Why isn't my watercooling cooling?

[Stan]

O.k. I've been reading the forum for a while and build my own water cooling system, but it doesn't seem to be doing as well as I expected. It consists of a 1.2 TB @ 1.46, a 4x4x4 reservoir with a submersible Rio 600 pump (120 gph at 2') the Swiftech MCW462-B waterblock with Arctic Silver thermal compound, and the Dangerden cooling cube with an Adda 120mm 55 cfm fan. My cooling mixture is 90% distilled water 10% Water Wetter. All tubing and fittings are 3/8". My only method for temperature measurement is the one reported by the temp probe on my KT7A (I know it's not that accurate). Now, normal use temps are pretty good about 30C. However, when I run a stressing program like Prime95 or Counter-Strike temps reach up to 50C. How does everyone else out there have his or her systems plumbed? For example: from the reservoir to the block, to the radiator, back to the reservoir. Has anyone noticed if this can make a noticeable difference? It seems for some reason my cooling system isn't transferring the heat well and I'm not sure why. I've reseated the block once and that didn't help. It's pretty hard to screw up with the Swiftech. Any comments or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Colin]

Too much Water Wetter.

 

[Colin]

I forgot, your plumbing order is correct.

 

[Stan]

Thanks for the response Colin. I had an all distilled water mixture that gave me the same temps? I figured I'd try something else.

 

[Colin]

Man I am stumped. You should be about 5 to 10C over ambient at idle with your setup.

 

[Colin]

Doh! I just looked at your normal use temps. FWIW, I had a Rio 800 pump running inline. When I switched to my current pump, my temps dropped 3 C.

The only other thing I can think of is your fan. With only 55 CFM to work with, it should be pulling the air through the radiator, not pushing. This bit of wisdom came from Dan at DangerDen.

 

[dimmreaper]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your waterblock the swiftech thats open on the inside, with the inlet placed dircetly over the CPU core, and it mounts via the four holes in the motherboard.

If this is the case, be sure thier is not an air pocket trapped in the open chamber. I have a TidalPool that doesn't work very well when their is an air pocket trapped in it.

 

[Colin]

Jeff,

Shouldn't bleeding the system overnight take care of the air pocket?

 

[Shadow ÒÓ]

what's the surface like on your block? Sanded well with fine grit?

What's the water temp......is this after running an hour or so and the water temp is actually warm?

 

[dem1an]

so you're saying his pump is putting off too much heat submerged?

 

[Stan]

Jeff Evans (Mar 23, 2001 01:52 a.m.):
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your waterblock the swiftech thats open on the inside, with the inlet placed dircetly over the CPU core, and it mounts via the four holes in the motherboard.

If this is the case, be sure thier is not an air pocket trapped in the open chamber. I have a TidalPool that doesn't work very well when their is an air pocket trapped in it.

Jeff,

Yes the block is the one with the inlet over the core, and mounts with the 4 holes in the motherboard. I'll play with the block in the morning to see if there is any air trapped.

Thanks

 

[Colin]

Rio's put out a fair amount of heat and this should figure into the equation but this can't account for 50C full load temps.

 

[Stan]

Shadow ÒÓ (Mar 23, 2001 01:54 a.m.):
what's the surface like on your block? Sanded well with fine grit?

What's the water temp......is this after running an hour or so and the water temp is actually warm?

Shadow,

The surface looked pretty good, but I noticed on the Swiftech site it mentioned not to lap the bottom because it had already been done. It doesn't shine? I may have to try a block from Dangerden.

Thanks

 

[dimmreaper]

Colin (Mar 23, 2001 01:53 a.m.):
Jeff,

Shouldn't bleeding the system overnight take care of the air pocket?

I've found the best way to get all the air (small and large pockets) out of the block is to fill the system, leave the pump on circulating the water, and shake the waterblock like a half empty bottle of catsup (or is it catchup?). I was surprised as to how much air was trapped in my tidal pool! I noticed a 10C drop in temps afterwards.

 

[stool]

Maybe try altering your setup. Instead of reservoir, block, radiator, reservoir, try reservoir, radiator, block, reservoir. This way, heat added by the pump is passed through the radiator before going back to the block.

 

[BillA]

I'm presently into the testing of radiators (by varying air and coolant flow and temp) and would observe that your air flow is low,
and set the fan with a 1in standoff

you need to know the coolant temps to understand what the system is, or is not, doing

I would be surprised if you have even 1/2 gpm actual flow, time filling a jug

I too have a MCW462, do bleed it, don't lap it - its NOT the problem

be cool

 

[surlyjoe]

stool has the ticket! ,if your running submersible pumps ,you wanna run the water from the res. to the rad. then the blocks,,the pump heat is dumped by the rad before it hits the block,I think water cooling the pumps kicks *** ,because it eliminates the need for fans to cool the pump ,(aka less noise)

 

[Colin]

Stool and SurleyJoe,

Very interesting, I guess I have an "inline" brain! Since all pumps produce some heat, this would make sense for many inline installations too.

Regarding the 55 CFM fan, I can dial mine down that low. Unless you are dissipating a whole bunch of heat as in a pelt, this can’t account for the temps. I will repeat that with one low CFM fan, you want to draw the air through the Cube. Pushing the air into the Cube causes turbulence. That’s why there is a gap before the fins start on one side. If you push are through the Cube, a plenum would help.

 

[Stan]

O.k. guys I beat my block until it begged for mercy. I didn't notice any air bubbles that got released from the block. I reapplied the thermal compound and temps seem to have lowered a couple of degrees C. When I get home from work tonight I will crank up Prime95 and take a temperature reading of the cooling liquid at full tilt. I'll buy some more hose today and try changing things around plumbing wise. I also switched my fan from pushing to pulling air off the cube. I'll keep you all posted what happens this evening. Thanks for everyone’s input, it's greatly appreciated.

 

[Fink]

surlyjoe (Mar 23, 2001 09:37 a.m.):
stool has the ticket! ,if your running submersible pumps ,you wanna run the water from the res. to the rad. then the blocks,,the pump heat is dumped by the rad before it hits the block,I think water cooling the pumps kicks *** ,because it eliminates the need for fans to cool the pump ,(aka less noise)

I must lend support to the radiator, block, resivior pumping order. This configuration worked far better than any other configuration I tested. BTW, I used a sumberged pump