H100i liquid cooler high temps!!

[DJL]

Hi,

I am getting very high liquid cooling pump temps on my h100i (brand new machine).  Sometimes it has exceeded 60 degrees Celsius and caused iCue to throw up warnings.  My full system specs are at the bottom.

 

Room temp - 28 degrees Celsius 

Idle temps:

Pump/cooler - 35-40 degrees

CPU - 39 degrees

GPU - 37-40 degrees

 

Gaming temps under load:

Pump/cooler - 60 degrees or more (VERY HOT!)

CPU - 70-78 degrees (normal)

GPU - 77-80 degrees (somewhat normal for a 3080ti)

Full system specs

Case: Corsair 280x w/RGB fans

2 front intake fans

2 floor intake fans (ML120’s)

H100i liquid cooler (2x exhaust fans)

Full clearance under the case for max air flow ( on a wheeled open bottom PC stand)

Corsair RM 850 gold PSU

CPU - intel i7 11700

RAM - Vengeance Pro DDR4 @3200

GC - ROG STRIX 3080ti OC 12GB

Samsung EVO PRO 980 m.2 nvme

M/B Gigabyte z590m Gaming X

 

 

Any help why my liquid cooler is boiling would be much appreciated. All components are brand new and the case has good ventilation.

Playing with fan curves and settings doesn’t make much difference.

 

Thanks in advance for any help/opinions/advice.

 

Cheers

Dean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DevBiker]

Is that H100 in the top?

If so, flip it to intake.

Why? Well ... here's the issue with the glass top ... it acts as a barrier to getting the heat out. The warm exhaust air from the radiator builds up in a heat column. You won't have this issue with flipping the top to intake.

Also, removing the glass stop would do the same trick. BUT ... you'll also have GPU waste heat going into the radiator. That's going to warm it up too. When I had an AIO in my 280X, I had the radiator in the top, front intake and bottom exhaust ... so reverse flow. This actually worked pretty well with a i7-7700K and GTX 1070 in the case ... the GPU heat actually winds up being pulled out the bottom. Clearance under the case is a MUST for this - I had mine on a wire stand that raised it up about 6" from the floor.

Here's the system now:

Both radiators are exhaust. To mitigate the issue that you experienced, I replaced the top with a 3rd party higher airflow version.

Edited November 17, 2021 by DevBiker

[DJL]

@DevBiker Thanks so much for the fast reply mate.

Yes it is indeed a H100i in the top as an exhaust.  That’s a really good point you make about the glass blocking some of the heat getting out.  I did try remove the glass top once but temps didn’t change much.

I will give your suggestion a try and change to intake.

So you think the bottom as exhaust will be better for the graphics card if I change the top and not increase the GC temps?

 

I have some space under the case for air to escape.

 

No need for a rear exhaust?  I don’t think it will fit any rear 80 mm fan without a bracket.

 

 

 

 

[c-attack]

Try removing the gpu from the equation to confirm this is an environmental issue and not a hardware problem. If the cooler is having issues of its own, the H100i coolant temp will start ticking upward from the moment you power on. Partial blockages can be somewhat subtle at idle, but run an easy cpu test like the bench in CPU-Z will take you right up to the 60C mark again.
 

However, from the picture above you are exhausting all the gpu’s waste heat through the CPU’s cooling radiator. That’s an extra 300W+ of waste heat. I suspect the motherboard temp sensors will match the 60C coolant temp and you are heating the case to that temperature. Case ambient temp will be minimum possible coolant and cpu temp. You need an active rear exhaust fan at a minimum and probably in conjunction with the suggestion above. Since you can’t really run the traditional front in, top rear out airflow, you probably need to make some larger overall changes. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by c-attack

[DJL]

@c-attack - Thanks mate.  I know it's not a hardware problem, the coolant stays around 35 degrees at power on.  It just really ramps up when i play games and do intensive tasks.  I will somehow try and work out how to fit an 80mm exhaust to the rear (or 2).  So any suggestions here would be appreciated

So basically the 280x isn't really designed for 3080/3080ti with how the traditional airflow is intended.  Would be nice if i knew this before purchasing the case 😞

 

Tonight i will set the AIO to intake and the bottom fans to exhaust and report back.

[c-attack]

My first thought is to make the front panel exhaust.  The case is short enough for that not to be a disadvantage and a substantial improvement over trying to squeeze a pair of buzzy 80mm fans in the rear.  The bottom fans under the GPU can be intake and then they won't be fighting with the GPU's own intake fans for air supply.  Then that leaves the top.  I would tempted to try it first as exhaust to see if it will pull enough fresh air from the open back, but you may indeed need to run it as intake as suggested above.  DevBiker may have more suggestions.

Edited November 17, 2021 by c-attack

[DevBiker]

I've tried various options of what @c-attack is suggested. What worked out best (for me, in this particular build) was the top and front as intake, bottom as exhaust. I had temp sensors placed in various locations around the case (using a Commander Pro) as well ... the warmest part of the case was the very bottom rear under the GPU. That little pocket got quite warm. But the rest was in good shape.

You also have a place on the side to mount a fan. I've not tried putting on here but I do wonder if that'd be good for exhaust or intake. Not really sure about that though as I didn't mess around with it.

