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Help, Apogee has higher temps

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aalaardb

Registered
Joined
May 3, 2004
I replaced my homemade waterblock with an Apogee and temps rose!

I have an OCed 3200+, which is cooled by a TEC. So it goes CPU -> IHS -> Cold Plate -> TEC -> Waterblock. The pump is an MCW350 18watts, 3/8 ID tubing, standard 120mm radiator, low cfm fan, and I had a ThermalTake Reservoir with the homemade waterblock but took it out for the Apogee. The reservoir is cracked now, so I can't put it back in.

Basically, since the TEC is 50x50mm I needed a waterblock that could cool it uniformly and would cool all of its size, which is why the homemade one was made in the first place. The homemade waterblock was constructed following the article on overclockers.com: http://overclockers.com/tips206/
It is slightly different from the article, 50mm wide, 60mm long and 12.5mm high. Here's a diagram:
diagram

As you can see from the charts here DIY waterblocks' C/W faired poorly compared to commercial products. So naturally I assumed that my waterblock was a poor performer.

I bought an Apogee, which has a surface area of 50x50mm which is enough for my TEC. The diamond pin matrix is only about 40x40mm, but to me that seemed acceptable at the time I was considering the purchase; the heat on that 5mm strip on each side will just have to travel a bit farther. I put Ceramique into the 4 holes, and spread AS5 on to the best of my ability. The retention had to be slightly different so I'm not sure how tight it should be, but I tightened it so that I basically can't move the wb.

After all this I was expecting temps to drop, but instead they went up. Why? What can I do to fix it? Is my only option returning the Apogee and buying a MCW5002?
 
No. I spread the AS5 on as smooth as possible with an XActo knife and I don't want to pull it off because I think that would cause more bubbles to form when I put it back on. I also moved it back and forth a bunch trying to get the bubbles out. If you think it will help I can try it.

Also, I forgot to mention that the RPM on my pump went down a hundred or so, so apparently the Apogee without res is more restrictive than homemade with res. But the pump should be able to handle it, so although this is a factor, I don't think it's a big one at all.
 
Well I can't say for sure that reseating the block would help, but it's definately the most logical step for troubleshooting this type of problem. There are a number of things that can happen when you mount a block that can lead to improper heat transfer.

Did you remember to peel away the clear plastic protective film from the base of the block? (if it was a new block, I believe there should have been such a film)
 
The wb came wrapped in film, but once that was removed there wasn't a second. I'll try reseting it.
 
step1: reseat your block ( many of peoples temps problems originate here)
step2: check flow in oyur system. its possible that you kinked a line
step3: check to make sure everything else is working such as the fans which can also accidently be unplugged
 
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