Antec 620 Kuhler problem

O

ob1

2[H]4U
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I recommended my exact build to a friend, (as seen below in sig), and he bought everything and just got it all assembled two days ago. Everything appears to be working right for him, except the CPU temps as reported by AI Suite. The idle temps with the Antec Kuhler are roughly 30 degrees C, but the loaded temp sky rockets to 70+ C, typically floating around 72 to 73. I know this cannot be correct, because I have the same setup and it never ever goes above 53C for me. His ambient room temps could not be the difference imo either. I am wondering if the cooler is not working properly or possibly not seated? Though I would think if it wasn't seated or not working the idle temps wouldn't be that low either.

I guess the first step would be to check the cooling head seat on the CPU, but I think he would have to scrape all of the old heat sink stuff off and apply new stuff.

Edit: The only difference in my system and his, is that he bought a new Z68 board, the asus z68 pro.
 
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What are your idle temps with that cooler?

Does one of you have more or better fans installed in the Silverstone chassis?

Maybe the fan on his cooler is set to intake rather than exhaust? This could be the reason idle temps are fine and load temps are higher. Maybe the hot air is being dumped inside the case.

Just throwing stuff out there as I have no experience with this particuliar cooler.
 
Also what are you guys using for thermal paste? Not that paste would account for a 20C variance between systems.
 
ob1 said:
I recommended my exact build to a friend, (as seen below in sig), and he bought everything and just got it all assembled two days ago. Everything appears to be working right for him, except the CPU temps as reported by AI Suite. The idle temps with the Antec Kuhler are roughly 30 degrees C, but the loaded temp sky rockets to 70+ C, typically floating around 72 to 73. I know this cannot be correct, because I have the same setup and it never ever goes above 53C for me. His ambient room temps could not be the difference imo either. I am wondering if the cooler is not working properly or possibly not seated? Though I would think if it wasn't seated or not working the idle temps wouldn't be that low either.

I guess the first step would be to check the cooling head seat on the CPU, but I think he would have to scrape all of the old heat sink stuff off and apply new stuff.

Edit: The only difference in my system and his, is that he bought a new Z68 board, the asus z68 pro.
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Quick question - do you have the pump connection plugged into the CPU header on the motherboard and is the BIOS configured to run that header at 100%?

I'd try re-seating the pump if you have already confirmed the connection above.
 
Excellent advice, I will have him check it out. I told him to make an account here at the [H] as he is a new and budding hardware geek like myself. Hopefully he will post back his results.
 
It took my cousin and I 3 attempts to get the h70 fitted properly on his 2600k (mainly due to a faulty manual and a crappy bracket). I know it's not the same cooler, but somewhat same.

Our idle temps were also very low like yours, but as soon as we started prime, it shot through the roof at 90c+ and we had to stop prime after a few seconds.

So try reseating the cooler. and check that you have used the right screws and brackets and so on.
 
Hi, I'm the friend ob1 posted the original question for. Thanks for the advice. I was able to make some head way last night. The BIOS was set to a 'Standard' profile that wasn't bumping the CPU to 100% until around 68 degrees. I changed the profile to run at 100% all the time. The CPU fan speed didn't change, it stayed right around 1425 RPM's but it appeared the pump is working harder as the temps dropped by several degrees under heavy load.

I also changed the configuration of the fans. I originally mounted the radiator to the stock case fan and then attached the Antec fan to the bottom of the radiator blowing air onto it. The direction of the air flow was correct and pushing the air in a single direction out of the case but I did notice that the top (or stock case fan) was running at a slightly slower RPM. I swapped the 2 fans around. I'm not sure that it made much of a difference but at least the fan hooked to the pump and the main CPU header are connected per diagram and the second fan hooked to the CPU_FAN_OPT header is being used as an optional fan on the bottom of the radiator.

Last but not least I loosened the bracket and reseated the pump on the CPU. I thought about cleaning it off and applying new thermal paste but didn't have any available. That might be the next step but not sure if it's needed. After the few changes the CPU is now running around 27 degrees at idle and under prime the system runs consistently in the 58-59 degree range. This is a still warmer than what ob1 is seeing but considerably better than the 70+ I was seeing before. The problem is I'm not sure what the optimal load temp should be for an i7-2600k and this cooler. Should I still be concerned with load temps in the upper 50's?
 
