Greg, You continue to amaze me with your wide range of knowledge! Some comments mixed in below. I am beginning to think I may be chasing a ghost and shouldn't be so worried.
> -----Original Message----- > From: Greg Sevart > > The temperature behavior (fast rise and then fairly flat) is exactly what I > would expect in a properly functioning system. That's encouraging news. > 3.0GHz at 1.225 is a very mild overclock and not a high enough voltage bump > to result in a lot of extra heat. This would also explain the minor difference > you observed when underclocking > One test you could run would be to go further--drop the vcore to around > 1.1v, frequency to 2GHz or less, and maybe even disable all but 1 core. Tried this (except for the disabling of 3 cores) and didn't see an appreciable difference. > Does the radiator inlet feel warm when you touch it? It (and the water) > shouldn't be much over ambient room temperature. The radiator and tubing feels cool to my touch, so I assume it is about room temperature. > of the water--what mix of coolant are you using? If I remember correctly, it was a 10% solution of the "anti-freeze" provided in the kit mixed with distilled water. It looks clear with a green tint. > It's possible that the loop has a restriction or the pump is defective, resulting > in insufficient water flow. When I tested the system after assembly, the flow was observable and seemed correct. > This may even be a case where it came with > debris/contamination from the factory or retailer. Along those lines, you > could consider disassembling the water block and examining the pin matrix > on the block's internal plate. If there was any small debris, it would probably > collect in the very fine mesh on the block's surface, and that would reduce its > effectiveness greatly. Be advised that disassembling the block will void its > warranty. The fact that the temp rises and falls quickly would seem to argue against a blockage. And I don't want to void the warranty. Except for the higher than ambient temperatures at idle, the system seems to be working. Under "normal usage," the temps peak in the mid 50 (C) and reach the low to mid 70s under 100% load (which is a seldom seen, long term condition). > My instinct is still to suspect a bad physical mating between the block and the > processor's IHS. It could be something like a defective mount, warped > motherboard, warped block, or even factory plastic film on the block (it's > certainly easy enough to do)... I plan on disassembling again when I have some extra time to take another look at the block's surface. It seems to be spreading the TIM uniformly. Any hints on determining the other defects (defective mount, warped motherboard or block)> > Finally, I want to reiterate that your temps are not actually bad, they're just > higher than I would expect for that cooling gear given the frequency and > volts that you're feeding it. I guess the real test will come when the temps get into the 90s (F) or low 100s (and then again, it could be a cool summer here in the northwest). Thanks for all your help, suggestions and insights. Jim
