EKWB Temp Sensors

[BRush00]

Hey All,

 

I've been dipping my toes lately into water cooling, having just installed a CPU loop in my system.

 

EKWB sent me, along with my kit, their Connect 51 controller  (https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-loop-connect-51), which comes with dedicated temperature sensors (https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-cable-temperature-probe-10k-ntc-100cm)

 

I'm curious; how does one even use those sensors?  are they just installed (sandwiched I'm thinking) between a block & CPU/GPU?  

 

There was no useful instruction manual, or anything of note regarding these sensors with the EKConnect at all, and (IMHO anyway) they aren't exactly intuitive....

 

Thanks a bunch!

[Mick Naughty]

Don’t think those are the sandwich kind. Probe seems too thick. Prolly the type that just gets tapped to something. 
Could be wrong though unless the pic just makes it seem bigger. 

[Neggy-Z]

You can't use these kind of sensors between 2 metal surfaces that use thermal paste, the diode to read the temps would get crushed.

They are the kind of sensor you just tape to things, however you could use them under heatsinks that use thermal pads, i wouldn't put them directly on the heat source but off to the side, or put it between the thermal pad and heatsink, obviously it won't be an accurate reading but would be better then just slapping it onto a heatsink somewhere.

[BRush00]

That's kindof what I thought - thanks for the feedback.

 

What kind of tape is used?

 

Is there any real benefit to running these, as opposed to the other 'built in' temp sensors in the CPU and GPU?

 

Thanks again all.

[MaratM]

just get proper temp sensors for watercooling the only temp needed for this controller is a coolant temp. So get a plug sensor or a passthrough sensor

[BRush00]

Thanks MaratM; Absolutely agree that those two sensors seem infinitely more intuitive than the kinds EK supplies.  I've seen a few examples now where those diodes are just... placed somewhere in a case.  Between radiator fins, CPU/GPU heatsink fins etc.  I don't imagine they're a very good representation of actual CPU temp doing that though.

 

I guess my question is morphing a bit now into more of a "what's better & why" theory test...

Why should somebody use Coolant Temp, which requires an additional sensor, vs. CPU &/or GPU temp, as reported by the hardware?

[Mick Naughty]

Coolant temp being too high can damage blocks. Also some prefer to set fan speeds based of it as it moves a lot slower and more consistent compared to cpu which never is comparatively.

Also a probe like that can be used for just ambient case temps which some care about as well.

There is no better if its a personnel choice. Simply how some would prefer their rig be controlled. 

[MaratM]

6 hours ago, BRush00 said:

Why should somebody use Coolant Temp, which requires an additional sensor, vs. CPU &/or GPU temp, as reported by the hardware?

Because you fans and radiators are cooling the coolant, cpu temp is changing based on load and sometime the load is not constant. Thus the fans are rumping up accordingly to the cpu temp, in addition to that it also does not take gpu into the account and it does produce a lot of heat (especially high end ones). Coolant on the other side slowly absorbs the heat from gpu and cpu so if the fan curve is based on the coolant speed the fan rpm is gradually increases with the coolant speed until it reaches equilibrium. 

[Robchil]

as long as your waterpump goes max speed all the time, fanspeeds will have absolutly no direct affect on the cooling effect on your cpu or gpu's, 

so you get a more silent case if you adjust your fan speeds to a watertemp probe, and more effective. 

 

a probe like the one you have in the first picture, came with my mainboard and are still in my mainboard box, as i am using an inline temp probe like the one MaratM posted in his first picture. 

you might adjust some fans after multible temp probes, like intake fans are handy to cool down your general mainboard as well if mainboard temps heats up to get general airflow. 

 

[Tonberry]

But which motherboards that has a header to connect that 2 pin connector? I think not many motherboard has that, even the high-end ones. The thing that can accept that kind of connector is Corsair Commander Pro, which is HUGE in its size as just a hub and can be problematic in more space limited builds. cmiiw

[Neggy-Z]

4 minutes ago, Sakaki_Makio said:

But which motherboards that has a header to connect that 2 pin connector?

You ask that question while owning a motherboard that has 2 temp sensor connectors on it.

My old Asus Maximus Vii z97 Ranger board has a temp sensor on it, many boards have them

The OP also has an EK Loop Connect, where you can connect the temp sensors.

