High temperature problems with Corsair H50?

bigboss65 · #1 09-15-2009, 04:05 PM

Hi, I recently bought a Corsair H50 on the strength of the review in CustomPC and Bit-tech. I couldn't wait to get it and install it in my PC, this is when the problems started.

I cleaned my PC out ready to install it, making sure to remove all traces off of thermal paste from my processor heat spreader. I then installed the H50 according to the manual provided using the LGA775 bracket. Everything seemed to be okay, I booted up and removed all fan speed controls in BIOS to make sure the unit got a continuous 12V supply. The only thing I did that differs from the manual is I used a different radiator fan (120mm Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1450rpm), also recommended by CustomPC for being a very efficient and quiet fan.

I then installed a new OS and started to overclock my system again. I have previously had a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro installed and was running at 4.2GHz. At this clock speed with a VCore of around 1.3v my temperatures were around 34oc idle and 50oc load. No problem I thought, the Corsair should be able to top this!

I fired up Prime95, CoreTemp and HWMonitor to stress and check temperatures during the burn in. Before I started the burn in I took a base line temperature of 34oc and after 9 hours stressing my processor I had a highest temperature of 57oc.

I thought I had installed the unit incorrectly, so I turned the fan attached to the radiator from an intake to an exhaust hoping it might induce a better airflow inside my case, sadly nothing. I then removed the unit removing the pre-installed thermal paste and cleaned the heat plate and CPU heat spreader with acetone and water to remove any residue and installed MX2 compound to the unit hoping this would have some effect, still nothing. When I removed the heat plate both times the thermal paste had spread evenly over the CPU heat spreader in a thin layer.

I then decided to underclocked and undervolted my processor, I reduced my E8400 to a clock speed of 2.2GHz at a VCore of 1.1v, still the temperatures were 34oc idle. This is when I questioned that the unit may have been faulty. I checked airflow in my case, but there were no cables or any obstructions.

I have 5 fans installed in my "Antéc 900", two 120mm intakes, a 200mm roof exhaust and 120mm side and back exhausts, so there should be no stagnant airflow around the CPU block or radiator. At idle I have a ambient case temperature of 30oc and around 45oc under load when playing GTA4 with my Freezer 7 installed (these temperatures were the same with my H50 installed), I can't give figures for when the H50 was installed as I returned it to the supplier, which I'm having trouble convincing may be faulty.

The supplier tested the unit on a QX9775 and received max load temperatures of 48oc in Prime95, however they did not install the unit inside a case, or have a modern GPU affecting ambient temperature of the surrounding area.

I was just hoping that someone on here might be able to give their view on things. Could the unit be broken, do you think I installed it correctly, and would testing the unit outside of a case have an effect on the temperatures recorded?

I can supply any extra information about my PC that could help in this matter in a short period of time. But I cannot supply information based on the my H50 as the supplier currently still has it.

- Thanks Simon

campbelln97 · #2 09-15-2009, 04:19 PM

did the corsair supplied fan give you the same temperatures?

bigboss65 · #3 09-15-2009, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campbelln97

did the corsair supplied fan give you the same temperatures?

I never tried the Corsair fan, but I made sure that the one I am using is working 100%. It displaces a lot more air than the rest of the fans on my computer.

campbelln97 · #4 09-15-2009, 09:40 PM

i hear what ur saying, but in the interests of troubleshooting maybe give the corsair fan a go and see how the temps react?

bigboss65 · #5 09-16-2009, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campbelln97

i hear what ur saying, but in the interests of troubleshooting maybe give the corsair fan a go and see how the temps react?

I did mention in my earlier posts that I can't test the H50 yet as the supplier still has it. I can give you the suppliers results when they used the stock fan for a test. They installed the fan and radiator outside of a case and recieved a maximum temperature of 48oc.

RAM GUY · #6 09-16-2009, 10:53 AM

If you believe your CPU temperatures to be too high then there are a few things you should make sure of.

1. If you have used thermal paste make sure it has been spread evenly and try remounting the H50 to be certain that the H50 is mounted properly and is making good contact
2. Also be sure that the power header you are using to plug the pump into is not throttling the power going to the pump, you should be able to disable any such features in the BIOS, but it may be a good idea to test a different power header on the board to be sure.
3. If you are using a 3rd party fan, try using the supplied Corsair fan to see if the results are any different, and make sure the fan is blowing cool air from outside the case into the radiator, and into the case. You can find an arrow on the fan which will point in the direction of the airflow.

bigboss65 · #7 09-16-2009, 02:18 PM

Thanks for the reply, I have tried all of the thigs you have suggested, apart from installing the stock Corsair fan and the supplier still has my unit from a RMA, as I have mentioned in two posts above.

I have checked to see if the unit was getting enough power, I disabled any speed controls for fans headers in BIOS so the unit and fan would get a 12V supply, as I stated in a post above.

I also said that the two times I had removed the H50 to check I had installed it correctly, the thermale patse, both stock and MX2 had spread in a thin even layer on the heat plate and the CPU head spreader.

I have also tried the third party fan as an intake and an exhaust, this did not seem to have an effect on the temperatures at all. I first installed the fan as an intake and then later changed to an exhaust.

