CM 690 First time water cool
- Thread starter max51
- Start date
Soldato
Struggling to make out from the pictures, what were your max temps in Prime95 and Heaven?
The temps in the top pic look pretty high so I'm guessing they were with the old setup?
All looks good though. Getting temped by the RX240 rad, although might just get an external 1080 rad (or 2) if my noise & temps don't improve.
The temps in the top pic look pretty high so I'm guessing they were with the old setup?
All looks good though. Getting temped by the RX240 rad, although might just get an external 1080 rad (or 2) if my noise & temps don't improve.
Soldato
Looking good mate, nice job.
Though I dont really rate XSPC rads tbh, I had the RX480 and RS240, and I got better temps using my old Alphacool triple rad using the same fans. (the Alphacool rad was only 45mm thick as opposed to the 56mm thick RX series)
The new Thermochill TA series rads are much nicer imo.
I've tried the TFC quad X-Changer, XSPC TX480, and Thermochill PA and TA series, and the TA rad is by far the best out of them all.
I expected to see a dramatic drop in temps going from a dual and triple to a dual and quad (the XSPC RX480), but instead I ended up having worse temps, and a year down the line about 2 weeks after my warranty expired the RX rad developed a leak from one of the center tubes.
They are one of the most expensive quad rads out there, that's what made me buy the thing in the first place, but like I said it didn't perform as well as any of the other rads I have tested personally.
Also the finish on them is pretty poor as well, the paint was flaking off my RX480 when I bought it, and it only got worse as time went on, same with the Feser X-changer, but my Thermochill rads have a much durable finish on them imo.
I got a good deal on my RX480 I got it from OcUK for £60 as opposed to the prices they sell for now (I got it when they were selling off all the old WC stock), but after owning one there's no way I'd advise anybody to go out and spend £114 on the RX480 simply because of the issues I had, like I said, I expected to see a change in temps going from a triple and double to a quad and double, but instead I ended up with higher temps.
Though I dont really rate XSPC rads tbh, I had the RX480 and RS240, and I got better temps using my old Alphacool triple rad using the same fans. (the Alphacool rad was only 45mm thick as opposed to the 56mm thick RX series)
The new Thermochill TA series rads are much nicer imo.
I've tried the TFC quad X-Changer, XSPC TX480, and Thermochill PA and TA series, and the TA rad is by far the best out of them all.
I expected to see a dramatic drop in temps going from a dual and triple to a dual and quad (the XSPC RX480), but instead I ended up having worse temps, and a year down the line about 2 weeks after my warranty expired the RX rad developed a leak from one of the center tubes.
They are one of the most expensive quad rads out there, that's what made me buy the thing in the first place, but like I said it didn't perform as well as any of the other rads I have tested personally.
Also the finish on them is pretty poor as well, the paint was flaking off my RX480 when I bought it, and it only got worse as time went on, same with the Feser X-changer, but my Thermochill rads have a much durable finish on them imo.
I got a good deal on my RX480 I got it from OcUK for £60 as opposed to the prices they sell for now (I got it when they were selling off all the old WC stock), but after owning one there's no way I'd advise anybody to go out and spend £114 on the RX480 simply because of the issues I had, like I said, I expected to see a change in temps going from a triple and double to a quad and double, but instead I ended up with higher temps.
Last edited:
Hi to answer your questions on the temps. The top one is a 20 min run with MSI Kombustor a full on extreme torture test. With the GPU's on aircool after that time the temps hit 90c and still climbing but with the water cool they stayed around the 70c mark. The next test i ran was the prime 95 for the cpu and the temps hit a temp max of 32c after a 30 min run which to be honest with you are no different to when i had the H70 on the cpu, but my main concern for watercooling was the GPU's. The idle temps have dropped from 45+ degrees on air to mid to high thirties on water. Heaven benchmark only hit a high of 54 degree c where on air it was very quickly gong into the 70's and even eighties at times. So as you can see there is quite a big difference for having the GPU's watercooled. As for the bay res and pump, they are so quiet. the only time i hear quite a bit of noise is when the fans are on 100%but the fan sweetspot seems to be around 50% for the system fans and 65% for the rad fans and then it runs very quiet. i am well impressed with it thus far. hope you get your noisy res and pump sorted.
Thanks for the advice on the XSPC rads i will keep an eye on them and update if i have any problems with any of the kit i have installed in my system. At the moment all seems to be running well and my temps seem to be very good. The good thing about that bottom rad is it hides a lot of the cables
Thanks everyone so far for your help and comments.
Now my turn to ask you guys a question?
