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AX860i fan spins up and down


AlphaBravo

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I use the PSU in a rig where I run folding@home. According to Corsair Link, the PSU is putting out about 300 watts of power during folding. Once the PSU temp reaches approximately 38 degrees Celsius, the fan spins up for a few seconds (generally to anywhere from 600 to 1200 RPM, sometimes more), and then spins back down to 0 RPM. This process repeats itself every 15 to 30 seconds. The fan sound is definitely audible outside of the case.

 

I have an AX1200i that is in a rig where I am also running folding@home, and the AX1200i is putting out approximately 660 watts (I have an R9 294X2 in that rig). Once the wattage output goes over about 600 watts and the temp is at about 38.5 Celsius, the fan initiates and spins at a constant 680 to 720 RPM. There no constant starting and stopping of the fan. This seems like it is behaving properly.

 

It is hard to believe that the AX860i is operating normally when the fan keeps stopping and starting, going up past 1000 or 1200 RPM, and then down to 0 RPM, every 15 to 30 seconds.

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It's not. RMA it.

 

I am glad to get some type of confirmation/support that this is unit is not behaving like it should. My RMA is currently in process.

 

Unfortunately, Corsair is sending me a refurbished AX860i. The first unit they sent me was a refurbished unit that had a fan that made a terrible sound, so they sent me a UPS label and I sent the faulty refurbished unit back to them. There was no stock on brand new AX860i units, so I advised that I was willing to wait for a brand new replacement, but they sent another refurbished unit anyway. Two days after they shipped the second refurbished unit, brand new units came back into stock.

 

I will post my results once I test the second refurbished unit.

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It's not. RMA it.

 

I finally received a brand new AX860i through the Corsair RMA process. I installed it today, and it behaves the same as my original AX860i.

 

Once Corsair Link reports the temperature as being in the lower 40's Celsius (say around 41-42 Celsius), the fan goes through it cycle of spinning up to about 900 or 1000 RPM for a couple of seconds, then the fan spins down to 0 RPM. This repeats every 15 to 30 seconds.

 

I guess I will have to ship the new unit back to Corsair. :[pouts:

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At this juncture, I don't think there's anything wrong with the PSU. Two in a row with the same "problem"? I'm inclined to think that there's something else at play here.

 

I'm also going to make this its own thread since you bumped a 2.5 year old thread and it's now three pages long.

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What is your complete system specs? That includes the kind of case you're using, the fans in that case and how they are oriented.

 

Also, how is the PSU oriented within the case? Top, bottom? Fan up, down?

 

Intel 4790K

H100i

EVGA Kingpin 980

16 GB Avexir RAM

Asus Maximus VII Formula

Samsung 850 Pro 256GB

Corsair Air 540

Commander Mini

Corsair Link LEDs

Four Enermax Red LED 120mm case fans

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At this juncture, I don't think there's anything wrong with the PSU. Two in a row with the same "problem"? I'm inclined to think that there's something else at play here.

 

I'm also going to make this its own thread since you bumped a 2.5 year old thread and it's now three pages long.

 

I am now seeing that other AX860i units are exhibiting similar behavior.

 

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117283

 

More posts further on in this thread: http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=112593

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The one thread is two and a half years old and the other is three years old. That's hardly an epidemic considering the THOUSANDS of units Corsair sells every month. Google enough and you can find any kind of problem with any kind of product.

 

I asked how the PSU was situated in the case. Since it's the Air 540, that's with the fan facing towards the motherboard tray or out.

 

Is there anything blocking the mesh on the side panel on the PSU side of the case? What kind of ambient temperatures are being reported by the BIOS?

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The AX860i fan faces the ventilation holes on the right side panel of the Air 540.

I have a Demciflex filter over those ventilation holes.

 

I have attached a screen shot from Corsair Link which may provide you with helpful info. I took the screen shot just as the AX860i started its cycle of the fan spinning up and down.

 

Let me know if you you additional info.

link.thumb.JPG.065552eb0d7c614f03d4e44e284274a9.JPG

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With the Demciflex filter off, the spinning up and down still occurred.

 

I was able to run a combination of Folding at Home on the CPU and Firestrike on the GPU. That caused a power output of between 330 and 340 watts (about 30-40 watts more than running Folding on the CPU and GPU) from the AX860i. The spinning up and down still occurred.

 

What is the power output threshold that has to be met for the AX860i fan automatically come on and run at a constant low speed (similar to how my AX1200i behaves - see the first post in this thread)?

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Well, that's just it. It's marketed as load enabled because that's easy to communicate in simple bar graphs on retail boxes and websites. But the fan actually operates using an algorithm using load, temperature and time delay. That's why I asked about air flow and the potential of the DEMCiflex filter creating some obstruction.
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Good video. Do you have the S/N for the new unit, the S/N for the last unit and your RMA ticket number? I'm going to do some digging. What the fan is doing is exactly why time delay is part of the fan controller's algorithm.

 

I sent you a PM with all of the requested info. Thanks for looking into this.

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Soo..... Engineering told me that the time factor wasn't added to the fan controller's algorithm until after the RM Series was introduced. AXi came before RM. They said that your load is right and temperature are right where the fan would switch on. The fan turning on drops the temperature just a fraction of a degree (subtle and quick enough to not even register in Link) and that's why the fan spins down only a few seconds later.

 

Sorry.. There's no fix for this. Other than setting the fan manually to 40% PWM. The fan will be nearly inaudible, but not silent. But it also shouldn't ramp up and down.

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Soo..... Engineering told me that the time factor wasn't added to the fan controller's algorithm until after the RM Series was introduced. AXi came before RM. They said that your load is right and temperature are right where the fan would switch on. The fan turning on drops the temperature just a fraction of a degree (subtle and quick enough to not even register in Link) and that's why the fan spins down only a few seconds later.

 

Sorry.. There's no fix for this. Other than setting the fan manually to 40% PWM. The fan will be nearly inaudible, but not silent. But it also shouldn't ramp up and down.

 

Interesting. So a quick follow-up question. If I had more load or less load than I have right now, I would not get the spinning up and down (in other words, the temp and the load that I have are sort of a perfect storm for this to be happening)?

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As you know I have the same problems with my 760i

 

 

When I had my 270x in it .. the problem would be there all the time I would even hear the ramp up while gaming.... but....

 

Now I have a 390x that draws much more... lol .. i think my system at idle draws more than the 270x when gaming... I have noticed that when I am watching videos on YouTube my system will draw around 300-350 watts when this happens my PSU fan will run at a steady 376-400 rpm so no major ramping.

 

I found that if I can keep my pc drawing about 200-250 watts the fan will stay around 320-340 and keep the PSU at 33.5 degrees.. but if it goes lower than 200 the fan shuts off and the temps rise and then the fan starts cycling annoyingly.

 

Since your video showed you at over 300w and still no fan I'm assuming the 860i has a higher draw before the fan kicks in to being actually controlled and yes I think if you drew more power it would come on like mine is and stay at a steadyish rpm .. no major ramping.

 

I have to ask .. do you put your computer to sleep .. have you had the issue that I am having with setting it to run at 40% and having it revert to default when you come out of sleep unless you actually open the programs window?

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