Request: iCUE ELITE CAPELLIX - Lower RPM (< 2000 RPM) for Quiet Profile via Firmware

[AryA]

To everyone who thinks the noise is loud.

I’ve done some testing with a decibel meter and concluded that the pump (without the fans on) makes around 28-37 dB of noise when the meter was legit 2 cm (somewhat less than an inch) away from the rgb distribution plate of the pump. I tried many places, like under the pump, above it to the left and right but I got the same results. So yes, the pumps are “in spec”, but that spec is not ideal. Moreover, I believe the reason people perceive it as “loud” is because of the frequency at which it makes the sound, rather than the decibels it emits. I have tinnitus, so I can get my head over high frequency noises, but on the other hand, I despise low frequency buzzing noises.

[Beff Jezoz]

config mod since months and still good performance. At 1900 RPM its not audible maybe. But I cant get lower than 1933.

I filled the gaps under the cap with silicone.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Beff Jezoz

[EquippeD]

Found this thread today because I'm tired of hearing this expeisive whiny pump-come noise-generator, spew its mid-pitched noise over all the other silent components in my build. I can literally hear this thing down the hallway, 20ft/6m from my PC in "Quiet" mode?!

"Corsair" state that the pump hardware is wired to a fixed 2300rpm minimum,. and nothing can be done.

YET.

A simple config hack changes that to 1930rpm - A hack that cost nothing and fixed everything. (for me).

Typical corporate guff and deflection.

Corsair can't even be bothered to "understand" their own product specifications and capabilities, or worse, they do know and can't be bothered to help their "paying" customers with such a simple fix.

My next AIO won't be Corsair, a break from a 11 year tradition.

Thank you!  -  to those who found this fix and posted it here.

With a simple 400 rpm drop my capillex H100i wen't from nausiating to near silent.
 

 

[Reseil]

Any reason the config mod would stop working? I had it set and the pump was quiet, then I had to re-install Windows. The setting is 85 for fixedPercents by default, but I still set it to 50 with no results.

I then tried changing fixedRpm from 2450 to 1950 and had the same result. I tried various settings on both, but nothing affected the pump RPM's.

I uninstalled/re-installed and same result.

Any reason changing the value has no effect on a fresh Windows 11 install? (that was the OS installed when it worked last)

[MakSim_13]

On 1/18/2022 at 1:37 PM, FireWarner said:

Use my mod To het rid of the bzzzzzz or'whine'

Where to find it dear? @FireWarner
Ps. I'm using H150I EC

[Istarth]

I have tried @FireWarner mod and the result is much better than default... (not perfect anyway)... But my question is.... can variable speed profile be modified in a similar way ¿? Variable speed will adapt pump speed depending in the CPU temp..... this is important.... with @FireWarnermod we are using Quiet / Balanced / Extreme profiles... theses profiles are "fixed" so raising max temps in CPU will keep the same speed in pump and the result is not as good as it should....

Any Idea ¿?

@Corsair Albert.... After more than 1 year we don't have any solution for this... please can't you modified firmware to let us customise variable speed profile and be able to start at 2000 instead of actual 2250 ¿? the differences in noise is impressively better... and the result in performance is more or less the same....

Many thanks !!

Edited November 12, 2022 by Istarth

[Bespin]

Thank God for this thread and the MOD, it as saved my sanity!!! I really did not want send this back but the noise was unbearable. Its now quiet. 

Why No fix Corsair ??

[AldoRayne]

On 10/11/2022 at 11:02 PM, Reseil said:

Any reason the config mod would stop working? I had it set and the pump was quiet, then I had to re-install Windows. The setting is 85 for fixedPercents by default, but I still set it to 50 with no results.

I then tried changing fixedRpm from 2450 to 1950 and had the same result. I tried various settings on both, but nothing affected the pump RPM's.

I uninstalled/re-installed and same result.

Any reason changing the value has no effect on a fresh Windows 11 install? (that was the OS installed when it worked last)

did u find a solution? i find the config file, change balanced to 50, but no result. still spins with 2450 rpm... what am i doing wrong?

