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Higher temps + takes long time to cool down the water(h115i)


Manov

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Hello,

 

I have a problem, which I am unsure how to handle.

I've noticed that for last 7-10 days my temps are higher than usual both on CPU and liquid and it seems like they are slowly reaching higher and higher values.

I have 8700k CPU oced at 4.8ghz and 1.280 voltage and my AIO cooler is h115i top mounted as exhaust. I applied new thermal paste around 2 months ago.

 

As for CPU temps I lately noticed that I am hitting 90 degrees while gaming, while 2 months ago I was hitting 80 degrees tops.

 

That's not all - what is weird is how water temp seems to be higher for no apparent reason.

With ambient temp of 20-21 degrees I used to have my water temp at 28-29c when idle. Right now it's always over 31, sometimes sitting even at 33.

Same goes for load. Same game, same settings, same setup: 10 days ago I was getting 34-35c on water, now? Reaching over 40c.

Another thing is how long it takes to cool the water down. Earlier it was matter of minutes to tank down from 35 to 29 when going idle from gaming. Now it takes close to an hour to get down to my 'new idle' of 31-32.

 

What I would like to know is if remounting cooler on my CPU might help? Why am I asking? Currently I don't have any thermal paste at home and I am really tight on money so before commiting and buying quality paste I would like to know if it is even possible that cooler somehow moved or whatever and is causing issues with my water temps.

Second though it - could it be the aio cooler getting faulty?

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It is possible the cooler is in the early stages of some kind of blockage or developing flow issue. However, because the margins are so small right now, it is not clear cut and you'll need to be really accurate with your room and case temperature comparison data. Very easy for your room or case to be +4C warmer one afternoon from environmental or usage factors. The one that gives me pause is the "now it takes an hour the cool down after....". That could be indicative of the flow problem theory or it could also point the finger directly at case ambient temperature. It can be difficult to sort.

 

I think the next thing to try is to get some CPU only stress test/coolant temp data. After the PC has been off/sleep, run a mild to moderate CPU stress test like AIDA64, Intel XTU, OCCT. Run it for 10-15 minutes and note the beginning and ending coolant temperatures, plus case and room temp if possible. To take fan curves differences out of the equation, set them to a fixed speed in the 1200-1400 rpm range. I test all the time in that zone on 280mm and have a good idea of what to expect. To further narrow focus, you could take the door/panel off to momentarily eliminate case temperature as an issue. In a short CPU stress test, case should not be a factor, but we are looking for optimal conditions and then expecting the coolant temp to be optimal as well. If it is not, then we have likely isolated the problem.

 

Also, can you confirm this is a "H115i" as shown below. Now with three H115s in circulation it's no longer certain what cooler anyone is talking about.

 

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Liquid-Cooling/Dual-Radiator-Liquid-Coolers/Hydro-Series%E2%84%A2-H115i-280mm-Extreme-Performance-Liquid-CPU-Cooler/p/CW-9060027-WW

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My GPU is GTX 1080ti MSI Gaming X. I have also a Corsair 750D Airflow edition case, so there's quite a lot of room. I always used 2 case fans(1200rpm) in front for intake, h115i top mounted as exhaust(default mode and pump on performance), and back 1 case fan exhaust(800 rmp I think).

 

The temp change happened on it's own. I wasnt touching anything regarding my setup when it occured.

30 minutes ago I even bothered to swap things up and put h115i in front as intake, and 2 case fans on top for exhaust + reduced the OC to 4.6ghz@1.26 voltage then I played one round of Apex Legends, shut down my game, check HWmonitor and LINK and still 87c max temp on CPU for gaming and water temp at 37c. 20 minutes later water temp is still at 32.5c despite radiator being intake with 1800rpm fans blowing inside the case.

 

As for the ambient temp I do measure it, 21c+/-1 right now, which is one of the lowest temps I had in a room. Like in december I was using heaters, proly getting close to 26c ambient and my AIO water was always below 30c when idling.

 

 

I did the test you asked, fans set at 1320rpm(keep in mind that I did this test with radiator being intake), ambient 21c, dunno about case temp other than what LINK shows.

10 min CPU benchmark using intel extreme tuning utility:

Here is LINK screenshot right after the benchmark: https://gyazo.com/c8a78a90b68eefca8728ddbf45f0cd97

Here is HWmonitor screenshot right after the benchmark:

https://gyazo.com/0576fc6e2fbcd93a602e4e3fd4c0cef5

 

Took around 8 minutes to drop down water temp to 31.3c(fans still at 1320rmp) and stopped there.

 

And yes, my AIO is the one you linked, entire setup is a little bit over 1 year old.

 

 

PS. 40c on CPU idle at 1.26 vcore seems a little bit high right?

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It’s usually a bit concerning when your coolant temp is higher than your RAM temperature. I think we are looking at the beginning of a flow problem and it is the most frequent complaint on that cooler model. However, it’s not so bad yet that the root cause is unmistakable. It’s probably time to contact Corsair officially, but we need to find some specific data to leverage things your way.

