Corsair One (GTX1080) upgradablility in 2020?

[Srfsean]

On 5/20/2022 at 11:36 AM, zguy85 said:

@Srfsean Hey great idea, my concern is that for those of us with factory set ups, will it work with iCue, would we have to move connectors from pumps and fans directly to mobo.  What exactly is entailed for us to work with that software without conflicting with iCue?

My understanding is we still need iCue to control the pumps?  I'm pretty sure it's not as simple as download and go without changes to system fan/pump connections.

If you could entail what would be necessary it would be appreciated.

I honestly couldn't tell you how it will interact with iCue as I abandoned that software as quickly as I could. I think if you are able to see the sensors in HWinfo64 or a similar program you would be able to use them to trigger the fan curves. Someone would need to download this software and check to see if the temperature readings from the gpu/cpu show up and are configurable as sensors(I'd bet they will).

 

I personally have been using pumps and radiators from both versions of the C1 mixed and matched with no issues in my builds. I have the pumps running directly from the motherboard and they are at a static speed with no noise or performance penalty in my case. Top fan plugged into the cpu fan header and then use this software to have the fan ramp up with signals from both gpu and cpu whichever is higher takes priority.

[EchoSierra]

On 5/21/2022 at 1:36 AM, zguy85 said:

@Srfsean Hey great idea, my concern is that for those of us with factory set ups, will it work with iCue, would we have to move connectors from pumps and fans directly to mobo.  What exactly is entailed for us to work with that software without conflicting with iCue?

My understanding is we still need iCue to control the pumps?  I'm pretty sure it's not as simple as download and go without changes to system fan/pump connections.

If you could entail what would be necessary it would be appreciated.

The pumps have their own firmware built into them along with a default fan curve for the top fan. So technically they can run without iCUE no problem. However, updates to fan curves are only offered through iCUE. But if the default fan curve is good enough you could run them without the software. The only other 'benefit' to iCUE is coolant temp monitoring. So, you can connect the top fan of the case directly to the motherboard and should be able to use the software Fan Control, and iCUE can be used for monitoring coolant temps only. In the original C1 the pumps are actually DC configured instead of PWM which means they only ever have two speeds: 0 RPM or max RPM. I'm not sure about the new C1 but I would think it's the same for the sake of temps. So you don't really need iCUE to run the pumps but you'll need to monitor coolant temps. Pump speed can also be monitored with HWinfo.

[EchoSierra]

On 5/21/2022 at 6:43 AM, MikeDC said:

Hello everybody. I still haven't started to upgrade my C1 as I am away for a moment. Just wanted to know if a 3080 TI Founders Edition would fit in a C1 2017?

It seems that the prices are getting lower for those and from the spec on Nvidia website, it seems it could fit. Any advise on those?

Thanks in advance.

It should fit without much issue. To give you an idea my RTX 3070 triple fan card is L=282 W=115 H=41 mm

The 3080 Ti FE is L=285 W=112 H=40 mm

In my case there is still a tiny bit of space left at the bottom of the card. So the 3080 Ti FE might just need a bit of manoeuvring to get to it fit but it should work.

[Srfsean]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:06 PM, EchoSierra said:

The pumps have their own firmware built into them along with a default fan curve for the top fan. So technically they can run without iCUE no problem. However, updates to fan curves are only offered through iCUE. But if the default fan curve is good enough you could run them without the software. The only other 'benefit' to iCUE is coolant temp monitoring. So, you can connect the top fan of the case directly to the motherboard and should be able to use the software Fan Control, and iCUE can be used for monitoring coolant temps only. In the original C1 the pumps are actually DC configured instead of PWM which means they only ever have two speeds: 0 RPM or max RPM. I'm not sure about the new C1 but I would think it's the same for the sake of temps. So you don't really need iCUE to run the pumps but you'll need to monitor coolant temps. Pump speed can also be monitored with HWinfo.

