Need some advice..

[Kuimera]

Hello guys, new to the site and watercooling for that mater.

I've been using AIO's for my cpu for a while, from corsair's to fractals, they give good temps but I've been trying to get the courage to go custom watercooling for a few years now and and I finally bought my parts, I put it all together including GPU block, my Asus Strix 1080ti preduces a lot of heat into my case, that was one of the main reasons I wanted to go full custom loop.

Here are my parts and system:

System:

Case: Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic
Asus Maximus XI Extreme
i7 9900k (stock speeds, no OC)
Asus GTX 1080ti Strix OC

Watercooling parts:

CPU Block: EK Velocity (full nickel)
GPU: EK GTX 1080ti STRIX
Radiator: XSPC EX360V2 Crossflow
Pump: EK XTOP DDC 3.2
Reservoir: Phanteks Glacier R220
Radiator fans: 3x Corsair ML120 Pro

The problem:

After putting everything together in my system (without leaks for a first timer ) I was getting great temps on my GPU, around 50c on 99% load but the cpu was getting very, very hot.. on a cinebench run was hitting 95c/100c..

Some thoughts:

I know 9900k is a heat hunger beast, on my AIO Fractals I get 75c on a couple of Cinebench runs, fine in my opinion.
Is it possible that my radiator can't deal with both parts? I did some research before buying, and a 360 should handle both my CPU and GPU..

Can someone please give me some advise of something that I might be doing wrong? Did I made a mistake in the parts I bought? Hope someone out there can help this watercooling noob..

 

[bigtallanddopey]

I don’t see anything particularly wrong. I would have preferred one of the EK D5 pumps which are a bit stronger but for a small loop that pump should be ok. I’m not sure about the reservoir but that mite just be my opinion.

The radiator size may be a factor, those are two hot components you are cooling, but you are probably only another 120mm rad short.

Is the Gpu cooled first in the loop and then straight into the cpu? I usually prefer to go the other way around however I’m not sure there is any set rule about that.

The easiest thing to try would be to take off the cpu water block, clean it up, reapply paste and put back and see if things change.

 

[Kuimera]

Thanks for the reply bigtallanddopey, I was wondering about the order of the loop before I setup my parts, then I saw a video from JayzTwoCents about this, and it seems it does not mater, something about physics and that the water temperature will cap, is words not mine ofc.

He tested the various setups on that video as proof ofc.

I can try and add another radiator on the bottom of my case, was just hopeing I didn't have to spend more money on this, all was a bit expensive..

 

[bigtallanddopey]

Thanks for the reply bigtallanddopey, I was wondering about the order of the loop before I setup my parts, then I saw a video from JayzTwoCents about this, and it seems it does not mater, something about physics and that the water temperature will cap, is words not mine ofc.

He tested the various setups on that video as proof ofc.

I can try and add another radiator on the bottom of my case, was just hopeing I didn't have to spend more money on this, all was a bit expensive..

Like I said. Re apply the thermal paste first. It’s quite easy to not have things seated properly and cause a few issues.

Are the temps straight away or after 10mins, a few hours??

 

[Kuimera]

I forgot to say on the previous post, I did try that, was my first tought, I did re-apply the paste and tested again, the temps go up instant, and putting my finger on the top of the cooler it was rly hot, seems the temperature is transferring correctly, is just too damn hot.. Thats why I was looking at the radiator, I'm starting to think it's the radiator can't cope with heat..

 

[bigtallanddopey]

No of the heat is instant, such as turn the pc on after it has been stood and cold and you run a benchmark/game and within 10’seconds it is hot, then there is a problem somewhere. Maybe an air bubble or air lock in the cpu block, or thermal paste not applied properly, or not seated correctly.

 

[Kuimera]

oh no, not @ all, I meant instant when I start stress testing it and load, idle temperatures are fine, around 40/50

 

[DaPoets]

Yeah if it instantly gets hot (mind you that processor does run hot) then I would do the following:
1) Use quality thermal compound (Kryonaut is what I use due to it's 12.5 w/MK rating)
2) Tilt tilt and keep tilting to get out all the air bubbles you can and when you think you have them all just keep tilting the case even more.
3) Run your pump at low and high speeds when tilting to help w/ air bubbles
4) IMO you don't have enough radiator cooling for those parts and should add more but this has nothing to do with your spike in temps, this helps with your soaking temps.

 

[Kuimera]

Yeah if it instantly gets hot (mind you that processor does run hot) then I would do the following:
1) Use quality thermal compound (Kryonaut is what I use due to it's 12.5 w/MK rating)
2) Tilt tilt and keep tilting to get out all the air bubbles you can and when you think you have them all just keep tilting the case even more.
3) Run your pump at low and high speeds when tilting to help w/ air bubbles
4) IMO you don't have enough radiator cooling for those parts and should add more but this has nothing to do with your spike in temps, this helps with your soaking temps.

