Question about H80i GT + asus z170a

[Dennis.Y]

I just installed my h80i gt on my z170a yesterday.

 

after booting, i hear a little noise every few mins, so I think that was come from the pump + fan.

 

however, after installing corsair link, my fan suddenly went really loud every minutes. it was pretty silent before, but now, i keep hearing the fan sound and I cant change anything on the corsair link.

 

http://i.imgur.com/XEWiEjh.png

 

is this the normal rpm of my fan? the top right is the position of my h80i GT. sometimes it went like 2200rpm and it's loud af.

 

p.s. I have disabled the Q-fan setting in my bios. I connect those 2 fans of h80i gt to the pump cable and the pump is connected to the CPU_FAN

 

edit: I just played around the link. I changed my H80i GT fan mode to custom from quiet and drag from 40c @ 60% to 40c @ 30%. it's so quiet now and the H80i Gt temp went from 38c to 38.2c. does it work that way? What is the normal/max temp could H80i GT temp go up to?

[c-attack]

There is no stated maximum water temperature (H80i GT Temp) for any of the coolers. I would start to get concerned when you get into the upper 40's to 50C, not from a failure standpoint, but because of the resulting impact on your CPU temperatures. The water temperature effectively becomes your baseline minimum CPU temperature. If you start at 50C and then add in the inherent voltage induced heat, you are probably going to end up in the throttle zone if you have any kind of overclock on. Obviously when you start at 25 or 30C water temp, you have a lot more room. Most of the coolers go max fan speed at around 40C. The H80-series may gotten a bump up to 45C to account for higher average water temperatures, due to the slightly smaller volume of water inside and the very common rear mounting location above the GPU. There is nothing magical about 40 or 45C, it's just a general point where many enthusiast users might start to get too high on the CPU cores. It is obviously both very CPU model and setting specific, but also environmentally dependent as well.

 

There is no problem with using the custom fan curve and I don't see any issue with what you have done. As long your CPU cores temps stay within your comfort zone, you don't need more fan speed. Cooling returns tend to be more elusive at the high end of the speed range anyway. 2000 rpm vs 1700 is not likely to be a meaningful difference. I suppose the more pertinent question is are your water temps higher than they should be? What's going on in the screen shot? CPU temps in the 40's, water temp at a 38.5C. If it wasn't for the lower GPU fan speed, I might think it a game was up. The missing piece in all of this is your GPU model. If you have 980 Ti we stop searching for the heat source, but there certainly are other normal explanations.

[Dennis.Y]

http://i.imgur.com/gYQtJGd.png

 

this is the pic after i change my fan speed to custom like this

 

http://i.imgur.com/frFn7Ek.png

 

it's floating around 40c

 

my CPU: i5 6600k base speed 3.5ghz

display: gigabyte gtx 970 mini

case: fractal design define s

[c-attack]

OK, I don't see an issue with how the cooler is behaving with regard to the water temperature. However, I am still wondering why the water temperature is in this 38-40C range. Are you at idle on the desktop?

 

Maybe we had better start at the beginning.

 

1) Where is the H80i GT mounted? Which way are the fans blowing (in or out of the case)? The Link set-up suggests your are in the upper right, but I don't know if that means front panel or roof and not airflow direction.

 

2) 6600k and a 970. Your case should not be very warm. GPU is cold (33C). Motherboard temps in the upper 20's. If I were guessing, I would say your room temperature is around 23-24C. Your water temps should be in the upper 20's or low 30's at most with that room temperature and with those base settings. 38-40C water temp is too warm for this and it is also making your CPU temps idle in the 40's.

 

3) I can see the pump speed of ~2000 rpm. What happens when you set the pump speed to performance mode? Are you still hearing mechanical noises from the pump?

[Dennis.Y]

OK, I don't see an issue with how the cooler is behaving with regard to the water temperature. However, I am still wondering why the water temperature is in this 38-40C range. Are you at idle on the desktop?

 

Maybe we had better start at the beginning.

 

1) Where is the H80i GT mounted? Which way are the fans blowing (in or out of the case)? The Link set-up suggests your are in the upper right, but I don't know if that means front panel or roof and not airflow direction.

