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I was replying to the comment of 'I don't mind sacrificing some speed if it makes leaks less likely'.
But to your point, undervolting is a good idea for air-cooled, sure.. but since the OP has a nice custom waterloop.. it would be a shame to sacrifice speed when the loop should be able to handle that even overclocked, let alone stock.
Sorry - I misunderstood what you were referring to :) I agree that if they're going to spend the money on a custom loop, then undervolting wouldn't make sense.
Some thoughts, I've got a watercooled 3090.
What are your water temps? If you don't have a water temp sensor then get the shop to fit one and hook it up to the temp sensor plug on the motherboard. Temp sensors are really cheap and water temp is critical in a custom loop.
Most pumps and coolant are rated to 60 degrees centigrade. PETG tubing will soften enough at much above that to start leaking around the o-rings in the fittings, Acrylic tubing is a better bet but you shouldn't be hittings those temps anyway in a well set up system. Soft tubing gets rid of the o-ring issue as it fits over a barb and is clamped down by a screw on collar. Some clear soft tubing will start to break down at those temps as well. I'm using ZMT soft tubing (black EPDM rubber). Not pretty but nigh on indestructible in this application. Adding radiator space will allow you to run the fans more slowly but I suspect that this isn't your issue.
What are your fan speeds and how are they controlled? Do you have exhaust fans as well? Even with water cooling you need to move air in and out of the case and through the radiator. If the case fans which I'm assuming are also the rad fans are controlled by the cpu temp then your cpu can be sitting idle and the fans ticking over while your GPU boils itself. Without air flow through the case the ambient temperature inside can raise to the point where it affects the loop. I'm using a piece of software called Argus monitor for fan control. It takes any value that the motherboard or GPU can read or a combination of up to three of those and lets you adjust fan speed accordingly.
Is the pump running? It doesn't need to be flat out, mine runs at 20% - 50% speed depending on water temp.
Is the GPU overclocked? Some 3090s can get close to 500w with all the dials turned up to 11. That's a big ask for any cooling system.
If the 80c you're seeing is on the GPU core then you have an issue somewhere. My setup is one 420mm 30mm thick rad with three 140 fans just for the GPU. At 375w with a mild overclock I'm seeing about 50 on the core, 62 on the hotspot and high 70s on the VRAM with a water temp in the mid 40s. Thats with room temp in the low 20c range. I could get it lower but I prefer to keep all the fans in the case under 1000rpm. I like it quiet.
Hmmm... Hi-temp chewing gum should do the trick!!
https://www.amazon.com/Sonoran-Spice-Carolina-Reaper-Gumballs/dp/B01N6EXSIT
Yes, I think I can now see why I am having problems too! Oh dear!
I just want to thank everyone that has replied to this for their incredibly useful feedback! I can't tell you how much help it has been.
I'm not sure as I don't have a sensor. Someone at work has also suggested this and I plan to get one installed.
I am not sure! I know that they are controlled by something because when a render starts, they speed up. I have checked the CPU temp and I know that's similar to the GPU. They both hit that temp pretty quickly too. The radiator fans are blowing (hot) air through the case, but there are no exhaust fans. I've downloaded a copy of Argus Monitor for when the PC comes back :)
Yes, it's running. I know sort of for the wrong reasons. When there's been a leak there are bubbles and I see them in the system, and because the level in the reservoir has dropped, I can see liquid swirling around in it. I was mpt aware the speed ever changed.
No, I haven't overclocked it.
This is the bit that worries me. I guess they'll take a look soon enough, I'll send it next week... Thank you very, very much! I can see I have a lot to learn.
You're welcome, I'm sure they'll get it set up for you. Running the pump at a steady speed is fine, the two common types were originally industrial pumps and they're over specced in terms of temps and flow rate. The recommended temp limit for pumps has more to do with being attached to a plastic tube rather than any limitation of the pump. I'd look into exhaust fans if you have room though. I bet it's getting toasty in that case.
You said the pump is working, but did the shop confirm it's working properly?... I've had fountain pumps that appear to be working fine, but once you compare them to another unit, you see the difference... I doubt the shop would be able to test it that way, but I really hope they have some ability to see if it's working at its specified flow rate... if it's not moving the water effectively, that's a huge part of your heat problem.
Also, I imagine this is a single manufacturer system (from the looks of it, Corsair) and not mix and match designed by the shop.
One more thing about the heat problem, the hotter the water the more likely you are to get a leak, because it increases the pressure in a sealed system.
I was gonna get a watercooled on this beast, but I chickened out. I figured my luck, it would spring a leak and kill my PC. Went with the tried and true giant noctua cooler for my CPU, a giant case for air flow, and lots of case fans.
Thanks, yes, I am sure they will sort it out. The air that comes out the back is certainly pretty hot, I don't need a radiator in the winter! I'll ask about the exhaust fans, I'm going to send it off next week, I badly want to get it up and running again, but boring things have made it hard to get the return sorted out.
They don't have it yet, I'll send it off next week. Something I don't want them to do is a bunch of upgrades without understanding what the problem is. They may well end up leaving.a fauty component, like the pump, in place.
It's mostly Corsair, but it's also a mix and match, so it has some other bits and pieces in there. The shop lets you choose the parts you want and I went with the Corsair case but Lian Li was another option, I think, and I'll probably pick that if I go for a bigger case.
I'd not considered the pressure, but I am pretty sure it only leaks whild rendering, and that may well explain it.
Thanks again for you insight,
I think despite this experience, I don't regret it. It looks great (I am shallow!) and it's not too noisy, although you can certainly tell when it's rendering!