I did some stress testing with the default fan curve just to see how it would perform. CPU test thermal throttled due to fan taking so long to spin up and never reaching a fast enough RPM. GPU test ran ok with the exception of the system blinking red lights every so often while spiking fan RPM to max for emergency cooling then dropping it back down once its "ideal" temp was achieved. It did this over and over again and while it did not thermal throttle it was very annoying.

For anyone wondering here is how I setup Fan Control with the caveat that I do not have iCUE installed and will not reinstall it to test it.

I unplugged the top fan from the pump connection and plugged it directly into the CPU fan spot on the motherboard. I installed this software and made a custom curve for the CPU, GPU and NVME drive separately based on the temperatures and sound level I desire at specific loads. I used CPU Package Temp, GPU Temp, and SSD Temp as my temperature signals. Then I made a Mix-Max curve based on all 3 I previously made(this makes more sense when you're looking at it). This now uses the Max Fan rpm called for at any time by any of the 3 components I set up.

Another change I made is having the fan decrease in speed more slowly when the temps drop to help eliminate some heat soak after an intense workload. This also helps prevent the fan from jumping around in RPM's as much.

It is perfect for me and infinitely adjustable on the fly. I have no use for the coolant temperatures or pump rpm's but they are still visible in HWiNFO64 if someone wants to stare at them. The little fan on the 2080ti heatsink still functions just fine on it's own adjusting as needed.

[MikeDC]

Hello everybody.

I am still gathering info for my future upgrade of my C1 pro 2017 and I was looking into adding more ram.

For the moment I have 16gb and want to upgrade as much as possible. I know it is straight forward to put 2x16gb and so up to 32 but I saw a post on reddit from 4 years ago with an answer from a Corsair technician saying that they offer and support 32 but you can actually up to 64 it's just that you will need 2 modules of 32 and back then it was not common and expensive. 

I've check the specs of the i7 7700k and it can go higher than 32 for sure, and not sure about the motherboard. I found a Z270 msi for mini ITX with the specs up to 32 because it has two slots.

And I also found some specs of the Corsair one with the 1080Ti and there it says up to 64 and it comes with the same CPU and same motherboard.

So not sure about all this. Can someone here help me with this. Did any of you have upgrade his Ram?

Really curious to know more about this.

Thanks in advance for all your help. Can't wait to start this upgrade.

 

[MikeDC]

Hello all.

Well, after days and days trying to figure out what graphic card I should get to upgrade my original C1.

Since I am looking for a good amount of VRam, I was first interested in a 3060 as it comes with 12 Gigs and it s quite cheap, then when I saw that the 3080TI Founders Edition had the same amount of VRam and that it could fit I was looking into this option. Knowing that I will have to change to PSU for sure, but afraid of the fact that such a big card inside this small box will probably heat a lot, and the lower fan will push the heat towards the CPU in the back. I was really hesitating to pull the trigger on a 3080TI. And I was looking for solutions to add an extra fan in the case or create more space behind the card to have the air flow better into the case.

But then I've discover the RTX A4000, not a gaming card but a workstation card. With the same specs more or less than a 3070 but with 16 Gigs on VRam so that is really good news for somebody like me. It is of course slower that a 3080TI but I can live with something slower and the fact that it comes with even more VRam in super sweet. It's a small form factor as it is only a one slot GPU and with a power consumption at 140W. It looks a bit like the turbo card. And what I found really interesting is that it seems that you could remove the cover and probably put the original cooler from the 1080 on it. Being a 140W card, it seems very close to what the 1080 was generating in heat and then it seems doable. The GPU is located at the same place so maybe not too much to be able to put the cooler on it and then keep the power for the upper fan connected on it too. There's even a chance that I won't have to replace the original PSU. It is a 6 pin connection to the card, I think the 1080 had a 8 pin, so will have to find a cable for this, shouldn't be too hard.

