normal temps for watercooled rig?

(pics will follow later)

Got a brand new watercooled setup here :
Antec Plusview 1000AMG case
MSI NEO2-LS mainboard (865PE)
Pentium IV 2.6c @ 3.25 (1.6 volts)

Installed the watercooling rig using :
Eheim 1048 pump
Maze4 CPU block
Maze4 GPU block (on Radeon9800pro)
Black Ice Extreme radiator (120x120mm Enermax)
External reservoir
10cm tubing

Now, when running just windows, I get temps of around 40°C. When I start playing games like UT2K3, temps get up to 50°C (or even higher). I made sure all blocks are fit correctly, and used a decent applied Arctic Silver III layer.

I gotta say though that using a SLK900A (aircooler) or a Koolance watercooled setup gave me even worse temps.

So what am I doing wrong? Or are these temps normal for a cpu overclocked to such a speed? Some people suggested I get a better radiator, but I kinda doubt that this would give me lower temps since the water doesn't even feel warm.

I AM kind of getting suspicious about the temps reported by the mainboard, since it always seems to be a bit on the high side. I flashed my mobo to the latest bios (1.3) but this didn't change a thing.

All help/tips welcome!!

Are you playing in the middle of the Sahara? What are your ambient temperatures? What are you using to get your temperatures? Ah, just read that... motherboard sensor. You may want to try getting an actual temp monitor like DigiDoc5 or such.

Is your overclock stable? Compared to your previous cooling? That's a decent overclock so more than likely, your temps are accurate. If you drop your system to stock speeds, are you able to maintain your idle temp at or near ambient?

ambient temp (when referring to system temp reported by mobo) is around 40°C. guess my harddrives are giving off quite some heat

my room temp is about 26-27°C now (kinda hot here)

I have a AMD 2500+ oced from 1.8 to 2.4 and it runs at about 35 idle and 39 load on days when the room temp is about 27...my north bridge is sometimes up to 33....I know it's comparing apples and oranges but just wanted to give some more info since I have pretty much the same water cooling setup other than cpu.


Mike

I'd say that your temp readings are off. Who would ever have thought that a MB temp would be wrong? haha.

The key question is not how cool the temp reading is but instead, how much cooler than what it was? Also, if the machine is stable, you're probably ok. I agree with the digidoc idea but I have not bought one myself.

just installed a northbridge maze4 block and nb temps are reported as same as when using the stock cooler, so I'm kinda guessing the mobo temps are reading wrong