Water cooling trouble :(

[Slougi]

I recently built a water-cooled rig. I'm using a sicce nova pump. a lrage bucket (temporary) as a water container and an aluminum water block (yeah yeah).
Ok my problem is that under load my temps are just 3C lower than before!!! :(
And I was using the AMD standard cooler! The water temperature is around 18C, the cpu is a duron 800@920Mhz.
Anyone have any ideas? Or is it becasue of the aluminum water block? :(

[Blue Jester_2112]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

Are you using a radiator or just the bucket of water? Also, how much water is the pump moving? And what are your ambient temps and cpu temps?

[Slougi]

Originally posted by Blue Jester_2112
Hi, welcome to the forums.

Are you using a radiator or just the bucket of water? Also, how much water is the pump moving? And what are your ambient temps and cpu temps?
Thanks :)
ATM I'm just using the bucket of water, but the water doesn't warm up at all (Have checked with a thermometer, and as I said it's a big bucket) the pump is rated at 200-800 l/h, i have it set at maximum. ambient is around 19C, cpu temp is 39C at load and around 35 at idle. :(
Would it help to use a cold plate to spread the heat? I guess I could make one out of copper.

Edit: Oh forgot to add that my temps used to be 38 idle, 41 load with the amd retail cooler.

[Blue Jester_2112]

Hmmm...I'm not sure a cold plate would much of a difference, not one worth the money anyway.

What water block is it? Is it homemade or did you buy it? And are you sure it's mounted correctly?

Those temps seem to be a bit off (though not at all dangerouse for your chip). Try backing down the pump a tad, you might be moving too much water to fast.

Also, wht are you using to measure cpu temps and what MB do you have?

[Slougi]

I bought the block from a local reseller here in finland. It's made here in finland and is ionized black. Maybe it's that? Would laping it help? (hope i spelled that correctly...)
I'm using MBM5 for the temps, as i don't have any other means to check. It's a Gigabyte 7Z-MMH mainboard, with via kt133a chipset.

And i tried the pump at various levels, and fullspeed gives me the best results.

[Blue Jester_2112]

You could try lapping it, and remounting it, that could make a difference, especially if it wasn't all that smooth to begin with.
Also, what are you using as far as thermal grease?

[Diggrr]

If the bottom of the waterblock is also anodised, I'd lap it until you get to bare metal.
You could also try puting a fan blowing on the water in the bucket, this isn't quite a bong, but would help. The cooler the water is, the better your temps would be.
If you have the lid (or can make one) you can also transform the bucket into a bong with a showerhead. One fan hole in, and a blank hole for exhaust. They work pretty good too.

[Slougi]

I'll try lapping it, it's anodised all over. Oh and I'm using arctic silver.
Could try the bong thing, I have to see if i can find the lid.

[FrozenInHI]

with all that pressure and flow in the system, depending on the block's design, you may not have enough "slowdown" time in the block for it to dissipate the heat fast enough or effectively at that. a radiator would DEFINITELY help your case a lot. couple things to consider.

[sour]

try remounting the water block first. make sure it exert enough force. i had the same problem with my danger den water block, it posted at 60C. re-mounted it, then i tighten as far as possible. got it down to 35C. this is a celeron .13u 1.2G@1.6G.

[Slougi]

Well I already have a radiator, it just needs a few mods. BTW I lapped the block and voila: the temps went down 4C :)
First thing tomorrow I will mount the radiator and post back.