need help with raditor.

[pepe123]

ok my idle tempture are too high 45-55 but when it gets cold in my room it drops to 40 43. also my tempture reading are always jumpin up and down sometime like from 45 to 67 the back to low. i have two hard drive coolers a gpu cooler a cpu cooler but i only have 1 120mm aluminum raditor with a crappy case fan on it. would getting a faster fan help or a rad?

[SXRguyinMA]

I vote for bigger rad. and I also vote to ditch the HDD cooler (if they're liquid) as in a normal home environment the CPU/GPU will heat up the HDD WAY higher than it would get normally. I have my HDD in a rack that has a 120mm fan in front of it blowing air across the drive and it doesn't get more than a few degrees over ambient. I was a CPU cooler only on a 120mm rad and it worked great, but if you've got all that you need more rad space, and possibly better fans with higher CFM ratings as well. And ditch the WC for the HDDs :D

[Trace]

Mr. SXR hit it right on. Take his suggestions and you will be golden.

[pepe123]

ya i noticed they do get hotter just a little bit. so u guys dont think getting a faster fan would cool it too. i just want it to stay below 65. the fan i have on there is weak idk wat rpm it is on. it just that the rad i have has the perfect dimension for my case. wat if i got the same size radiator but it had copper tubing ?

[SXRguyinMA]

the difference would be minute at best with a copper tube rad. 65 is WAY high for a WC setup. If it were just your CPU in the loop the single raddy would be fine. You can just put the stock cooler back on your GPU and that'll take out a LOT of heat :up: Hell my Q6600 idles @ ~48ºC on air, and it's OC'ed from 2.4 to 3.6!

[x88x]

As SXRgiMA said, more rad space is what you need. My general rule of thumb is to have at least 1x120mm of rad space for each heat-producing item. So, in this case, the bare minimum should be 2x120 of rad space (I'm ignoring the HDD blocks; as has already been mentioned, they tend to absorb more heat than they disperse in a situation like this). If you post a picture of your case interior and exterior we might be able to suggest a location for additional radiator space.

EDIT:
Also, what CPU and GPU are you dealing with? If they're high-power parts you might need a larger minimum radiator area.

[mDust]

You could try getting two high-powered fans (50-100 CFM) and putting them on each side of the radiator. The physics behind the cooling is this:

The radiator is hot, the ambient air is relatively cool. As air molecules hit the radiator fins, energy is transferred from the radiator to the air molecules which are exhausted so more cool molecules can hit the fins. In order to cool a large heat load with a small radiator, a TON of air molecules have to be hitting those fins as fast and efficiently as possible.

The problem with small radiators is that the airflow has to be extreme in order for them to work. This means lots of noise and barely acceptable temps. 240 radiators have about twice the capacity of a 120 radiator. This means the airspeed can be lower and quieter to achieve the same temps. It also means that by further increasing airspeed over the larger radiator, that more heat can be dispersed quicker...AKA much better temps.

I would recommend getting two high-powered fans and a fan controller and putting a fan on each side of the radiator. If it does get the temps down, then you can use the controller to limit the fan noise to only when you need it. If it doesn't work, you'll need to get a larger radiator, but you'll already have the fans and controller for it.:up:

[pepe123]

ok well ive been using core temp now and my core temps havent gone above 51 c on load. could it bee speed fan was giving my the wrong reading. i have a asus m2n sli deluxe mobo and i heard the have faulty temp sensors.

[Spawn-Inc]

i will also chime in, if your water cooling your hdd's take them out as they are doing nothing but adding extra heat to your loop. also your very likely under radded.

[pepe123]

actually im thinking my setup is fine now. i decided to wipe the case of dust the other night.while doing this i moved the radiator and when i did a huge air bubble came up from the radiator..it must have been a pretty big bubble cuz when i looked at my resivoir the coolent went down like 1/4 in the res. every scince then my temps stay below 50c. idk???? wat do u guys think?

[x88x]

Well that's definitely a problem...though the fact that a large bubble was able to collect in the rad makes me question its design..how do you have it mounted? I would still recommend getting more rad space (either another rad or replace the existing with a bigger one), but at least your CPU temps seem to be ok now. Granted, that's about the temps I got on my Q9450 with the stock cooler, but they're not dangerous at all, just makes the liquid cooling seem a bit superfluous. What temps is your GPU getting?

[mDust]

Well that's definitely a problem...though the fact that a large bubble was able to collect in the rad makes me question its design..how do you have it mounted? I would still recommend getting more rad space (either another rad or replace the existing with a bigger one), but at least your CPU temps seem to be ok now. Granted, that's about the temps I got on my Q9450 with the stock cooler, but they're not dangerous at all, just makes the liquid cooling seem a bit superfluous. What temps is your GPU getting?