[AldoRayne]

On 11/23/2022 at 12:48 AM, Bespin said:

Thank God for this thread and the MOD, it as saved my sanity!!! I really did not want send this back but the noise was unbearable. Its now quiet. 

Why No fix Corsair ??

how did u do it? tried it, but rpms still the same. what EXACTLY did u you? which version of icue? win11 etc...

[alvar89]

Hello everyone. Bought the h170i icue a few months ago and the pump noise has made me put it to the side. Did not want to give up on it so easily so kept it for testing on a test pc. Really love the cooling performance and looks of it. The 1920rpm tweak works well but there is still vibrations in it causing the hissing sound. I saw it having some play in the feet on the 1151 socket and tried adding some rubber o rings to the back to tighten it and push the bracket away from the metal socket plate behind the motherboard. It does help but i have to further see what can be done. It reduces the noise further from the 1920rpm tweak atleast. I will get a lga1700 board and cpu soon and see if those feet have the play in them. If we only could reduce the pump speed further. Maybe with thicker boards the feet wont be loose to the bracket. On my h100i that is 5 years old i cant even hear it and the pump runs at 800rpms on custom setup. Still performs well also.

Edited December 9, 2022 by alvar89

[Society]

90% of the people having pump noise; are having that noise due to the way the RAD is installed in their build.

YES you can side mount this BUT the hoses have to be at the BOTTOM of the RAD not the TOP. Air rises and creates a air pocket limiting the liquid flow, which air gets trapped in the pump head. I'm shocked a Corsair Admin hasn't pointed this out LOL.

If I had to bet this will solve most of the noise problems I'm reading in here.. I currently have a i170 Elite with the pump running at 2330 RPM and you can't hear it at all, but its top mounted hoses down.

[Reseil]

On 12/6/2022 at 11:57 AM, AldoRayne said:

did u find a solution? i find the config file, change balanced to 50, but no result. still spins with 2450 rpm... what am i doing wrong?

Nope. Still running the quiet setting because it is the lowest I can set it. There was a recent firmware update, but I noticed no changes. It's still noticeably louder than the older generation of the same model.

[michele892]

On 1/8/2023 at 5:42 PM, Society said:

90% of the people having pump noise; are having that noise due to the way the RAD is installed in their build.

YES you can side mount this BUT the hoses have to be at the BOTTOM of the RAD not the TOP. Air rises and creates a air pocket limiting the liquid flow, which air gets trapped in the pump head. I'm shocked a Corsair Admin hasn't pointed this out LOL.

If I had to bet this will solve most of the noise problems I'm reading in here.. I currently have a i170 Elite with the pump running at 2330 RPM and you can't hear it at all, but its top mounted hoses down.

 

I mounted the rad on top and it still makes a lot of noise

[Darsuss]

Corsair should fix the noise via the icue firmware. I am working every day with my PC and I can hear the pump noise and it is horrible for an expensive AIO. I was previously can manage the curve NZXT Kraken with no pump sound/issues.

In conclusion, my next AIO will not be Corsair and I am disappointed with this purchase.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Darsuss

[alvar89]

Could not live with this noise. Tried everything i could with the icue h170i but it gives me migraines. If they let us lower the pump speed it would give us a way to silence it. Very disappointed. Went with a arctic freezer II 420 argb instead and that thing is quiet atleast. Not as good looking as the h170i but functional. This was my first issue with a corsair product and i hope its the last. All other things in the past and now work well.

[Akagikin]

Thanks for that mod! I was going to go insane.

Changing the value for 'extreme' still seems to work, so now I have it running at around 1970, which is a little annoying but I think livable, and low enough that I can clearly hear the squeal/whine of the second fan attached to the cooler. The first fan sounded like bad bearings from day one so that's both fans now.

Not great.

My previous cooler was great, whisper quiet and zero issues, so this is kind of disappointing. In the future I think I'll steer clear since we're years down the line and this is still a problem.

 

 

[Reseil]

I'm trying to understand why my system won't take the mod. I had it working at one point. Everything was quiet <2000 RPM and then I had to reinstall Windows and could NOT get it to work again. I have tried everything and the RPM's remain unaffected. I have tried re-visiting this problem since I had to reinstall Windows yet again.

