Just can't cool down that Threadripper 3970x. Please send help!

[Guest]

I'd love to see @Den-Fi make some suggestions and give some pointers here. He's very knowledgable with Thread Ripper processors. 

[EvilVir]

Hey @Den-Fi help me here if you can please?

 

@ShrimpBrime nah I'm not comparing the Athlon - it just arrived today and I'm still working on that NAS build. Just saying what I got around and what temps I got on them as a refrerence. After all if small 7700T (mind the T this is the 35W unit) is running only 6C less than this Threadripper monster then maybe that's just how things work? But then again it's cooled by thin piece of aluminium with one little fan on it... IDK.

 

RMA of the CPU is possible but knowing how such process goes in where I live, it would take weeks if not months and after all I would receive the exact same chip with "working as expected" sticker on it. I will try to contact some AMD representative directly and see what they can advice me. I will also check that TIM spread under waterblock just to be sure. This block is meant to be copper with just nickel plating. At the end of the day it could be possible to remove the plating with some chemicals. If we're going into deliding area, which I would love to avoid because as you mentioned this is dangerous and this chip is not cheap, maybe de-plating would be first reasonable step?

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

I'd love to see @Den-Fi make some suggestions and give some pointers here. He's very knowledgable with Thread Ripper processors. 

There's a lot of words here, but very little info.

I'd like to see some actual performance numbers with mention of software used on a day to day basis (not just CB unless that along the lines of the work you do).

It's also important to remember heat density. You're not going to get the same numbers with 32 cores as you will with 12, no matter how much you throw at it.

I also see mention of idle temps which literally don't matter at all.

Most of the temps I see in this thread are actually fine. And please I need to people to stop recommending undervolting Threadripper.

 

[Guest]

 

For reference, this is the level of cooling I am working with.

 

 

This is HWInfo after about 4 hours of logging.

I sprinkled in a few Cinebench runs.

[EvilVir]

@Den-Fi thank you for stopping by, I really appriciate that!

 

Here are my temps right now:

 

Computer is running for 4.5h now, mostly idling, but right now, when I took this screenshot I have two Hyper-V virtual machines running, both installing some Windows updates, Skype, Windows Mail, Edge, Fork, Visual Studio with ASP.NET application in debug mode and Visual Studio Code with Angular application in debug mode. And some background tasks.

 

When I shut down all of them and let it idle for a moment it looks like this:

 

 

Tell me what number you need, I'll happily provide them ASAP! You have same Velocity water block, two rads and a GPU in the loop right? I have one PE 360 rad, no GPU and same block. And I never saw this CPU going to 37.5C minimum as yours did

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, EvilVir said:

@Den-Fi thank you for stopping by, I really appriciate that!

 

Here are my temps right now:

 

 

Computer is running for 4.5h now, mostly idling, but right now, when I took this screenshot I have two Hyper-V virtual machines running, both installing some Windows updates, Skype, Windows Mail, Edge, Fork, Visual Studio with ASP.NET application in debug mode and Visual Studio Code with Angular application in debug mode. And some background tasks.

 

When I shut down all of them and let it idle for a moment it looks like this:

 

 

 

Tell me what number you need, I'll happily provide them ASAP! You have same Velocity water block, two rads and a GPU in the loop right? I have one PE 360 rad, no GPU and same block. And I never saw this CPU going to 37.5C minimum as yours did

I have three radiators. A 45mm, a 60mm, and a 30mm thick. All 360mm rads. I also have 17 fans. So it takes a long time for my loop to heat soak and the heat is carried away quickly. That's not really going to be the case with your setup. That said, your temps really aren't looking bad. Max temps for the 3970X is 95C. You're nowhere near it. You're fine. AMD shot themselves in the foot with the 27C offset making people think 68C was max for Threadripper, but they have since clarified this. Since almost every software IGNORES the 27C offset completely, the official max temp is 95C.

[Guest]

@Den-Fi 

Thanks for jumping in here.

I had to go back and read, I didnt recall a suggestion to under-volt but realized that's not directed to me. But I full heartedly agree to not under-volt.

 

From my experiences, if under volt too far will cause reference (bus) clocks to throttle pretty hard even as low as 87mhz from the typical 98/99mhz.

 

But again thank you for the help here!

[Guest]

Also, keep in mind that with better cooling your temps may appear worse, but the CPU is just aware that it can do more within the same envelope, so if you're not keeping a close eye on that, it may appear things are worse when they are not.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ShrimpBrime said:

@Den-Fi 

Thanks for jumping in here.

I had to go back and read, I didnt recall a suggestion to under-volt but realized that's not directed to me. But I full heartedly agree to not under-volt.

 

From my experiences, if under volt too far will cause reference (bus) clocks to throttle pretty hard even as low as 87mhz from the typical 98/99mhz.

 

But again thank you for the help here!

Didn't mean to quote you at all. Was just a natural reaction from your post being the one I was mentioned in.

But yeah, a lot of people take Intel and GPU knowledge and try to apply it to different platforms and it just doesn't work well.