 

2) 6600k and a 970. Your case should not be very warm. GPU is cold (33C). Motherboard temps in the upper 20's. If I were guessing, I would say your room temperature is around 23-24C. Your water temps should be in the upper 20's or low 30's at most with that room temperature and with those base settings. 38-40C water temp is too warm for this and it is also making your CPU temps idle in the 40's.

 

3) I can see the pump speed of ~2000 rpm. What happens when you set the pump speed to performance mode? Are you still hearing mechanical noises from the pump?

 

1. its mounted on the top right corner ( front panel). idk if i mount the fan correctly. i need to check again but i guess the direction should be like the one shown in pic?

 

2. it's in idle.

 

3. it went up to ~3000rpm. not much noise coming out and the h80i gt temp didnt change much (hold at ~41c). it's just the fan/pump sound.

 

http://i.imgur.com/lkPzukz.png

 

edit: so it turns out my fan inside the case blow the air toward the radiator too. after I change it like I show on the above pic, it went down like 5c (from 41c to 36c)

 

is there any preference to install the pump? i saw 2 tutorial on youtube and they installed like this.

 

http://i.imgur.com/w12vBhA.png

 

but mine is like this

 

http://i.imgur.com/EXfGZ7a.jpg

 

should I flip upside down like they show in the tutorial? is there diff? thank you

[c-attack]

OK, that last picture helped. No, whether the hoses are on the bottom or top of the radiator will have no impact on temperature. If you have fans in the top of the case, make sure they are set to exhaust air out of the top.

 

However, I am still concerned as you are at least 10C over the water and CPU temps you should have. This is what I would expect in a 35C room, but your idle GPU and motherboard temps clearly show this is not the case. This is not a contact issue between the block and CPU. The water temp would not be so warm with that problem. It seems most likely you have some sort of partial flow restriction. Sometimes you get pump noise along with that, but I don't have any other ideas, aside from making sure both fans on the H80i GT are blowing the same way (label side toward the back of the case).

 

Contact customer service and request an RMA or, if this is new and you have return options, exercise those. Start a help ticket anyway. You are not required to send it in and play both options.

[Dennis.Y]

ya. i was wondering that too. and I found that Im constantly having 100% cpu usage, so i decide to reinstall the windows. (I had my old ssd from my last computer).

 

then, it seems really fine now but im wondering is it normal to hear some sound from the case? it's like the fun/pump running but it's not loud at all or should the h80i GT be dead slient at all?

 

http://i.imgur.com/LkfoWym.png

[c-attack]

Whew... OK, those the are temperatures I would expect to see. Not sure what went wrong for you with CPU usage, but if that was Win 10, it likes to do some strange things to the CPU now and then.

 

As for noise, the pump is a mechanical device and has to make some noise to function. However, you should not be able to hear it over the case fans (and certainly not the H80i GT fans). An overhead ceiling fan is enough to mask the noise from mine, even with all case fans off. I am not sure if you feel your pump is too loud or too quiet.

[Dennis.Y]

im not quite sure where the sound come from, but it's not that loud. I didnt add any fans to the case, so there's only 2 case fans from the Define S case and the H80i GT fans.

 

Do you think the fans come from H80i GT are good? Should I replace it with other low profile fans?

 

btw, thanks for the help!!!

[c-attack]

The SP120L fans that come with the cooler are designed for maximum radiator performance. You would need to go over to the industrial 120x38mm side of things to make improvements. On the other hand there are a lot of fans that are quieter. That reduction in noise comes with a reduction in speed. The overwhelming majority of people do not need that last 400-500 RPM at the end of the range. So, if you feel the fans are a little loud for your usage, there are some other choices. However, up to this point you have had to endure some very high fans speeds as the system reacted to the high water temperature. Give it some time in a more normal environment to decide if the fans are an issue.

[Dennis.Y]

is it normal to have 1900rpm on the pump?

 

could it run slower? I couldnt change it in link. only quite/performance mode could been made.

[c-attack]

That's as low as you can go with Link software. I am not sure I would want to run slower than that anyway. The bigger units can get by with less, but the single units might be slightly compromised by a slower flow rate. With other software, you may be able to drop it more, but I would make sure the pump is really the culprit. Fans are more likely to be the offender.