H115i Setup

Hey all. I'm new to forums, and to cooling monitoring/setup, so please bear w/ me.

 

I've got a H115i setup on top of my case w/ the 2 fans included pushing air out over the radiator to exhaust (that may not be the optimal setup, but that's not the question). I want to make sure I've got my BIOS & Link settings right, but most of the info here is about the H110, and I'm not sure how similar they are.

 

H115i setup - connected to USB & SATA power, 2 fans in the included Y-connector, which is connected to mobo's CPU fan header.

 

Right now, I've got QFan (Asus BIOS fan control) running case fans (3 3-pin fans) on DC w/ auto control. I'm not sure what to set the CPU fan to, as I *think* Link is supposed to be controlling those fans. Do I set it to manual & 100%, then let Link do it's thing?

 

Also, I have only 3 chassis fans (not including the ones on the H115i), and they are connected to my mobo's chassis fans 1, 2, and 3 headers, but Link is showing speeds for 4 MB fans, all at different speeds. My GPU has 2 fans on it, but I figured (maybe wrongly) that they are linked and would both show as "GPU Fan", so I'm not sure where I'm getting this extra reading from. Also, should I set the H115i Fan to the CPU Package group, or the H115i Temp group?

 

Remember, I'm kind of a newbie, so I may not catch on as fast as I'd like.

With SATA powered coolers such as the H115i the motherboard BIOS setting don't really matter.

 

I expect 4th MB fan is from the H115i and should be half the pump speed.

 

From the CL 4.6.0.86 [Home] tab click on the H115i fan to get the config panel and set the group to the H115i Temp

 

Have a read from http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=901363 for a few posts.

 

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167562 is also a newbie getting started. Setup of H115i is much the same as the H110i, but you only have one fan controller.

 

I suspect it would be easier for us to help if you attached the CL4 [home] tab screen shot to a post.

See http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=853900 for how to attach a file/screen image to a post.

Thank you very much for the suggestions. So do these speeds look about right for "Quiet" setting? Haven't seen temps get very high, so I figure that should be fine. Also still not sure about that 4th fan; I didn't know if you thought it would match 1/2 pump speed exactly, or just roughly. Either way, it's not the end of the world. I just wanted to set up the "Configure" panel somewhat accurately.

 

One other question; I see on these boards that people are using a few different software options for cooling control. Isn't that what CL is supposed to do, and if you use one of those other programs, do you need to disable/uninstall CL?

 

1. I think Fan #2 is half the H115i pump speed. To confirm this change the pump to performance and see if it changes to about 1500 RPM, if not I suspect one of the others will change. Then switch the pump back.
   
2. The setup looks about right, but ideally post the H115i Fan config panel so I can check that.
   
3. Yes, CL4 is supposed to control CL hardware, but I felt I could do better myself, so I did. Others also use my software.
   
4. With monitoring programs the rules depend on the exact program. There are 4 main groups. I have listed likely programs and you will need to ask about others if you are unsure.

1. ASUS AI Suite and others who don't use locks - You should not run these at the same time as any other monitoring program.
   
2. ASUS Aura this is tricky for me to comment on for NDA reasons. See http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=901246 and check back from time to time.
   
3. AIDA64 + CPUZ/HWM + HWiNFO + CL4 and other programs that use locks - you can run these all at the same time.
   
4. SIV (my utility) can also be run at the same time as all of #3 when it's just monitoring. This is the only other program that can control CL hardware and if you use SIV to do this (-AIOCTL mode) you must not have CL4 active as if you do they will "fight" over the control. You should set CL4 not to start when the system starts, but don't need to uninstall it.

Thanks again for your help, red-ray! That answer was excellent and succinct.

You were correct about the fans. I've been running "Quiet," and the smaller image is when I set the pump to "Performance."

 

And here's the config on the H115i fan:

 

Now that I've gotten a little understanding, I may read up on what other people do for their cooling curves. Again, really appreciate the help.

I suspect in time you will set the mode to Custom and a Custom Curve optimised to your system.