the machine angle. Just ensure you close and seal the quick fill port before...
Your setup looks legit.
I'm betting that you got a bum cooler, can you tell that the cooler has plenty of liquid inside of it?
Not pushed beyond the limits, right? A pea-sized bit of thermal paste is way too much... a grain of rice would be ideal. In any case, any extra paste should be pushed out from the sides but might leave a thicker layer depending on how the block sits. Is the flow going into the 'IN' port? If not, the loop sequence doesn’t matter much. That loop needs to push coolant quickly because the design is straightforward. Do you notice a lot of turbulence in the reservoir when the pump runs? I see tiny bubbles and some foam, so yes. You should top it up almost completely. If you run out, use distilled water.
After stress testing or stopping the load, does the idle temperature return to normal levels quickly (or stay high)? If it does drop, there’s flow; if not, there isn’t.
Ensure you are using the proper version of Prime95. There is a sticky post in this forum that will direct you to the correct one. I noticed the temperatures were unusually high with the latest version, but with the recommended one, the expected temperatures were observed.
Increase your pump speed to at least the 3 setting for normal operation, as it displays the setting as 1.
Always perform a D5 at 5 during initial setup to remove all air from the loop. Once the loop is free of air, reduce the speed; most cases benefit from running it daily on the 3 setting. However, testing different speeds can help identify the best cooling performance for your system.
Maintain the reservoir level at 75%, which is below the recommended level. I don’t particularly like the Alphacool new fill port design on that reservoir, but you can fill it higher by adjusting the machine angle—just ensure the quick fill port is closed and sealed before restarting. (Avoid tilting and filling while the pump is running.)
For the Prime95 comment, you should specifically use version 26.6 with a Haswell CPU.
CompuTronix provides a link to version 26.6 in his Intel Temperature Guide, which you can find above.