H110i GT Fan curves

Built a new Gaming/VR machine a fortnight ago.

http://i.imgur.com/DlrjZRD.jpg

Its in a Corsair Air 540 case orientated on its side.

http://i.imgur.com/hX3ejBo.jpg

I had originally intended to mount the H110iGT with a Push/Pull fan configuration to the 'Top' of the case with 3x 120mm Fans as clear intakes on the front of the case. However, I found that the motherboard IO port shroud prevented this. I really wanted Push/Pull on the rad so that I could run as low RPM on the fans as possible in any given situation. So I decided to mount the H110iGT to the front of the case as intake instead. I decided that instead of swapping out the 3x 120mm front mounted fans with the second pair of 140mm 'Push' radiator fans, I'd leave the 3x 120mm in place and see how things went. Thus the current full fan configuration in the case is as pictured below.

http://i.imgur.com/o9yGgQW.jpg

I intend to Overclock my GTX1080 soon and my BIOS took it upon itself to overclock my 6700K to 4.6ghz. However when I enabled XMP for the memory, it downclocked itself to 4.2ghz. I have to research CPU and memory overclocking and will likely use AiSuiteIII but intend to get the CPU back to 4.6ghz+ Thats for another day though.

http://i.imgur.com/guuxyJE.jpg

My first question is whether you think its OK to run the H110iGT with 3x120mm Push and 2x 140mm Pull fans. I'm certainly not hearing any weird noises or turbulence with this configuration.

My second question is that given I am using the H110iGT in Push/Pull and with this unconventional fan configuration, can anyone advise on a custom fan curve in CL4 to minimise fan RPM. The above temps in the CL4 PrintScreen are at near idle with all 5 rad fans set to approx. 500 RPM from 20-35ºc, ramping up to 900rpm at about 42ºc and their max 1300rpm at about 50ºc. I don't really know what I'm doing however and don't know if I've set a sensible curve or a useless one. For all I know it'd be fine at idle but terrible once I overclock to 4.6ghz+ and all components are loaded while gaming. Any advice would be appreciated. In Quiet Mode the H110iGT connected 5 radiator fans run about 950rpm which was by no means annoyingly loud but which was louder than I'd like.

Before I forget, go back in the BIOS and check your Strap and BCLK settings. When you enable XMP on Asus boards they tend to change some other factors, including the above and system agent voltage (VCCSA). It may have bumped your strap to 125 because of the memory speed and then downgraded the multiplier to compensate. XMP tuning with AI Suite often brings far less than optimal results.

But as to this issue, I think you are always going to have a less than perfect control trying work the two sets of fans (3x120 and 2x140) on the radiator. More importantly, you just don't need them. I have been running a pair of HW-E CPUs ragged on a H110 and a 540 case for almost two years now. At no point has fan speed every been the limiting factor on how far I can go. Voltage and the CPU will stop you first. At 4.5 and 4.0 cache, I don't even need more than 1200 for a stress test with no change in results past that speed. I could probably leave them fixed at 500-600 all days and it would never matter for anything except heavy professional applications.

The modification to the bottom of the case and those included fans make the concept of pushing more air through the radiator unnecessary, so it really is down to cooling needs only. Those 120x3 aren't doing a lot for your radiator. The airflow isn't cumulative and I am not sure how much of the pressure you can retain without a better fit. I don't think it's hurting either, but if it is creating a control issue, I don't know that it's worth it. Chances are the the 3x120 are also the loudest (or at least the buzziest) fans in the system.

You may at some point cross swords between AI Suite and Link, but that can be addressed if problems arise.

As for making a good water temperature curve, it starts with your baseline room temperature and that tends to be a seasonable value, leading to the need for different curves to keep the fans in check. I offered a couple of different ways to do it at the beginning of this thread. The one you have is fine, although certainly relaxed. Remember, the fans can only adjust the water temperature, so if you start at 28C and the water has reached 38C, the most you can possible reduce the CPU temps at any fan speed is 10C. That sounds like a lot, but I don't think you are going to be 10C over your idle water temp very often. My 540 set up is more traditional and I have 5 less fans than you. Even after a 2 hour 100% HCI memory run last week on all 12 cores, my water temp was back to within 1C of my starting level with 1-2 minutes after stopping.

