Warm Idle - Water Cooled

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xTrident

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
385
After a lot of trial and error I've got my ideal water cooling loop set up. I started with an XSPC kit and wound up using most of XSPC's stuff minus their pump as it made more noise than I wanted. Instead I upgraded a Switftech pump. (it's the one that's very popular with water coolers and has the variable speed control - I don't remember the exact name)

Anyway, everything is running smoothly and very quietly, I love that. I've also put a lot of work into the loop to get it looking good and "tight". The issue, and maybe it's really of no concern is that my CPU typically idles warmer than it did with my air cooler, and the Swiftech idles warmer than the XSPC pump. Now, I don't have the Swiftech's speed all the way up, I believe I set it around speed 2. Note - I have tried setting it on the highest speed but I don't see a difference in temps at idle. Also note - I don't have any big kinks in the tubing, no real hard turns, and air bubbles are at a minimum if any at this point. To me, comparing it to what I've seen it's pretty damn clean.

To dive into the temps and give an idea here: On air typically my CPU would idle around 45 degrees Celsius depending on the ambient temperature. With the XSPC pump I think I got it down between 38 and 43 degrees Celsius. With the Swiftech it's around 48 to 50 degrees Celsius. Ambient temperature now is usually at least 72, but I wouldn't be surprised if it got around 80 degrees Fahrenheit in my room with all the electronics running.

Really, I'm not to concerned with my idle temps because it's not like it isn't in a safe range. But more than that is under full load the cooling is much better on water with either water pump compared to my air cooler. It's just weird to me because I've seen so many people mention how much better their cooling got on idle and load with a water cooling setup. For me it's just been under load, not idle. Is that normal? Has anyone else run into such a thing?

I'm currently using the fans that XSPC provided me with, which I fully intend on upgrading at some point in the near future probably with some Corsair fans, maybe the high performance ones. The radiator is in a half ass push/pull setup. I say half ass because the 120mm fans are pushing while I have the two top 200mm case fans pulling. It's not a 120mm push pull combo. The other change I'm considering at this point is a better radiator. Maybe a thicker one?

So basically... Are my idle temps really of any concern considering under load my temps aren't bad. And especially consider how warm my room gets. 72+ Fahrenheit is pretty warm, and I'm not kidding when I say 80 degrees Fahrenheit either. I know that's hot... Hell I can feel it. Other than that, does anyone have any ideas what I could possibly do to increase my cooling at this stage? I think a thicker radiator along with better fans would probably be of big help.
 
you are missing lot of information..first how much radiators are you using?. how much parts are included into the Loop? (GPU, CPU, MoBo, RAM)... also what CPU are you using how much its overclocked and what are your load temps?.. have you "C" States Enabled in yout Bios?

i live in a 85F-90F room temp, i think 80F its the lowest ever reached, and my idle temps with a Corsair H100i are 28C-30C stock and overclocked pretty solid and consistent with mostly air coolers i've tested even with the last i've used that was a cheap Hyper 212+.. and idle temps just have 3 factor to take in count, that are power management options in windows, "C" States and Fixed high voltages..

I think really both of your WC setups are very high idle temps.... hell 48-50C? thats my range of load temps overclocked while normal gaming..
 
Araxie said:
you are missing lot of information..first how much radiators are you using?. how much parts are included into the Loop? (GPU, CPU, MoBo, RAM)... also what CPU are you using how much its overclocked and what are your load temps?.. have you "C" States Enabled in yout Bios?

i live in a 85F-90F room temp, i think 80F its the lowest ever reached, and my idle temps with a Corsair H100i are 28C-30C stock and overclocked pretty solid and consistent with mostly air coolers i've tested even with the last i've used that was a cheap Hyper 212+.. and idle temps just have 3 factor to take in count, that are power management options in windows, "C" States and Fixed high voltages..

I think really both of your WC setups are very high idle temps.... hell 48-50C? thats my range of load temps overclocked while normal gaming..
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It's not really missing... All of my CPU information is in my signature along with the water cooling kit I'm using from XSPC. I mentioned one radiator with the push/pull and my CPU being on the loop. I didn't go into further detail because that's it, that's all I've got on the loop. (It's my primary machine)

Load temps roughly 74 degrees Celsius. "C" state is enabled and my idle frequency I believe is at 2.4GHz up from the 1.6GHz stock.

I know my idle temp is warm. I've never been as low as anyone on air or water cooled with my i7. People talk about being in the high 20's low 30's idling with an overclocked chip on air... Not me, never. My average for every aftermarket setup on this i7 with it's overclock has been around 42-43 degrees Celsius.

I can't tell you just what voltage I'm running because I didn't mess with it. I let the motherboard change it with the overclock.

Don't take this as me calling you a liar, because I'm not. But I find it hard to believe that with your ambient temps, and your overclock that your CPU runs that cool... At least compared to what I'm getting. I guess maybe I've got a hot running CPU. I don't know?
 
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Check your plumbing, something is hinky-input/output swapped on block etc. You did remove the block protective sticker didn't you?
 
I think i may have missed it, what temps are your load temps ? Also check in a program like CPU-Z, or CoreTemp for what your voltage is at load, they should get your an approx. readout.
 
Skripka said:
Check your plumbing, something is hinky-input/output swapped on block etc. You did remove the block protective sticker didn't you?
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I'll have to check it over. I didn't put much time into checking the CPU block out. I'm quite positive I removed the sticker, but it sure wouldn't hurt to pull it apart and make sure.

W.Feather said:
I think i may have missed it, what temps are your load temps ? Also check in a program like CPU-Z, or CoreTemp for what your voltage is at load, they should get your an approx. readout.
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S'okay, I wrote a lot of shit up there. Load temps via Prime95 are right around 74 degrees Cels.