Thank you for the reply DaPoets, I'm using the thermal grizzly that came with the EK Block.

I was testing today some rotating fittings for leaks and I noticed something about the pump, it was getting pretty hot for 5 min usage, please note that there was no radiator plugged in. Is it normal for the DCC pumps to get hot? I'm starting to think the pump is not helping my temps...

 

[DaPoets]

Thank you for the reply DaPoets, I'm using the thermal grizzly that came with the EK Block.

I was testing today some rotating fittings for leaks and I noticed something about the pump, it was getting pretty hot for 5 min usage, please note that there was no radiator plugged in. Is it normal for the DCC pumps to get hot? I'm starting to think the pump is not helping my temps...

DDC pumps do run hotter than D5 pumps but nothing to really worry about. That thermal grizzly will be just fine.
A way to trouble shoot things is try an air cooler on the cpu and see what temps you get. If you still get spikes like that then it's just how life will be I guess. Possible but unlikely, the solder under the IHS wasn't applied right.

 

[Kuimera]

My CPU is connected to a AIO from fractals, it runs pretty stable and low temps.

The reason I went for the DDC was because of the reservoir, it attaches to it.

I will try and tilt more the case, maybe it's the air pockets you was talking about..

In the case I need 1 more radiator, because of the case limitations, is it ok to add another 360 on the bottom of my case as an inlet and have the other on top as an outlet? worried that it produce a lot of heat inside the case..

 

[DaPoets]

My CPU is connected to a AIO from fractals, it runs pretty stable and low temps.

The reason I went for the DDC was because of the reservoir, it attaches to it.

I will try and tilt more the case, maybe it's the air pockets you was talking about..

In the case I need 1 more radiator, because of the case limitations, is it ok to add another 360 on the bottom of my case as an inlet and have the other on top as an outlet? worried that it produce a lot of heat inside the case..

That's done often, one on bottom and one on top. This is where loop order somewhat matters as I would have the hotter liquid dissipate heat from the top rad 1st and then the somewhat cooled liquid can drop down to the bottom intake rad. Doing this will reduce the internal temperatures of your case. Loop order only really matters when it comes to where your hottest heat exhaust is going, which should ideally be outside of your case.

 

[Zerileous]

Sounds like an air bubble or something. I just want to confirm that you did remove the plastic cover of the cold plate. Have you tried maxing your fans? How hot is the air coming out of the loop? A loop can only remove a finite amount of heat, if you're already at or near that limit at idle, then the temp could spike dramatically under load.

Second the ones that said another rad would be best, and also what DaPoets said about loop order. I'll be installing a second rad soon in a similar setup (GPU > CPU > top rad > bottom rad).

 

[Kuimera]

To avoid buying a new radiator, I was think about using the one I have from AIO Fractals S36 it says on the description it made of copper, what do you guys think?

 

[Zerileous]

yeah looks like it was designed for that actually. It looks like the rad is an alphacool, quite good. You could also try using the fractal pump/CPU block in the loop to see if that helps (just to eliminate some weird waterblock problem - also make sure the water flows into and out of the correct ports. Reverse flow on a GPU is NBD, but on an EK CPU block it's not good.

 

[godevskii]

If the aio is beating the custom loop, even with the gpu on the custom loop that should not be the case, something is wrong. Check the in and out port on the cpu block, they have specific orientation, i bet is some kind of restriction on the cpu block. Because temps on the gpu seems to be reasonable.

 

[bigtallanddopey]

If the aio is beating the custom loop, even with the gpu on the custom loop that should not be the case, something is wrong. Check the in and out port on the cpu block, they have specific orientation, i bet is some kind of restriction on the cpu block. Because temps on the gpu seems to be reasonable.

That was also my thinking. If the temp spikes were on both the cpu and gpu then it would point to an issue with the loop itself. However with it just being the cpu it points to a problem with the block.

Other things to think about are. Did you flush the radiators properly prior to installation? The my often can have bits in them and oils which don’t help.

Also check the port orientation like was said above.

And again maybe the thermal paste or installation pressure on the screws.

 

[Zerileous]

Agreed, however I do think it's possible. I'm not sure what pump the Fractal uses, whether it's a special asetek pump with copper parts, or something else. However the radiator is an alphacool model, and I would not for a second doubt that the single 360mm alphacool radiator on just the CPU would outperform the OP's 360mm thicker XSPC rad on the CPU + GPU, given adequate coolant flow across both systems. aaaaaaaa

 

[godevskii]

Not by 20º difference...