Getting my Temps down a bit further! (completed WC setup)

So Specs:

5820k @ 4.5 @ 1.3v water cooled
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (4GBx4) DDR4
Samsung SM951 m.2 256gb
295x2 Water cooled
ASUS X99-A ATX DDR4 3000 LGA Motherboard X99-A
Samsung 34-Inch Curved Screen LED-Lit Monitor S34E790C
Seasonic SS-1250XM X-Series ATX PC Power Supply
Windows 10

Water cooling:
Alphacool NexXxoS Monsta Radiator 180 (beastly) - SilverStone Air Penetrator Air Channeling Case Fan 180*180*32mm (130 cfm)
XSPC EX280 Rad AeroCool Fan 140mm x2 (93.4 CFM)
120 Radiator Ultra Thick 45mm with push/pull fans (not in picture) AeroCool Fan 120mm x2 (81.5 CFM)
XSPC Water Block for CPU
EK water block for my 295x2 (I've ordered and redone all the thermal pads on the 295x2 with 17 m/w stuff, and used
Tuniq TX-4 High Performance Thermal Grease)
XSPC Raystorm 750 Water pump/radiator


Now Problem (any other questions on system go ahead and ask):
I have my 295x2 oc'd as much as I can - it's got 50% power limit and +100 Core Voltage (MV)
Core Clock - 1165mhz
Memory Clock 1625mhz

Now my GPU 1 sits around 65 ish, or less, and my gpu 2 sits over 70 usually 71-74. So if any of you are familiar with this card it throttles your Core clock if you hit 74, as from what I've read the original water cooling can't handle 75c or higher (burns up the pump). So it throttles itself to prevent pump damage, as you can see mines a custom loop and if it fries the pump I don't care. I got alarms for my cpu if it gets over 90c. The gpu will throttle itself so no worries if the pump goes.

But I've built up my loop to prevent the 74c stuff, I have NO idea why my gpu 2 is getting so hot besides it is at the end of the loop as far as heat goes...

Now I play Elder Scrolls Online and if you know the game you're probably aware it doesn't work very well with multiple GPU's. That's why I oc'd the crud out of my card, however I got my own profile made and am getting it to work with both GPUs. Just I'm getting tired of the card throttling itself. It doesn't get passed 74 often, but enough to be annoying. My house is kinda hot cause I switch between an AC and Evap cooler cause I'd rather pay for new computer parts LOL.

My observation is that the water doesn't move really fast through my loop and I'm wondering if that's the problem with the GPU 2's heat.

Any opinion would be great.

markymark559 said:

.....I have NO idea why my gpu 2 is getting so hot besides it is at the end of the loop as far as heat goes...

My observation is that the water doesn't move really fast through my loop and I'm wondering if that's the problem with the GPU 2's heat.

Any opinion would be great.

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The problem here is that you don't have a powerful pump and too many thing to cool

The reason that your GPU #2 getting so hot is because of the water carry heat from your CPU and the first GPU over to the second GPU, that why it get hotter than your first GPU

One more thing, if you want to lower temp a bit, you may wanyt to add another fan to your rad to go push pull.

I agree, a stronger pump is definitely necessary.

I'd like to do a push but but my clearances ain't great on my 280 and 180 rad. I have a push pull on my 120.

So should I buy a new pump and reservoir? Or should I just use the pumps together? I read somewhere they should be the same speed. I'm not worried about the xspc one burning up.

I would just get an MCP50X, take out the old pump, and use the new one.

Number one, that thick rad has only one fan. How much air is actually coming through it? I bet not much. At least push pull it please. Putting the CPU last will only make a 2-3C diff, but that might be what you need.

Looking at the picture closely, your probably not using 25% of that massive radiator due to the not properly sized fan. And it's hurting your overall case airflow.

Could be the pump. Prolly not, you have good temps on the CPU. GPU blocks don't work on inpingment like the CPU block does, it's linear flow. That reminds me, I made something in the stickies about flow rates a long time ago.

