Extremely high GPU temps

[Xerum]

Hello everyone,

First time to the Forums and first time watercooling — as far as the cooling goes, I originally just had an H80i on my CPU but due to a faulty unit I figured, what the heck, why not try a custom loop. So I built it up strictly for the challenge of putting a loop in a Micro ATX case (Bitfenix Phenom M)

As a disclaimer, I was never after super low temps (on the GPU's). Just something under 70°C would be nice since my cards regularly hit 88°C on the reference air coolers. They are only a month old. I've leak tested and bled as best I could, holding the system in all directions. Here's the issue:

The CPU seems Okay, 31°C idle, 60°C load on Very High IBT* as well as P95 Blend AVX (no OC).

The GPU's however are two GTX 780 Ti SC's, and they are all sorts of confused... Both cards use to idle at 30°C, now they idle at 50°C. Ambient is about 25°C. Under load, one card hits 65° (Fine by me!) and the other plunges straight to 90°C+ and I immediately turn off the benchmark at that point. I'm using an EK Terminal Dual Parallel bridge. Is it possible water is bypassing one of the blocks entirely? Would Serial be better?

Also, my scores on the valley bench are terrible. 45FPS for two of these cards in SLI?

Cooling with a 240mm (47mm thick) rad up top and a 140mm (55mm thick) rad at the rear. All fans in pull (negative flow) — temps go higher if I turn one or all around. The rad space here is not ideal, but it should be the bare minimum to cool these parts? With one GPU at 65°C under load it appears that the rad space is sufficient, while not the best.

Did I botch this build?

Thanks!

 

Edit* IBT (Intel Burn Test), not "IVY".

[FloRolf]

maybe that or the block isnt seated correctly.

[Morfy]

Reapply thermal stuff, try and bring more air in your case.

[Bartelsh]

i would say reapplying thermal compound on the 90 degree card

[Wiflare]

Wouldn't you be able to see if water is going through the card?

[Xerum]

Wouldn't you be able to see if water is going through the card?

 

I am using EK-FC780 GTX Ti - Black Acetal full cover blocks and am unable to see the fluid in the cards.  I'll try to re-apply paste to the cards.  I'm using using Antec Formula 7 and did EK's recommended star pattern, which I'm almost sure at this point was a mistake -- should have spread it.  I've also ordered a new Serial bridge just to be on the safe side.  Any ideas on the suddenly high idle temps?  Driver issue perhaps?

[Wiflare]

I am using EK-FC780 GTX Ti - Black Acetal full cover blocks and am unable to see the fluid in the cards.  I'll try to re-apply paste to the cards.  I'm using using Antec Formula 7 and did EK's recommended star pattern, which I'm almost sure at this point was a mistake -- should have spread it.  I've also ordered a new Serial bridge just to be on the safe side.  Any ideas on the suddenly high idle temps?  Driver issue perhaps?

No, don't spread it. Use the pea method, it's the best. spreading it creates tiny air bubbles everywhere.

[Xerum]

Wouldn't there be some concern with the pea method on the GPU not covering the corners or something?

[XtremeTechGaming]

This happened to my other build, all you have to do is reapply the thermal compound!

[Xerum]

Well I'm stumped.  I cleaned off the TIM on both cards (it was a mess!) and re-applied the proper way.  The cards now idle at 32C and 36C, which is a heck of a lot better than idling at 50C, so that's good.  The processor went down to idling at ambient too (25C) so that's good.  But when I run valley my cards still heat up to unsafe levels, 90C+ -- it feels like there is no flow coming out of the CPU block, so my next step is to check the CPU block for blockage, I may also delid the processor while I have it out, Haswell is horribly hot.

 

Edit:  Nope, idle temps are back up to 50C... It's got to be blockage >.<  The Radiators don't even get the slightest warm when the cards are running Valley.

[airdeano]

Well I'm stumped.  I cleaned off the TIM on both cards (it was a mess!) and re-applied the proper way.  The cards now idle at 32C and 36C, which is a heck of a lot better than idling at 50C, so that's good.  The processor went down to idling at ambient too (25C) so that's good.  But when I run valley my cards still heat up to unsafe levels, 90C+ -- it feels like there is no flow coming out of the CPU block, so my next step is to check the CPU block for blockage, I may also delid the processor while I have it out, Haswell is horribly hot.

 

Edit:  Nope, idle temps are back up to 50C... It's got to be blockage >.<  The Radiators don't even get the slightest warm when the cards are running Valley.

 

welcome to the LinusTechTips forums.

 

you have a giant air pocket stuck in the loop. need a picture of loop to see routing

and rad positions.

[Xerum]

 

welcome to the LinusTechTips forums.

 

you have a giant air pocket stuck in the loop. need a picture of loop to see routing

and rad positions.

