High temps on 4770k, effect of adding additional radiator

[diepvriezer]

Overclocking guru's!

I've recently built a new water cooled system with an i7 4770k CPU and a 770GTX watercooled GPU. This is cooled by an XSPC EX240 slim radiator with Noctua PWM fans and a Swiftech MCP35X PWM pump.

The problem: my temperatures I'm getting are pretty high when overcloking. When running OCCT with AVX Linpack at 4.3GHz (1.2Vcore, 1.8Vin) I'm seeing core temperatures as high as 79 degrees Celsius. Initially I thought the termal paste was the culprit as there is a huge difference between the core temperatures. Core 4 always seems to run at least 5 degrees lower than core 1, but I've read that this might just be the thermal paste under the IHS. I've applied and reapplied different types of thermal paste using the vertical line method as documented by Arctic Silver, always using the Arctic Silver 2-step thermal paste remover, but I can't seem to get it any lower.

When running such CPU stress tests the temperature of the GPU rises from around 27 degrees C to 50 degrees, which leads me to believe the water in the loop is getting pretty hot.

What do you guys think the effect will be if I add another EX240MM with 2 Noctua P12PWM fans? I'm using a pull configuration by the way.

 

[Rustyy117]

Hi,

Certainly adding another radiator into the loop will help with your temps, I'm not surprised your temps are as high as they are when your cooling a haswell CPU and a reasonably high end graphics card with a slim 120.2 radiator.
The difference in temps between the cores is very much normal (If you search online you'll find loads of people who have noticed the same thing), one of my cores runs 9C cooler than the rest under load for example.

You may want to consider de-lidding your CPU to reduce temps aswell. (plenty of guides out there) just beware that it'll void your CPU warranty and is some what risky.

 

[diepvriezer]

I've read about de-lidding and I still need to be convinced about the long term consequences. But is anyone brave enough to hazard a guess as to how many degrees my top temperature will drop with another (thick, 6CM) 240 rad? I'm considering buying the XSPC RX240 instead of the EX240 I mentioned before. Still only using a pull configuration, as two fans are half the price of the rad.

 

[rubix_1011]

You simply need more radiator space than a single 240. Most people allocate a 240 per CPU or GPU...but certainly not for both...especially when overclocking. An OC i7 4770k and GTX770...you really need to determine your OC loop TDP and plan a radiator expansion accordingly.

 

[diepvriezer]

Yeah I thought so, I follow a guy named DazMode on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxVxifYkR2o), he sells watercooling products and has a lot of videos. Basically he said one 120MM per component, but that's not including OC. I started off the build with the intention to run silently, but the focus has shifted somewhat to overclocking. Plus, it was intended for a 2600k, but I sold that one and replaced it with a much hotter 4770k. I'll add a thick 240 rad over the next week and post the results.

 

[diepvriezer]

Quick follow up: added a 6CM 240 rad (XSPC RX240) and the temps dropped by 2 degrees. I bought the wrong fans though, so I'm returning those and will post results with the F12 PWM fans which have more static pressure.