On the subject of temperature and fan sensors, you might find this interesting. (About 24 minutes)
It's about an open-source fan controller program which is more full featured than all the paid-for and included-with-a-product ones. Interestingly, it also notices liquid-cooler pumps and tells you what speed those are going at, too.
I keep the tower behind my monitor so less dust gets to it. Would actually prefer none of the pretty LED, my PC is in my bedroom lol. Runnin renders or whatever overnight, it's counterproductive to gettin to sleep if it looks like close encounters of the third kind on my desk hahaha
Thanks, very interesing! I'll put that on the machine when it comes back.
I love all the pretty lights, but then it's not in my bedroom. I might think very differently if it was
Well, in a move that may suggest I have more money than sense, I decided to upgrade the cooling system to have 3 radiators and RGB fans. It will look pretty, and give me piece of mind I hope.
But now I'm wondering whether I should consider overclocking. I know it's probably a noob question, but is that as simple as changing the BIOS or is there more to it than that?
But as to the original cause, that was indeed the tubes deforming from the heat. They didn't find any obvious issues with the system.
put in a liquid cooling system back in march, and it was a bir frustrating. used hard tubes, so you need to be fairly precise, and i'm not a fairly precise handyman. especially given i have hair on my head thicker than the rubber seals on these things.
however, my PC isn't getting moved anywhere. i've installed a valve to empty the liquid.
i won't need to upgrade for at least 3 years, at which point i'd probably just buy a whol;e new PC.
so...
silicone is your friend.i chucked a bit into the joints and was done.everything works smooth and nice and i have the comfort of knowing it's not leaking anywhere. for the person scared of heat, i live in melbourne. my PC sits under my desk and i'm rendering anywhere between 5-7 hours a day. it's sometimes so hot in here i installed a fan under the desk to keept he hot air from sort of hanging around there.
i'm happy.
silicone.
Thanks! I thought it got unbearably hot last summer with the PC on when it was maybe 30C - that's probably quite chilly where you are!
The old system was hard tubing, but this time I'm going for soft this time.
it gets chilly, for sure, but I'm in an apartment which is fairly warm to be honest. we had to use the aircon until pretty late into april. which is unusual. only been here for a year, so not sure if that's normal. but the room itself gets pretty hot partly because the PC runs hot (not the components, but the air it pushes out from the radiators.
if i had to do this build again, i might have gone with soft tubing. but i'd probably keep the silicone around in case. :D
if you can't gaffa, silicone.
Only three radiators? Are you nuts?
Seriously though, that should run cool and quiet.
As for overclocking the cpu, I've got a 10700k on an Asus board, I've enabled MCE (multi core enhancement) on the bios and left it at that, Google MCE and 10900k and see what you think. I suspect that the shop will allready have done this as it asks when you first boot the system and you have watercooling. You can also overclock manually through the bios, or through the Intel XTU app in windows or use the auto overclock settings in the Asus windows software. Real world gains will be small.
For the 3090 it's something to tinker with but I've not found it worth the effort as they're allready running close to the point of diminishing returns. Your boost clocks will already be higher on standard settings because the temps are lower on water. Do it manually with MSI afterburner (runs with any GPU brand) or hit ALT Z and look at the performance tab for auto overclocking if you have Geforce Experiance. Truthfully the best you're going to get is about a 3% reduction in render times for an extra 50w power draw and an increase in gpu core and ram temps.
My PC is under a desk which more or less fits exactly into an alcove. It can get unpleasant on the old anatomical elements with it kicking out 550w worth of exhaust under there.
I even tried changing the fans to top and back intake and front exhaust but it didn't cool as well and there was a weird and annoying wind noise with the rear as an intake. Considered taking the dremmel to the rear fan mount but ended up just putting the fans back to the original orientation.
The heat also attracts cats.
Thanks! For such small gains I think I'll leave it as it is!
Random cats that aren't affiliated with you or your household and had no way of entering the premises unassisted?
Or family cats that live there?
I ask because I found out that cats use second hand sofas as a teleportation media... I had several friends who in their younger years picked up "sidewalk sofas" only to find out they generated random cats.
I'm wondering if the two phenomena are related or connected in any way.
Either way, be careful... cat hair clogging the air intakes to the geothermal cooling systems was what was responsible for the destruction of the lost city of Altantis... Whole cats clogging a radiator intake on a PC is probably equally bad.
Lulz. I don't have cats or I think they'd be there all the time. I was trying to be polite and anatomical elements is the perfect statement. I also find myself sitting in puddles of sweat sometimes thanks to the leather chair with that heat, hence the fan aimed right at my anatomics...
I think there is a general issue with this build. The case looks to be rather small, barely fitting the components in.
What I see on the picture is a 360mm radiator with the fans on the outside using the air from your office pushing it through the radiator. The heated air then stays in your chassis. I can't see any airflow solution to exhaust the hot air from the case. Keep in mind that water cooling is a superior solution to keep components cool, but the parts still radiate heat to the environment. And the other parts that are not part of the loop radiate heat as well (mosfets, PSU...).
Also, a 3090 and an i9-10900 on a single radiator is a big task. Normally, you'd have an i9 on a separate 280 or 360 rad.
I have now gone for a bigger case, so sounds like that was a good move, although of course the extra radiators meant I had to! The air was flowing out the back but there were no exhaust fans as you say.
Yesterday it was one of mine, one that turned up a few years ago and never left - so he's probably mine and one random cat that just turns up sometimes. I've seen him on the sofa so that probably explains it.
At least one of mine can teleport. I saw him on the sofa, then I went to the window and there's a big tabby cat across the street! Turned around and he's back on the sofa. Spooky.
I've got three 2000rpm 140mm fans on the front of the PC, I have to keep the fan speed down or I sometimes have to peel a cat off the front.