I hope this helps,

- Thanks Simon.

campbelln97 · #8 09-18-2009, 06:23 AM

the thing i dont understand about this is you have a 65W cpu and the supplier has a 150W cpu, yet the supplier is getting lower temps than you (since they get max temp of 48 = nothing wrong with the unit itself).

forget about their test being out of a case and without a high performance gfx card, there is no way that would overcome an 85W increase.

i haven't seen you report any rpms (you said you disabled the mbs fan control), but did you check the reported rpms?

if they are not high enough then get a fan controller or adapter like this: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/conten...s4/4126624.jpg a 3pin and a pwm one to plug directly into the psu.

failing that, the only remaining option would be that you're doing something wrong during installation, maybe with the paste, maybe with how you mate the surfaces, maybe something else.

bigboss65 · #9 09-18-2009, 06:58 AM

Thanks for your repsonce, the fan I was using to cool the radiator is spinning at 1365rpm, its rated to spin at 1450rpm. The stock Corsair fan provided spins at 1400rpm I can't see that 35rpm is the difference between 57oc and 48oc, considering Scythe can move 61cfm normally and 30cfm through a radiator.

I'd still say that 48oc was a little hot for this unit, Bit-tech tested the unit with a overclocked and overvolted Xeon X3210 and the only reached a maximum temperature of 37oc. The link can be found here I don't think I made a mistake fitting the cooler, I tightened the screws in the way the maunal indicated as to give good surface contact with no movement and as I said before the thermale paste was spread evenly and in a thin layer. The paste I applied (MX2) is considered the best in the market and there was no residue of any paste left on either the CPU headspreader of the heat plate.

I am also using the same technique I used to apply the paste and the same make of paste on my air cooler now and have an idle temperature of 36oc at the same clock speed.

I hope this helps.

- Thanks Simon

campbelln97 · #10 09-18-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigboss65

Thanks for your repsonce, the fan I was using to cool the radiator is spinning at 1365rpm, its rated to spin at 1450rpm. The stock Corsair fan provided spins at 1400rpm I can't see that 35rpm is the difference between 57oc and 48oc, considering Scythe can move 61cfm normally and 30cfm through a radiator.

the corsair fan is rated to spin at 1700 rpm, according to the specs on the corsair website and this post: http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showpost...76&postcount=2 (this post gives other specs such as static pressure)

the pump rpm is supposed to be 1450, do u know what speed yours is spinning at?

originally i had my fan AND pump plugged into the mb, when i booted the first time i checked the bios and my phenom shot up to 60 within 30 seconds. plugged the pump into a fan controller (fan was still connected to the mb), turned it all the way up and im getting much better temps now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigboss65

I'd still say that 48oc was a little hot for this unit, Bit-tech tested the unit with a overclocked and overvolted Xeon X3210 and the only reached a maximum temperature of 37oc.

not too sure about that, ur reseller used a 165W cpu, that website used a 105W cpu. (i know it was OC'd but i still think it would have been cooler)

bigboss65 · #11 09-18-2009, 11:07 AM

Thanks for the reply, I know this sounds stupid but don't believe everything you read on a manufactures website. The fan I have installed is meant to spin at 1450rpm but as mentioned before it only spins at 1365rpm and its sound pressure and cfm are way off the one the manufacture claimed it can achieve So the stock fan under real world testing may only spin at 1400rmp (CustomPC).

Bit-tech also tested the H50 with an overclocked Core i7-965 Extreme Edition, these use more power than my E8400 and the QX9775. They only received a max temperature of 38oc under load, a link to this can be found here.

Sorry I don't know what rpm the pump was at, but I do remember HWMonitor showing all the fans in my system spinning at 100%, apart from my graphics. I have also spoken to the tester from Bit-tech and according to him my setup is perfect for the H50.

Thanks for your continued responses, I really appreciate it.

- Simon.

RAM GUY · #12 09-18-2009, 12:02 PM

If temperatures still seem high and you think that there is a good chance that the unit may be defective then we can replace it for you. You can use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace it. Be sure to check the box that says “I've already spoken to Technical Support and/or RAM Guy.”

There are a lot of different factors that will determine your CPU temperature so its difficult to be able to guarantee a certain temperature under a particular configuration. Two identical CPUs may generate different amounts of heat due to differences in the manufacturing process, for example. If testing the unit in a different system yields much better results then I would suspect that the problem lies somewhere other than the H50, but if all else fails we can certainly try replacing the unit.

campbelln97 · #13 09-18-2009, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigboss65

Thanks for the reply, I know this sounds stupid but don't believe everything you read on a manufactures website. The fan I have installed is meant to spin at 1450rpm but as mentioned before it only spins at 1365rpm and its sound pressure and cfm are way off the one the manufacture claimed it can achieve So the stock fan under real world testing may only spin at 1400rmp (CustomPC).

all the more reason to use the corsair supplied fan when u get it back?

having speed read that review it seems they did use the corsair fan also.

i reckon when u get it back, use the corsair supplied fan and plug it and the pump directly into the 12v psu, not mb = u will see good temps (hopefully good enough for ur expectations).

anyway (slightly of topic now sorry) i tested the pump and fan outside of the case using a fan controller to make sure they span at the correct rpm and test for any other defects before i put it in. i get a rpm readout on a lcd screen, and, while they were not exactly 1700 or 1500, they were both within 50 of target rpm.

Big Elf · #14 09-20-2009, 11:49 AM

Just to note that the Bit-Tech temperature of 38ºC measured on the Core i7-965 was not the maximum temperature under load it was the DeltaT i.e. the temperature differential between ambient and load. So if the ambient temperature was 20ºC then the load temps would have been 58ºC.

cliftonrouse · #15 09-20-2009, 11:54 PM

I am also having temperature issues with this unit. I have tried to reapply new Arctic Silver thermal paste, tried reversing the airflow, tried adding a second fan still getting temps maxing about 89 degrees C on an i7 860 overclocked to 4ghz. I am reading other people getting a max temp in prime95 around the 60 range. I am returning the unit to Amazon, and I might try one more unit.