 

Thanks for the welcome

 

Here is a picture of the loop.  Res/Pump > 140mm Rad > CPU > GPU > GPU > 240mm Rad > Res/Pump

 

Pump: D5 / Swiftech MCP655-B

CPU Block: EK Supremacy Universal Liquid Cooling Block - Clean Acetal

GPU Blocks: EK-FC780 GTX Ti - Black Acetal

Reservoir: EK D5 X-Res Top 100 - Acetal

Bridge: EK-FC Terminal (Dual Parallel) - Black Acetal

Radiators: EK-CoolStream RAD XTC (140mm) & EK-CoolStream RAD XT (240mm)

 

 

[vong]

 

 

 

Thanks for the welcome

 

Here is a picture of the loop.  Res/Pump > 140mm Rad > CPU > GPU > GPU > 240mm Rad > Res/Pump

 

Pump: D5 / Swiftech MCP655-B

CPU Block: EK Supremacy Universal Liquid Cooling Block - Clean Acetal

GPU Blocks: EK-FC780 GTX Ti - Black Acetal

Reservoir: EK D5 X-Res Top 100 - Acetal

Bridge: EK-FC Terminal (Dual Parallel) - Black Acetal

Radiators: EK-CoolStream RAD XTC (140mm) & EK-CoolStream RAD XT (240mm)

 

Like airdeano said, looks like there could be an air pocket in top gpu. Tip the case back and forth and see if any air bubbles come out.

[Leonard]

Hello everyone,

First time to the Forums and first time watercooling — as far as the cooling goes, I originally just had an H80i on my CPU but due to a faulty unit I figured, what the heck, why not try a custom loop. So I built it up strictly for the challenge of putting a loop in a Micro ATX case (Bitfenix Phenom M)

As a disclaimer, I was never after super low temps (on the GPU's). Just something under 70°C would be nice since my cards regularly hit 88°C on the reference air coolers. They are only a month old. I've leak tested and bled as best I could, holding the system in all directions. Here's the issue:

The CPU seems Okay, 31°C idle, 60°C load on Very High IBT* as well as P95 Blend AVX (no OC).

The GPU's however are two GTX 780 Ti SC's, and they are all sorts of confused... Both cards use to idle at 30°C, now they idle at 50°C. Ambient is about 25°C. Under load, one card hits 65° (Fine by me!) and the other plunges straight to 90°C+ and I immediately turn off the benchmark at that point. I'm using an EK Terminal Dual Parallel bridge. Is it possible water is bypassing one of the blocks entirely? Would Serial be better?

Also, my scores on the valley bench are terrible. 45FPS for two of these cards in SLI?

Cooling with a 240mm (47mm thick) rad up top and a 140mm (55mm thick) rad at the rear. All fans in pull (negative flow) — temps go higher if I turn one or all around. The rad space here is not ideal, but it should be the bare minimum to cool these parts? With one GPU at 65°C under load it appears that the rad space is sufficient, while not the best.

Did I botch this build?

Thanks!

 

Edit* IBT (Intel Burn Test), not "IVY".

I believe you have an air pocket in the bridge and is restricting the flow. Your blocks may also not be installed correctly. 

[Xerum]

Well... If I didn't botch it the first time, it's botched now -.-  Didn't tighten the GPU blocks enough, massive torrential explosion of coolant everywhere.  It's been drying for 24 hours, hopefully everything still works.  Getting a lot of first hand experience from this first water build.

[gigabyte]

You should get distilled water and colored tubing or lightning instead of colored water, just a tip, and you should try to change the block from the GPU that works good to the 1 that works bad and see if it is the block

[airdeano]

Well... If I didn't botch it the first time, it's botched now -.-  Didn't tighten the GPU blocks enough, massive torrential explosion of coolant everywhere.  It's been drying for 24 hours, hopefully everything still works.  Getting a lot of first hand experience from this first water build.

 

wow, that blows really bad. yes, dab up what you can and allow to thoroughly dry.

if you fell there is any issue, it'd be best to reinstall all air cooling and retest. and if

there is an issue, it is ready for RMA. if not, a test in knowledge on how to

troubleshoot cooling issues.

[Xerum]

Well it's been a very trying last few days.  After some thorough drying and rebuilding of the loop, I'm happy to say everything is functioning as intended.  The Delidding went well, on the H80i I use to get 78C with Prime (no OC), now It won't cross 48C -- a 30C drop in temperature!    Very pleased.  The GPU's are now functioning properly, they idle at 27C (current ambient) and average around 47C with a few rounds of valley.

 

To those of you who said air bubble, you are correct.  It was caused by the parallel bridge in my setup, water was bypassing one of the cards as a result.  I swapped out to a serial bridge, and now they are within 2C of each other.  It was a pain to get the bubble out, I had to shake and turn my case all kinds of ways.  I also switched to a kill coil with plain old distilled water.  I have a nice big orange stain on my carpet from the coolant spill.  I think if I did have to use coolant, I would stick with something that won't stain in case of an accident, like Mayhems Pastel Ice White.  But the distilled water is doing me just fine for now.

 

Thanks everyone for the help and pointer!

 

Edit: GPU's don't exceet 37C playing Titanfall/Battlefield 4 and WoW -- 10C delta for an mATX case and factory overclocked cards, awesome!