So I decided to go for that one and see how it goes. It will arrive in a few days and I will see how it goes.

What I don't know is the PCI cable as it a PCI 4 card and the original C1 is a PCI 2 rig, is it going to work?

I do have some plans to go crazy and replace the PSU, the motherboard to a Z590, the processor with a i7 11700k, this way I am sure it's PCI4 and I will be able to put 64Gigs of Ram on it too.

About such an upgrade, noob question here: if I keep the original HD with the OS on it, will it run with all those new parts or it is better to do a clean install with new drives as well?

I have never ever assemble any PC in the past and know nothing about this. But I am so bloody excited to try this :)) And all your posts here are so interesting for all this. Thanks a lot.

[zguy85]

It will run without doing a clean install.  It will run with PCI 2.  Yes will most definitely have to upgrade the PSU... super ez.  The cooling will be fine might possibly have to increase top fan speed if needed.

[EchoSierra]

The card will run fine but it will run at PCIe 2. Not a big deal as each generation brings small increments. One thing to keep in mind is when you do upgrade the rest of the components you will need to upgrade the riser cable as well to a PCIe 4 compatible one. The motherboard will detect that the GPU is PCIe 4 so it will default to that speed but if the riser cable is not compatible with PCIe 4 then you will not get an image on your monitor from the GPU.

As far as keeping the HD and OS I recommend to do a clean install as you will be putting new components that use different drivers. This is best so that there is no conflict between old/different drivers trying to operate new hardware.

[MikeDC]

Thanks again for all those great infos. I will finally be able to start working on this next week.

I will proceed step by step.

First thing will be to put the new GPU, and I'm planning to put a new fan on top and connect it to the motherboard. Will have to see how to configure it so that it is not going full speed all the time as I would like to put the Noctua that goes to 3000 rpm just in case as the temperature here as sometimes really hot.

I'm thinking to try to unmount the GPU case to be able to plug the original AIO cooling from the 1080 on it and then keep the connection of the fan on it. But I am a bit afraid that the heat dissipator of the A4000 is also cooling the VRam and the AIO will not have this effect. So still not sure about all this. That was also the idea of the 3000 rpm fan, just to be able to help suck the hot air easier.

Oh and from what I saw on some pictures, the PCI power cable that was there for the 1080 seemed to be a 6+2 pin and since the A4000 needs a 6 pins, there's a chance I won't have to change this cable. It might be cleaner to do it. Will see how it goes.

Then I will have to check for the PSU. from the infos I've check, the 1080 was a 150w card, and the A4000 is a 140w. So I am maybe good with the original PSU. Especially if I only change the GPU and fan in the first place.

And finally the Ram, I really would like to fit 64 gigs in it, and I need to run a script on the machine to check the real max amount of ram. I was not able to find clear infos on this. Some people say 32, some say they have fit 64.

So if the system allows 64, then it is safe, but if it's only 32, then I will see if I just put 32 and see how it goes. I've been working with 32 and it was fine. It's just to be sure I can expand on some projects. But then, going 64 means, changing the mother board and CPU, the rizer cable, the PSU, probably the drives and do a clean install. So that one if a big one. Probably the most exciting one as I will have almost a new PC with recent component.

I will for sure keep you posted with this and once again, thank you so much for your help here.

 

[EchoSierra]

One more thing I would recommend is to try your best to check if you would be able to mount the original GPU cooler on the new graphics card as that whole mounting bracket on the original was custom made for that specific 1080 PCB. Each PCB is different with each generation so even the new C1 systems have different mounting brackets for the GPU. It would be best to make sure as much as possible before disassembling the new graphics card as that will open a can of worms in the form of working out the thickness of the thermal pads used to transfer heat from the VRAM and VRM modules to the card's heat sink. Good luck with the upgrade!

[MikeDC]

I think I will try first to make it work without the original AIO and see how is the cooling. Since the card is very small and the fan of the card in the bottom, there might be enough air passing to cool it properly. Maybe I can even put an extra fan instead of the previous cooling grid to push more air towards it.

