3 way SLI 970 Strix Temps??

[rickybear]

Good afternoon people.

I recently "upgraded" from 3x Asus 780's to 3x 970 Strix's
I didnt opt for the 980s as the increase isnt worth the £200 extra price tag they carry.

I have custom water cooled the 3 gpus and included them in a loop with my cpu which is a 5930k Intel.

My main question is temps on the gpus, I know the standard cards will idle higher then reference cards due to the 0db fan which only comes on under a certain load %.

Im currently idling @ gpu1: 34 Degrees C gpu2: 32Degrees C, gpu3: 34 Degrees C.
Underload they will reach around 70 Degrees C.

Im a little worried as I was on the understanding that with the water cooling loop they should be idling alot lower and underload around 40-50 Degrees C.

Have I done something wrong or is what Im experiencing correct?
I run 3 monitors in nvidia surround : 5760x1080 and 1 accessory display at 1080x1920.

Thanks guys and looking forward to hearing back.

Cheers
Rick

[Chino]

Watercooling does help lower temperatures. But it all depends on your setup though.

[rickybear]

Sorry, I should have added that Im using an ek water cooling system.
I have a 360 Rad up top as exhast, and a 240 rad in front as intake, then 1 240 fan on rear as exhaust.

The water blocks are universal ek blocks as they didnt stock the 780 full card waterblocks anymore, which was a blessing really as didnt expect to have to upgrade to 900 series and wanted to wait for pascal, but was having problems with drivers and such with latest invidia update.

[Nate152]

Hello rickybear

Your gtx 970's are running warm for being liquid cooled, 40c-50c is what you should expect. When they are under load for a while are the rads blowing hot air?

[rickybear]

Ye. The rads are blowing out warm air through the top and the rear.
Might I have applied to much thermal paste on the gpu and not making a good bond or is there something else I should be looking at?

Thanks for your help guys
Rick

[Nate152]

It's possible, too much thermal paste is just as bad as not enough, how did you apply the thermal paste?

What pump do you have and is it running at 100%?

What radiators do you have? Are the fans in push, pull or both?

[rickybear]

I apples the thermal paste that was supplied with the ek water blocks. I put a small blob in the middle and smoothed it out over the gpu.

I'm using an ek pump/res kit. It only comes at one speed doesn't it. And I'm using the ek rads. 1x360 and 2x240.
I have 2 front fans as push and the 3 top mointend as pull.
I have a cased mounted 240 that's on the rear as a pull too. Both pulls are exhausts to extract heat and the push as intakes.

Thanks again

[Nate152]

Thank you

If all three gtx 970's are reading about the same temperature it seems you applied the thermal paste correctly.

Maybe try cranking the fans up a little more.

List me the ek pump/res combo you have please, I want to take a look at it.

[rickybear]

Hey
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-xres-140-ddc-3-2-pwm-elite-incl-pump
thats the pump that Im using.

Thanks

[Nate152]

Ok that pump has a 4-pin pwm cable, do you have it connected to the cpu fan header and set to pwm with a low temperature of say 40c?