help, watercooled gtx780 throttaling

[merceless]

Please help, im out of ideas. I'm running a 4770k and 2x gtx 780's (reference pcb) in a custom loop. The gpu blocks are XSPC gtx Titans (for 780, 780ti and titan) and i have quite high temps in benchmarks and general gaming that eventually reach throttaling point. Gpu's arent océd and i have pulled apart my loop and blocks to reseat and re-paste my gpu's about 8 times now. I've tried the thermal paste that comes with the blocks and some artic silver that i have (artic works slightly better) and i keep having high temps in the 80's to 90's within 30 secs in Unigine Heaven and also when im playing bf4. I've bled the system of bubbles (spent hours doing this) and also tried reversing the flow direction even though it's not supposed to matter with these blocks, and no luck. I've got plenty of cooling potential in this system as i am running 2x 280mm full copper rads and a Phobya DC12-400 pump (which i've run at 12v just to be sure). Is there anyone that has had a problem with these blocks, everyone i've seen using these have got load temps below 70c. I'm pretty thourough with my builds and i have just spent 42 hours straight determined to diagnose the problem and it's driving me nuts. I've attached a picture of the loop, order is; res, pump, front rad, top rad, cpu, gpu's. I am also aware that my bottom card is in the 4x slot, as i am waiting on a flow bridge and i decided to get this build started anyways

 

 

Edit: i have run into a bigger problem about a day after i posted this, my motherboard wont post. ive decided to return the board and am going with a sabertooth mark 1. Until then i cant really test any posible fixes for the gpu problem

 

8/24/14: I have the new board in and running, still having cooling issues even with the xspc flow bridge ive installed. The second card is a bit cooler but still hits throttle temps in about 10 minutes when playing Battlefield 4. I've tried a few different things people have suggested but still no change. Could tubing ID have this big of an impact on temps? i have 3/8in OD 1/2in ID. Is there any issue with pump flow rate? This pump is capable of 800L/hour, that should be fine right? I havent tried the spread method with the thermal paste yet, does anyone recommend this on the gpu/s?

 

FIXED: I found a thread on overclock.net that had a fix to my issue. What i had to do was carfully sand the standoffs on the block down a bit so the gpu and block would make proper contact. Had to do this to both my blocks, and now they dont exceed 40c in Unigine Heaven

[Thecrazyswede]

How much is the CPU/GPU overclocked ?.

[Najuno]

How are the temps for the CPU? Are they just as high as your GPU Temps or do you have normal CPU temps?

 

What kind or radiator do you use (I know 280mm but please more details, and what fans)?

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Please help, im out of ideas. I'm running a 4770k and 2x gtx 780's (reference pcb) in a custom loop. The gpu blocks are XSPC gtx Titans (for 780, 780ti and titan) and i have quite high temps in benchmarks and general gaming that eventually reach throttaling point. Gpu's arent océd and i have pulled apart my loop and blocks to reseat and re-paste my gpu's about 8 times now. I've tried the thermal paste that comes with the blocks and some artic silver that i have (artic works slightly better) and i keep having high temps in the 80's to 90's within 30 secs in Unigine Heaven and also when im playing bf4. I've bled the system of bubbles (spent hours doing this) and also tried reversing the flow direction even though it's not supposed to matter with these blocks, and no luck. I've got plenty of cooling potential in this system as i am running 2x 280mm full copper rads and a Phobya DC12-400 pump (which i've run at 12v just to be sure). Is there anyone that has had a problem with these blocks, everyone i've seen using these have got load temps below 70c. I'm pretty thourough with my builds and i have just spent 42 hours straight determined to diagnose the problem and it's driving me nuts. I've attached a picture of the loop, order is; res, pump, front rad, top rad, cpu, gpu's. I am also aware that my bottom card is in the 4x slot, as i am waiting on a flow bridge and i decided to get this build started anywaysloopy.jpg

The problem might still be not enough rads. You have two thin 280's in there while your max TDP is around the 600W+ mark depending on the CPU OC. Can your rads handle the heat you're throwing at them? Yes. Can they handle this heat well enough to give you the much lower temps you're expecting? Probably not. What RPM are you running your fans at? 

[PuNkPoEtS]

@merceless what speeds are you fans running at? and which bitfenix fans are you using?

[MontBlanco]

It could be that you have switched the inlet and outlet of your Raystorm cpu block. The tube after the GPU should be in the port labelled "in". It might affect the whole loop creating more restriction hence the higher temp.

[aduman]

Try speeding up the fans and check if there is any contact issue on gpu blocks.

[merceless]

@merceless what speeds are you fans running at? and which bitfenix fans are you using?

bitfenix spectre pros, and i run them all as intake at max speed, atleast until i get this sorted then ill run them nice and quiet

The problem might still be not enough rads. You have two thin 280's in there while your max TDP is around the 600W+ mark depending on the CPU OC. Can your rads handle the heat you're throwing at them? Yes. Can they handle this heat well enough to give you the much lower temps you're expecting? Probably not. What RPM are you running your fans at?

i should have plently of rads. if there was an issue with the rads not handeling the heat then i should be able to see that effecting cpu temps while i run unigine heaven or something (plus i felt the rads and theyre not warm). I should have also mentioned that im only running the one gtx780 atm, because the 2nd is in a 4x slot.