And in the case I will attempt to put the original AIO, from what I saw, you can open the front cover and plug the pump on it without needing to remove the back cover and then replacing all the pads and all that. What I am afraid of is that the surface of the AIO on the GPU is smaller than the card cooler right now and then will not cool properly the VRam under.

Tomorrow I will be back home after months and can't wait to start this. I've been  searching for so much infos about that since I saw all your posts here. So excited.

[MikeDC]

First evening trying to figure it out with my C1 in front of me.

First good news, it supports 64 gigs of Ram.

Then I've open it to check a bit the inside, after week of youtube video to check the interior. I've open it and check, take a few dimensions, and then after closing it, it is not restarting at all. It is really strange as I've just remove the top fan to open the side panels and that's it.

So first evening, first headache, I was not expecting this :(( 

[MikeDC]

Update on my upgrade.

Today all the parts arrived, so I decided to make the big swap.

I've start with the Ram and put 64gigs of DDR4 3200 Mhz Corsair LPX

Then I've replace the PSU with the SF 600 as my new card shouldn't take too much power.

I've then plug the extension cable for the fan in the Sys Fan 1

And then on the other side, I've remove the original card. Had little surprises as the I didn't know the card had two screws in the bottom and you have to unscrew the power connector in the back to be able to access those two screws more easily.

Then I've put my RTX A4000 in it.

I've keep all the original cables as the one powering the 1080 was a 6+2 and it's a 6 pin on the A4000. And for PSU I've also gone minimal and keep everything.

I've remove the power cable from the previous AIO as well as the one that was qiving power to the top fan.

And finally replacing the top fan with a Noctua NF A 14 that can run at 3000 rpm.

 

So it's turning on, the card is there, the ram is there, but I do have some weird things.

First one is the Ram, it is running at 2166Mhz and when I go in the Bios to activate the XMP, it shows the good speed of 3200 but when restarting, it doesn't want to apply the change and force to revert them. I haven't found anything about this yet. Not sure if it's because I've put 64 Gigs and not 32 and then it is not supporting XMP anymore.

The other issue is that the new top fan is not running at all. When connecting it to the Sys Fan 1 I was expecting it to just run at full speed and then to be able to adjust it with FanControl but even FanControl is not seeing it. I've also try to connect it in Sys Fan2 but it's the same.

 

Any advise about those two issues?

 

And I've attach an image of the card inside. As you can see it's a very small card and there's plenty of room at the bottom and also in the front especially now that the front grid of the AIO as been removed.

[MikeDC]

I might have solve the problems after a bit of digging.

For the fan, I've put back the original one and it actually works fine with that one. Maybe the Noctua was defective.

And for the Ram speed. Turn out that the motherboard support higher frequencies, but the i7 7700k is maxed at 2400Mhz from what I was able see on the net. So I've activate the XMP and put it at 2400 instead of the 2166 it was, and like this it's working.

A bit sad I will not be able to put them higher, but in the case I decide to replace the motherboard and the CPU as well, then I will have a proper set or Ram.

 

Thanks again for all your help, hope my C1 will last a few more years now.

[EchoSierra]

Nice job on the upgrade! I'm glad you were able to solve the issues. It's a really good system! The original C1 is probably the most reliable of the three generations so far. Especially because even though it was using corsair link customized for the C1, this software at least for me has proven to be more reliable than iCUE given people's stories with the other two generations of C1. I've got a 10th gen CPU/motherboard and a RTX 3070 (air cooled) and I'm still using the original CPU liquid cooler with no issues at all. Top fan was upgraded to a Noctua one that goes to 1500 RPM. And I'm using the corsair link software so I still get coolant temp monitoring and the top fan runs with the default fan curve which never gave issues like iCUE is doing with the new C1s.

