Oscillating hum possibly coming from CORSAIR iCUE H115i RGB ELITE 280mm fans

[patrick2099]

My new PC is making a strange oscillating hum while playing some games. I haven't been able to narrow down which component it is coming from yet. This is what it sounds like:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sfjhl22_WHM

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1vCUM4Ld9V0

The support person wanted me to try to manually stop the fans, by pushing in the center of them. My response was:

Are you talking about the case fans on the front and back of the case?  If so, touching the middle of that fan doesn't do anything.  The back case fan does not even appear to be working at all.  That is concerning.  

If I use the Fan Control application, it shows the following: CPU Fan 1 which is not adjustable, one Case fan, which is adjustable, and two NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 fans, which are adjustable.  This also seems to match what the CPUID HWMonitor application shows.  Adjusting the case fan and the two GPU fans from minimum speed up to 100% does not seem to cause any type of noise.

If I use Fan XPert, in Armoury Crate, I can change the curve of the CPU fan, but it doesn't seem to do anything.  It consistently stays at 2490 RPM.  Changing Chassis Fan 5 (the front fan) from Silent to Full Speed has no effect on the oscillating noise, other than masking it better at full speed.  AIO Pump does not allow you to change anything.Are you talking about manually stopping the two fans on the top of the case that appear to be attached to the liquid cooler?  Those seem to run at a constant RPM, from what I can tell.  They don't seem to be adjustable, using software.  Looking at how they look, I'm not sure those are safe to touch in the middle without ripping my finger off.

This sound only seems to happen when I'm playing a 3D game or running a benchmark tool such as MSI Kombustor. 

Also, I found the controls for the AIO in iCue.  I will need to mess with it more tomorrow, but it seems like having fan 1 and fan 2 both set to balanced is causing the oscillating sound.  Changing pump doesn't really seem to affect it.  Having either fan 1 or 2 set to quiet or extreme still has a whining noise, but it's not as noticeable without the oscillation.  I will have to do more testing.

Today, the IBuyPower support person is saying it's the liquid cooler fan and wants to either RMA it and have me install it or ship the whole PC back for repairs.  I'd really like to be sure this is the issue prior to doing either.  Does the sound in those clips sound like it could reasonably be the liquid cooler fans?

 

TL;DR version: Could the liquid cooler fans be making the noises in:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sfjhl22_WHM

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1vCUM4Ld9V0

[c-attack]

5 hours ago, patrick2099 said:

This sound only seems to happen when I'm playing a 3D game or running a benchmark tool such as MSI Kombustor. 

I would start by taking a closer look at the GPU.  I don't hear anything out of the ordinary in the video, but if the noise only comes in when the GPU is loaded that the place to start.  Could be ordinary coil whine or perhaps you have one of those newer GPUs with counter-rotational fans.  

 

Are there any fans actually connected to the AIO?  PC Builders tend not to connect the fans in the manner intended and set it up for the most casual PC user ever.  It's still not likely your case fans are causing this, but if you don't see the H115i Elite in CUE, then they didn't bother to connect the USB cable and may have put the radiator fans on the motherboard as well.  CPU fan is not supposed to change.  That is the pump tach signal.  It's not a control source -- safety feature only to trigger a motherboard warning if the pump does not start.  

[patrick2099]

Thanks.  I found the controls for the AIO fans in iCue.  I can adjust the profiles for them in there.  Last night, I was able to reproduce the oscillating hum using only the CPU stress test in MSI Kombustor.  The AIO is connected to two fans on the top of the case.  Everything appears to be working with the fans spinning and controllable in iCue.  

It may not be apparent in the video, but the oscillating hum gets very loud.  It sounds like something you'd hear in an alien ship in a game or movie.  My old computer had some mild coil whine from the video card, and this is a completely different sound.

To me, it really doesn't sound like the sound a fan of any kind would make, though.  Between the oscillating hum, the rear fan not working, and the RGB stopping working on the memory, I'm wondering whether to have a new AIO sent to me, and install it myself, or just ship the whole thing back to have them deal with the issues.  I really hate the idea of shipping a computer back and forth though, knowing how packages are treated.

[patrick2099]

I'm probably not going to have a chance to get inside the case until this weekend. Here is the testing I did this morning:

I started MSI Kombustor cpu burn and let it run for a bit.

94c

1100 RPM

GPU 0% utilization

Processor 100% utilization

sound starts

Temp lowers to 87c

Fans at 1200 RPM

After about 10 minutes, I changed one of the AIO fans to Extreme in iCue.

Fans at 1650 RPM.

CPU 84c

Normal fan noise is louder, but the oscillating hum is gone.

Switch to Quiet profile. When fans drop to about 1200 RPM, the oscillating hum starts.

Set it back to Balanced.

Fans at 1400

CPU 84c

Hum is there

If I set a fan from Balanced to Extreme, I can hear the oscillation rapidly get faster. It disappears around 1600RPM.

I turned off Kombuster Cpu burn and let the CPU cool down. I set the fans to extreme in iCue. When the fans started rising, the oscillating hum was there. If I set fan #1 to zero RPM and Fan 2 to extreme, there is no hum.

I'd still like to find out why the rear case fan isn't working, but I think it's safe to say the noise is coming from the AIO fans. The rear case fan should be working, right?

[c-attack]

If it's one of the radiator fans up top, you should be able to hear it simply by leaning your head over the top of the case.  Most everything you are describing sounds like coil whine.  It's not a simple thing and can have causality between PSU->GPU, CPU/motherboard.  GPU is the most common since it uses more power, but if you keep needing to load the GPU or CPU to create the effect, then it must be power related.  

 

If this is a fan, then you should be able to re-create the effect by raising fan speeds with no power load and manually increasing fans speed.  

[patrick2099]

I was able to recreate it no load on the GPU, using Kombustor CPU Burn.  I was also able to recreate it just using the fan control, once I found it in iCue.  It's definitely the AIO fans causing it.  I tried setting up a custom fan curve to keep it out of the range where it is most annoying.  Going to see how that goes.

[virmacri]

I have the exact same issue witha Corsair iCue h100 Elite.

Everyone keeps insisting on coil whine though I know it isn't. I tried probing a mic inside the case and moving it about and found that the sound was loudest around the CPU, which led me to suspect that the cooler's block must be at fault. Though I haven't verified that yet and, to be frank, I'm quite unsure of how to proceed.

I TOTTALLY get what you mean that people don't realize how loud it can get. I can hear it through my headphones while blasting music in my ears. It is driving me nuts!

Do you have any leads as to how to solve it?