First Watercooling setup

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AthlonXP

AthlonXP

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I ended up getting a sweet deal on the Powerspec Watercooling kit at Microcenter last weekend. It is my very first adventure in watercooling and figure I see what other things I can do with this setup in the future?

https://www.microcenter.com/product...er-computer-case-with-ek-fluid-gaming-cooling


Finished putting everything together and I thought it came out pretty nice:

IMG_4366.PNG IMG_4369.jpg
 
Woah woah woah. Is that front panel water bulkhead sold separately for the PC-011? Lol

Also, did you have fun bending hard tubing for the first time?
 
iwhocorrupts said:
Woah woah woah. Is that front panel water bulkhead sold separately for the PC-011? Lol

Also, did you have fun bending hard tubing for the first time?
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It is a case + cooling kit. The hard tube comes pre-bent and fitted to the case. There might be a bit of cutting but no bending as I understand it. It all comes ready to add in your electronics & assemble.


It is a really nice kit for sure.
 
Quick question on temps. I noticed now as I started to game that my gpu stays at 35C idle but jumps up to 82-83C when gaming.


Could it be that:

  • I put too much thermal paste on (did a link down the middle of the gpu),
  • GPU Block not seated all the way
  • The thermal pads I used where the ones that came with the EVGA cooler, could they be too thick in which causes the gpu block to be off?
  • Could it be that the EVGA backplate had thermal pads but the EK backplate does not?

Just trying to make sure what to check. The CPU temps are perfect and I will go ahead and drain and inspect the GPU later today. Also I only used distilled water in the loop, should I add anything else to it?
 
Also I noticed some bubble, but would that cause any issues?

gpu underblock.jpg gpu backplate.jpg
 
AthlonXP said:
Quick question on temps. I noticed now as I started to game that my gpu stays at 35C idle but jumps up to 82-83C when gaming.


Could it be that:

  • I put too much thermal paste on (did a link down the middle of the gpu),
  • GPU Block not seated all the way
  • The thermal pads I used where the ones that came with the EVGA cooler, could they be too thick in which causes the gpu block to be off?
  • Could it be that the EVGA backplate had thermal pads but the EK backplate does not?

Just trying to make sure what to check. The CPU temps are perfect and I will go ahead and drain and inspect the GPU later today. Also I only used distilled water in the loop, should I add anything else to it?
Click to expand...
1.) Not really such a thing as "too much" thermal paste on a GPU, unless it's gooping out over the sides and onto the board. There's definitely such a thing as too little, though: on a GPU (unlike a CPU) you're mating the block to the actual die, which means every square millimeter needs coverage.

2.) If your block came with thermal pads, you should have used those. Thermal pad thickness is based on the geometry of the cooler relative to the PCB components, and the stock thermal pads were made to interface properly with the stock cooler. Your waterblock likely needs thermal pads that are thicker in some places and thinner in others, hence why they were supplied with the block.

3.) If EK decided you don't need thermal pads on the backplate, you probably don't. In any case, lacking them certainly wouldn't cause such high core temps.

4.) Bubbles in your block aren't a big deal in and of themselves, and probably won't cause high temps, BUT, they should probably have been cleared by now. Are you running your pump at 100%? It's a good idea to run it full tilt for the first couple of weeks after a fill, so the loop can fully bleed.
 
Thanks for the reply. So basically it was the wrong screws used for the 4 main mount on the gpu block. I drained the system and inspected the block and saw it was only barley touching the cooler. Once used another set of screw I had full contact and my temps now idle around 30C and when gaming do not go higher then 45C.
 
Noise is fantastic, super quiet. Only time it revs up is when I run Prime 95, even when gaming the temps are pretty solid. CPU tops out at 55C (4.6GHZ w/1.2 volts) and the GPU tops out when gaming at 45C.
 
I think I have a good chip. I was able to get it up to 5GHz (w/AVX) at only 1.25 volts. Ran it through Prime 95 for 8 hours and then OCCT for another 8 Hours. The cores Idle at 35C and when stress testing they top out at 67C. Now that is with the fan profiles set to quiet, if I moved them up it drops about 5C.
 
AthlonXP said:
I think I have a good chip. I was able to get it up to 5GHz (w/AVX) at only 1.25 volts. Ran it through Prime 95 for 8 hours and then OCCT for another 8 Hours. The cores Idle at 35C and when stress testing they top out at 67C. Now that is with the fan profiles set to quiet, if I moved them up it drops about 5C.
Click to expand...

Pretty good temps on both the GPU and CPU, but which models?
 
I am thinking of swapping out my current EVGA 850 G2 psu with a EVGA 1200 P2 psu. Worth it for my usage?
 
AthlonXP said:
Thanks, is the P2 any better then the G2? Just wondering.
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I'm not very familiar with EVGA's product line, but I don't think you have any compelling need to make a sidegrade from one series to another. On cursory glance the G2 looks like a decent quality PSU that will likely outlast the other components in your system.
 
So more updates!

So I swapped out all the aluminum materials (Radiator, CPU Block, and GPU Block) and replaced them with the Nickel/Plex GPU + CPU blocks and Coolstream SE Radiator. I was now thinking if it would be possible to add a second SE Radiator and re-do the loop layout.

Right now there are 3 entry and 3 exit points for the tubing each for the radiator/cpu/gpu. I was wondering if adding a second radiator would help and if so then what would be the ideal loop order. I can close out some of the entry/exit points to the pump/reservoir combo but was not sure which would work.

I am going to include some more pics for suggestions.

IMG_4526.jpg IMG_4527.jpg IMG_4528.jpg
 
What temps are you getting on your GPU? I see you posted that it hits 45C while gaming, is that after the loop has had time to warm up? If so, you will see pretty much no improvement in temps with an extra radiator.
 
I think with intensive gaming it was topping out near 50C. I will do some more work later today on testing as I need to replace one of the fans.
 
UPDATE:

So my buddy ended up buying that rig off me and I snagged a clearance Powerspec X600 for a sick price. The only issue I have noticed is that the 4pin (PWM) pump has a high pitched whinning noise. It seems that it might not be a PWM fan. I wanted to see if maybe the pump is bad or if this is normal.

Here is a quick picture of my current work on the machine. Swapping out the Power supply with a better unit once I sort out the pump stuff:

IMG_4536.jpg IMG_4537.jpg
 
Yeah that seems a bit odd but it really depends on your loop. In my dual pump loop, which is a good meter of vertical water pumping, the pumps make a racket at full tilt whereas my horizontal build with a single pump and almost zero vertical pumping is near silent at full speed.
 
UPDATE 2.0:

The pump was bad so I ended up returning the computer and building a new setup. Wanted to see how I should route my loops in my case. I will be using 2x Radiators with a 280mm radiator on top and a 360mm radiator in front (Will attach the Res/Pump to the front rad). I am using a Corsair 500D SE Case. Right now until I get all my parts I am using an H150i as a holdover. Now the question I have is with how I should route my tubes and if anyone in the DC/Baltimore area able to help me out?

I will cool the RTX 2080TI and the cpu with the setup.

Here is what I currently have right now:

IMG_4542.jpg
 
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