Looking forward to when you upgrade the rest. 🤘

[Srfsean]

15 hours ago, MikeDC said:

I might have solve the problems after a bit of digging.

For the fan, I've put back the original one and it actually works fine with that one. Maybe the Noctua was defective.

And for the Ram speed. Turn out that the motherboard support higher frequencies, but the i7 7700k is maxed at 2400Mhz from what I was able see on the net. So I've activate the XMP and put it at 2400 instead of the 2166 it was, and like this it's working.

A bit sad I will not be able to put them higher, but in the case I decide to replace the motherboard and the CPU as well, then I will have a proper set or Ram.

 

Thanks again for all your help, hope my C1 will last a few more years now.

Sometimes higher rpm fans need slightly higher voltage to start moving as they typically have a slightly higher starting rpm. Did you try adjusting fan speed manually to 100% to make sure it’s not a dud? If you can control fans in bios that would be a good place to troubleshoot. 

[MikeDC]

Thanks a lot for your answers.

Well the Noctua fan never started. I am unsing Fan Control and it never managed to find that fan, so I guess there was something wrong with it. As when I've switch to the original fan, it did work directly. I didn't check through the Bios to try to set it up directly at 100%. 

I will try still try to replace it but now with a NF-A14 PWM just because it might  be quieter. I've mange my curves a bit so that now it is more quiet but I want to try the other one too. I think hat one is going at 1500 RPM and the original Corsair was 1200 RPM

Will see how this goes 🙂

[EchoSierra]

@MikeDC Yeah I can definitely confirm that the NF-A14 has a max speed of 1500 RPM as that's the one I installed in mine. And also, yes the original corsair fan has a max speed of 1200 RPM. Used to be so quite but now it really is not usable anymore with new components that run hotter. I tried a corsair ML-140 that has a max speed of 2000 RPM but I found it to be a bit too loud for my liking and it only decreased temps by about 3 or 4C. So the Noctua fan turned out to be the sweet spot for me.

[MikeDC]

I've install the Noctua and yes it's a good compromise. I've play a bit in FanControl to have two different GPU curve. One to drive the fan on the card and another curve with the temp of the GPU but with a lower % in order to match that fan sweet spot for the noise. I'm trying to have it at 35% when the temps are low and around 80% when the GPU is hot and 100% if it becoming super hot, this way it is still not too loud. And that curve is mixed with the CPU temps like you've mention in another post.

Overall I'm super happy as it's more quite now, more powerful, the new card is so small that there's plenty of air around. I can even try to put a fan instead of the previous grid to blow more air on it. Will see how it goes when under heavy load on some projects. But it seems pretty ok. The card never went above 73° when doing 3D rendering.

Thanks again for all the great help. You helped save my C1 for a few more years.

[MikeDC]

Hello Everybody.

So after the first upgrade of the graphic card, PSU and more Ram, I decided to go for the second upgrade, changing the motherboard, the CPU, the riser cable and all Hard drives

I went for a MSI Z590i Unify and a i7 11700k. I was pretty anxious as I've never build a PC before, and upgrading something like this is taking the risk that it will not work anymore after.

Since that motherboard have two NMVe slots I decided to put two, a gen4 of 1 TB as my OS and software's drive. A second one gen3 of 500GB as my scratch disk for some software and I've put a SSD of 2TB in the lateral slot. I've actually remove the HD in the bottom part.

It was really impressive to remove all the component and have the case almost empty. I've decide to keep all the original cables from the PSU as they where almost all at the good place. I've just untied them to be able to remove the old motherboard and re tied them after, with the main change being the 8 pin for the CPU power that is on the other side of the motherboard. But it was super easy to pass in on the other side.

Fans connectors are reachable in the bottom part. Not too difficult.

Everything went pretty smoothly. I've remove the front cover too just the have more space to work but everything was pretty straight forward.

