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H100i v2 Installation


ShaneChowdery

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I will be building a new setup on a Maximus VIII Hero Alpha with an overclocked i7-6700k cooled with an H100i v2. The thing is that I do not intend to use Corsair Link. What is the optimal setup for this?

 

The motherboard has three separate 4-pin headers labeled "W_PUMP", "CPU_FAN", and "CPU_OPT". The way I see it I have two options:

 

  1. I could connect the pump's power cable to W_PUMP and then the radiator's two 120mms to CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT.
  2. I could connect the pump's power cable to CPU_FAN and then connect the radiator's two 120mms to the pump.

 

The H100i v2 manual says to go with option 2, but remember I will not be using Corsair Link for anything other than changing the LEDs. After that it will be uninstalled. Would this still give me optimal performance if I do not wish to manually control the fans, or would option 1 be better?

 

  • What exactly would the differences be, performance wise, between these two options?
  • After uninstalling Corsair Link, the RGB LED stays put. Is there a particular preset I should choose, and would that stay put too after uninstalling?
  • If nothing is changed except the RGB LED, would the H100i v2 just perform at its default preset? And will this remain after uninstalling Corsair Link? Is the default preset any good? I don't want my system to be noisy, but I also plan on overclocking a little.

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  • 2 months later...
I would like to know the answer to this question too. Did you ever get to a solid setup? I just installed everything and my pump doesn't seem to be working. Wondering if it's the setup or if it's broken. CPU goes to 89 degrees and one pump feels hot while the other is cold. I don't think it's pumping...
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I had this thought before I installed mine... however I ended up using Corsair Link and I am quite happy with it. As long as it is setup correctly and you have the fans set to adjust on the temp of the H100i instead of the CPU temp.... works great. my i7-6700k is OC to 4.6GHz and rarely gets over 60 under heavy load.
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I would like to know the answer to this question too. Did you ever get to a solid setup? I just installed everything and my pump doesn't seem to be working. Wondering if it's the setup or if it's broken. CPU goes to 89 degrees and one pump feels hot while the other is cold. I don't think it's pumping...

 

if you have an ASUS mobo and are using Q Fan Control or Fan Xpert3 to control your fans... that is the problem. Go into your bios and set the CPU Fan to 100% manually. anything less than that and the pump will not run properly or at all.

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It really doesn't matter whether Link is active, uninstalled, or other. The more compelling rationale for which header to use is whether or not you use the pump block to drive the radiator fans. Something has to be on CPU_FAN to boot. Using other case fans on the CPU header doesn't always work out. They will be tied to CPU temp with no other choice and many boards have special fan protocols for the CPU fan.

 

If you intend to connect the fans directly to the motherboard, put them on CPU & OPT. Put the pump header on W_Pump or any other CHA fan header. Regardless of which one you choose, make sure that header is set to PWM and Full Speed in the Asus E-Z BIOS or PWM and disabled in the Advanced BIOS (both are the same). The pump still needs 12v, even without fans.

 

The other option is to connect the fans to pump, even without Link. Without the program, the cooler will run either its default profile and fan speeds or the last known profile if Link has been loaded. Normally, this is the preferred method. When powered and controlled through the pump, fan speed will be based on the coolant temperature inside the unit. This is the most efficient cooling with the least variable fan speeds. However, without the software you will not have any direct way to control the fans or monitor the coolant temp. This is not strictly necessary and if you haven't had a Link cooler before, it is likely you have never controlled the CPU cooler this way. When connected to the board, it will change speed based on CPU temperature, as most coolers do. The only real downside to this is more frequent changes to fan speed than necessary. The fans help remove heat from the water, not cool the CPU directly based on voltage. As a result, CPU temp control always makes the fans run a bit too much or change speed too often. The Asus fan controls in AI Suite/Fan Xpert will allow you to program a spin up/down delay to help alleviate this, however many Asus users (including me) have had the CPU temp control ignore the fan delays for the last 6 months with no offered explanation. On Z170, you also have those delays in the BIOS natively, so perhaps your will have better luck.

 

If you don't intend to use Link at all, you likely wish to connect the fans directly to the board. I do think everyone should try Link control at some point, but if you are also eager to use AI Suite for fan control, that would be a compelling reason to skip Link for now.

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  • 1 year later...

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