The side panel i have is the Cooler Master standard windowed panel with the fan placement vent. I am not that keen on the vent, good yes to add an extra fan for air cool but for watercool i do not think it is needed. So i feel a change coming on but which?
Total clear acrylic.
Blue tint acrylic
Or a nice mirrored finish acrylic.
Answers please on a post card
Now my turn to ask you guys a question?
The side panel i have is the Cooler Master standard windowed panel with the fan placement vent. I am not that keen on the vent, good yes to add an extra fan for air cool but for watercool i do not think it is needed. So i feel a change coming on but which?
Total clear acrylic.
Blue tint acrylic
Or a nice mirrored finish acrylic.
Answers please on a post card
Associate
Great build! What about a smoky/charcoal fininshed acrylic?
Soldato
I think it looks much nicer than my build and I think you did the right thing getting the parts you did up front (EK CPU block and the 650 pump). I bought a cheaper kit and ended up replacing mine, making it more expensive in the end.
Few too many lights in it for me (I prefer my PCs to be dark in case I leave them on overnight) but I think it looks good. Also glad you managed to get a 240mm rad to fit in the bottom. there's not a lot of space once you have a PSU down there is there!?
Surprised you haven't overclocked the CPU a bit though. As it is your load temps are like my idle temps! (1055T @ 3.5GHz)
Mind you my chip/mobo does require quite a few volts when overclocking.
If my results turned out as good as yours I suspect I'd have been happier with mine.
Lets hope for both our sakes that DavyBoy's experience with the XSPC Rads was a one-off. If the bottom one leaked it would be bad enough, if the tops one leaked...
Few too many lights in it for me (I prefer my PCs to be dark in case I leave them on overnight) but I think it looks good. Also glad you managed to get a 240mm rad to fit in the bottom. there's not a lot of space once you have a PSU down there is there!?
Surprised you haven't overclocked the CPU a bit though. As it is your load temps are like my idle temps! (1055T @ 3.5GHz)
Mind you my chip/mobo does require quite a few volts when overclocking.
If my results turned out as good as yours I suspect I'd have been happier with mine.
Lets hope for both our sakes that DavyBoy's experience with the XSPC Rads was a one-off. If the bottom one leaked it would be bad enough, if the tops one leaked...
Thanks will have to add that to my list, as that would look good as well. Now even more confused
Will have to see if i can see some Acrylic samples before i get a new window. Or put it to the vote.
Thanks for the comments. I will be doing a bit of overclocking now i have a good cooling system. The CPU has already been pushed to its limit on aircooling, a 1090T running at 4.1GHz which i thought was a fairly good OC for that chip. Those Phenoms will never clock as high as the intel chips, but i use AMD as it is such a good allrounder and extremly good performance for the price. If you look at the bencmarks against the previous £900 i7's there is not that much between them.
Update.
Braid has arrived so i can now tidy and sort the rest of my cables, also the clear Acrylic as well all marked and ready to cut.
Had to get a new toy to do the cutting
Braid has arrived so i can now tidy and sort the rest of my cables, also the clear Acrylic as well all marked and ready to cut.
Had to get a new toy to do the cutting
Thanks guys.very impressive, i hope i gain enough confidence to try watercooling at some point too
I just took the bull by the horns and and built my system. Never having watercooled before had to start some where, any questions or problems the guys on here will help you and point you in the right direction, they did me and many thanks to all.
Associate
Nice job...
Hi all.
Another update, had a play with my Dremel today and cut out the Acrylic for the new side window. When i had cut to size got it fitted and now looking good, also added a fan to the back panel to help keep the Mobo a little cooler.
Another update, had a play with my Dremel today and cut out the Acrylic for the new side window. When i had cut to size got it fitted and now looking good, also added a fan to the back panel to help keep the Mobo a little cooler.
Just incase anyone was wondering. The fan i used is a 80mm x 15mm Silenx Xtrema pro series quiet fan, as there is not enough room to use a std 80mm fan. Also that fan will fit in the GPU bracket that comes with the 690 II advanced case.
Now a little more cable management and a final tidy and more pics for you of my first time having a go at water cooling.
Looks a lot better without the vented side panel.
In a couple of months starting with asking questions about watercooling i have gone from this.
To this.
Thanks again for every one that has commented and given advice, any questions or more advice would be good.
Any one else need help please feel free to ask, fun as well as a challange.
In a couple of months starting with asking questions about watercooling i have gone from this.
To this.
Thanks again for every one that has commented and given advice, any questions or more advice would be good.
Any one else need help please feel free to ask, fun as well as a challange.