Hydro X Water cooling questions

[thomas.balint16]

So I'm done my build and I have a few questions.

 

1. Is the CPU block and the pump supposed to appear in icue devices ?

Mine doesn't appear which could be because I don't have them connected yet because the rgb cable is too short and I'm waiting for my extension to arrive.

 

2. I have a Intel i9 10900k , what temperatures should I be getting in idle / gaming? I realized that when I start my pc usually it idles around 30c . But than if I start gaming it goes up to around 55-60. I think that's normal , but after I'm done gaming it doesn't go back down to 30ish. Stays round 40c or so. Could be because of my house temperatures maybe.

 

Right now for example I'm seeing fluid temps 30c and CPU shows 40c. Is 10c difference normal ? I'm using NZXT CAM to monitor temps. What program do you guys suggest that's the most accurate?

 

3. I'm a bit confused on how to set up the performance profiles in icue.

When I go to create a custom profile it shows the sensor and there is a many things to pick from GPU ,CPU package or cores, ram, motherboard temps. What should I be picking there? and what are some good rpm setups for the fans and the pump ?

 

Here is a pick of the build.

https://forum.corsair.com/v3/attachment.php?attachmentid=39919&d=1608713702

 

Sorry for so many questions. I figured ill buy everything in one instead of making more posts.

 

Thanks!

[DevBiker]

1) You have to connect them to the RGB channel AND then configure them. It won't auto-detect them.

 

2) That sounds about right but it will also depend on your liquid temperature. What's your liquid temp after gaming? Does that go down as well? Note that it'll take longer for it to return to a lower temp.

 

3) For the radiator fans, you should go with the liquid temperature. That will be the temp sensor on the pump. For case/airflow fans ... probably temp sensors placed in the case itself. It's hard to get specific without knowing more about how your setup and airflow is configured.

[thomas.balint16]

1) You have to connect them to the RGB channel AND then configure them. It won't auto-detect them.

 

2) That sounds about right but it will also depend on your liquid temperature. What's your liquid temp after gaming? Does that go down as well? Note that it'll take longer for it to return to a lower temp.

 

3) For the radiator fans, you should go with the liquid temperature. That will be the temp sensor on the pump. For case/airflow fans ... probably temp sensors placed in the case itself. It's hard to get specific without knowing more about how your setup and airflow is configured.

 

Yeah the fluid temp does go back down but slowly .While gaming fluid was around 38 or so and cpu around 55-60. After i stopped gaming it started to go down slowly. In like 10 mins it was back to 30.

 

In the picture you can you can kind of see how its set up.

I have 6 intake fans in the front. fans /radiator/fans.

On top 6 exhaust fans same fans / radiator/ fans.

One exhaust in the back.

The way i have the loop is

Pump/ Reservoir > CPU > Radiator > Radiator > Back to Reservoir.

Waiting on my Strix water block and than i will be adding that in before the CPU.

[DevBiker]

Water temp is going to decrease more slowly. That is absolutely to be expected. But here's the issue that you have - with the radiator at the top set as exhaust, you are actually running waste heat from the front radiator AND the GPU through it. So that's going to have a negative impact on your overall cooling performance. Flip the top to intake and you'll see better coolant temps and quicker cool downs after gaming. That, in turn, will improve your CPU temps a bit.

[c-attack]

Right now for example I'm seeing fluid temps 30c and CPU shows 40c. Is 10c difference normal ? I'm using NZXT CAM to monitor temps. What program do you guys suggest that's the most accurate?

 

Yes, that is normal. The coolant temp is the lowest possible CPU temperature with 0 volts. You won't ever be in that state. Older CPUs would sit pretty flat at idle with low clocks and very low voltage. Newer CPUs do not. My 10900K hardly ever drops below 1.00 Vcore when in default auto voltage. My core temps will average +5-10C over the coolant temp "at idle", which is a rather temporary state most of the time. After gaming the coolant temp is up, so you likely see the same +10C offset on top of the coolant temperature at that moment.

[thomas.balint16]

Water temp is going to decrease more slowly. That is absolutely to be expected. But here's the issue that you have - with the radiator at the top set as exhaust, you are actually running waste heat from the front radiator AND the GPU through it. So that's going to have a negative impact on your overall cooling performance. Flip the top to intake and you'll see better coolant temps and quicker cool downs after gaming. That, in turn, will improve your CPU temps a bit.

 

Yeah that makes sense , the top radiator is probably useless right now or maybe just making things worse. For some reason I thought its best to have intake front and exhaust on top and back , but i guess that more so when there is no water cooling involved and you trying to cool your pc with air only. Its just going to be a pain now to flip those, ill wait until my gpu block arrives than ill have the flush the system anyways.

