Custom Watercooling Build but not getting watercooled temps need help!

I recently build a custom watercooling loop for the first time. I originally had a dual 80mm, 240mm, and 120mm 45mm thick rads in a GPU CPU loop in a Coolmaster XB EVO. I was using software Hardware Monitor to check temps. It showed that my CPU and GPU where around 70 C. I recently upgrade to a Thermaltake X2 case with a 120mm, 240mm, 360mm 45mmm thick rads, and have a temp sensor in the loop. I also using the Corsair Link software to monitor temps and control fans. Corsair link is showing my CPU temp to be 123.3 F at idle and GPU temp to be 138.2 F at idle my water temp is at 70 F. I not understanding why my parts are running so hot. these aren't the system temp I figured I would be running at idle. I did the TDP calculations and the rads are more than able to handle the max TDP of my system. my room is cold like always 64 F so I'm not seeing a difference in water temps at all. the water isn't raising its temp. I check to see if thermal paste was good on both CPU and GPU and they are nice thin layer and not tooo much. Also to mention my GPU is a full block and thermal pads are installed correctly.

My Build

MSI A88m Gaming mATX
Athlon X64 4.7Ghz
MSI R9 280 3G stocked
RM1000 PSU

If you water is that much cooler than your cpu at idle, either you have flow problems or your block isnt mounted right. Are you sure your pump is running?

What is your voltage on the CPU? I'm just thinking at 4.7GHz, it's gotta get pretty hot anyway, and AMD CPUs don't have the same kind of thermal headroom as Intel.

As super trucker said out sounds like a flow issue. Did you flush your loop when you transferred to the new case? You may have a blockage somewhere in the loop.

Also can you keep your temperature reporting in one unit of measurement, either Celsius or Fahrenheit, the mixed temperature readings you reported can get confusing.

Input and output backwards on the block?

Pic of loop would help.

Pic of the loop, temps in celcius and did you clean your components before assembling your loop and the parts that were used prior?

Also, I wouldn't exactly trust Corsair Link for temps as its still buggy. I'd use another 3rd party software to record your temps.

Ok, Here are pics of loop it goes pump to 240mm to IN CPU Block OUT to 120mm to IN GPU Block OUT to RES to 360mm rad IN PUMP. From pics you will see I'm using a Aqua pump that's only due to my DC-LT Alphacool pump getting damage in the switching of cases. I have a new one arriving Monday. Also I know its suppose to go res to pump but in my last case I have the res before a 80mm rad and the pump was fine and never empty I have the DC-LT with the mini res on top so basically I use the RES on top to make bleeding easier in my loop. Since I'm using this aqua pump there are air bubbles in the 360 but they aren't the problem. I been having the same temp difference in my last case. I do know that in the Bios when I have a 240 AIO on just the CPU I was getting 40C temps. I'm using Hardware Monitor and Corsair Link and the temps are the same basically. I did flush the entire Waterloop once assemble again with Vinegar. My temps after a full 24 hours of running at idle are

CPU 122 F AMD Athlon X4 1.3V 3.7 GHz ( I took off my over clock)
AMD R9 280 127 F

That's the temps from both software.
The pump I'm using right now has a Hmax of .75M and a Qmax of 440 l/h and the pump is on max. I also order a Swifttech MCP50x Just in case my DC-LT from Alphacool not enough to push water thru.

So after reading your posts I download Core temp 1.0 RCB. It is showing a CPU temp of 61 F, while Link and HWMonitor showing temp of CPU at 120 F. Any other temp monitoring software I could use? I do have 3 sensor probes for the Corsair Link that I could attach to the CPU and GPU block some how. The water sensor I have is reporting a Waterloop temp of 72 F. Going to run some CPU stress test and see if I can get the water temp to rise. I tried to benchmark the GPU but was having issues getting a stable Overclock or Heaven to even run in the last case.

Please us Centigrade, not F. Doing the math in my head you seem fine, I'll let you know once you use C.

Try using hwinfo 64

Also that pump you are currently using sends a little under powered with only 0.75 m of head you may have a flow rate problem.

It is a flow rate problem. That's a lot for that little pump to push through. Also, you really should feed the pump from the res. Pumps are made to push water, not have to draw it from a restricted source like a rad. That is adding to your flow issue.

OK so its the rate at which the water is moving? So for me to make sure I understand what your saying. Your telling me that even though I see water moving thru my loop and the pump is working the reason mmy temps or so high and different is because the water in my loop is moving too slow to move the heat from my CPU and GPU to the rads. Correct?

In a nutshell, yes.
You need to be moving 1-1.5 GPM through your loop.

bucsfanga said:

OK so its the rate at which the water is moving? So for me to make sure I understand what your saying. Your telling me that even though I see water moving thru my loop and the pump is working the reason mmy temps or so high and different is because the water in my loop is moving too slow to move the heat from my CPU and GPU to the rads. Correct?

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Yes optimal flow rate is around 1.5 gpm. If you are less than that heat is not effectively removed from the blocks because the water in the block becomes heat saturated. The same thing then happens at the rad. The water sits in the rad and comes down to room temperature to quick so the full radiator is not utilized. This will hinder the total amount of heat the loop can dissipate.

Here is a screen shot of me running AIDA64 Stress test while running Heaven Ultra settings and the max temp which are now all in C are as follows.

CPU 65 (Hardware Monitor and LInk)
GPU 96 (Hardware Monitor and Link)
LOOP 23.9 (LInk)

Test has been running for 27 mins currently

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OK so can a DC-LT from Alphacool accomplish this or should I wait for the Swifttech pump?
There current pump in the pic is doing 7.3L or 1.93G per minute which is more than the 1.5 gpm you stated. But I do agree with your reasoning. if the temps are correct between the waterloop and what Link and Monitor are showing then the water is not moving fast enough for the loop to reach equilibrium. Which means I could check the temp at different places and see a difference in the water temperature.

Where are you taking the water temperature reading at in the loop?

Temps are ridiculous. Way hot. I'd be looking for a restriction in that loop also. Water temp seems way low.

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Lochekey said:

Where are you taking the water temperature reading at in the loop?

Click to expand...

Doesn't really matter. The loop will equalize in roughly 20 minutes.

Mr.Scott said:

Temps are ridiculous. Way hot. I'd be looking for a restriction in that loop also. Water temp seems way low.

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Doesn't really matter. The loop will equalize in roughly 20 minutes.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree with this Scotty if he has an extremely low flow rate due to restriction the water temperature after a rad will read drastically lower than before.

To an extent, you're correct. But by looking at his hardware temps, I would expect to see a water temp of 35c or higher. That is why I mentioned a restriction somewhere. Personally, I would strip and clean the entire system. That means taking apart the blocks too.