Once again, I have had no success. I find it hard to believe my machine is the only one impacted by this, especially when it worked at one point. Is there something I could be missing? It is a fresh Windows 11 Pro install, fresh iCUE install and the mod does nothing.

[Akagikin]

Hm, I can confirm that it's still working for me but I've no ideas of why it wouldn't be working for you.

In the end I did an RMA, because even with the mod it was headache central and getting louder. Exact same issue with the new one. Not sure changing to a H150i would be any better either.

The issue seems to be vibration since if I press on it the noise basically halves. 

[Eko2]

How can I use this mod? It do not work for me. I have Windows 10, FIrmware update 2.11.221 and

my AIO: Corsair iCUE H170i ELITE CAPELLIX 3x140mm

 

Please help this sound is terrible. I will probably return my unity and go buy other AIO

[WannabeLibrarian]

Having looked at both solutions, I do wonder if Corsair have added some firmware logic to stop seriously stupid values. In my case, I had no luck until I started taking the % down incrementally on the Extreme profile. It turns out that 60% is acceptable and cut my fan speed to a much more tolerable 2000rpm. Hope this helps those still struggling and will not be recommending these to anybody until a new generation shows up. 

[PTxSandro]

Gone is the beginning of this topic on October 20, 2020 and more than two years later Corsair does not give an answer at the level of what the brand has always accustomed us to. It is inconceivable such indifference to the requests of all its consumers in the possible resolution of something that we all pay for and that clearly does not correspond to what was promised to us in terms of noise. After all this time and seeing little or no willingness on the part of corsair to resolve the matter, I can only admit that for Corsair its users are not that important. I'm on the third AIO from the Corsair brand, all with the same noise and I will undoubtedly change ecosystems due to this lack of respect for all of us.

[Jose Hidalgo]

I just want to add my voice to all the other voices of this Topic, and finally make ourselves heard. 😠

Corsair, PLEASE give your users better control about their Elite Capellix AIO pump speed ! All your consumers have bought their units, they have paid the price, and they should be free to control them as they wish, without Corsair forcing them to use pre-defined (and questionable) settings.

This TWO-YEAR, 20-page thread without a valid solution from Corsair is a huge joke. TWO YEARS, for God's sake ! TWO YEARS !!

CORSAIR ! WAKE UP !! Lowering that pump speed by software/firmware is so easy to do for you, that it shouldn't even be debatable. JUST DO IT NOW, AND END THIS NONSENSE ONCE AND FOR ALL !

The only question should not be about doing it or not, but about HOW to do it. I can see three ways :

1. Lower the "Silent" mode pump speed to below 2000 rpm
2. Add one more setting to iCUE : Ultra Silent > Silent > Balanced > Extreme
3. Do like other manufacturers  (BeQuiet! comes to mind) and offer finer pump speed control via iCUE. BeQuiet! software allows users to draw their own pump speed graphs, with pump speed in %. Just like fans. Obviously there has to be a bottom limit (there's always a bottom limit, like for fans). But the Elite Capellix pump may go wayyy below 2000 rpm without that becoming a problem. So just allow your users to do it since they want to : there's no reason to refuse them that.

Thank you. @Corsair Nick@Corsair Mint@Corsair Albert@Corsair Travis

[AntoineB]

Still the same issue at present time -05/03/2023. The  Corsair 1501 Elite Capellix XT is making a crazy annoying noise in idle (new one).

🤩Here how to fix it with the configuration edit trick, on Windows 11 and the software iCUE.
It will work if you follow the steps precisely.

1. Open you software iCUE,. In home tab, right click on the default profile and do copy profile. Name it "My profile".
(Put your fan on on the cooling preset of your choice. In my case everything on Quiet or on custom preset if I made personalized curves for the fan speed adjustment). 

I assume you do not use extreme cooling mode which is noisy, so we will use this config as the edit config for the trick.

