CPU at 39C at idle and 10C+ between cores at load using AIO

[maazster]

I replaced my 4 year old arctic i30 with a cooler master seidon 240v aio to give my CPU some more OC head room. 

At idle my 2500k is running at 39-41C with similar temperatures across all cores. However when using OCCT linpack at 90% memory usage and avx enabled for the temperature on the hottest core exceeds 80c while the coldest core has a temperature of 68-70C.

My i5 is over clocked to 4.3GHz at a core voltage of 1.234v. 

I'm using arctic Mx4 and my CPU pump and block seem to be fitted fine (the nuts included cannot be tightended any further) and for reference the old cpu cooler at the same settings would run at 76C on hottest core with a temp difference of 5C or so. 

[RuLeZ]

What about normal usage? Gaming and video editing? Anyway is pretty high, did you try to replace the thermal compound?

[m0k]

are the fans and pump spinning up accordingly under load?

 

[LooneyJuice]

I will say that idle isn't absurd depending on ambient temps, power saving features and fan profile. The load temps under that kind of voltage and frequency on the other hand, do sound a bit strange. When comparing to your i30, were these back to back tests under same ambient Temp conditions? It's a pretty silly thing, I know, but many people omit that when it comes to reporting temps. On an Arctic Liquid Freezer 240(only running 2 out of 4 fans though), I'm getting about ~34C idle at 22ish ambient, and maybe 70-72+ running p95 at 4.6GHz 1.350v. But it gets pretty toasty here in summer, so I expect to hit 80 pretty easy at 35C+ ambient or so. It really makes a massive difference.

[maazster]

2 minutes ago, RuLeZ said:

What about normal usage? Gaming and video editing? Anyway is pretty high, did you try to replace the thermal compound?

I haven't really tested it properly yet, but the high load and idle temperatures are very unusual, especially the temperature between cores, I could try reseating the cooler

 

[maazster]

1 minute ago, LooneyJuice said:

I will say that idle isn't absurd depending on ambient temps, power saving features and fan profile. The load temps under that kind of voltage and frequency on the other hand, do sound a bit strange. When comparing to your i30, were these back to back tests under same ambient Temp conditions? It's a pretty silly thing, I know, but many people omit that when it comes to reporting temps. On an Arctic Liquid Freezer 240(only running 2 out of 4 fans though), I'm getting about ~34C idle at 22ish ambient, and maybe 70-72+ running p95 at 4.6GHz 1.350v. But it gets pretty toasty here in summer, so I expect to hit 80 pretty easy at 35C+ ambient or so. It really makes a massive difference.

Yeah it's getting pretty warm here too but the temperature discrepancy between cores is absurd. The CPU fans ramp up to around 1800-2000 rpm and I can't say much about the pump as it's just 3 pin so it's probably running at full throttle, I did hear the pump when I first switched my PC on so I know it's working. 

[LooneyJuice]

6 minutes ago, maazster said:

Yeah it's getting pretty warm here too but the temperature discrepancy between cores is absurd. The CPU fans ramp up to around 1800-2000 rpm and I can't say much about the pump as it's just 3 pin so it's probably running at full throttle, I did hear the pump when I first switched my PC on so I know it's working. 

Yeah the pump is fixed speed on most of these AIOs. You can really only change it if you plug it into a PWM fan controller. Additionally, it's not weird to have some temp discrepancy with one core, and I don't know how much you were focused on those metrics with your i30 or if you noticed it only now. I know for a fact that even though I've been crazy suspicious and reseated multiple times, my core 2 can be anywhere from 4 to 6 to 8 C hotter at times. It's annoying as hell, and drives the entire package temp up, but I know for a fact there is nothing I can do. Nothing to do with paste application or proper seating etc. 

 

On the other hand though, knowing full well the mounting solution on the Cooler Master AIOs, reseating wouldn't be a bad idea. I had a Seidon as well as a stopgap measure due to motherboard compatibility and the mounting solution is definitely tailored for installation outside the case. It annoyed the hell out of me and did result in poor contact the first time around. So yeah, wouldn't hurt reseating first if this is merely your first go.

[maazster]

7 hours ago, LooneyJuice said:

Snip

OK I repasted and reseated the cooler to the cpu and I've noticed a slight drop in idle temperatures, around 32-35C and at load the the the hottest core still exceeds 80C but now it doesn't fail as early.

 

The temperature difference has narrowed to 5C now but I still feel I'm being ripped off as an entry level 240mm aio competes against an mid tier tower cooler.

[LooneyJuice]

1 minute ago, maazster said:

OK I repasted and reseated the cooler to the cpu and I've noticed a slight drop in idle temperatures, around 32-35C and at load the the the hottest core still exceeds 80C but now it doesn't fail as early.

