Why are my temps so high?

[Goksly]

Ok here is my system setup:
XP1700 @ 2.5ghz (1.75v in HWD)
Radeon 9700pro (voltmodded) 450/350
Northbridge @ 1.8v

these three components are cooled by:
DD Maze4
DD Z Chipset
DD GPU Block
Hydor L30
Thermochill 120.1
120mm Vantec Stealth.

Now - my room is pretty hot which at idle forces the mobo temp to be ~30/32 and my cpu (at idle!) to be 48C.

now i know the bios (18) for my board makes the temps pretty much spot on....so i know the temps are for real.....so is all the extra mhz and voltages just to much for the entire loop? Ive remounted all the blocks - lapped them....everything.

Im thinking it might just be the case. i have managed to cram it all into a CM210 case with the rad and fan mounted to the bottom of the case blowing out - with the case raised by an inch or two.

so er yeah - suggestions?

[pHaestus]

A) If it's all stable then don't worry about it. If not, then here are some thoughts.

B) Thermochill 120.1 with a really low CFM fan (such as the 120mm Vantec stealth) will probably result in water temps in the 5-10C over room temp ballpark (depending upon load). With cooling, it's always about surface area and airflow. The 120.1 is, in the grand scheme of things, a fairly small radiator to use with quiet fans. The 120.2 or .3 would be much better choices with the Stealths.

Given that you are cooling the rad with case air, that means water temps around 40C. If you want lower temperatures then you have to start with cooler air and then use more of it

C) Idle temps are going to be pretty dependent on the motherboard: some issue a CPU HLT command to really put the CPU close to totally idle, while other motherboards do not. Try running CPUBurn at high priority and see how hot it all gets.

http://users.ev1.net/~redelm/

D) You have a lot more faith in motherboard-based temperature readings than I do. Especially considering that they change when the bios version is adjusted

E) A temperature for the water in the loop would be helpful, and if you can post a picture of your setup then we might have spot some hose routing and layout changes that might somewhat improve performance. My best guess tho is it's just warm water temps caused by quiet fans on smallish radiators with a relatively low flow rate.

[Goksly]

havent got a camera but i will get to work on a super lame paint style drawning :P

i have faith in this mobo's temp reading cos a few people i know have thermal probes and its only 1 or 2 C off - so compared to others....its stella

er i went for the low cfm ones cos i want a pretty silent machine - but i also want the speed :P my machine - at present is stable. tis not all bad i suppose cos it seems to max out @ 51C when playing games....which isnt bad i suppose - compared to what temps i used to get while air cooling

[Goksly]

http://www.gokou.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/case.JPG
red arrows are water flow, blue arrows are air flow.

there are also (or at least will be) 2 more 80mm fans mounted on the side of the case. the one will be just above the rad and the other on the same level but over by the pump

cheers for any help

[pHaestus]

If it's stable then it's probably not worth messing with. If you are obsessive like me though then by all means post a diagram and I'll see if I can spot any things I would change.

Is the GPU block one of the newer DD ones or the really really old school one? Their first one was a flowrate killer!

What motherboard are you using?

Might want to try setting up Speedfan if the motherboard supports it. You could then use a higher power fan connected to the CPU fan header and then let speedfan PWM it depending on CPU temp. I have my AMD box set up like this now: it's very quiet idle and around 38-39C (40% fan speed) and ramps up so it's spinning at 100% around 50C. Works great. Gotta make sure that your mobo header can handle the W of the fan though

[Goksly]

just nice to have lot temps i suppose diagram is posted up ^^^ - pretty big so i linked it rather than display.

wanna keep things pretty quite - so with the amount of fans i have dont wanna add any more.

i mean if the water temps are high and i dont play to change the fans - if i brought a better waterblock like the cascade would it improve temps? i mean if the DD isnt going to its full potential cos of the water temp...then surely the cascade wont make (much) of a diff?

the GPU block is the old one - not the maze4 style one. i linked everything up and the waterflow was still pretty good - wasnt drizzling out or anything

[pHaestus]

Old style as in the one with the 45 degree barbs on it, like this:

http://www.dangerden.com/images/GF4/gf41_large.gif

Should be fine.

Only thing that jumps out is try to switch up fan direction on the radiator so you are pulling fresh outside air through the rad and into the case. Get a removable fan filter then though and clean it often

[Boli]

Those temps arn't THAT high at all. Before I melted my temp sensor (different reason... trust me) I was reading 45 idle 52 load on a dual 80mm rads (4 5v fans).

Before that It was closer to 55 idle 68 load on air.

Most of this discrepancy I recon was due to the fact my mobo is an ABIT model whihc is known to read temps 15*C or so higher than what they actually are (please no one give me the crap about "real temps" if you are comparing temps for systems as a whole then you are reading 15* higher than the norm.)

Just don't worry about it... I did at first, I set alarms and shut down temps and all that caper but when I bust my sensor... hey life goes on. I don't NEED to know what my system temp is I recon its hitting 50* MAX and as long as my waterblock doesn't come loose that is a high as things are going to get

~ Boli

(Feeling hot under the collar)

[pHaestus]

Boli

Have you not heard the overclockers mantra (as composed by Bill)?

"All temps are crap
but watts are worse.

ohhhhhhmmmm"

Say it with me

[Boli]

You are talking to someone who melted his temperature sensor on the motherboard. Nothing you can say can shock me ;P.

Incidentally on a similar note my 2000+ core manged to post at 2394mhz... but you DID need nearly 3v who said 'A' cores where shite. thankfully the only casualtity was my sanity and my temp sensor. .

~Boli

EDIT: Whoops 3.15 was my RAM the CPU was closer to 2v