The only problem I have is the front LED that is not working for the moment. The original connection for the LED was a 12V 4pin connector and on the new motherboard it is a 5V 3pin connection, so I was not able to plug it back. I might have found a converter that will do the job. Still have to order it and test it, we will see how this goes. It's a good thing that I've remove the HDD in the bottom part as it leave some space then for that Led converter. Will see how it goes.

I was also considering changing the front LED with one that will work with the 5V 3Pin system but I have no idea where to look for this. If only Corsair was selling replacement parts I could have get the one from the later models.

Here is a picture of the moment were you can't go back 😉 I should have make a picture when it's fully upgraded but I was too excited and hurry to check if it was working.

 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by MikeDC

[zguy85]

Nice job!

[EchoSierra]

Good work!!! I'm glad you found it straight forward. It's just a matter of taking your time and it's actually not bad working in this system. 

For the front LEDs, yes they would need to be connected to a 4 pin connector but unfortunately your new mobo doesn't have one. Only an addressable RGB connector which as you said is 3 pin and won't work with these old LEDs. Hopefully the converter works for you. 

 

[MikeDC]

Thanks a lot, and special thanks to you as you've really helped me with your good advices. In a way I've take my time to prepare this upgrade. I've watch some interesting video about other C1 owner upgrading, then all the questions here. So when I've start upgrading I was ready and it was easy.

I've order the converter today but unfortunately now my C1 will take a boat for 3 to 4 weeks and I will only be able to test it when he will arrive there.

There one thing funny with the new motherboard, it's full on heat sensors and there's a little fan for the vrm, so it's kind of pretty fun in FanControl now, but I will have to check what are the average and peak temp for all this in order to set it up properly.

Will keep you updated for the led converter as I know some people here had the same issue.

 

[MikeDC]

Hello everybody.

So, after a few months I finally got all the necessary pieces and cable to make the front leds of my C1 work with a new motherboard.

As the MSI Z590i comes with a JRainbow connector, so a 5V LED system, and the old LED are based on a 12V, I've manage to find a converter. It's the ArrRGB DAC from Solarity. But there's no cables with it, so powering it, it's a SATA to floppy cable. Luckily when doing the full upgrade of my C1, I decided to remove the old HDD in the bottom part and keep the last SATA cable from the daisy chain unplugged. So I've manage to put the DAC there in the bottom and use that SATA cable to power it. The JRainbow connector on the motherboard is also there at the bottom, so things are coming all together.

When I've first power on my C1 after that, the front LED were in a "breathing" mode. I've install the MSI center to have access to the Mystic Light and I was able to change the mode of the LED. I've put it on "steady" and for the colors I've put 255 in Blue and nothing in the R and G channel as those front LED are with the single blue color.

And now it is working perfectly.

 

My only concern now after a few months of use is that sometimes the CPU is a bit high in temperature. Most of the time it is around 40 to 45°C but sometimes it's goes around 65°C and I'm not doing anything special, and it's hard for it to go down after that. Maybe it is because I've upgrade the i7 7700k with a i7 11700k but I've keep the original cooling AIO and it's not strong enough for such a difference.

I'm tempted to add an extra fan inside as I have some spare space now next to the GPU as it's a super slim one and there room there. But if I put a fan there, it will blow mainly on the GPU, not sure it will help the CPU. 

I am also planning on changing the thermal paste on the CPU, it could have some impact and lower the temp of the CPU of a few °. Will let you know about it also.

Cheers

Mike

[Jesstoferson]

On 11/10/2020 at 5:21 AM, EchoSierra said:

the max length is about 286mm and the max width is about 125mm

any idea on the max height? I am looking at a MSI 4070ti Super Ventus 2x, it's dimensions are  L-242 W-125 H-51 (mm). Is there a spare centimeter? EchoSierra also mentioned in a later post that "The 3080 Ti FE is L=285 W=112 H=40 mm" with a little room to spare length wise. Just curious if any of the 40 series cards would be the best option these days with this case.