watercooling Temperature problems with first custom loop build

[Veehxia]

Greetings everyone,

 

After months of waiting for parts I was finally able to asseble my first custom water cooled build, while I was pretty pleased with the estetic result, as soon as I started to actually use it I've noticed a few things that had me wonder if everything was alright.

My main problem is the temperature of the coolant, it can reach 50°C while I game and 40°C on a 30 minute CPU intensive task, which is something that rings an alarm in my head as my 3 rads should be able to dissipate a 250W 13900KF more than fine, but my coolant temp are gaining 10°C in 30 min, also the facts it takes a good 10 minutes to go from 50°C back under sub 40°C while idling only makes me wonder more.

 

To provide some data, here are the specs of my PC:

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• Intel i9-13900KF
• Asus Z790-A Strix Gaming 
• Corsair Vengeance 6200Mhz DDR5 2x16GB
• Crucial P5 Plus 500GB
• Crucial P5 Plus 2TB
• Crucial P3 4TB
• WD Black 6TB
• WD Blue 4TB
• Silverstone SX1000
• ZOTAC RTX 4090 Trinity OC
• LianLi O11 Mini Snow White
• Custom cables from Cablemods.

And here is the cooling:

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• EK Quantum Velocity2 Nickel+Plexi LGA1700
• EK Quantum Vector2 + ABP Nickel+Plexi
• EK TBE 160 DDC Pump + Res combo
• EK HDC Fittings 14mm - Nickel
• Multiple EK Quantum Rotary 90° / 45° and 7/14/28mm extenders - Nickel
• EK Drain valve - Nickel 
• 2x EK S360 + 1x EK S240 
• Corsair Satin PMMA tubes
• Alphacool temperature sensor 
• 8x LianLi SL120 V2 

I'll also leave some pictures so you can see my loop:

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My loop order is Pump > Side Rad > Top Rad > CPU > GPU > Bottom Rad > Pump.
I've been told that I'm running the CPU block in inverted flow and that it would have been better to not run the GPU with both inlet and outlet on the same side, but the temps of those  components are not anything unusual so I dont think that's an issue, also because clearly heat is being dumped in the loop really well.

While I idle or do simple task the temps are not a problem, my loop stays around 35°C with my room at around 28°C, but if I want to game I have to turn the AC on at 25°C so the coolant temp wont go over 50°C.

In game I'll usually average 65/70°C on the CPU and 60-65°C on the GPU, depending on the titles it can go a bit up or down, but the coolant always reach 48°C at least.

Bottom fan is intake while side and top are exhaust, I've been told to flip the side rad fans but I'd have to tear down the whole system to do it so I'm waiting on more opinions before I modify my setup.

 

I've done some test to show how bad is the problem.

This is the situation after a 10 minute run of Cinebench R23 + FurMark 1080p windowed, I've resetted the counters before starting. Room was with AC on at 25°C.

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I've also managed to take some pictures with a FLIR camera, not an expensive one but I hope they can be useful.
These are before starting the stress test, while the loop was at 32°C.

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While these are taken at the end of the test, by the time I removed the front panel the coolant went already at 50°C.

Pump is locked at 3.3K RPM and fans at 1250RMP.

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I'm looking for any possible advice, my 2 options right now are to flip the side fans or replace the temp sensor, because I have a feeling this one might have got the cable damaged while assembling the loop.

Or that it's reporting false temps because of its position, it's on the reservoir but it's getting hot air from the bottom rads + heat from the pump motor, so it might be reporting bad temps under load just because of the heat going against it because the tubes dont seem to be super hot, totally very warm but I'd expect them to be hotter if it was really 50°C inside it.

I've also disabled the ASUS CPU boost stuff and set a -0.08 offset, but the situation is still the same. Which is a shame because I feel like I've got really lucky with the silicon lottery, this  thing was able to pull 400W and score 41k on R23.

 

Please help me figure out this heat problem otherwise I think this system is doomed to melt itself.

 

Another issue with this system is that it's almost undrainable, right now I've moved the valve on the bottom of the GPU but when I originally had it on the bottom of the reservoir, it would just drain the res without a single drop leaving the rads, tubes and block.

How could I make draining it a bit easier without the need of blowing into it?

 

The pump was dead silent while it was running with EK Loop cleaner and then the superflush, but it got a bit loud right after I finished installing windows.

Now if I put it on full speed it does a strange sound,  almost like sand going thru it, but there is no air in the system, it's been running for a week now with almost never being shut down and also twisted on all sides multiple times.

Thanks in advance to whoever might be able to help me with this mess, definetly feel like I wanted to overdone it for my first watercooled build and now I'm paying the price of the small case.

 

[PDifolco]

Overall your temps aren't that bad, but indeed not that good for such a loop

That's a lot of twisting tubes and rads and fittings for a lonely DDC pump imo, I would have put a D5 for the higher flow rate, and certainly a distro plate to have less tubes all around

For the drain port you're kinda screwed if you didn't think of it while designing the loop...

 

[Veehxia]

9 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

That's a lot of twisting tubes and rads and fittings for a lonely DDC pump imo, I would have put a D5 for the higher flow rate, and certainly a distro plate to have less tubes all around

I was going for a D5 (TBE 200) in the beginning but it would have had the drain on the back and I wasn't sure it was going to fit.
As for the distro plate, I hate the look of them + I was only able to find front mounted ones for the O11 Mini, I would have considered a side one but for me the front ones are ugly as hell.