You need mora fannage or better GPU's. Wonder how a single GTX 980ti would fare vs your two other cards?

Just an old timer with a bit of input. Take it as you like.

Con's right about that very thick 180mm. I don't know any sufficient 180mm rad fan in the market nor have I seen any benchmarks. Since we're talking about rads, I would have stuck with the 120mm radiator standards majority of us use with premium 120mm rad fans. I steer many folks away from anything over 140mm but recommend and advise to stick with 120mm. Well obviously that's out of the question here.

While your dual GPU can run fairly hot at stock, OC'd it only makes things worse, especially when you're adding a 1.3v OC on a 6 core CPU. Not sure you even have enough heat surface for all these OCs and sufficient air flow throughout the case, let alone to the radiators.

The pump on that XSPC should be fine for this loop. Just make sure you have version 4 as those pumps don't usually last that long AFAIK. You were better off with a premium pump like a DDC or D5 pump to keep a 1.0-1.5 GPM efficient flowing loop.

Not to beat you over the head already but it seems you kinda jumped the gun and let the case overpower you on what you can fit in the case instead of the other way around. I would have advised on getting the right cooling parts first and foremost and than with said loop, find a case that would accommodate everything nicely.

I almost forgot, you do have some really nice premium PC core components in that rig. Just got to get the right water cooling formula right.

to OCFs, btw.

You need mora fannage or better GPU's. Wonder how a single GTX 980ti would fare vs your two other cards?

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295x2 is a Dual gpu card, not 2 cards. This is arguably the BEST gpu to date.

Not to beat you over the head already but it seems you kinda jumped the gun and let the case overpower you on what you can fit in the case instead of the other way around. I would have advised on getting the right cooling parts first and foremost and than with said loop, find a case that would accommodate everything nicely.

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Water cooling the CPU with this case worked just fine. It's when I added my 295x2 that it got busy. So do you think I need more rads to get rid of the heat - I didn't take the time to calculate my thermal heat. But I would say during game load it's in the 800s. My card when under full load sits around 230 watts, and I've seen a couple graphics showing the 295x2 around 700 watts.

Just purchased:
MCP50X pump
Swiftech MCP35X Reservoir, Revision 2B
Amazon SilverStone Technology Super Slim FM182 (171.1 CFM) x2 - Will configure my 180 rad with push/pull.

The flow coming from the pump is like a trickle - so I'm just gonna swap it out for preventing failure in the future. I blew through my hoses and it wasn't very easy like before. I had my CPU on a closed loop and gpu on air, which was a 290x, those damn cards get freaking HOT it was getting up in the 90s, and 70s at 60% fan speed. But it sounded like a tornado in my case. So I Got the 295x2 and it came with the EK Waterblock, and I figured the last guy did a bad job on the TIM and Thermal pads so I replaced all that with the highest end stuff I could find. Temps dropped for sure, but they creep back up as I play.

The 280mm rad... Can't push pull that one I just don't have clearance for it at all. Mobo is in the way and I don't want anything outside of my case or in a way changing to the extent where it's goofy looking.

I have the carbide 500r case. The side panel has a 200mm fan. Upgraded that as well to a high cfm fan.

Btw I run all fans at max rpm.

For fan setup. Bottom fans are intakes, top fans are exahust, so the 280 mm rad, and 140 mm fan are exhaust fans, the 180 mm fan is an intake.


BitFenix Cooling Case Fan BFF-SPRO-20025WW-RP (148.72 CFM) This fan is an intake.

GTXJackBauer said:

Con's right about that very thick 180mm. I don't know any sufficient 180mm rad fan in the market nor have I seen any benchmarks. Since we're talking about rads, I would have stuck with the 120mm radiator standards majority of us use with premium 120mm rad fans. I steer many folks away from anything over 140mm but recommend and advise to stick with 120mm.