Try speeding up the fans and check if there is any contact issue on gpu blocks.

that was my first thing i tried. I still think there is a possibility of contact issue though, but short of pulling the thermal pads off the ram moduals and just really forcing it to contact, i've tried everything lol.

It could be that you have switched the inlet and outlet of your Raystorm cpu block. The tube after the GPU should be in the port labelled "in". It might affect the whole loop creating more restriction hence the higher temp.

the loop order is cpu>gpu and it's all in correct order, plus i've tried switching the ports on the cards to switch flow direction, but no luck.

How much is the CPU/GPU overclocked ?.

not océd at all and the power limit is stock

How are the temps for the CPU? Are they just as high as your GPU Temps or do you have normal CPU temps?

What kind or radiator do you use (I know 280mm but please more details, and what fans)?

at full load (XTU) it doesn't exceed 65c, and that was oc'd at 1.3v. The rads are NexXxoS st30 full copper and im running Bitfenix Spectre Pros in intake. I'm also just running distilled water at the moment

[Maxwit44]

@merceless , Your cpu block is in back to front. The "in" port is on the wrong side bud. I've compared your lay out to my own, and its in back to front. Not sure how much difference it'll make.

 

I use the same gpu / cpu blocks, I've found them to be pretty good. But I only have one 780 thou. Swap the block around and see if that helps.

[aduman]

@merceless I hope it ends up well for you man, I'm out of ideas..

[Leonard]

Please help, im out of ideas. I'm running a 4770k and 2x gtx 780's (reference pcb) in a custom loop. The gpu blocks are XSPC gtx Titans (for 780, 780ti and titan) and i have quite high temps in benchmarks and general gaming that eventually reach throttaling point. Gpu's arent océd and i have pulled apart my loop and blocks to reseat and re-paste my gpu's about 8 times now. I've tried the thermal paste that comes with the blocks and some artic silver that i have (artic works slightly better) and i keep having high temps in the 80's to 90's within 30 secs in Unigine Heaven and also when im playing bf4. I've bled the system of bubbles (spent hours doing this) and also tried reversing the flow direction even though it's not supposed to matter with these blocks, and no luck. I've got plenty of cooling potential in this system as i am running 2x 280mm full copper rads and a Phobya DC12-400 pump (which i've run at 12v just to be sure). Is there anyone that has had a problem with these blocks, everyone i've seen using these have got load temps below 70c. I'm pretty thourough with my builds and i have just spent 42 hours straight determined to diagnose the problem and it's driving me nuts. I've attached a picture of the loop, order is; res, pump, front rad, top rad, cpu, gpu's. I am also aware that my bottom card is in the 4x slot, as i am waiting on a flow bridge and i decided to get this build started anywaysloopy.jpg

Welcome to the forum dude, sorry to hear you got some problems with your rig. Here is my synopsis.

 

If both GPUs are having the same high temperatures then maybe the block is not making contact properly with the thermal pads or the block just is not for your GPU or air is trapped in the GPU blocks for some reason' however if only one GPU is having this problem then it is an installation problem. .Are you sure the GPU blocks you have is specifically for your GPU version? That pump is also weak for a SLI loop, one CPU and GPU fine but not a SLI loop. Even a D5 runs slower than usual with SLI loops.

[Grrizz]

When you remounted your GPU blocks did you look at the thermal paste? You can usually get a good idea of if its seating properly by checking that. It definitely sounds like a seating problem to me especially if your water/radiators are cool unless some crap has dislodged from your radiator and settled in your water bock but the speed at which it get to those temps would also suggest a contact problem.

[merceless]

@merceless , Your cpu block is in back to front. The "in" port is on the wrong side bud. I've compared your lay out to my own, and its in back to front. Not sure how much difference it'll make.

 

I use the same gpu / cpu blocks, I've found them to be pretty good. But I only have one 780 thou. Swap the block around and see if that helps.

the in port is on the right side. do u mean turn the block upside down?

[Maxwit44]

the in port is on the right side. do u mean turn the block upside down?

 

Yeah or swap the fittings over. The way I look at your flow path, Pump/Res Combo - GPU -GPU - CPU - Rad - Rad - Res. If that is correct then, then yeah the CPU block is hooked up wrong. I haven't seen inside the raystorm block, so I dont know if it will cause a restriction in the circut, leaving you with high gpu temps.

 

Its just a thought.

 

I hae a 4690 with a 780, and less surface area for cooling, and under folding load, I don't get over 50. I cant see any other reason for high temps, unless you got bad gpu blocks. If you've reseated the blocks a few time, you should have seen some kind of improvement at least once. Let us know how you go.

[d33g33]

have you got a stock cooler for the CPU? Might be worth running only the GPUs through the loop. This will rule out any under capacity issues of the rads or inducted heat from the CPU. seems like its either not seated well as mentioned above or the water just isnt moving through the waterblocks for some reason....