Also distro plate would have made me lose one rad + would be more tubes, at least 8 vs the 6 that are in my system now.

 

9 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

For the drain port you're kinda screwed if you didn't think of it while designing the loop...

I might consider redoing some tubes if it means I could drain it easier but priority right now is temps..

 

 

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This is now after 45 min of playing Hogwarts Legacy, still with AC at 25°C..

Game is still open in background.

[Veehxia]

Today I've decided to flip the top fans and test again, now bottom and top are intakes while side is exhaust.

Same r23 + furmark run, those are the temps..
Look at the max ones as I took the screenshot while it was already cooling down.

 

 

What really confuses me is that the GPU is  38°C with my coolant being at 45°C, shouldn't my GPU heat up instead of cooling down if the coolant is hotter than it ?

Could this be confirmation that my temp sensor is all over  the place ? 

[Whatisthis]

Your FLIR images show the coolant to be around 25c. 
 

Do this - run cinebench and furmark for 20 minutes together. Take the side panel off and feel the coolant tube coming to the gpu. If your coolant is actually 50c, it will be very warm to the touch. If it feels cool, your coolant temp reading is either at a location where it is getting hot coolant from the components or the thermistor is miscalibrated or broken.

[Veehxia]

1 hour ago, Whatisthis said:

Your FLIR images show the coolant to be around 25c. 

 

I think you might be looking at the idle / just turned on pics, with load it's definetly not under 40°C even by touch.

1 hour ago, Whatisthis said:

Do this - run cinebench and furmark for 20 minutes together. Take the side panel off and feel the coolant tube coming to the gpu. If your coolant is actually 50c, it will be very warm to the touch. 

I'm afraid of my coolant going too hot as in  breaking down or softening the tubes, causing leaks.
I can game, but those 2 combined for over 10 minutes are too much I feel.

 

1 hour ago, Whatisthis said:

your coolant temp reading is either at a location where it is getting hot coolant from the components

It's on the "drain" of the pump, with a rotary adapter.

I think it's getting "static" coolant that's not flowing around.

[Whatisthis]

4 hours ago, Veehxia said:

 

I think you might be looking at the idle / just turned on pics, with load it's definetly not under 40°C even by touch.

I'm afraid of my coolant going too hot as in  breaking down or softening the tubes, causing leaks.
I can game, but those 2 combined for over 10 minutes are too much I feel.

 

It's on the "drain" of the pump, with a rotary adapter.

I think it's getting "static" coolant that's not flowing around.

My bad - I did look at the wrong pics. 
 

Hmmm…it doesn’t seem to be a liquid flow problem. Your radiators are just not keeping up, so an airflow issue. That should be enough radiator surface area to keep the ~600w cooled off with sufficient airflow. 
 

I’m assuming the 360mm rads on top and bottom are properly vented. What is the setup on the side rad? Is it exhausting into the case or so you have a cutout? Can you do a push/pull fan setup on that?

 

If you can run the fans higher, that would be worth a try to see the effect even if you don’t leave them that way 24/7.

I think you’re correct on the fluid temp probe - it’s probably sitting in some stagnant fluid that’s not reflecting what the loop is doing.

[Veehxia]

2 hours ago, Whatisthis said:

I’m assuming the 360mm rads on top and bottom are properly vented. What is the setup on the side rad? Is it exhausting into the case or so you have a cutout? Can you do a push/pull fan setup on that?

At the moment bot is intake while side and top are exhaust, I tried to flip the top one to be intake too but temps insane the case were getting wild while liquid temp stayed virtually identical.

 

Doing a push/pull on side rad would be challenging because there is no space left behind it, I would need to put the rad on the inside part of the case but I'm not sure it would fit with the fittings and the top rad.

Top rad is not supported on this case, I had to get some adapter to mount it with an offset so it's a bit complicated to make it fit.

 

Right now I'm planning to tear it apart and switch the side to be intake too, leaving only the top as exhaust.

Replacing the temp sensor with an in line one and putting it on some radiator hoping for more accurate readings.

Also planning to flush the loop multiple times in case there is something causing an obstrucion.

 

2 hours ago, Whatisthis said:

If you can run the fans higher, that would be worth a try to see the effect even if you don’t leave them that way 24/7.

I usually run pump at 3.3K RPM and fans at 1250RPM, I can max out the pump at 4.4K and fans at 2K but the noise is just stupid, I can hear it with headphones.

Temps drop is around 3°C.

[Whatisthis]

42 minutes ago, Veehxia said:

I usually run pump at 3.3K RPM and fans at 1250RPM, I can max out the pump at 4.4K and fans at 2K but the noise is just stupid, I can hear it with headphones.

Temps drop is around 3°C.

Only 3c? That’s not a lot. I’m stumped. 

[Veehxia]

14 hours ago, Whatisthis said:

Only 3c? That’s not a lot. I’m stumped. 

Me too, I've ordered the new temp sensor and a bunch of chemicals to flush and clean, will take it apart on monday and hope for the best I guess.. 

 

I've been running only the pump at 100%  today and looking at the coolant in the reservoir it doesn't seem that the movement is consistent, sometimes it looks more turbulent while other times it looks a bit more static.

Should I use the little tube inside the reservoir for feeding the pump instead of the plastic divider?

 

I was also noticing that my reservoir is developing a stain, all around the middle of it.

Which is very strange since the coolant is much higher than that line and I did both the EK Loop Cleaner and Superflush before filling it.

Maybe because I've blow into it while draining.. Anyway gonna flush everything individually before reassemly.