Incidentally, did TT finally release a 4 pin PWM version of the Riing series? The RGB version was supposedly PWM, but there was a in-line control device and I was never sure if it would work with Link. Never got a guinea pig to go through with it.

The Push/Pull was never about pushing the CPU to the limit. I'm not chasing 5ghz or benchmark results or anything like that. I just wanted to maximise the time the fans stay at lower RPM's to keep the system as quiet as possible for as long as possible. I have to admit, I also wanted Push/Pull for aesthetic reasons too. ie. I wanted LED Riing fans visible on the outside and inside of the case.

It doesn't seem theres any control issue. Both 120mm and 140mm RGB Riings are rated at 0.30amps and I found a post on these forums from one of the Reps that said the H110iGT can support 2amps worth of fans. Thus I have 0.6amps on one of the H110iGT's PWM Fan headers and 0.90amps on the other Fan header totalling 1.5amps. While I haven't pushed the system since setting the fan curve to see if the 5 Rad fans ramp up, they certainly slowed down and got quite a bit quieter as soon as I hit 'Apply' on the fan curve settings screen. For a while I was unsure if I was just imagining the volume difference. I'd set a curve in Fan XPert for the case fans that had those at about 5-600RPM at the same time. If anything its the Fan XPert controlled intake and exhaust case fans that have a 'control issue'. Despite setting the curve where they start to ramp up based on CPU temp sensor at 35ºc and with a 12sec start delay, they ramped for a few seconds the instant I'd open a program. Hearing them ramp up to 800-900rpm confirmed however how much of a difference turning them all down to 500-600rpm had made though. I had thought the fan delay setting in fan XPert was to stop the fans instantly respnding to short term loads but obviously I was wrong. Maybe I should set those intake and exhausts controlled by Fan XPert torespond to 'Motherboard' or 'PCH' instead. Ideally I'd prefer those two intakes aimed at the GPU to respond to GPU temps but I don't see that as an option within Fan Xpert.

WRT TT RGB Riing fans. No, still 5pin fan cables into the control boxes and a single 4 pin PWM goes from the control boxes to your fan headers. Like I alluded to earlier. The H110i GT seems to be controlling them fine as does Fan XPert viw the mobo headers. The LED's dim a bit when they controlling software slows them down. I have a 120mm fan mounted to a 3 bay 3.5" Hotswap HDD caddy Velcro mounted in the PSU side of the case. I've a spare 5.25" front bay mesh/filter panel from a brothers 600T inserted into one of my 5.25" openings. The 5.25" cage is removed and the HDD Caddy is mounted just inside. That Caddy fan and the 2 'Top' 140mm fans are on one Riing controller connected to a mobo fan header. The rear exhaust 140mm and the two 'GPU' 120mm intakes are connected to another Riing controller and the controller to another mobo fan header. The 3 Rad 120mm are on a Riing controller together and then to one of the H110i GT's fan header cables and then finally the 2 140mm Rad fans are on the final riing controller and then to the other H110i GT fan header cable.

So no control issues. Just trying to find out how I should be setting my curves to minimise RPM's for volume control reasons and how to stop the fan XPert controlled case fans to stop short term ramping on every transient CPU loading.

If anything its the Fan XPert controlled intake and exhaust case fans that have a 'control issue'. Despite setting the curve where they start to ramp up based on CPU temp sensor at 35ºc and with a 12sec start delay, they ramped for a few seconds the instant I'd open a program. Hearing them ramp up to 800-900rpm confirmed however how much of a difference turning them all down to 500-600rpm had made though. I had thought the fan delay setting in fan XPert was to stop the fans instantly respnding to short term loads but obviously I was wrong. Maybe I should set those intake and exhausts controlled by Fan XPert torespond to 'Motherboard' or 'PCH' instead. Ideally I'd prefer those two intakes aimed at the GPU to respond to GPU temps but I don't see that as an option within Fan Xpert.