TRX40 is a highly intelligent platform that I trust to handle things a lot better than I can do manually.

[EvilVir]

Well that is kinda true that I'm mostly used to 4 cores Intel thermals and when I see 55C I panic. 

 

As for that "appears to be worse" part it makes me want to go back to my AIO at least for a moment and see what temps I can get in such hot day as today with it and also the speeds. Just if it wouldn't be so hectic to disassemble all of these lol  But maybe I'll just do semi-open bench check soon, since I anyway want to check on the TIM spreading under the water block.

[Poplar]

On 7/18/2020 at 9:53 PM, EvilVir said:

Anyway for now the TIM spread is my only hope to make this thing usable. Lapping is too risky IMO, maybe I would find someone to do it for me but that's a far option.

http://www.penrowe.com/

 

You're quite near to me so shipping should be inexpensive and fast.

[Veroscis]

On 7/18/2020 at 8:58 AM, EvilVir said:

Hi, I'm new here so hello everyone!

 

I'm looking for help with my rig, no matter what I do I can't cool that thing down at all. Plus there are some other (minor?) issues, that maybe someone will be able to help me with.

 

So specs first:

• CPU: AMD Threadripper 3970x
• GPU: Gigabyte Windforce GeForce 970 (yeah, that's not a gaming machine)
• RAM: 8x32GB GSkill RipJawsV 3200MHz (yes, I know 3600MHz would be better but I learned this too late)
• PSU: Corsair HX1200i
• Drives: 3x 1TB Corsair MP600
• Case: Phanteks Evolv X
• OS: Windows 10 Enterprise
• Cooling: continue reading

I'm quite happy with this thing but not with temperatures.

 

I went through variety of coolers:

• Fractal Celsius S36 AIO
• Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 Air Cooler
• EKWB EK-Velocity sTR4

Let's get Noctua out of the picture first - idle temps were around 45-50C with fan on 100% RPM during winter days. Lower the fan and you're looking at 60-70C in idle. Next Celsius S36 - I was running this thing for last four months getting idle temps around 40-50C (50C were spikes but general lower half of 40C in idle). I could live with it but summer came and now with ambient around 25-27C my idle temps with Fractal's S36 jumped up by around 10C, to low 50-ish C. Start Visual Studio or a mere browser and I'm at 60C with fans ramping up.

 

So it came time for big guns. I was like "ok, this thing costed me so much already, no cutting corners, let's go big". So I bought bag of EKWB's goodness:

• EK-Velocity sTR4 Water Block
• EK-Quantum Reflection Evolv X Distro Plate (D5 PWM  pump included)
• EK-CoolStream Classic PE 360 Radiator (it's largest I can fit in that case... barely)
• 3x EK-Vardar EVO 120ER Fans
• Clear CryoFuel, soft tubes and bunch of connectors, ports, valves, leak testers and what not.

For price alone I would buy another computer but hey, it looked so damn good on pictures and promised so much performance. I've done and checked everything: rinsed the radiator (it took like two days alone to take all the debris out of there), removed as much air bubbles as I virtually could (there still are some that I can't do anything about). Leak testing with air, leak testing with water etc.

 

Long story short: this whole EKWB thing is performing WORSE than Fractal's Celsius S36. My idle temps are around 47-55C, run anything and say hello to 60-65C. Cinebench R20 - 77-83C after 60s run. This is ridiculous! I didn't expect miracle but at lest these 5-10C less in idle and more stable under light load (like web browser or Visual Studio). Tuning pump and radiator fans doesn't do much, of course if I set down pump to lowest settings temps are all over the place, so I need to keep it around 75-100% (3500-4000RPM) just to get 5-10C worse temps than cheap AIO gave me!

 

At this point I'm almost giving up. Around $800 (good thing I can save on taxes as it would get well beyond $1000 otherwise) went down the drain and I'm close to throwing this junk to garbage bin and get back to Fractal's AIO. Not to mention it looks way worse than slick two tubes, no plate & no pump design Fractal has (also my EK branded tubes, with EK's own clear CryoFuel turned opaque, what you can see on attached photos), the production quality is mediocre (scuff on water block, visible scratches on inside portion of distro plate etc.).

 

So you guys are my last resort I think. What I could do wrong? I'm a noob if it comes to custom loops, the tubing isn't the top-notch like seen on YouTube, but I can see the flow is quite rapid. Pictures of it all attached below.

 

I know this question will come, so as for the thermal paste I used only Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut for all setups mentioned above. With different application methods: 9 dots, even spread with "credit card", 12 dots, lines, blobs, you name it. Today I was to resocket the CPU and reapply paste and block again but run out of thermal paste again, so that has to wait till delivery early next week. I'm also thinking about ordering another bottle of coolant liquid and reflushing this whole thing (only thing that holds me out is yet another air bleeding process).

 

Again: please help me out if you can, any directions, any tips what I can do to make this EKWB stuff running at least as good as Fractal's AIO if not little better, would be welcome.