The bubble was probably in a plenum chamber. My 240 rad has one for whatever stupid reason they thought it needed one. (Probably because there aren't a lot of radiator features companies can boast about.) It doesn't affect performance at all as it's above the tubing and fins, but it can cause unwanted noise. When I refill my loop I unscrew my rad and rotate it so the nozzles are at the top, after the air bleeds I mount it again with nozzles on the bottom. Failing to do so results in the soft sound of water trickling.

Depending on what the ambient temp is, 50s under load is fairly good. My temps swing so wildly with the seasons that I have to lower my OC in the summer and can crank it much higher in the winter. If I left it stock it would be about 34C (12C ambient) in the winter and about 55C (28C ambient) in the summer under 100% load.

[SXRguyinMA]

i will also chime in, if your water cooling your hdd's take them out as they are doing nothing but adding extra heat to your loop. also your very likely under radded.

actually the HDD acts like a heatsink of sorts for the wc loop, it actually takes heat from the loop and heats up your HDD lol. so actually it may benefit your loop a non-significant amount, but not your hdd :D

just take it out, your drive runs much cooler without it :up:

[Spawn-Inc]

actually the HDD acts like a heatsink of sorts for the wc loop, it actually takes heat from the loop and heats up your HDD lol. so actually it may benefit your loop a non-significant amount, but not your hdd :D

just take it out, your drive runs much cooler without it :up:

ya i guess since the drives likely run cooler, they act as heatsinks lol.

[pepe123]

wat do u know...... back up to to high temps. no im on 50c at idle again acordding to speedfan and 44c to coretemp. its 90 degress here where i live today. the room tempture afftects my system alot. the other day i was at 40call day. 70c when watchin the office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[SXRguyinMA]

ditch the hdd coolers, get a bigger rad, and possibly a better cpu block - what one do you have?

[pepe123]

i have a koolance cpu block .this one http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?cPath=29_44&products_id=115 and a dander den maze 5 gpu block. i might try getting a bigger rad.also i have a motherboard cover do u guys think that might affect it alot?

heres a pic of my case.

<a href="http://s1038.photobucket.com/albums/a465/pepe1223/?action=view&current=downsize-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a465/pepe1223/downsize-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[x88x]

The MBB cover won't affect your CPU temps. The CPU block you have isn't stellar, but it's pretty good.

What CPU, GPU, and rad are you using? The most efficient 1x120 rad I know of is the Black Ice SR1, and even it I wouldn't trust to do for more than ~100-150W of component heat.

[pepe123]

i have a atholon x2 5000 black edition and a ati radeon xfx HD-465X gpu. that pic makes the case looook gay!haha

[x88x]

Hmm, ok, that's less power to dissipate than I was expecting..though, looking closer, that Athlon puts out a lot more heat than I would expect..I guess it's that 90nm die. Going off a quick search, it looks like the 4650 would top out at about 86W and the 5000 at about 170W, so that's a total of 256W that we're going to potentially have to get rid of (granted it'll rarely if ever quick get that high and no cooling system will be able to get rid of all of it, but it gives a good starting point). For context, my system is a Core2Quad Q9450 (125W) and a GeForce GTX260 (182W) for a max of 307W possible, and when I was running with 2 1x120mm Black Ice GTX rads (granted with not-too-good airflow, but still), I was getting temps in the upper 50's/lower 60's on my CPU and peaking in the mid 60's on my GPU. TBH though, it sounds like your biggest problem right now is the ambient. If you can pull the ambient down and at least double your rad space, I think you'll see some great temp changes.

[pepe123]

i usta have two geforce xfx 8600's on it but they fried when a leak poped out of nowhere. ya right now i have a big fan blowing air into the case haha. it should tart cooling down around here in the next couple of days.

[mofo]

I don't think its been covered (i've been following this discussion every few days).

That pic shows one major potential problem. Are the hdd coolers 1/4 tubing? the 1/4 reducer and hdd blocks could be significantly hindering your flow.

There are many people that believe you need massive flow rates to cool properly, I personally do not prescribe to that idea. However, that much restriction can really hurt cooling.

My suggestion (as has been stated) remove the hdd blocks, remove the 1/4 tubing everywhere it is and try to keep as serial and short a loop as possible. Cable management and smoother airflow could also help.

Good luck, hope you work it out.

Edit: BTW, I had a 8800ultra (HOT card), and an overclocked e6550 on a single loop with a 120 black ice pro. It stayed good temperatures 90% of the time. Really warm weather I had to take the side panel off and force cool it with a fan.

[pepe123]

thanks for al the help everyone. i really appreciate it. the weird thing is the temperatures in core temp stay at 44- 45 contsantly but speed fan is always jumpng around going from 48 to 67 or other high temps for a second and then back. idk if maybe speed fan i wrong.

[SXRguyinMA]

yea IIRC core temp is a little more accurate :D

[billygoat333]

EDIT: wrong thread! haha oops.

