cascade bad temps?
 

I have put together an impressive watercooling pc(on paper)

2 loops:

loop 1: Hydor L30-cascade-dtek jrl120 and shroud with evercool 120mm (80cfm or something)-bayres-hydorL30,etc.

loop 2: Hydor L30-swiftech mcw20-swiftech mcw50T-black Ice Extreme(with 86.5 cfm panaflo)-T-hydor L30, etc.....

Both of the Hydor L30's are refitted with 3/4" OD outlets and inlets.

system:
I have a p4 2600, 800fsb,HT and a abit ic7 max3 mobo and a ati radeon 9700 pro.I have used arctic silver 5 thermal paste with all the waterblocks.

The problem:

loop 1 is just not cutting it.My CPU gets too hot.I know abit mobo's display high temps and the IHS could be responsible for displaying high temps(especially with a cascade).

But my temps are idle: 39 C
load: 56 C
Room temp is 21 C
the difference between idle and load is very big. 17C

I have reseated my cascade several times, but the big difference remains.the holes in the block are not clogged either, checked that several times.

Could some help me?

Got a picture of the system?

Any idea of what the actual flow rate through Loop 1 is?

Any idea of what the water temperatures are?

What is the temperature of the air that enters the radiator?

What is your estimate of the amount of air-flow that the radiator is actually receiving?

Basically more information is needed. Given your high(ish) idle and load temperatures it seems to me that you have a flow-rate and/or a radiator issue.

Please try to gather all of the above.

Also, idle and load temps with the stock heatsink might be helpful.

Cathar,

I am sorry,

don't have and can't get actual information about the flow.
I see enough water moving in my bayres and my lines are pretty hard and stiff, so there is enough pressure i guess.

The air going through my rad is about 24 C
the cfm my rad is actually pulling through(pull-set up) will be about 40 CFM.

The watertemp is 29C

I don't have any numbers with stock heatsink, i only used WC ing with this mobo and cpu. I have used a silverprop cyclon 5 SP , gave me lower temps, but i used both rads to cool that one.

The high temps don't concern me much, but the difference between idle and load is just too big.

Is that 29C at idle or load? If at load, what was the temp at idle? If at idle, what was the temp at load?

CPU seems rather warm, but as you say, Abit's do "read high" and it is a common complaint of most people.

Using two radiators would make a 3-5C difference to your water temps just by looking at what your radiator setup is.

Would be good to get a flow-rate estimate. You should be seeing around 6LPM through the block with a Hydor L30 and a single radiator, and knowing what you are getting would go a long way to help diagnose if there's a flow issue.

I have the same block and board as you. You definately have a problem somewhere... 40CFM of air through the rad is very weak first of all. Have you tried 2 higher powered fans? When I had one rad and the IHS on my P4, my load temps were NEVER above 50C, even on a 34C day (ambient). How are you mounting the block? With springs? How much tension? I would first try the rad with more airflow, see how that works. Next, I would reseat the block again. TBH, for me mounting variations with the IHS were more varied (and bizarre) than bare die CPU's for some reason. It sometimes took 4-5 mounts to get the WB seated properly on the IHS. If you are brave, remove the IHS and you will drop 5 - 6C right there alone.

Where is the rad mounted? If at the case top, or with the barbs down at the bottom with the remainder of the rad above the barbs, you could have a air pocket trapped in the rad, which would put a real hit on the rads cooling if the air pocket is large. Have you checked for a air pocket trapped inside the rad?

Evercools look very nice but there are much higher pressure fans. Might want to put a 38mm fan (a Delta 130 cfm fan on a reobus can run just as quiet as the Evercool does at max cfm, but a LOT higher pressure.) in place of that Evercool which is only 25mm thick.

As someone else asked, how tight are the springs? Might tighten them and gain some improvement.

The springs are very thight.

I could have an airpocket in my rad, just don't know, shaking it right now.