H150i Pro Faulty?

I've just built a new Ryzen 3700x system on the ASRock X570 motherboard. This is my first AIO system and I'm shocked to find that the CPU temps rise to the throttling limit of 95 degrees within 30 seconds of running a CPU stress test, with iCue settings of Balanced. If I set it to Extreme, it drops to 93 degrees.

 

This can't be right. How can I tell if the pump is even working?

Yeah, it's actually quite spectacular how junk the h150i is...even with better fans is't anaemic :(

You should see a positive pump speed in iCUE and the BIOS at whatever header is connected to the H150i. There also will be noticeable vibrations if you put two fingers on the pump top. However, if your pump was not running, you wouldn’t need Prime95 to create this condition. At power on you would see temps go 45-50-55-60... right up the safety shutdown 30 seconds later. I don’t think that is your issue here, but I do suggest not using the Quiet pump mode (1100 rpm) for cpu benchmark and stress testing. It’s meant for the lowest possible noise in desktop situations, not prolonged load (just FYI).

 

Before you get too involved in hardware troubleshooting, what did you use to measure CPU temps during this event? As far as I know CPUID has yet to release a Ryzen 3000 update to accurately measure temps and that is the process iCUE uses to gather information. Others have reported vastly inflated values in comparison to AMD’s utility or other corrected tools.

Before you get too involved in hardware troubleshooting, what did you use to measure CPU temps during this event? As far as I know CPUID has yet to release a Ryzen 3000 update to accurately measure temps and that is the process iCUE uses to gather information. Others have reported vastly inflated values in comparison to AMD’s utility or other corrected tools.

 

Temp was measured with HWiNFO64 and AMD Ryzen Master. They matched. I might try repasting it. If no improvement, I'll send it back. My previous Intel 8700 system had a Noctua D15 which was amazing, but it won't fit in my new case. I might try it with tha case open, however...:-)

Ok, then look at the H150i Temp (coolant temperature) vs end CPU temp. Coolant temp is going to start at room/case temp on power on and slowly warm up to 4-7C above that and match the case ambient. When you initiate a load, the coolant rise should be slow, +1C every 30 seconds or so with perhaps a 6-8C max coolant rise. If it is shooting up in bunches or quickly, it is a cooler issue. If not, it is something else. I don’t work with AMD at all, but most recent Intel CPUs cannot run aggressive stress tests right out of the box without some BIOS tweaking. Check your voltage and make sure the Auto setting isn’t over compensating.

I've repasted and it seems ok now. The paste was dry out of the box (received from Amazon two days ago). Max cpu temp now 68 instead of throttling at 95. Liquid temp only gone up about 4 or 5 degrees, settling at 33 with pump at balanced setting of 2070 rpm. Panic over. It's a thumbs up from me at this point :-)

 

Incidentally, there was no pump vibration detected, but clearly it is working!