I'm having the same problem and my idle temps on 4.8 @1.365v is around 36-38 and using prime95 my load temp shoots through 70+.. I'm using the antec kuhler 920 and this is not the temp I'm expecting. Also the mobo I'm using is the z68 G80... The header that mentioned here, where is that in bios under? Can't seem to figure this out. Ty in advance
 
My Antec 920 is getting:
Ambient is 27C.
Idle (Speedstep enabled) 29-30C @ 1.6Ghz .976v. Liquid Temp is 30.4C
Prime95 Load 57C average between all cores @ 4.5Ghz 1.256v
GT 4250 rpm fans at full. Sucking in from top.
Indigo Xtreme TIM

Jessie.
I just realized my pump header is plugged into the pwr not cpu fan. Certainly explains why my pump constantly fluctuates between 2520 and 3240rpm.
The cpu fan header gives me the same fluctuating pump rpm's even when setting the max fan.
I tried the chassis fan header and setting manually 100% duty cycle, but now the pump rpm's are even lower. Averaging 2280 rpm.????
Is it because there are only 3 wires for the pump connector and there are 4 pins on the chassis and cpu fan header? 4th is for monitoring?
My liquid temp has gone down to 29.6C (from 30.4C). Giving me the impression that the pump reading is not accurate and it is indeed running at 100% being connected to the chassis fan header.

ob1. Check the fan headers, duty cycle and monitor the liquid temp too. Pump speed readings are unreliable with a 3 pin wire to 4 pin header as my water temps would indicate.
Also reseat the block carefully. I stripped out the plastic hole where the metal insert goes into. The block screw turned the metal insert around in the soft plastic back piece.
 
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Thanks for all of the suggestions. Would have replied sooner but didn't have time to work on the system over the weekend. The lower temps were short lived and climbed back up in the 70's when the CPU is under a load. I have checked all of the connections / BIOS settings and they appear to be configured correctly. I have reseated the pump a few times with no difference. I did order some Noctua NT-H1 which should get here tomorrow but not sure that will yield a major change as I would think I would see higher temps at idle as well. I will post back with the results.

I have also noticed another issue but can't be certain if it's related. When I boot the system from a cold state it crashes every time. This happens even with the system running at default and not OC'd. Once the system boots it runs perfectly stable with the only issue being a little on the warm side. I can reboot the system without an issue as well. The crash happens within the first few seconds, the system turns off and then starts up again automatically. The second attempt at booting up is always successful. I'm not sure if the pump for the cooler isn't kicking on right away and the system overheats on the first attempt. Either way not sure how one would test this. Has anyone else experienced an issue like this?

Despotes. I'm not sure it's possible to monitor the liquid temp with the 620 as it lacks the USB connection that the 920 has. Is there another way?
 
eXc said:
Thanks for all of the suggestions. Would have replied sooner but didn't have time to work on the system over the weekend. The lower temps were short lived and climbed back up in the 70's when the CPU is under a load. I have checked all of the connections / BIOS settings and they appear to be configured correctly. I have reseated the pump a few times with no difference. I did order some Noctua NT-H1 which should get here tomorrow but not sure that will yield a major change as I would think I would see higher temps at idle as well. I will post back with the results.

I have also noticed another issue but can't be certain if it's related. When I boot the system from a cold state it crashes every time. This happens even with the system running at default and not OC'd. Once the system boots it runs perfectly stable with the only issue being a little on the warm side. I can reboot the system without an issue as well. The crash happens within the first few seconds, the system turns off and then starts up again automatically. The second attempt at booting up is always successful. I'm not sure if the pump for the cooler isn't kicking on right away and the system overheats on the first attempt. Either way not sure how one would test this. Has anyone else experienced an issue like this?

Despotes. I'm not sure it's possible to monitor the liquid temp with the 620 as it lacks the USB connection that the 920 has. Is there another way?
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It sounds like you might need a BIOS update, I recall there being a "cold boot bug" with some Asus sandy bridge boards.

Your temps seem a bit off but not terribly. My idle temps are mid 20's and loading with p95 or occt reach 58-59c or so.

How many case fans do you have? Does the rad fan ever kick up and run at full speed? Have you tried running your system for a while without the case side one just to see what it does to your temps - would effectively cool the rad with ambient air and potentially rule out case temps as the problem.
 
All great questions ... As of right now I am running the latest firmware available but expect new updates to roll out as the board is still new on the market. I will keep my eyes open to see what they put out.

As for fans there are 3 180mm case fans on the bottom drawing air in. Then I have the radiator with 2 fans attached in a push pull setup at the top along with several vents holes built into the case. Everything else seems to stay extremely cool. I have also tried running without the side for a day but didn't see any changes in the idle or load temps.