[pepe123]

^
wat heck is this guy talkin about haha. ok im staying at good temps now. but u guys got me think.if the hd rack really worked as a heat sink.....wat if i added a heat spreader in between the two hd's?

[mDust]

^
wat heck is this guy talkin about haha. ok im staying at good temps now. but u guys got me think.if the hd rack really worked as a heat sink.....wat if i added a heat spreader in between the two hd's?
Who knows? That guy's crazy.:D
And HDDs don't need to be cooled. Ever. They don't overheat. Nobody has ever had a HDD fail due to overheating because it doesn't happen. Instead of buying a HDD cooler, spend that money on some other upgrade.

[x88x]

Nobody has ever had a HDD fail due to overheating because it doesn't happen.

Not entirely true, I have actually had this happen...of course, it was the middle HDD in a pile of 5, all sitting directly on top of each other, running 24/7, with no airflow. The drive bodies were scalding to the touch. Though, I suppose, to be fair I can't say with 100% certainty that it was the heat that did it in, but I would be willing to bet that it was a major contributing factor. However, all the being said, as long as you're not stupid :whistler: you'll never have to worry about HDDs getting too hot.

[pepe123]

haha well i never really thought the hd would get hot i just bought the cooler for looks but that was like a year ago. so i have them now i payed around 80 for both i think so no point in taking them out. they are koolance models. they have like a pouch kinda thing that fills with koolent to cool down the hds. butone of my hd's went badso i was thinkin wat if i put a cooper plate on that hd cooler so heat would tranfer to the copper plate and cool it dowm with a fan. in theory that would work to dissipate same heat.....right?haha

[x88x]

Yeah, it'd dissipate some..not much, but some.

[SXRguyinMA]

they have like a pouch kinda thing that fills with koolent to heat up the hds.

there I fixed it for ya :D

[ryguy425425]

Got an air conditioner? I had my computer by my AC (probably about 4 inches to the left) and I found it droped the temp by 10-15 degrees under load. I'm currently at about 32 idle, 40 load (acording to my fan controller), but the ambient temperature is about 20c lately.

[pepe123]

awwwwwww my computer is crazy! speed fan is say im at 75c but core temp is always at 37-45. idk wats going on. i have read b4 that this mobo is known to have a bad temp sensor. should i trust core temp? like y would the temperatures be so differnt? i also have cpuid hardware monitor and it says 65 for temp0. some one help my computer has been turning off on its own lately it might be due to over heating but my cpu only turns off if the core dieod reeachs 90c

[x88x]

Could you post the output of SpeedFan? Particularly, the 'Exotics' tab. It shows all of the readings, that sometimes don't show on the main tab. Sometimes SpeedFan gets confused and labels temp readings wrong. Also, MBB temp monitors in general tend to not be all that exact for various reasons, so I wouldn't be horribly surprised if something is just putting out the wrong temp.

[pepe123]

wtf!!!! i took the video card water block out of the equation ans stupid speed fand has my temp 1 at 55 idle and jump up to the 60 out of nowhere some times and my computer shut down on its own again but it took all day this time for it to do it. core temp is still in the 30's. i touched my south bridge heat sink and that thing gets hot could this be a problem.

[x88x]

Yes, that could definitely be a problem. Any control chip (CPU, NB, SB, GPU, etc) getting too hot will cause instability. Do you have good airflow over the heatsink for the NB and SB?

[pepe123]

not at all i have a mother board cover! if u look at my mobo. the asus m2n sli deluxe it have a copper hetsink fot the south bridge thats wat is geting hot.

[x88x]

If the chipset/mosfet heatsink on yours the same design as this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013

I can't tell from the picture you posted; does your MBB cover also cover up those fins above the mosfets? If so, I'm gonna say that's probably where your problem is. Without adequate cooling, either one of those overheating could cause system instability. I would recommend either watercooling both of those components or opening up the design of your MBB cover and getting some airflow through those fins. If you stay aircooling them, you shouldn't need to get much airflow over the chipset itself (though it wouldn't hurt), just get it through the fins and the heatpipe will pull the heat off the chipset.

[pepe123]

ya its that model. dam idk how im guna fit a fan in there. i almost just wanna do a whole new build.haha. wat size fan do recommend?

[x88x]

IDK, whatever'll fit. The larger your go, the more air you'll be able to move per dBA, but there's always a tradeoff between silence and what you can fit in.

[pepe123]

the thing is tho i never shut down on its own b4 even when i had to gfx video cards cooled on the the syste. now all i have is the cpu and 1 hdd being cooled and speed fan is giving me higher temps. something has to be wrong. i have the fan blowing into the case again. my gpu temps are in the low 40's and core temp never gets close too the 40's and it still shuts down sometimes. maybe its a software issue.