Click to expand...

well said Jack

ASUS ROG said:

well said Jack

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That doesn't help me. The clearances in my pc was suited for a 180 unfortunately, I bought radiators to fit my case. So working with what I have is what I'm gonna do. So I'm gonna reverse water flow so my 2nd gpu gets cooled first. All things said and done my temps ain't bad. It's just the card down clocks itself At 75c. When playing for a while it hovers at 73 or 74.

Do you think adding a 240 would help a lot cause modding the case ain't a big deal. Just making everything fit is a challenge.

When I build my next rig I will get a 900d type case. But for now the one I got is gonna work.

In my opinion, using a 120mmx2 or 140mmx2 rad is the best way but if you're gonna stick to your water cooling set up and reverse water flow than you may want to down clock your CPU a bit

By the way, what case do you have?

Switching to the MCP50X should resolve the flow rate issue. Once your water temp becomes saturated (generally 1/2 hour of gaming) your water temp will be stabilized and the direction of flow will not matter. If you're still noticing a drastic temperature difference between GPU's then you aren't getting enough air flow thru the rads or you don't have enough rad volume.

Personally I doubt the push/pull of those slim fans will provide enough airflow(read static pressure) through that monster rad. The rated static pressure of those are only 1.253mmH20. I think you'd be better off with a single SST-AP181 (180X32) with a static pressure listed at 2.45mmH20.

With all that said I'd see where you stand with the new pump first. If temps are fine...well then they're fine and no need to change unless you want better.

295x2 is a Dual gpu card, not 2 cards. This is arguably the BEST gpu to date.

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His point was that it is a 500W card vs 250W of the 980Ti.

Since you are running a mere 180 and 120mm rads and cooling Hex core 5820K CPU and a 295x2, that isn't nearly enough radiator. I use a total of 5.120mm worth of radiator with the same CPU and GPU. My exhaust temps through the radiator can reach almost 40C after a couple hour gaming session. The GPU hits 60C, and the CPU at 4.2GHz hits around 50C.

Your heat load with the overclocked CPU and GPU at stock is around 650W. No way those rads will keep 650W cool, particularly with those weak fans and lack of raddage. If you overclock the GPU and add volts you will easily hit 750W.

I agree with getting a better pump too.

So I'm gonna reverse water flow so my 2nd gpu gets cooled first.

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That wont matter. Temperatures inside a properly flowing loop will not differ by more than 1-2C.

According to the OP he has 280, 180 and a 120 rads.

Missed that...so he has about the same rad area as mine then.

I definitely say swap that pump out and getting enough air through those oddly sized 180 rads.

Thanks everyone for the input. Yeah, reversing flow doesn't make much sense since temps will normalize after a while. So the flow of water isn't crazy important since temps will normalize eventually anyways to some extent. So everything has been upgraded, I ordered the fans the same time posted so I got them now. Air flow is MUCH better from what I can physically feel. Running Fire Strike, I topped at at 62c over the both of my gpus. That's heavily over clocked + high settings. 1150 Clock, and memory at 1625. I reversed water flow anyways and spent a good while getting all the air bubbles out. Playing ESO gets me at around 58C max. With both gpus being used.

By the way, what case do you have?

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Carbide 500r - Link to amazon.

I'm Push and pulling on the 180mm rad with those new fans. I don't have the clearance to do a push pull with the other fan. But I can feel some good air flow now.

Glad to see an improvement to your rig. Seems about right.

62c on both GPU'S under heavy load is solid. I'd call that a win. Well done.

unning Fire Strike, I topped at at 62c over the both of my gpus.

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That benchmark takes like 2.5 minutes. In order to saturate a loop, you need to be running something constantly against the loop for at least 30 minutes so the system can get saturated/normalize.

I don't think I break 52C with my loop just running FS once...

E_D brings up a valid point. I believe you can set a loop run in Unigene Heaven. That might be a better bench to run to test for temps.