 

This is how it looks like:

 

 

 

ps. As you can see I'm trying to cool only CPU, hence the short-circuit on the GPU ports. If I would hook up GPU to this thing also, it would surely catch fire.

 

Maaaan i know I'm late to the party but believe me, I'm here with you. My situation is nearly the same, with the added note that I live in the desert, so liquid cooling with the ambient temps I get is OUT OF THE WINDOW. So' currently I'm trying to cool mine with the Noctua NH-u14s (push and pull) and struggling. If that wasn't enough, directly under it is a backplate of an MSI 3090 that is basically causing the rad/fan to breath in warm air on top of just absorbing the radiant heat from underneath it. Luckily my side panels are tempered glass doors (CM C700M case) so when I see the temp on the mobo say 65+70 under load from just gaming I just open the door >.<. I'm too afraid to run my machine to render my scenes from Maya and Zbrush.

Like you, I said F it and am in the waiting process of waiting for a replacement cooler that supposedly will help my cooling situation, even though it costs a lot of money. I said "I spent 1800 dollars on this thing, I want to protect my investment may as well go the extra mile," so I bought the 2020 Ice Giant (not the prototype) along with 4 noctua 120mm ippc industrial static pressure fans rated for 3000 rpm to stick on that baby when it gets here. I know they're going to be loud (I have 2 of them cooling an older system) but I'd rather them be loud and effective then watch 1800 dollars burn itself beyond warranty replacement.

[EvilVir]

Well it’s kinda old topic but still alive  I went long way with this thing. I’ve replaced the 360 radiator with other EK type, added 140 at the back. Replaced CPU block, added RAM coolers into the loop as well (lowered overall temp in case a bit) and, what probably did most difference... added additional washers on the CPU block’s mounting screws, so I get better contact. Yes, four cheapest plastic washers improved things by like 5C at least lol. 
 

It’s hard to tell how it will handle during summer, but right now I see temps idling at around 35-45C with random spikes above 50C. Normal work takes me to around 45-55C, a little heavier goes beyond 60C, spikes to 70C sometimes if there are, for example, multiple projects compiling at the same time and some other working pieces in the background. Cinabench 20 after 30 minutes took me to range of 70-80C.
 

This is all with ambient of around 27-25C (which is what I had here last year when trying out that AIO which was worse under same conditions) and with all 7 fans set under 1000RPM. 
 

It’s still not perfect, but I feel like I got some improvement there, temps are visibly lower now (still I would like to bring them a little bit down but run out of ideas), and are dropping much faster after heavy load is over. It’s still tempting to try and fit another radiator into this, but that would mean I have no intake at all (not to mention I would need some custom 3D printed holders), so probably not the best idea.

 

Not that I don’t have parts though, by now I have everything (apart from distro plate) doubled lol

[lewzer0]

If my experience helps anyone at all, good. This was one of the most frustrating computer problems I've had to deal with in 25+ years. And I know this is an old topic, but after reading, it turned out I wasn't the only one who had this problem.

 

I also have a Threadripper 3970x, it's on an Asus ROG Zenith II Extreme (non-alpha version), 256gb of G.Skill 3200mhz ram, and an Asus Tuf Gaming 24OC 3090 in an 011 Dynamic. When I first bought it, I put a 360mm AIO onto it, because AMD listed it as compatible. The AIO only covered the center of the CPU, and temps would soar under load until I replaced it with an EK Velocity wb, and a corsair xr7 360mm rad, then 2 of those rads. If I wasn't in a seriously cold room, it would quickly jump from 33-38c at idle, to hit 70-72c under load, and then slowly creep up as the water temp went from 26-27c (just over ambient) slowly to 40c, and would probably continue to climb if I didn't chicken out, and stop loading the cpu 100%.

 

Keep in mind it didn't matter if PBO was on or off, how much I was or wasn't overclocking, or even using 1usmus to undervolt, it would just take shorter or longer to get out of my comfort range of temp. The point where I'm at now is moved to an 011 DXL, with push & pull fans (19 of em counting the one that is case exhaust) on 3 Corsair XR5 360mm radiators, an EK double D5 pumo, EK Quantum Momentum CPU & VRM block, EK Quantum Vector block & rear plate for the 3090 with an MP5Works rear chill block on back, and 3 Corsair XR7 360mm radiators in the 011 Dynamic (only 9 single push fans) connected to the same loop.

 

With this absurd stupid setup, I've been able to run 10hrs+ stress test (cinebench r20) on the CPU overclocked to 4.35ghz all cores @ 1.41v, with the GPU loaded with furmark, and the CPU will only get to 55-58c while the GPU stays about 2-3c above water temp, which only gets to 30c. I have all of the fans set to 100% duty cycle above 47c on the CPU, because I already have to deal with an in window AC unit, the hurricane of my PC's fans doesn't even register compared to that thing. I also have central air, but the room my PC is in gets insanely hot if I don't use the window unit.

 

I'm not suggesting this is the only way to keep the 3970x cool, but if you want to use it like it's meant to be used, this is how I've had to do things.