H100i Elite Capellix coolant

[killersjp]

Hi. Just installed my H100i Elite Capellix and I was wondering what other actual owners are getting as their coolant temps when running games. I know much is dependent on what games and pc setup. Here is mine. I9 9900k at stock speeds with a RTX 3090 FE inside a Cooler Master CM690 III. The rad is at the top of the case exhausting through the radiator, 1 120 fan on the rear and two 140 fans blowing air into the case from the bottom front. My idle coolant temperature is about 32c and gaming from about 39c to 42c I think my 3090 must effect the temps a bit. Are these temps fairly normal and safe. Oh, fans set to balanced. Thanks.

[c-attack]

I would say that is about right. You are certainly affected by GPU heat and more specifically everyone is affected by ambient case temperature. It is both the minimum possible coolant temperature at idle and load. This is why it is hard to pin down exact ranges and numbers.

 

If you remove that aspect, its mostly down to watts. I would expect a 9900K to go about +8C coolant with a constant 200W load. That is likely more than you will see for normal use and only for continuous 100% load. You can assess this using a basic stress test in a non-GPU load environment. CPU-Z is a good one because it's not overly taxing and it is linear in load. You can see the coolant and CPU temp go +1C in step (and also -1C on the cool down).

 

As for an expected baseline coolant at idle, I generally give +4-7C over ambient, but it is extremely situational. Case design, radiator position, idle CPU power, and even the case's position in the room matter. If you have a case in a corner, the surrounding area will not be the same temp as the rest of the room.

 

The gaming load is the hardest to assess. There is going to be some CPU load (probably 75-100W worth depending on your OC settings), but the majority of the heat is going to be local ambient coming off the GPU. If you compare the coolant temp to something like the MB temp sensor, you can get an idea of how much is CPU coolant temp and how much is unavoidable. Just remember coolant changes 1=1 with CPU temp, so there is no need to blast fans for 2-3C of coolant temperature just to reduce the CPU temp by 2-3C. For most people, that means making their own fan curves rather than the presets.

[killersjp]

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like it’s working ok then