Surprise! Koolance idle temp problems!

[cluelessguy]

You're covering the entire CPU with thermal compound before putting the block on? That makes me nervous already. Check THIS out for a good starting point for applying thermal compound. Bottom line, for most thermal compounds, use very little, and let the heatsink/waterblock do the spreading for you.

You need some pressure for the waterblock to work right. You've got a pretty solid backplate with that block, so you don't have to fear warping the motherboard unless you REALLY overdo it (i.e, tighten the screws until the springs are fully compressed, and then keep tightening some more).

Oh.

It kind of said in the Koolance CPU-340 cooling block instructions: "Apply thermal paste to the CPU directly. Spread the paste so that it evenly covers the CPU. A piece of thick paper (such as a business card) works well for this. Place the CPU cooler on top of the processor."

My CPU looked like this after I had applied the exact same thermal grease (Zalman ZM-STG1):


(Please note that's not my CPU in the image but it is the same grease used and applied in the same fashion).

Going to reapply it and tighten screws a little more and see what happens. Thanks.

Edit: Here are the results after reapplying compound (used the supplied Koolance compound instead of the Zalman one) and tightening the screws a little further:
http://www.airhostone.net/dump/cooli...pound-reapply/
Fan was on speed 10, got a lot further this time before the 'CPU too hot' message. Probably going to have to purchase the upgrade pump, oh installation will be a nightmare!

[100122923]

UPDATE ur bios to 0601 !!! I 2 had this same problem with my striker ii extreme motherboard. Mine came with the 0402 bios (wrong temp reading), flashed it to 0507 (still wrong reading). I haven't tried all the bioses, but I know 0402 & 0507 didn't work for me. 0601 seems to report the right readings.

[cluelessguy]

Thanks for the suggestion! A BIOS update to fix temp readings really sounds promising, however I don't see that BIOS update on the ASUS site...

http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us

I only see 0101, 0402 (current) and 0508...

[sjbuck]

Intersting thread, I have the same Exos2 along with 6600@3.4GHz @ 1.375v, Idle is around 48, load is 60-65. I'd expected much lower temps than this. |They used to be higher until I changed the water block and used some arctic silver. I'm also convinced that the flow rate is too low through the system. I really don't want to have to buy a new pump (£117) for this thing on the off chance that it'll reduce my temps a feww degrees. I may trade the lot in and go for a custom solution, or some sort of ghetto varition on what I already have
Will watch this thread with interest, particularly if you get a new pump.

Cheers
Steve

[100122923]

Thanks for the suggestion! A BIOS update to fix temp readings really sounds promising, however I don't see that BIOS update on the ASUS site...

http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us

I only see 0101, 0402 (current) and 0508...

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/BIO...IOS-0601.shtml

[cluelessguy]

Thanks. Tried that but I'm still getting the same idle temps. Will test through OCCT and see if any improvements are made.

I spoke to ASUS support earlier and they told me if my Mobo temps don't increase as much as the CPU, it may be a problem with the board so... I'm just trying to figure out to configure OCCT to show the Mobo temps to perform a more detailed test.

[brammers]

I may trade the lot in and go for a custom solution, or some sort of ghetto varition on what I already have
Will watch this thread with interest, particularly if you get a new pump.

Cheers
Steve

I did just that a few months ago. Well, I kept the Koolance so I can watercool the "spare" computer when I get a new case.

http://www.bramleys.org/radbox

That pretty much an Exos on steroids. Half the noise, half the temp, twice the kooling capacity oh and I don't have to worry about Alu in the loop now!

Or you could track down a Waterkeg (which was what inspired me to build my box btw).

J

[cluelessguy]

Woah, changing coolant from Fluid XP to the Koolance one really helped... Now I finally passed the OCCT test:
http://www.airhostone.net/dump/cooli...lance-coolant/

Also, there seems to be a lot more activity going on in the reservoir, I think the pump's really doing its thing now.

However, I think my biggest regret in all of this is that I should have purchased the PC4-1025BK instead... exactly the same case with the more powerful pump.

Who knows, maybe in a month or two I'll go and purchase it -- it's apparently 2.25 GPM!

Bram, I think the water keg idea is a little too hardcore for me at this stage! But thanks for the idea.

[Naja002]

The rig that I am typing this on is ~4yr old koolance PC2-901BW. The Cpu (P4 3.2C--478), NB and 4 HDs are WCed. Right now, its showing 35C (96F) with the CPU running 100% Rosetta and ~80F ambient temp.

But the original koolance dual pump res started cracking, etc and I replaced it with a (DDC) swiftech 350. All-n-all, I'm not unhappy with this setup--except for the frickin' aluminum.....makes "upgrading"/switching WCing components difficult.

If you need to swap/upgrade/replace the pump(s)--just toss a DDC in there and forget about it.....

HTH

[cluelessguy]

Ok, uh, this is weird. The 0603 BIOS for my motherboard may not have done anything but 0703 dropped the idle temps to around 23-25C... At least that's what BIOS and SpeedFan report. The core temps still appear to range from 25-50C so I'm not sure what this general CPU temp is supposed to represent.

Either way, I'm confused -- does that temp range sound normal given my setup? (0.5GPM koolance pump, one single waterblock, koolance's own coolant)

Edit (July 28 2008): Installed upgrade pump, it's much noisier and the whole kit is still useless... overheats on a warm day... Gone back to air cooling. Do not go anywhere near Koolance!!