I am very sorry to hear you say that and this issue is much larger than I hoped. Several months ago my radiator fans became trigger happy like a cheap Intel air cooler. At the time, the only thing getting updates was Windows 10. I spent the last three days running a variety of tests with BIOS versions dating back to last year and dual booting between Win 10 and a fresh install of Win 7 on another drive. The CPU ramping was present on all of them. Asus has denied there is a problem, but obviously this extends beyond just my motherboard series and there are now Z97 owners complaining as well. Unfortunately, I still can't pin down whether it is the BIOS, AI Suite, or Windows responsible. It seems to be particularly jumpy with when in the control panel or when opening folders with a large number of objects, and other system task. Less so in games or other programs. The irony is it appears my most stable control occurs with AI Suite uninstalled and BIOS only CPU fan control with no delays (not available on X99 series 1).

Fortunately, the radiator fans can run from water temp in LINK. For the case fans, I suggest VRM temperature. It is a fairly steady value, slow to change up and down. It is also affected by both CPU only or GPU heavy loads and with a similar range. This makes it handy for multiple uses and your top and rear fans do have a direct cooling effect on the VRM heatsinks. When you get around to your overclocking, set the CPU Power Phase Control to "optimized'. That gives the best performance without switching to full phase cycle that runs much warmer. You'll have to figure your range, but with similar clocks mine runs about 35C at cold boot and up to 50-55C under sustained high load. It is a mostly voltage dependent value so it is steady through the year. Easy enough to set your fan curve from there. Also, the AI Suite delays do work for VRM temp, but even without it is a slow and steady variable.

My Rad fans aren't being trigger happy. Remember, they are connected to the 2x H110i GT fan cable headers and controlled by link and the H110iGT water temp. They've settled around 650-700rpm RPM and stayed there.

It was the other case fans connected to mobo headers, controlled by Fan xpert and the CPU temp. Since posting, I changed the top case exhausts to respond to the 'Motherboard' temp reading and the bottom 'GPU' intakes responding to the PCH temp. Would I be right in thinking that PCH is the component with a heatsink/shroud between my Sata ports and my x16 PCIe slot. If so, I figured this component would likely be heated up somewhat by the hot GPU exhaust and thus could maybe be used to trigger the 'GPU' case intakes to ramp up. Anyway, since switching those fans to respond to motherboard and PCH temps instead of CPU, the ramping under short transient loads has stopped.

Is the VRM temperature reading the 'Motherboard' temp in AiSuite3 ? I don't see a 'VRM' temp reading in the 'Source' dropdown selection boxes. Just CPU, Motherboard and PCH.

BTW. Thank you so much for your time and attention thus far mate. I really appreciate the advice and help.

Just remembered that when I was buying my components I picked up some CLU liquid metal and Thermal Grizzly thermal compounds with the intent to eventually delid my 6700K. Is there actually anything to gain from delidding in my case if I'm not chasing 5ghz overclocks etc. Its just that after you said that even my current cooling configuration is overkill for a reasonably cool and quiet low RPM setup, I wonder is there anything to be gained from a delid and replacement of Intels thermal compound with CLU and Corsairs compound between IHS and H110iGT pump block with Thermal Grizzly.

Just remembered that when I was buying my components I picked up some CLU liquid metal and Thermal Grizzly thermal compounds with the intent to eventually delid my 6700K. Is there actually anything to gain from delidding in my case if I'm not chasing 5ghz overclocks etc. Its just that after you said that even my current cooling configuration is overkill for a reasonably cool and quiet low RPM setup, I wonder is there anything to be gained from a delid and replacement of Intels thermal compound with CLU and Corsairs compound between IHS and H110iGT pump block with Thermal Grizzly.

I usually don't recommend the liquid metals unless you do delid. The Grizzly was something of a surprise. Most reviews never come back with much difference between brands and neither do I. However, the Kryonaut knocked a good 4-5C off my peak and average temps for real use loads on this 5930K. I don't know if that kind of gain would extend to smaller TDP chips. The pre-applied Shin Etsu stuff is just fine and have never improved upon it with other brands, until now.

Cool, I'll check out the bios for vrm fan control options.

I have an i7 Skylake 6700k on a z170-a so delidding is an option. I'm aware that the E processor IHS's are still soldered.

I must have been really bleary eyed when I wrote this. It says 6700. It shows 6700. I see 6800. Disregard the large portions of irrelevant text. The story I am going with is I was blinded by your case lights.