[Tonberry]

4 minutes ago, Neggy-Z said:

You ask that question while owning a motherboard that has 2 temp sensor connectors on it.

My old Asus Maximus Vii z97 Ranger board has a temp sensor on it, many boards have them

The OP also has an EK Loop Connect, where you can connect the temp sensors.

I cant find it being mentioned clearly on the motherboard manual, or just because I never deal with this kind of thing for me to recognize it on the motherboard.

[Neggy-Z]

8 minutes ago, Sakaki_Makio said:

I cant find it being mentioned clearly on the motherboard manual, or just because I never deal with this kind

It could differ by region maybe.

 

But here's where they should be.

[Tonberry]

10 minutes ago, Neggy-Z said:

It could differ by region maybe.

 

But here's where they should be.

Well that is the normal ATX Aorus Pro Wifi one, mine is the ITX Aorus Pro Wifi and I cant find one on mine. I was about to use this water temp sensor, but found that the X570 I Aorus Pro Wifi doesnt have the connector for it, so I live without them.

[Neggy-Z]

26 minutes ago, Sakaki_Makio said:

Well that is the normal ATX Aorus Pro Wifi one, mine is the ITX Aorus Pro Wifi and I cant find one on mine. I was about to use this water temp sensor, but found that the X570 I Aorus Pro Wifi doesnt have the connector for it, so I live without them.

Ah sorry, didn't realise you had the ITX board, ignore what i said then

[Mick Naughty]

Normally good boards like the ASUS stuff. The high end models. 
Sucks that companies prioritize naming a header aio instead of making a temp probe. Quite dumb but it’s what I’d expect. 

[MaratM]

I have asus z390i and it has a temp sensor connector, it works BUT due to the fact that bios fan control is set up in such a way it runs my pump at the full speed as soon as the cpu hits 75c. On top of that I can not fine tune the fans nor the pump in windows (asus fan control software is not the best one by any means). Every time I want to adjust the speed of either of them I have to reboot, so even having a temp sensor is a nice feature of the my mobo I gave up and bought an used aquaero 5 (for $35) and set it up as i wanted. A dedicated fan controller is always better than the builtin one. This way I’ve set up to have both fans and pump at the minimum speed at light load (it is an htpc and I use it to watch movies) and a bit more agressive when I put more load on cpu and gpu

[BRush00]

Wow - thanks a bunch for all the helpful information everyone, really appreciate the feedback.

 

I think i'll look for a passthrough style sensor to add to my loop whenever it's next convenient.  Possibly use a couple of the EK temp sensors in a "more info more better" mindset.

 

Thanks again all!

[Brodzik]

Hi all, I have just installed EK Loop Connect and water temperature sensor and can't figure out how to control fan speed using water temperature, has anyone tried that?

[Mick Naughty]

22 minutes ago, Brodzik said:

Hi all, I have just installed EK Loop Connect and water temperature sensor and can't figure out how to control fan speed using water temperature, has anyone tried that?

Supposedly the speedfan program can do that. You’d have to learn how to use it though. 

[Brodzik]

11 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Supposedly the speedfan program can do that. You’d have to learn how to use it though. 

Can it read temps from ek loop connect? But anyway it must be posibble to do that through ek software since all the fans and temp sensors are connected to it

[Mick Naughty]

3 minutes ago, Brodzik said:

Can it read temps from ek loop connect? But anyway it must be posibble to do that through ek software since all the fans and temp sensors are connected to it

I have no idea. If it reports the signal, it should see it. No idea what ek connect is. I just get regular temp probes and plug it directly to my boards. 

[Brodzik]

2 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

I have no idea. If it reports the signal, it should see it. No idea what ek connect is. I just get regular temp probes and plug it directly to my boards. 

Yeah my board - Asus x570 tuf gaming plus - hasn't got any temp sensors headers hence ek loop connect...

[Mick Naughty]

20 minutes ago, Brodzik said:

Yeah my board - Asus x570 tuf gaming plus - hasn't got any temp sensors headers hence ek loop connect...

Well I assume it connects via usb like Corsair. Should still show up but you’d have to get it and see. 

[Brodzik]

Okt thanks, but before I got usb sensor route has anyone managed to control fan speeds based on the water temperature through ek connect software