Hydro H115i PRO RGB Query

[Mapantz]

Hi

 

I bought the Corsair Hydro H115i PRO RGB 280mm a few days ago, and put it in my new case. I decided to use all of my 5 LL120 fans, 3 at the front, 1 at the top and 1 at the rear.

 

I managed to attach the 280mm rad at the front so that 2 and half of the 3 fans are blowing on the rad - all is working nicely!

 

I then started to confuse myself after looking at the Hydro settings in iCue.. so I have a a few questions..

 

I have plugged the AIO in to the AIO_Pump header on my motherboard, but didn't connect any fans to the pump, I simply kept them connected to my commander pro.

 

First question; should I have plugged two of my LL120's in to the pump? If I did, I presume I would lose the use of the RGB settings through iCue?

 

Second question; Can you only set the pump to the defined quiet/balanced/extreme profiles?

 

Third question; Should the pump speed up and slow down depending on my package temps, like the fans do?

 

Best.

[c-attack]

1) If you have headers availabe on the C-Pro, there is nothing wrong with running the radiator fans from there. On iCUE that will put all of your control fans on one screen instead of the two on the cooler page and the remainder on the C-Pro page. However, that is the only advantage. There is no difference in control or lighting, so if you need the other headers, move the two radiator fans to the pump. You can still do everything you could before.

 

The H115i PRO gets its power from the SATA connection and the motherboard header is not much more than a place holder, useful for keeping the CPU boot error away. However, that is also its use. When placed on CPU Fan, it will alert you on a pump fail when you boot up (the most likely time for something electrical to go wrong). I rant on this a little too frequently, but there are no special advantages to using the Asus AIO headers. It is set to 100% by default, but you can do that with any header. Aside from that, it has no special properties. It was better when it was a regular CHAssis fan header with more utility. Many of the boards will let you turn the AIO header back into a CHA fan, something you can't do with CPU/OPT fan. CPU & OPT are permanently tied to CPU temp and short fan delays. Dumping the dummy lead from the cooler onto it gives you the fail warning and makes it useful for something. That is my preference, but I would probably defer to location and cable routing as priority one. If you know you don't pay attention your monitoring ever, then putting it on CPU fan matters a bit more.

 

2 & 3) No, just the three fixed pump speeds and it is not dynamically adjustable. However, you don't really need to mess with this. Set it on Balanced and be done. If you are in a very quiet room, doing very quiet work and can hear it, turn it down to Quiet as well. No reason to use Extreme unless you are sport benchmarking or running right to your thermal limits. I see literally zero difference in testing between 2100 and 3000 rpm on the H115i Pro. Quiet will cost you a couple of degrees in coolant temp, but not relevant at the desktop level. Not sure I would use it for gaming, but either way you will not overheat because of pump speed and only people highly attuned to their normal variances will spot the difference.

[Mapantz]

1) If you have headers availabe on the C-Pro, there is nothing wrong with running the radiator fans from there. On iCUE that will put all of your control fans on one screen instead of the two on the cooler page and the remainder on the C-Pro page. However, that is the only advantage. There is no difference in control or lighting, so if you need the other headers, move the two radiator fans to the pump. You can still do everything you could before.

 

The H115i PRO gets its power from the SATA connection and the motherboard header is not much more than a place holder, useful for keeping the CPU boot error away. However, that is also its use. When placed on CPU Fan, it will alert you on a pump fail when you boot up (the most likely time for something electrical to go wrong). I rant on this a little too frequently, but there are no special advantages to using the Asus AIO headers. It is set to 100% by default, but you can do that with any header. Aside from that, it has no special properties. It was better when it was a regular CHAssis fan header with more utility. Many of the boards will let you turn the AIO header back into a CHA fan, something you can't do with CPU/OPT fan. CPU & OPT are permanently tied to CPU temp and short fan delays. Dumping the dummy lead from the cooler onto it gives you the fail warning and makes it useful for something. That is my preference, but I would probably defer to location and cable routing as priority one. If you know you don't pay attention your monitoring ever, then putting it on CPU fan matters a bit more.

 

2 & 3) No, just the three fixed pump speeds and it is not dynamically adjustable. However, you don't really need to mess with this. Set it on Balanced and be done. If you are in a very quiet room, doing very quiet work and can hear it, turn it down to Quiet as well. No reason to use Extreme unless you are sport benchmarking or running right to your thermal limits. I see literally zero difference in testing between 2100 and 3000 rpm on the H115i Pro. Quiet will cost you a couple of degrees in coolant temp, but not relevant at the desktop level. Not sure I would use it for gaming, but either way you will not overheat because of pump speed and only people highly attuned to their normal variances will spot the difference.

 

Thank you for that!

 

You have put my mind at ease. After everything was built with a neat & tidy cable management, I sat there and started thinking too much about the pump, and my brain couldn't quite handle it lol

 

After getting this Crystal 460X chassis, I was expecting temps to be just a little higher due to the tempered glass at the front. My previous chassis was excellent for air flow in, so I accepted that temps may go up by a degree or two. However, having the fans and pump set to quiet, my idle temps are 4 degrees lower than before - just 2 degrees above the ambient room temperature. And of course, they are also lower under load too. I'm very happy with this combo! :sunglasse