Bulldog 2.0 Barebones - First Impressions

[srthompson76]

I've just finished building my Bulldog 2.0 Barebones system, and it was pretty interesting to say the least. This is going to be a run down of my first impressions on the new machine.

The first thing I noticed is how well everything was packed in the box. Everything was fairly secure. It wasn't too flashy, but it was functional. Big Styrofoam blocks held the chassis in place, and the Z270 motherboard was preinstalled along with the H6 SF liquid cooler and the PSU. The liquid cooler contact had pre-installed thermal compound, was covered by a plastic guard, wrapped in bubble wrap, and stuffed inside a small cardboard box.

Starting the build was easy-peasy. Removing two screws allowed the top cover to come off, after unplugging the LED connector of course. I seated the CPU in the socket, closed the bracket, installed the H6 SF cooler, put the ram in, and booted it up. Post successful!

After a successful post, I loosened the motherboard to install my M.2 MyDigitalSSD 480GB SSD (HIGHLY recommend these! Cheap and fast!) and shoved my RX 480 Gaming X 8GB from MSI into the GPU area. I can't fit any of the drive trays or anything back in with this GPU, as it's a little too big.

After all this was done, I installed Windows 10 via a USB flash drive, installed drivers, and installed HWMonitor to check on the temps. I was expecting to see great temps because of the liquid cooler, but what I saw was most certainly not great temps. I was getting around 80 celcius on the CPU IDLE. I thought, that can't be right! So I checked in the bios. Sure enough, 80 celcius. I felt the tubes on the cooler, one was cold, one hot. I could feel the vibrations from the pump running. I figured I didn't get the cooler on straight, so I reseated it. Still 80 degrees celcius. I reseated it again with some cryorig thermal paste instead of the stock stuff. Brought the temps down to 70 degrees celcius. I then ran a stress test, and managed to get the temps to 100 celcius in around fifteen seconds! I didn't want to damage anything so I stopped the stress test. I then reseated the cooler with some arctic silver thermal paste. Still the same results.

After all this I was fed up and took the H6 SF out and replaced it with a cryorig C7 air cooler (there IS enough clearance for a taller one). Temps are now down to 35 celcius idle and 85 under full load. It's a temporary fix I hope. I've submitted a support ticket. I hope it's just a dud and nobody else has this issue.

Other than the H6 SF woes, this kit is great. Very quiet. The cryorig cooler adds some noise, but with a working H6 SF, I'm sure it would be near silent. Build quality is excellent. I was able to dismantle the case to remove the radiator quite easily. I also removed the fan from the radiator and used it as an exhaust fan for the case. Air cooling does work fairly well in this case!

I do recommend this kit, but be weary of the H6 SF, as it is new, and I may have gotten a dud. I'm going to attempt to RMA the cooler if Corsair will let me.

[bolongobay]

@srthompson76 I have the same issue with CPU temp and I think the H6 is to blame. Did you RMA the cooler? What was the result? I unfortunately don't have have another cooler to test this. My setup is also pretty loud but I haven't messed with the fan settings. It's a shame that this has ruined an otherwise really nice kit.

[Dlaw]

Sounds like the pump isn't running, or at least running fast enough. I'm not familiar with that cooler, but I'm guessing that the pump is powered by a motherboard header? Check which header you have hooked the pump to, and try turning it up to 100% in UEFI. My guess is that the fan profile is set to silent, so the pump is only just barely running.

[wolfyboy359]

I have had my bulldog for a while now. Temps on the CPU are not great. Everything else, including GPU temps are terrific. I get around 35C on idle, but I cannot run Prime95 without throttling the CPU. Day to day average high is around 70C according to HWMonitor. That is with playing games like Quake Champions and Infinite Warfare. I did adjust the fan profile in the bios, which is key.

[Maseomatic]

I've got the same heat issues. Read that switching to an air cooler might fix the problem? I want something that works and doesn't hard stop my machine!

[Maseomatic]

**Update on machine that had problems**

I reset the heatsink in new thermal paste and changed the power port on the fan power splitter. The cooler powered up on the next boot and coolant has been circulating since.

Temps have been in the 30's like expected. Corsair was very helpful in proposing some options and being upfront that they would replace the unit if heat issues were still a problem after trying the above two items. Luckily, it did not come to that!

Thanks.