Extreme profile VS balanced

Hi,

 

Is there any real difference in temperatures between two profile for gaming for example?

 

Thanks

Should be no measurable difference for most CPUs and none I ever saw on a 280mm for 8700/8086K. While a higher pump speed means more trips from heat pick up to radiator dispersal point and back in a given amount of time, it also means it flows faster through the radiator itself and spends less time in that same heat release zone. In essence, each unit of water makes more trips but releases less heat each time, compared to slower flow with fewer trips but more heat released each cycle. These are tiny fractional differences and have little effect on real use. If you dig up some custom radiator reviews you will often see 3 different flow rates tested for each fan speed setting. Or rather you used to. Most got tired of doing their tests multiple times for each speed with no change in results and do a middle 1G/min middle speed. On AIO coolers with low to medium flow resistance and a short run from pump to radiator and back, it just doesn’t matter much. Fan speed is more influential than pump speed. Faster works better, but the trade off is noise and like most things improvements at the limit are difficult.

 

When might it? MAYBE you would see a slight coolant temp change on large surface area processors at heavy load, but then on the AIO the temp is measured at the CPU rather than enter/exit of a radiator or somewhere else in the loop. That may affect the reading slightly. We do know it is possible to slow the flow down to the point where there is a difference and flow rate decreases dramatically. You can easily test for yourself, but make sure you are looking at coolant temp change (Delta T) and not end CPU temp. When most people claim they have large differences in performance between the medium and high speed, they typically give CPU temps as evidence. Sorry, but those values can be different each and every time for other reasons and pump speed is not why your BFV temps were better in December vs July.

Ok so I I play a demanding game it won't change anything between the two pump profile that's it? Same thing for idle temps?

Correct. It can be hard to assess in game. Try 5 min runs in the same area, but of course your case may continue to heat up from the GPU and skew results. Sometimes I use windowed mode to tweak and watch.

 

It should not matter for idle either when there is little heat (~20W) coming off the CPU. However, it is possible sometimes to create a fractional difference at very low fan speeds. Fan speed is the more dominant variable, but if you reduce it near zero, then the remaining variables have more influence. Still, 0.5C coolant change at idle is worth 0.5C change at the CPU. Not exactly life changing.

Thanks i'll keep on balanced then :)

Well am I the only one who find the noise from extreme profile less annoying than balanced?

That's not a common sentiment on the Pro coolers with most people clearly being able to identify the Extreme speed and have difficulty hearing the medium/balanced speed. The first two things that come to mind are: 1) unique resonance to your motherboard/case, etc. Sometimes the exact vibration frequency hits all the wrong notes. See this more commonly with custom cooling and their huge range of speed and different mounting, but the same principles are in play. 2) It could be a developing pump motor issue. If the tone becomes inconsistent, gravelly, or anything but normal, smooth electric hum you can consider replacing it. However, in the immediate future, if Extreme is less annoying, use it. It's Summer and you likely have other house fans running to help cover over the noise. It's the dead of Winter when these things become really vexing.