One thing I have noticed is that the supplied radiator fan doesn't ever kick up to full speed like you were asking about. It remains constant at ~1425 RPM's no matter if the CPU is idle or at 100%. I have tried both disabling the ASUS Q Fan Control in the BIOS and creating a custom profile for the Q Fan Control to run the CPU fan at 100% no matter what the temp is but the fan RPM's never change. The fan is advertised to run between 1400 and 2000 RPM's but I'm not sure what factors play a roll in that.
 
eXc said:
All great questions ... As of right now I am running the latest firmware available but expect new updates to roll out as the board is still new on the market. I will keep my eyes open to see what they put out.

As for fans there are 3 180mm case fans on the bottom drawing air in. Then I have the radiator with 2 fans attached in a push pull setup at the top along with several vents holes built into the case. Everything else seems to stay extremely cool. I have also tried running without the side for a day but didn't see any changes in the idle or load temps.

One thing I have noticed is that the supplied radiator fan doesn't ever kick up to full speed like you were asking about. It remains constant at ~1425 RPM's no matter if the CPU is idle or at 100%. I have tried both disabling the ASUS Q Fan Control in the BIOS and creating a custom profile for the Q Fan Control to run the CPU fan at 100% no matter what the temp is but the fan RPM's never change. The fan is advertised to run between 1400 and 2000 RPM's but I'm not sure what factors play a roll in that.
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I believe the 1425 RPMs is the pump, the fan speed isn't available in the BIOS. And, 1425 is right around where the pump should be based on what I've read and what I see for my setup.

For your fan configuration, you want the stronger fan pushing. In my setup, I have the antec fan pulling and a CoolerMaster Sickleflow 120 pushing. Do you have the antec fan plugged into the female 3pin adapter lead that comes from the pump/wb?

How tight did you tighten the mounting screws for the pump/wb? For my setup, I tighten them until they were pretty tight. As in, I couldn't tighten them anymore without applying significant force to the point where I probably would've stripped the post threads, twisted the post in the plastic backplate or broken the screw. With the mounting system lacking springs, it's hard to know how tight the mounting screws should be. Since pressure can have a big effect on how well the cooler cools, it's unfortunate all of these all-in-one watercooling solutions don't have better methods for mounting where you know exactly how tight mount the pump/wb.

If you've done all this stuff right, you may want to contact Antec about a potential replacement.
 
4mbi3nt said:
I believe the 1425 RPMs is the pump, the fan speed isn't available in the BIOS. And, 1425 is right around where the pump should be based on what I've read and what I see for my setup.

For your fan configuration, you want the stronger fan pushing. In my setup, I have the antec fan pulling and a CoolerMaster Sickleflow 120 pushing. Do you have the antec fan plugged into the female 3pin adapter lead that comes from the pump/wb?

How tight did you tighten the mounting screws for the pump/wb? For my setup, I tighten them until they were pretty tight. As in, I couldn't tighten them anymore without applying significant force to the point where I probably would've stripped the post threads, twisted the post in the plastic backplate or broken the screw. With the mounting system lacking springs, it's hard to know how tight the mounting screws should be. Since pressure can have a big effect on how well the cooler cools, it's unfortunate all of these all-in-one watercooling solutions don't have better methods for mounting where you know exactly how tight mount the pump/wb.

If you've done all this stuff right, you may want to contact Antec about a potential replacement.
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You're correct. Your BIOS will report the pump speed, not the fan speed.

And if you've tried all of the above and are still getting temps that are out of whack, send me an email at [email protected] and we'll get it replaced.
 
Well, I don't know about the rest, but I used the stock AMD backplate instead of the backplate provided in the package.

Having the same problem as TC, with 70+ degrees celsius at load on my inital setup.

Found out that I had not fully tightened the screws, parts of the radiator also has bent fins.

1) Remove thermal paste, reapply.
2) Now screw in the whole block in as hard as possible without destroying the treads.
3) Attempt to fix the bent fins using a screwdriver.

I used a lower RPM fan - Noctua P12 (1300RPM) in a push config, sandwiched between radiator and case intake. Ended with constant 45 degrees celsius on load (prime95).
 
I run with the rig in sig, and its essentially the same one that eXc has except I have a much better video card and an SSD. I ran prime 95, the latest 266 version in stress test for about the last 40 hours straight, and my temps maxed out at 65C during the whole run for my cpu. The next closest was the two VCore sensors which bot up to 58 and 60 respectively over that time. I have screenies, (eXc email me again, I lost your home address), and can post if needed. My ambient temperature in the room right now is more humid than warm, and I will rerun the test when I turn on the AC for the house.
 
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