[DJL]

Thanks both of you for all your suggestions.  I tried all the combos you suggested and it made a small difference of a few degrees, but I decided to get a new case.  Got the Corsair 4000X for more room and better airflow.  I think all my issues are sorted now.  Perhaps the GPU was too close to the pump and CPU?
 

With the new case my pump temps are 32C on idle and max out around 52C when playing cyberpunk on ultra with RT on.

Are the below max temps normal after an hour of gaming with a 3080ti?

Pump - 52C

3080ti - 82C 

CPU -72C

I read that thermal throttling for the GPU shouldn’t happen unless the GPU memory junction temp hits 110C, and hwinfo says my max was 90C.  Is this right?

 

 

[DevBiker]

Personally, I would not be comfortable with a coolant temp of 52C.

[DJL]

@DevBiker really? Not sure what i can even do about this - at this point i cant even get the case any cooler without going custom water loop :|.

 

Corsair support suggested that the IDLE for the h100i anywhere between 40c and 50c is fine, but i agree it sounds a bit high.

 

Not sure what to do anymore :(

 

 

[c-attack]

It seems to me this is all environmental waste heat from the gpu. Are you using an active rear exhaust fan in the new case?  Keep its speed up when gaming to pull more waste heat out through the rear as opposed to through the top radiator. The other approach is to move it out of the heat zone entirely and mount it on the front as intake. Not sure if you can do side mount on the 4000D. 
 

Either way the improvement your looking for is about 10C. Lower 40s is the more common coolant /case temp for that configuration. Also be aware your case location can affect this as well. If you’ve parked the case under a desk and it is surrounded by its own trapped exhaust, then you are recycling the waste heat as intake. That will cripple any configuration. 

[DevBiker]

I can only echo what @c-attack said ... these kinds of issues are almost always environmental or due to GPU waste heat. The 4000X doesn't look like it has a glass panel in the top, so that's not going to be the issue.

Try flipping the top to intake. Or mount in the front as intake. Unless, of course, your room is around 40-45C ... in which case, nothing is going to help you because you can't escape thermodynamics.

[DJL]

Thanks again for the suggestions @c-attack and @DevBiker.  

@c-attack - Yes using a rear exhaust fan.

I do agree with you and based on the tests i have done it does seem like GPU waste heat.  I could do front mount radiator but might look a bit weird on the 4000X, side mount wont work.  I can try the rear exhaust fan set to extreme and see what that does.

I moved my GPU to the top slot last night (was in bottom to get it further from the CPU), and the graphics card runs cooler in this config, as it's closer to the top AIO exhaust and rear exhaust.  I also set the top AIO to intake as @DevBiker suggested, but the graphics card gets about 7 degrees hotter (85C instead of 78C) after an hour of cyberpunk.  Fans go crazy fast and loud if i do top intake, but the cooler pump doesn't go above 45C, so id rather the cooler GPU and less fan noise then a bit higher pump temp.

The case is on top of my desk around waist height and has air around it in all directions, so location definitely isn't the issue.

As is stands at the moment - It takes about an hour for the coolant to get to 50C but all other temps are fine.

 

Rig pics attached for reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LeDoyen]

from where you sit you wouldn't see the radiator if it's front mounted.

You can mount it at the back of the topmost front fans without swapping them for the AIO fans, it wound't look different from the front.

[Corsair Travis]

Hey there, try increasing your fan speed, see if the coolant temps drop. Also, what does your coolant temp get to when the side panel is off? This may be a temp probe being bad, as coolant temp that high should yield worse CPU temps as well, but they look well within range.

[DJL]

@Corsair Travis thanks for the suggestion.  I had the fan speeds on max and no change.  Also it was too noisy for idle so I set back to balanced.

Having side panel off also didn’t make much difference, if any.

The pump started making pinging/humming noises yesterday so I ended up replacing it today and installed a new unit.

The new unit is quieter and runs more smoothly, and a little bit cooler (5-6 degrees on idle and gaming), so I must have have a faulty unit.

 

Are the below temps normal? (In a controlled temp room with A/C at 26C)

 

At idle:

Liquid - 33C

CPU - 36C

Graphics card (3080ti) - 34C

 

 

Under max load (Cyberpunk for 1.5hrs)

Liquid - 46C

CPU - 67C

Graphics Card - 76C (on gaming mode setting)

 

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[Corsair Travis]

On 11/27/2021 at 1:29 AM, DJL said:

@Corsair Travis thanks for the suggestion.  I had the fan speeds on max and no change.  Also it was too noisy for idle so I set back to balanced.

Having side panel off also didn’t make much difference, if any.

The pump started making pinging/humming noises yesterday so I ended up replacing it today and installed a new unit.

The new unit is quieter and runs more smoothly, and a little bit cooler (5-6 degrees on idle and gaming), so I must have have a faulty unit.

 

Are the below temps normal? (In a controlled temp room with A/C at 26C)

 

At idle:

Liquid - 33C

CPU - 36C

Graphics card (3080ti) - 34C

 

 

Under max load (Cyberpunk for 1.5hrs)

Liquid - 46C

CPU - 67C

Graphics Card - 76C (on gaming mode setting)

 

Thanks again everyone for your help.

These numbers look perfectly within range, and the load for your CPU looks pretty good too!