 

When you fill out the information in Ticket System, leave the game and end cpu temps out of the discussion. There are a million reasons cpu temps can be high, too many variations, BIOS versions, power settings, etc. that will bog down the discussion. Focus on coolant temperature. In particular ambient temperature 21C, load coolant 41C. +20C is out of bounds for about 150-175W on the CPU. Add in the suddenly higher coolant temp and it takes longer to cool down. Add in you moved it to front intake with no change.

 

Hopefully that is enough to get things moving, but we’ll see.

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Thanks for help, will do as you advice.

 

If I end up RMAing it, do you know by any chance how long this process might take from me sending the cooler and then recieving working one back?

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Strongly dependent on your location. It’s the ground shipping time that kills you. East Coast US to CA is 5 days each way. If you are already West, your life is much better. Outside of the US the procedure varies widely, sometimes with local distributors acting as the replacement agent. You can do an Advance RMA where they ship you a new one first, but you have to ask for it and it requires a credit card hold.
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Yeah, I agree with c-attack here. We often see folks complaining about high temperatures only to find, after a bit of investigating, that the high temps are due to environmental issues, especially GPU heat getting pushed through the radiator. That has pretty definitively been ruled out in this case. Your only option is RMA and, if you're lucky, you might actually get an upgrade out of it too (if they don't have a replacement H115i).
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I did create a ticket, hopefuly I'll get an answer soon.

 

Anyways I have one more question - today I downclocked cpu to 4.2ghz at 1.200 vcore(from 4.8ghz at 1.280) and the temps are still same - idle jumping betwen 45-50c and benchmark hitting 100c in first 30-40 seconds.

Malfuncioning cooler is causing this, or might there be something wrong with my CPU?

 

Also if I manage to get advance RMA is it safe for me to keep using this cooler for next couple of days if I make monitor my CPU temps and make sure that my activity doenst make it too hot?

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I'd say that's from a bad cooler. The idle will be jumpy but that's a bit too high. Hitting 100C is not good at all.

 

How safe is it? Hmmm ... that's really, really hard to say. There's no guarantee here. It might hold out ... it might just die. Honestly, it's a roll of the dice.

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Sorry again for taking your time, but something weird happened. I just launched my PC and despite nothing changed the temps are back to normal - coolant temp idle is 25, and 32 when stresstesting, CPU temps when stresstesting are below 80(compared to yesterday 100).

 

So now I am concerned - cooler might still be faulty and have some issues that come and go right? I red some topics on this forums that were similar - where people had flow problems most likely caused by some debris inside the loop that from time to time would block ect.

And here is my problem - if that's the case then I still want to RMA it, but how can I be sure that Corsair will accept that there is something wrong with the cooler. What if they plug it in, see everything working and charge me with costs.

Should I still RMA it or keep using it and wait for the problem to happen again and then RMA it?

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Actually, this is not surprising. It was in the early stages of development, so it is still likely to come and go. However, I do think we should take a moment and try to differentiate between a permanent obstruction and possible air bubbles blocking the flow. Obviously the air bubble(s) are not permanent. You can push them out by cycling the pump speed or by titling the case while the pump is running. You can often differentiate this from a permanent obstruction by the sound. The pump makes static like pops. It is uneven and sporadic. With a permanent obstruction, the symptoms appear the same, however the pump speed may sounder louder, perhaps strained, but still even. It does not make static pops. Changing between the low and high pump speeds may have a strong effect on coolant temperature. It usually makes no difference with bubbles or is hard to notice.

 

With bubbles, you can dislodge and be ready to go 2 minutes later. With some other debris as the offending agent, the problem is going to resurface later and you still proceed with the RMA.

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I see. I think I will hold on this time with the RMA then and continue on observing the cooler.

One more question - for now I left the radiator front mounted with in/out hoses being on top as the hoses are not long enough to allow me to put them at the bottom. Won't it be a problem or should I better mount it as it was - top mount as exhaust?

 

Also what would happen if the issue occurs again, I RMA it and Corsair finds out it's air bubbles? Will it be recieved as baseless RMA?

Like I am totaly clueless about AIO, this is my first one and I am not sure I will be able to tell difference berwen air bubbles or something else if the issue comes back.

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Hose orientation should never matter in a short loop AIO cooler. They can be up or down.

 

Radiator position (top exhaust vs front intake) -> Very debatable. I tend to prefer top exhaust, but my coolant rise is also quite low so any temperature penalty for being higher in the case (1-2C) is meaningless. I also have a full water cooled GPU. Front exhaust usually gives you cooler intake air across the radiator and keeps the radiator itself in a cooler case position, but the gain is usually small (again 1-2C). I think the deciding factor is usually case specific. If you have an additional source of intake (bottom or side fans), it's pretty easy to use front intake without an airflow penalty. If you don't and the radiator restricted fans are the only way for air to get in, then you might need to test and see. Either way, small differences for most people and absolutely not responsible for what has happened with your cooler.

 

That said, every time you move that thing you increase the chance of going from working normally to a problem. If it is working now, leave it be until it's showing symptoms again. The one final remedy I did not suggest was to take it out and shake it. This is usually reserved for the heavy blockages and there is no guarantee it will work, but if you are already blocked, go ahead.

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