 

Flushing the system will be interesting too , never done it :sigh!:

 

Btw is it ok to add the gpu before the cpu in the loop ? Isn't the coolant going to warm up when passing trough the gpu and than not cooling the cpu as affectively ? Is it better to go GPU > Radiator > CPU > Radiator ?

[c-attack]

You are definitely not the first person to do this and so many "internet builder" pictures will show systems set-up for the camera, not ideal functionality. The style of most standard towers leads you that direction as well.

 

We were talking about this the other day and loop order. Short version: loop order does not matter except in very select circumstances. You might be in that group, if you keep things the way there are. We can talk about if you really want to run a reverse flow set-up or how to make front in/top out work as best as it can.

 

https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=202550

[LeDoyen]

That said, when watercooled, there won't be 70°C air exiting the GPU cooler inside the case.

at worse, the inside air in the current configuration will be a slightly warmer than ambient, so it will probably not matter as much? Thermodynamicists throwing stones my way...

Maybe before flipping the fans, give the loop a go as it is. then you'll have something to compare to when you set the top rad to intake.

 

In the end, each build reacts differently. There are general guidelines but the bottomline is experiment and do what works best for your build :) Sorry to say but... that's the fun side of watercooling :p

[LeDoyen]

I just redid all the wiring on my toy and was having a bit of fun warming up the room.

That should give you an idea of what water temperatures are like. I left Valley benchmark and Cinebench running until the loop was more or less heat soaked. Have a look at the difference between "hot" water entering the rads (water in) and "cold" water exiting the rads (water out).

 

 

just over 2°C, and that's because the pump is set to an inaudible level, at 2/3 speed. When i set it to 100% the temperature difference drops to 1°C.

Pump speed is basically a glorified delta T° slider (but drop it too much, and your GPU temp will start to climb to aircooling temperatures)

 

"hot" and "cold" are very relative. Basically by putting your GPU before CPU, you will increase the CPU temperature by only a couple of °C depending on your setup. Not worth worrying about.

[thomas.balint16]

Yeah what do you recommend for front in top out to work the best ? I would rather keep them like this if it doesn't make a huge difference. The fans look better facing the way they are now .

 

Like LeDoyen said right now I have the gpu in there blowing out hot air making the temperature inside the case higher. But once I install the gpu block there might not be as much heat and than flipping the fans wouldn't make a huge difference maybe.

 

So if you set the pump to 100% the water comes out warmer than if you have it at 2/3 speed ? I guess since its pushing the water slower it spends slightly more time in the rads allowing it to cool down bit more no?

 

Well now i know at least that the water coming out of the rads isn't going to be much cooler its just slight difference. I thought there would be at least 5-8c after coming out of rads.

 

On my previous build I had an all in one cooler. In this new build i went for custom because its a big case and i had the space and mostly for looks.

But I enjoyed doing it , it was a nice challenge and I'm happy the way it turned out but ofc i wanna make sure everything is set up correctly and working the way it should.

[LeDoyen]

with the pump going slow, the water coming out will be cooler, but the water coming in will also be warmer because it dwells longer in the waterblocks. so, all in all it's roughly the same.

 

I don't know what will work the best :) you'll have to figure it out through testing hehe

in theory all intake to the rads should be cooler. In practice, depending if your case is in the corner of the room.. where fresh air comes into your room if any, your fan curve, the static pressure of your fans, what dust filters you use and where.. etc.. all this can completely change from expected results.

 

Top inlet with dust filter may do identical as top outlet without filter too..

There's so many variables.. and your GPU block isn't yet in the loop.

 

One thing to remember is radiators's efficiency rise with the temperature difference between coolant and ambient.

The warmer your water is, the easier they dissipate heat.

So if you are able to maintain a relatively low coolant temperature, front in, top out may be just fine.

If for some reason the loop runs hotter, the front rad will start to really pump out heat in the top one and then flipping the fans will give a big bonus.

 

Yet another thing to consider, just to bombard you with more info lol : as your PC is currently set up, it must be running with a somewhat balanced case pressure, or slightly negative, which tends to accumulate dust a bit faster.

with front in, top in, with filters, it will run positive pressure and will stay clean a bit longer.

 

yay for compromises eh :p

[c-attack]

Right now with the GPU spewing heat all over, the only thing you can do is flip the top radiator fans to intake to try and prevent pulling all that 45-50C air through the cooling system.

 

Once the GPU is part of the loop, then you will need to make decisions about loop order and whether you want to continue front/top intake or try front/top exhaust (reverse flow). A lot of that may depend on what is outside the case in terms of environment.