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Worse temps with watercooling, what gives???

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Mystypiy

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Location
Virginia
Okay I just installed anAsetek WaterChill Cooling Kit in my rig (see sig) and now my temps are worse and the system is unstable with almost any overclocking at all. The voltage is up as high as it can go, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. I even cut the overclock back to the pre-slk-900 level when it was just stock cooling and it still isn't stable. I have the chipset block, cpu block and vga block all installed. The video card is not overclocked at all either. There are no leaks, the watercooling system ran for 24 hours with no problems at all
The system did not come with any sort of coolant, only an anti-algae solution. Could this be the problem? This is my first watercooling setup so I don't have any idea what's wrong.
 
your radiator maybe....... I don't think it's the coolant.

I'm sure you checked the block's and the way they are mounted, so I don't think it's that either.

I'm still amaized at how they (Asetek) can call that a waterChill???? look-warm is more like it, from the pictures I can get of it....

but then again, what do I know.....
 
I assume that you have it installed like this:

pump > radiator > CPU > NB > VGA > pump

I would try rotating the radiator around some to make sure that you got all of the air out of it. Can you tell how much water flow you are getting? With all 3 blocks installed, it sure does put a heavy burden on the pump. Does this setup use 1/2" ID tubing?

You might also try reseating the water blocks, just to make sure that they are installed correctly. I also assume that you installed new AS3 (or whatever brand thermal grease). What temps are you getting now? Before temps?
 
Double check everything, doesnt sound right. Poor block contact? Kinks anywhere? If all OK then I wonder about flow with 3 blocks. Pretty decent kit although its one weak point is the pump, if its still the L20. Maybe set one block aside for awhile until you can justify a stronger pump - chipset block most likely. BTW the water is the coolant ;)
 
Yeah the system uses 1/2" tubing. I just tried going totally back to defaults and prime 95 only runs for 9 min before it gets an error, it gets up into the 50's when its running (when it was slightly overclocked and would run for 45 min and in the mid-40s when it is not overclocked). It has also been freezing a lot. This is crazy! My system used to run prime for 24 hours no prob. Now it has problems for even a few minutes. Oh and I used AS3 on all three blocks.
I have also tried reseating the cpu block, but that doesn't seem to be the prob..... Ugh....
I have an L30 pump, but I am currently using the L20 since it cuts on automatically with the computer. Should I change it ?
 
An SLK900 beats the Waterchill by a lot... Check the overclockers.com watercooling kits results, and compare to the socket A results...
 
I did not know there waterCHILL was that bad....

check your NB block to make sure you did not get any AS3 onto the chips pins, that is a sure fire solution to instability.
 
AngryAlpaca said:
An SLK900 beats the Waterchill by a lot... Check the overclockers.com watercooling kits results, and compare to the socket A results...

yes, slk900 beats it.. with a 74dba fan!... the water chill fan isn't as strong, but thats not the problem.
its more likly then not a mounting problem, try remounting, reapplying the paste.
 
Make sure the tubing isn't pulling the cpu block in any way. With the cpu block unmounted but still in the system, it should line up right onto the cpu. If you have to pull it somehow to get it mounted, that is a problem and can be a big problem depending on how much pressure is involved. I've had to solve this on my system.
 
when my temps were higher than expected it was due to a bad lap job on the bottom of the block, in conjunction with the big P4 heatspreader. i removed the IHS and lapped the block and my temps dropped wayyyy down.

try remounting, and make sure the base of the wb is nice
 
It is possible that the problem could be a loss of air flow in the CPU area.

Problem 1 – CPU Temp
I have read that the A7N8X reads the internal diode from the BIOS, but that the Asus Windows based monitor reads the on-board probe. If this is what’s happening with your computer, you should be able to enter the BIOS and see a lower temperature. The reason that the on-board probe now gives a higher reading is that there is no air movement to cool it like there was when you had the heatsink.

I have a Tyan board with the same problem. If I take a low-power 80mm fan and put it in just the right spot, my CPU temp will drop by 10C.

Problem 2 – Overclocking
Most likely, the high airflow from your old fan was cooling some other components on the motherboard. When you lost that flow, you lost that cooling. My board also monitors the temperature of the voltage regulators and the memory. The temperature of all these components shot up when I removed the heatsink fans. While I believe the temperature increases to be mostly artificial (just like the CPU) there can be no arguing with the fact that these parts are running hotter, as there is definitely less air moving around.

You can test this theory by taking your old heatsink fan off of the heatsink, and use it to blow air onto the motherboard. Do this while watching the Windows monitor and see if the temp drops. If it does then make a temporary mounting for the fan and test overclocking to see if that’s affected as well.
 
you say you have the voltage as high as it will go ... that is the cpu voltage? if so could you try dropping it back down?
 
Just a quick reply to this problem.

The Asetek Waterchill was mounted and installed on my friends pc. After messing around with all the possible routes that i could immagine pump->rad->cpu->vga was the best bet. But then again as we o/c the cpu (Intel 2.4C) from 2.4 to 2.8 temps were oscillating in the 45-50C after some prime95. Im talking about 10-20mins. I said allright it must be the waterblock then not making a good contact with the cpu. After re-installing the waterblock temps dropped by a mere 2C. We let AS5 settle for a whole 3 days, did some more o/c to 3Ghz and temps were going up to 55C after 20mins of prime95.

I looked at my friend and said dood the Waterchill is not up to standard. After taking it back yeah it was a pain but we had the money back

Now he is using a D-tek WW with a chevette core and eheim 1250 temps are stable at 35-40C after 3hrs of prime95 at a full 3Ghz o/c

It up to you now, im not saying take it back. I just gave you my point of view after using the waterchill :)
 
Okay, so here's what I've been up to.... Before moving into college yesterday, I removed the chipset waterblock, still leaving the vga and the cpu blocks. This does seem to have helped some, although my temps are still not great. I get 44-46 at stock speeds with prime running after about 18 hours or so. It seems to be stable now (finally) perhaps the tubing was putting pressure on the cpu block with the chipset block installed. I am still disappointed about my temps tho.
GoingH20 is there any one part that you know of that makes this watercooling kit not run as well as some others? Should I get a new radiator or cpu block? I hate to send it back since I got it online and it might be a big hassel.....
 
I tried using the L30 and only got a temp difference of a few degrees, but my cpu was still in the 40s under prime95 load. I have also removed both the chipset and vga block, but I am still getting these high temps and the system is unstable even at stock speeds. I checked to make sure that the tubing was not pulling on the cpu and I reapplied AS3 when I reseated the cpu block. Is there anything else I could or should do?
I talked to Frozencpu.com and I can't take the kit back, so I'm stuck with it. They also said that noone else has ever complained about it....
 
Okay I finally have gotten my rig stable at stock speeds, but the temps are still pretty terrible. 50s under load. Its just the cpu block now. Should I just give up with this watercooling system or what?
 
I don't water cool yet but is on my list of things to do. ;)

If I where you I would really look at all the parts, and then compare them to other systems. See what yours is lacking, then replace parts.

In the long run I would say it will cost you more, but at least you don't throw away something you paid for since they will not take it back.

Seems like the CPU block and the Radiator are the biggest parts for the cooling, I would start there if I was in your shoes.

Actually... I would start HERE..
http://www.overclockers.com/articles373/wbsum.asp
the block that comes with yours is at the bottom of this list.

Is this your block?
http://www.overclockers.com/articles804/as10.jpg
if so, is the water going in the middle and out the side?


Also this is another where your kit was rated a 0.30 and thats kinda bad for Air Cooling.
 
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