It might be possible Asus deliberately left the VRM temp out of the mix. It seems a bit strange, but on Z170 the operational range is not as large as X99 and may be similar to the PCH range. My AI Suite delays do work for every source except CPU temperature and it does not matter if it is the CPU header or one of the CHA fan headers. Hopefully the other control delays work for you, but if not, PCH values do not jump in leaps and bounds and should be allow steady fan speeds without spin up/down times.

I haven't followed the Skylake delid conversation in the same way as Haswell, but the most of the results were quite impressive, even at normal voltages. I certainly would use the Cool Lab or whatever you have for that.

Changed fan configuration on the above last night. I had to strip out some parts to run cables for a new component, took the opportunity to tidy up some other cable routing which necessitated removing the H110iGT and then decided, "Screw It!" and moved the rad back to the 'Top' of the case in Pull config. (No push fans because they don't fit.) So now the config is the bottom HDD/GPU 140mm fans clear intake, no change there, but now its 3x 120mm clear intake on the front. Rear 140mm still exhaust and the H110iGT in exhaust Pull config.

I do have an idea how I might actually be able to fit the rad Push/Pull up 'top' with some modding of the chassis but thats not the subject of this thread bump.

There was some rejigging of the fan cabling and the mobo headers I was connecting them to. When I rebooted the Thermaltake Riing fans were acting strange. Ones sets' LED's were dimmed like as if the header had flipped into DC mode but it hadn't. Another set was running 100% speed. I went into fan xPert and it was all kinds of messed up. I re-ran the auto fan config and now it wasn't even detecting some fans one some of the headers. They were still working but not detected. I figured things had been messed up by the swapping of fans on headers etc. I uninstalled and re-installed Fan xPert. Same thing again. I then did a bit more research and it seems that the TT Riing fans with their controllers can confuse Fan xPert. I can't not use the controllers not just because I want to be able to use the RGB LED's but because the cables have custom fan header connectors anyway. So looks like Fan xPert has got to go. Can I use the likes of Speedfan that I've heard about. Will I even be able to use Temp probes that fan xPert can't. Like GPU temp and VRM temp?

Also, despite having plenty of horsepower with a 6700K, it irks me that CL4 has the CPU under 5% load all the time. Should I be thinking about switching to the SIPs (sp?) program I've heard about here.

I recently installed the most recent AI Suite (DIP) program for the X99 series. It has a few minor tweaks to the interface from all previous models, but also has become extremely sensitive to fan changes. Formerly, you needed to put something different on CPU_FAN to prompt a re-tune. Now, disconnecting any fan anywhere in the system prompts a re-tune and installs BIOS settings as the temporary FanXpert curves. Changing the speed on the TT controller also does the same. I don't know if your AI Suite version behaves in this way or not, but it looks like there have been quite a few updates to that program over the Z170 lifespan -- far more than X99.

I picked up a 3x140 pack after our last conversation to give it a go. I do like the design and the color choices are better than I can do with my 300+ fan collection, but that damn speed control step is driving me nuts. I can get FanXpert to lower the minimum to 700 in the high speed mode, but in low speed mode I can't get an upper limit of more than 900. That puts me in between purposes with a system that can't be slow enough to be silent at the desktop, nor fast enough to cover my moderate to high loads. That complaint is better saved for the TT website, but suffice to say I now understand your controller dilemma.

The dimming makes me think the fans are not getting enough voltage. How many fans are one one controller? Is it the three 140's (top & back) on one and the 5x120's on the other? Which set dimmed? Regardless of the controller's extra line out connection, the motherboard header is limited to 1.0A. No amperage spec on the box, but 5x120 would have to be more than 1.0A.

I haven't used Speedfan in years, so I am afraid I am not up to date on it's capabilities. Red-Ray's SIV application has multiple uses and you might be able to find more information in the Corsair Link part of the forum or ask him directly.

OMG. I'm an idiot!

I didn't know there was a fan speed control built into the controller boxes. I covered the LED indicators on the boxes because they were so damn bright, thus wouldn't have noticed even had I known that there was speed control and that Blue meant highspeed and Red meant low speed. That could explain some confusion!

I think most people would assume it refers to the shifting color speed in RGB mode. Why on earth would you need a high/low fan speed setting for a motor with a 400-1300 rpm range?

Anyway, just mind the speed toggle. It does prompt a re-tune for me on the latest DIP5 sub-program.