Kraken G12 not cooling

[Vicarious]

I have a Kraken x61 hooked up to my R9 280X using a Kraken G12, and the thing just isn't cooling. I followed the instructions all the way through (Even though the Kraken cooler doesn't fit particularly well with the bracket, ironically), including using a copper shim on R9 280X cards (I have a 1mm unit on). I have liquid metal between the GPU die and shim, and between the shim and cooler (As I had on the air cooler before this). I used to have it overclocked to 1175MHz/1500MHz with +38mV on the air, and it handled that just fine (Never went above 70 degrees on Unigine's Heaven Benchmark). Now if I boot the benchmark the GPU will hit 90 degrees within two seconds of starting. I've tried taking the shim out (Put it back in after it made no difference), I've tried reseating everything, I've lowered the overclock down, I've tried reapplying the liquid metal... Nothing seems to work. Always, it instantly heats up to 90 degrees when loaded, and falls back down extremely quickly after (Within seconds of quitting the benchmark, it'll be at 50 degrees; If I wait about ten seconds after than, it'll fall back down to the low 40s).

 

I'm hoping has some sort of "eureka" idea, because it's incredibly frustrated having my GPU be basically worthless right now.

[Jurrunio]

Use thermal paste instead and let the base of the cooler squish it flat.

[Snipergod87]

Is the pump still working?  is the water actually flowing or is it being restricted?

[i_build_nanosuits]

29 minutes ago, Vicarious said:

 

 

I'm hoping has some sort of "eureka" idea, because it's incredibly frustrated having my GPU be basically worthless right now.

properly apply thermal paste, make sure it's properly mounted and touching the GPU well, make sure the pump and fan is running on the AIO

[Vicarious]

 

16 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Use thermal paste instead and let the base of the cooler squish it flat.

I'm not sure how going to a less thermally conductive material is going to help vent heat out faster?

15 hours ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

properly apply thermal paste, make sure it's properly mounted and touching the GPU well, make sure the pump and fan is running on the AIO

Thermal paste (gallium, in this instance), is definitely looking good on both sides of the shims, there's a good transferred layer on both the GPU die and the Kraken's cooling base. I know the all the fans are on (Using a highly scientific "stick my finger in and see if I get hit by the blades), and CAM is reporting the pump is spinning, though the liquid temperature is only at 30 degrees, as opposed to the ~50 for the GPU.

15 hours ago, Snipergod87 said:

Is the pump still working?  is the water actually flowing or is it being restricted?

Although I've changed the routing, I had been using the x61 for years on my CPU without issues... I'll go re-jiggle the lines though, see if that helps.

[Jurrunio]

3 hours ago, Vicarious said:

I'm not sure how going to a less thermally conductive material is going to help vent heat out faster?

I just suspect the frame surrounding the die is actually taller than the die itself, or somehow the mounting pressure is too low. With thermal paste you can just pour more of it without worrying it shorting the contact points around the die, but not with liquid metal.

[Vicarious]

19 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

I just suspect the frame surrounding the die is actually taller than the die itself, or somehow the mounting pressure is too low. With thermal paste you can just pour more of it without worrying it shorting the contact points around the die, but not with liquid metal.

Ah, OK. I mean, that's supposed to be what the metal shim was for (It sits on top of the die and pushes it up another 1.25mm, which puts it above the frame). I could use a crapload of thermal paste, but I'll be really disappointed if that's the solution, as it'll mean a severely diminished gain from switching cooling solutions...

[Vicarious]

OK, so super embarassing update, I have resolved the issue. I hadn't realized that the shims I got were actually all three different thicknesses, just slightly off of eachother (A few thousandths of an inch, even though they were all supposed to be the same thickness). Realized it last week, pulled the whole assembly apart for the 9348945039458th time, put in the thickest shim, buttoned it all back together, and she stays nice and cool (60 degrees when completely loaded up) even at 1200MHz.