 

The temperature difference has narrowed to 5C now but I still feel I'm being ripped off as an entry level 240mm aio competes against an mid tier tower cooler.

I'm not trying to knock your purchase or anything, but I will say I'm not terribly fond of Seidons. If you're really testing in ~35C ambient, it does sound in line with what you should expect. Again, I don't know how much you've tested at 35C ambient with the i30, if not, you might see similar if not worse temps. Reviewers have been getting slightly lower numbers but on lower ambient temps as well. Not to mention that anything testing with AVX usually just boils stuff. A more realistic load, even at max usage will probably net you a way lower temp. If we're talking back to back comparisons between i30 and Seidon, and you're still getting similar numbers regardless of what you do, well, then that's the Seidon for ya, unfortunately.

 

If that's the case, and you didn't get what you were expecting, and I'm not trying to wreak despair and buyer's remorse here, maybe consider a return if seller policy allows you. If you really really have to grab yourself an AIO, I can't recommend the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 enough, if your case can handle it. Depending on your domestic market, it may be only slightly more expensive than the Seidon. It has a fatter rad than most stuff (NZXT Kraken, Corsair H100) and is essentially an H100 but without bling when it comes to pump, tubing, fittings etc, outperforms it as well. Comes with 4 fans for push/pull out of the box, but is 88mm thick (hence the case bit).

[maazster]

43 minutes ago, LooneyJuice said:

If that's the case, and you didn't get what you were expecting, and I'm not trying to wreak despair and buyer's remorse here, maybe consider a return if seller policy allows you. If you really really have to grab yourself an AIO, I can't recommend the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 enough, if your case can handle it. Depending on your domestic market, it may be only slightly more expensive than the Seidon. It has a fatter rad than most stuff (NZXT Kraken, Corsair H100) and is essentially an H100 but without bling when it comes to pump, tubing, fittings etc, outperforms it as well. Comes with 4 fans for push/pull out of the box, but is 88mm thick (hence the case bit).

Well thank you for all your help, I can send the AIO back (amazon are the best) and I think my case, which is the S340, can handle bigger and thicker rads than the Seidon. Problem is prices, I got the Seidon for £45 which is 10 quid cheaper than most places so going up will cost more $$$ and I dont know if it is worth spending all that money for a 6 year old CPU.

[LooneyJuice]

9 minutes ago, maazster said:

Well thank you for all your help, I can send the AIO back (amazon are the best) and I think my case, which is the S340, can handle bigger and thicker rads than the Seidon. Problem is prices, I got the Seidon for £45 which is 10 quid cheaper than most places so going up will cost more $$$ and I dont know if it is worth spending all that money for a 6 year old CPU.

Any time. 

 

Well, if it's any solace, it's not like you can't repurpose the cooler for a newer CPU if you ever need to, it won't go to waste. But in that price range, yes, there are many great air coolers as well. I think a Cryorig H7 is cheaper than that too. Or even something like a Dark Rock. If, on the other hand, you want to invest in a decent AIO, it will last you a good few years usually, so you'll at least be able to use it as a decent cooling solution on a newer chip. I opted for a 240 on my Sandy as well, regardless of age because I was lucky with this chip, since it'll do 5.2. So I wanted some thermal headroom, as it gets older, in order to crank the 2600k up until its eventual demise. I still have more performance than I can ask for on a regular basis, so for me it's worth it, and I can always dump by Liquid Freezer on a newer chip if I move over. So, it's up to you. Not to mention, that, yes, these 6 year old dogs have saved us so much cash in the long run, they deserve a little bit of love .

[maazster]

2 minutes ago, LooneyJuice said:

Not to mention, that, yes, these 6 year old dogs have saved us so much cash in the long run, they deserve a little bit of love .

I suppose you are right about investing in a good aio for future builds, plus I would be getting all my money's worth for the processor. 

[LooneyJuice]

Just a last word of warning. AIO coolers aren't the end-all be-all of cooling. Liquid cooling generally tends to make sense higher up in the price range, but with price also come diminishing returns regarding temps. So around the aforementioned price threshold (50-60 GBP), Air starts making a lot more sense depending on your use case. Especially if it's something you can arrange as push/pull fairly cheaply as well. Not to mention easy maintenance, cleaning, 0 risk (unless it's heavy enough to tear off the whole socket) and longevity. So if you really want to invest in cooling, really think of your budget, find budget-related cooling solutions for both Air and Liquid, and compare legitimate reviews with info like ambient temps and such to go for the better solution. If you're not fussed about the extra buck here and there, sure, go for the slightly better performing Liquid AIO, but if the difference from a similarly priced Air cooler is too little to justify the price, if you've got a tight leash on budget, go for Air, that sort of thing.

 

That is all, best of luck.