2. Go C:\Users\Windows\AppData\Roaming\Corsair\CUE4\cooling and find the configuration file. Copy it and rename it to configuration_backup to have a backup in case you want to revert. Open configuration file with notepad (right click / open with / notepad)

3. ctrl + f (serch for) : extreme. The first one in the doc is the good one (line 1593 for me - can vary)

<name>Extreme</name>

<predefined>true</predefined>
 <coolerType>0</coolerType>
<coolingMode>Normal</coolingMode>
  </base>
 <type>FetaPlus</type>
<pumpMode>2</pumpMode>
<fixedPercents>100</fixedPercents>
<fixedRpm>2650</fixedRpm>
 <customModePoints size="dynamic">

4. Edit the fixedPercent value from 100 to 58% (gave me 1944 rpm for the pump in the end - low noise)

5. Press ctrl+s to save AND close the file AND close the folder explorer window !

6. Close the software iCUE. Then ctrl + alt + suppr / task manager, and right click on iCUE / End task. 

7. Wait 5 seconds. Then you can launch iCUE again. You config file is now applied. Click on the Corsair 1501 Elite Capellix XT icone on top. Click on Cooling on the side. Then set pump to Extreme. --> you should see the fan speed dropping lower around 1950 rpm ! My computer return to almost quiet. 

P.S. I do not know if this is impacting the system on the long run, but it is saving you sanity 😉 The temperature raised only 1-2 degree in my idle.

[Asuveroz]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:37 AM, AntoineB said:

Still the same issue at present time -05/03/2023. The  Corsair 1501 Elite Capellix XT is making a crazy annoying noise in idle (new one).

🤩Here how to fix it with the configuration edit trick, on Windows 11 and the software iCUE.
It will work if you follow the steps precisely.

1. Open you software iCUE,. In home tab, right click on the default profile and do copy profile. Name it "My profile".
(Put your fan on on the cooling preset of your choice. In my case everything on Quiet or on custom preset if I made personalized curves for the fan speed adjustment). 

I assume you do not use extreme cooling mode which is noisy, so we will use this config as the edit config for the trick.

2. Go C:\Users\Windows\AppData\Roaming\Corsair\CUE4\cooling and find the configuration file. Copy it and rename it to configuration_backup to have a backup in case you want to revert. Open configuration file with notepad (right click / open with / notepad)

3. ctrl + f (serch for) : extreme. The first one in the doc is the good one (line 1593 for me - can vary)

<name>Extreme</name>

<predefined>true</predefined>
 <coolerType>0</coolerType>
<coolingMode>Normal</coolingMode>
  </base>
 <type>FetaPlus</type>
<pumpMode>2</pumpMode>
<fixedPercents>100</fixedPercents>
<fixedRpm>2650</fixedRpm>
 <customModePoints size="dynamic">

4. Edit the fixedPercent value from 100 to 58% (gave me 1944 rpm for the pump in the end - low noise)

5. Press ctrl+s to save AND close the file AND close the folder explorer window !

6. Close the software iCUE. Then ctrl + alt + suppr / task manager, and right click on iCUE / End task. 

7. Wait 5 seconds. Then you can launch iCUE again. You config file is now applied. Click on the Corsair 1501 Elite Capellix XT icone on top. Click on Cooling on the side. Then set pump to Extreme. --> you should see the fan speed dropping lower around 1950 rpm ! My computer return to almost quiet. 

P.S. I do not know if this is impacting the system on the long run, but it is saving you sanity 😉 The temperature raised only 1-2 degree in my idle.

I had 2 H150i Elite Capellix XT units with the same problem. I guess I'll go with this fix until the problem is resolved.

[AntoineB]

On 2/26/2022 at 12:33 AM, Corsair Nick said:

We appreciate those of you that have sent your units in for further testing to help better understand the adverse noise that all of you are reporting.  Despite what some of you believe, our testing of these sample units provided by the community has been extremely extensive.  Our evaluation of the feedback all of you have reported regarding noise levels is still ongoing, however all units provided by the community have tested to be within spec.  At this time, we are recommending that anyone experiencing noise levels that you feel are excessive, please submit a ticket through our support site so that we can begin the RMA process:

https://support.corsair.com/

What I hear Corsair saying  : you are dumb customer that can not recognize noise. I propose we start a class action, we will see if they still fake that there is not issue.