H80 seems to be acting up

[dc8flyer]

I've run my H80 on the second speed setting since I installed it. I recently decided to see if I could cool the CPU more by using the third speed setting. All seemed to work fine for a couple of weeks until a few days ago when the RPM's started to rev up and down continuosly. The CPU temps were also warmer so I figured this was normal fan activity.

 

The problem was why would the CPU's be warmer when there was no additional load than when the fans were running at a lesser RPM, even in the second speed setting?

 

I just reset the pump back to the second speed setting and the fans run as they once did, at a constant RPM and cooler CPU temps by as much as eight C.

 

Why would the second speed setting run at a slower constant speed and provide cooler CPU temps than when the pump is in the third (highest speed) setting with temps eight C hotter?

 

Is the H80 starting to fail?

[dc8flyer]

Any ideas from support folks?

[Toasted]

Use Prime95 Small FFTS, on the Balanced mode and Performance mode.

 

Make sure you let the coolant and CPU cool down before you begin your second test.

 

Record the results and compare them.

 

Prime95 is a stress testing program for the CPU so using this tool should tell if the H80 on balanced mode performs better than Performance mode.

[RAM GUY]

What temps are you getting? Toasted is right, try running Prime and see what the difference in temp on each profiles. Here is a good reference on how the profiles actually works, http://www.corsair.com/blog/understanding-the-hydro-series-h80-and-h100-cooling-performance-profiles/