Warm temps with corsair H50

explodatron

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I am using a Corsair H50 liquid cooler for my AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE. I idle about 45 on average, and 50-55 during heavy gaming (~57-59 while frapsing.) The CPU is overclocked to 3.9GHz.

These are pretty near the same temperatures I was getting with this cooler.

The only difference is with the air cooler I'd over heat while frapsing (max safe temp for this CPU are supposedly 61C.) Doesn't overheat anymore with the liquid cooling, but I figured I should be getting quite a bit lower temps the rest of the time.

The cooler is mounted firmly, and the pump should be getting full power. I have the pump plugged in via a 3-pin mobo header to molex adapter. Seems to be the only way to assure the pump is constantly getting full power. Using Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.

I did have to remove a 120mm fan on the top of my case to fit the radiator. I have two fans pulling air into the front of the case, a fan pulling air in from the back over the radiator, and a fan on the side of the case pulling air out. All of my other components are staying pretty cool under load, so I don't think it's an air flow problem.

So are these temps normal for my set up, or do I need to change things around?
 
Solution
Just to be clear, you are pulling on to the radiator from the back of the case?
Is your power supply also blowing hot air out the back? It might just be that you are pulling warm air into the radiator.

Also the H50 works best in a push-pull configuration, preferably with 2 of the same fans running at same rpm.

ncc74656

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The heatsink you had was pretty robust, if you were maxing temps with that then im not surprised the H50 is getting a bit over loaded. I view the H50 and other products like it as only slightly better in cooling compared to a good air heat-sink but with more headache due to the liquid. i don't put much faith in them. I suppose you could upgrade to a larger rad or add a second fan to the rad you have but first you need to know if the rad is getting over loaded or if the flow rate is to low/to fast for the block.

the temps you have are well with in operating temperature for the AMD but if you want to clock up and get ultra low temps you need a real liquid cooling solution.
 

Gamer-girl

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Just to be clear, you are pulling on to the radiator from the back of the case?
Is your power supply also blowing hot air out the back? It might just be that you are pulling warm air into the radiator.

Also the H50 works best in a push-pull configuration, preferably with 2 of the same fans running at same rpm.
 
Solution

explodatron

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Have not tried push-pull with the H50. I'm seeing a lot of other people say push-pull lowers their temps with the H50 considerably. I'll have to go out and pick up some screws later and try it.

Also, yeah the PSU is blowing hot air out the back. It's hitting a wall, so it doesn't have anywhere to go. Probably pulling it back into the case. I hadn't even thought of that. [:dav0r:5]

So what do you think would work best? Move the case so the PSU has somewhere to blow the air, change the direction the radiator fan is blowing, use push-pull on the radiator, or all of the above?
 

explodatron

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Yeah setting it up for push-pull dropped my temperate under full load about 10C (I also tightened up the cooler to the bracket). Hottest I've gotten while frapsing for about 1 hour straight was 48C. :)

I also picked up a Corsair HX850 to replace my Antec BP550 Plus. Maybe it's generating less heat, I don't know.
 

Gamer-girl

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Seems like you have pretty good temps now. I not sure if you need to do anything else, I don't know your computer configuration or where you place your case but if you want to try lowering your temps further you can do some experimenting if you want.

1. Pull air from inside the case through the radiator and push it out the back. ~ Also for this use the side fan to pull air in instead.

2. Place the radiator on the front of the case (I don't know if you can fit the radiator and two fans in there since you didn't mention you case).

3. Assuming your desktop is not under a desk and it fits, you could try pulling air in from the top of the case.