What am I going wrong here? Am I overclocking too much?

[Patrick G]

I just got my Koolance system set up, with the cpu cooler, mb cooler, gpu cooler and hdd cooler, and i'm running at 49C. At 50C the Koolance system automatically shuts down, and that happened to me when I was running Sandra's burn-in test. I'm even using the 80mm case fan in the back. I thought once I got a watercooled system I'd never have to worry about temps again. I'm using Artic Silver II under the all coolers. What's the deal here? Am I just pushing my processor too far (see my sig). Any suggestions. I have my case inside my computer desk (it's one of those desks that you can hide your case in behind a door), but I even have the door off right now. I'm about fed up. Is there any way to override the Koolance system so that it won't shut down at 50C. I thought 50C was a little high, but still perfectly stable to run at.

[hunter00]

two things. first, check to make sure your setup is right, i.e. your waterblock is mounted correctly, that sort of thing. you really shouldn't be getting temps that high with watercooling (or aircooling for that matter) and i've heard the koolance is decent.

also, about the shutdown thing, check your in cmos under like power management or somehting, you probably have a shutdown temp set to 50 deg. or if you are using a software temp probe, it may have an autoshutdown that you can turn off (or set to a different degree number).

[rogerdugans]

I'm running an XP 1800 @1725, air-cooled, with temps in the mid 30s. So there must be something not working right.

I haven't done water cooling, but I would suggest starting in the same place: cpu. Take the waterblock off and clean everything up. Do you lap those things? If so, lightly re-lap it with the finest paper you have, reapply a thin film of AS2, and reseat it. ***Note: if any of these air-cooled tricks don't work, just ignore me!***

Is it possible that water flow is backwards? Does it matter which way the h2o flows?

Good luck

[AntmanMike]

Are you pumping water to your waterblock first? If it is going to your hard drives, etc, it will be warm when hitting the waterblock. make it : Reservoir (if there is one), pump, water block, everything else

[Neco]

Yea.


CPU is the hotest component, water hits the CPPU first, then do whatever else you need !


Also make sure your pumps are working. Maybe one has failed or was defective or something.


I remember forgeting to turn on my pump one time, and I played Opposing force for like half an hour and came back to check the temp an dit was 70deg C !!! I Was like... f00k !

and look at the wall and saw my pump unplugged

:mad:

[Patrick G]

Yeah, it comes already set up so that the cpu cooler gets the water first, then you just add the other coolers onto the loop. How the hell would I check to be sure both pumps are working?

[Neco]

actually thats a good question...


my best guess is unplug your hard disk and whatnot and anything that's real noisey, keep the side panel off and turn it on (let it sit in BIOS or something) and then listen carefully as close as you can get ??

:beer:

[The Overclocker]

i recon it is three things:

1. a pump is nackered

2. those lovely air bubbles. have you got them all out?

3. block in not seated properly: you shlould have done it up till you heard a crack noise

[Patrick G]

Well, I don't know how to check to see that both pumps are working. I stick my ear up next to the reservoir, but that damn thing is so quiet I can't tell if it's 1 or 2 pumps running. I believe I also seated the waterblock on the cpu correctly because I turned the screw until I heard 1 click, then I stopped. Could it be that it's just too hot there inside my desk? There is only about 2 inches above the exhaust fans to the bottom of the drawer that sits above it.

[AntmanMike]

put your hand on the pump. If it vibrates its running.

[Patrick G]

put your hand on the pump.

I wish that were possible!

[Neco]

well the res is the next best thing..


but the problem is there are 2 pumps, so if one fails you still get vibrations.


now.... INSIDE your desk you say ?

that clearance you mentioned doesn't sound like much either.

your not helping it at all, it sucks air in and blow it out its just recirculating hot air man !


try it next to the desk or something and tell us what happens

[Yodums]

Heres my plan use the "do it all again method" if your not so frustrated.

Take everything apart and rebuild the Koolance from scratch.

[hunter00]

im not entirely sure how the koolance setup works, but i'm assuming there is a radiator/heater core/whatever , and remember that if you are only water cooling using a heater core the BEST temperatures you can achieve are ambient. and if ambient is 50 degrees inside a stuffy desk . . .well . . .

[Patrick G]

I guarantee you the ambient temperature inside the desk ain't no 50 degrees.

[Neco]

Are you willing to take the case out into the open or not ?? Because we have practically tried everything else.



You stated you have it like, in your desk or some compartment I am asuming.

Well my friend, the Koolance has 3 fans on it mounted over the raditor - 1 to draw air in and 2 to blow air out - by placing your computer WHERE it is you are effectively recirculating HOT air - why ? because as we all know when you blow air over a radiator it takes the heat off of it and being in some place with no ventiallation like that is going to heat it up real nice..

Sorry friend - I know what kinda desk your talking about and taking the door off will not help at all - you still need ventilation on the top of the case (or if you have an older Koolance; somewhere for air to escape form the bottom)


You are only hurting yourself by not taking that case out and at least proving me wrong ;)

[hunter00]

o i gots an idea.

just put the radiator outside of the desk!

wooh i'm smart :D

[Patrick G]

Ok, I guess I'm going to have to take the thing out and set it beside my desk, unless.... will this case help me out any:
http://www.coolerguys.com/cpucool/WindIV.shtml

It's only air cooled, but it's got 6 fans, including two 92mm fans on the side blowing directly at the cpu. Would having this constant airflow on the cpu allow me to keep the case in the desk? I've got this case sitting here in my room. It even has the cool plexi-glass window side on it.

[hunter00]

130 bucks?!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?

go to cyber deals, but that dremel that el aka deal*****master showed a deal on. then buy a nice supercase that im sure half of the forums knows a link too (which i dont . .. hmmm . . . ) and then go to your garage and have some fun.

[Boilerhead]

If you are dead set on having it in that desk compartment then make some cardboard ducting to force the rad's exhaust fan to the rear and have the intake fans suck from the cool air in front of the desk. Even better, cut a nice fat slot in the back of the desk compartment 2" tall and 8" wide and duct the radiator exhaust fan to that. If there's only 2" of clearance then sharp corners on the ducting will hose the potential CFM so maybe do a 1/2" or 3/4" radius on the top edge of the duct to help the air to turn and make it at least as wide as the case is. The cross section of the duct should have a minimum area equal to that of the surface area of the fan(s). You'd be better off installing higher performance radiator fans in order to recoup the CFM losses from the reduced headroom.

Just making a spoiler sort of deal to positively separate the intake and exhaust fans would help a lot. No doubt you are sucking a huge percentage of the exhust fan's output back into the intake fans in a vicious cycle of non-cooling!

It doesn't have to be 50c in the compartment to make the coolant temp 50c, even 40c will totally hose the whole deal. The Koolance is made to provide decent performance with ambient temps of like 20 to maybe 30c. As ambient goes up the heat transfer capabilities go down even faster.

The restrictions you have put on the airflow to and from the rad have easily halved the cooling capacity of your heat exchanger. If you can't hack up that desk compartment a little then you're almost out of luck without some crazy ducting and additional fans I'm afraid.

Henry

[Patrick G]

What dremel thing, hunter? Thanks to all for the great advice. I already have the back off of the desk compartment, but I think I may need to just take the thing out.

[hunter00]

dremel bro. google.

[hunter00]

aright htat didn't even make sense to me.

look up dremel in google, bro. its THE modding tool.

[Patrick G]

Oh, you're talking about just a standard dremel tool? You made it sound like it was something special for computer mods.

[Patrick G]

Is it abnormal for my cpu temp to read 14ºC higher than my case temp?