I use CPU-Z and HWMonitor. I know I can find the voltage there, and if I remember to tonight I'll do that while running Prime95 to give a better idea.
 
Thank you. Your high idle temp can easily be explained by the board not clocking idle voltage down. Your on a 1st gen i7 as well, which tends to run slightly warmer than the SB referend above. But it does sound like something hinky is up

Only the CPU is in the loop right? And fan wise, are you using only the three that came with the kit?

@Skripka, he has an RS360 rad, just to keep in mind
 
W.Feather said:
Thank you. Your high idle temp can easily be explained by the board not clocking idle voltage down. Your on a 1st gen i7 as well, which tends to run slightly warmer than the SB referend above. But it does sound like something hinky is up

Only the CPU is in the loop right? And fan wise, are you using only the three that came with the kit?

@Skripka, he has an RS360 rad, just to keep in mind
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Don't thank me, thank you guys for responding and giving me some feedback.

I'm assuming the board has never clocked it's voltage down if that's the case because my temps have been around this range since I've overclocked it and kept track. Is that something I should be concerned with? My i7 has been running at the overclocked level for over two years at this point with no problems. No stability issues, no BSoD's, nothing.

Yes to the fans, and I'm well aware that in a word... They "suck". But at the same time, it's a 360 rad with three fans pushing and two pulling. I really expected better cooling with this setup.

Oh, and CPU is the only thing in the loop.
 
So you have 5 fans on the radiator? Are the ones in "push/pull" the same speed? If not that can cause some issues flow wise.


I'd drop it down to just those 3 fans

As for the voltage thing --- not really an issue, would just explain the temps ;D
 
W.Feather said:
So you have 5 fans on the radiator? Are the ones in "push/pull" the same speed? If not that can cause some issues flow wise.


I'd drop it down to just those 3 fans

As for the voltage thing --- not really an issue, would just explain the temps ;D
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Yes again on the fans. I have a HaF X case with the three 120mm fans pushing and the two top 200mm fans pulling. I HIGHLY doubt they're running the same speed. If I feel like experimenting with it sometime I may try it with out the two 200mm fans to see if it makes a difference. I can see how that would affect airflow but I don't think it's hurting much right now. I will check the voltages out though because that would explain a lot.

Do you think a "better" radiator would help? Maybe a thicker one?
 
An RS360 should be more than enough for a i7 930, that wouldnt be the issue. your temps are still well within safe values.
 
W.Feather said:
An RS360 should be more than enough for a i7 930, that wouldnt be the issue. your temps are still well within safe values.
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I think you hit the nail on the head... And it's interesting to me. I have no idea why the motherboard is working this way, but it does explain my temps better to me.

While idling my voltage via CPU-Z is @ 1.376 V. Under full load it actually drops to 1.344 V. Like I said, I have not touched my voltage on this thing. And a big part of that is I was worried I'd damage it because I was unsure. When I found out the motherboard would adjust the voltage itself I thought "great", it was designed by people that know a lot more than I do about it and assumed they wouldn't allow it to damage my hardware... To much. So far it's been a good assumption.

At any rate, high voltage on my CPU idling definitely explains my temps. Glad to know. Also, I ran Prime95 for about 40 minutes straight and the highest my temp got was 80 degrees Celsius on one core. That was with the fans pushing set on their lowest setting. Once I cranked them up it dropped down to around 74 degrees Celsius and probably would have dropped a bit further had I've let it run a bit longer. I only gave it between three to five minutes to cool just to see how well it would work. Wouldn't be surprised if under load with the fans turned up if it'd run within 70 degrees Celsius or less... I can live with that pretty well considering on air I was pushing around 90.

I don't know if there is anything I could, or should do about the voltages at this point. Like I said... It's stable and doesn't BSoD on me so I guess I'll just leave it alone unless recommended otherwise.

Thanks for everyone's help and input.
 
Still sounds a little high for the setup, however there are so many different variables. Good to know that the issue is tied to a high idle voltage. The bios is typically good when not overclocked for voltage regulation, however in my experience when you start overclocking, it just shoots that to hell.
 
Both your idle voltage and clock speed are contributing to higher then normal idle temps...mostly the high voltage.

Most users run 1.6ghz with under voted VCORE at idle, compared to your 2.4ghz and high voltage - your idle volts are what some people run at full load OC'D :).

Nothing to worry about, change voltage from auto and put speed step back to normal 1.6ghz and your temps will drop down.
 
<Puck> said:
Both your idle voltage and clock speed are contributing to higher then normal idle temps...mostly the high voltage.

Most users run 1.6ghz with under voted VCORE at idle, compared to your 2.4ghz and high voltage - your idle volts are what some people run at full load OC'D :).

Nothing to worry about, change voltage from auto and put speed step back to normal 1.6ghz and your temps will drop down.
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Makes perfect sense to me now all things considered. Honestly I'd rather have my CPU run at 1.6GHz on idle like it did when stock... Is that something I can change even with the overclock? I assumed speed step was locked in it's frequency drop and that when I adjusted the multiplier for my OC is automatically adjusted the speed step upward.

Also what would be a good recommendation of voltage if I go the route of adjusting it manually? A good starting point would be nice and I can go from there.

W.Feather said:
Still sounds a little high for the setup, however there are so many different variables. Good to know that the issue is tied to a high idle voltage. The bios is typically good when not overclocked for voltage regulation, however in my experience when you start overclocking, it just shoots that to hell.
Click to expand...


And I think the overclock is exactly what did it.
 
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