High-pitched noise w/ H80i fixed by PWM fans, fw 1.05, or both?

[Haylee]

Hello,

 

I have two questions (primarily for RAM Guy/Corsair reps) regarding the H80i cooler. Like many others, I experience the high-pitched noise which seems to come from the fans. I am on Windows 8 and, given that Corsair Link was (until just now) not compatible with that OS, I was not able to check the firmware version on the cooler (will do so and update this post as needed).

 

This video by another user is exactly what I hear as well -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ktosofTZs&hd=1

 

My questions:

 

1) According to RAM Guy's postings, the new PWM fans are fixing the issue with the high-pitched noise coming from the unit. I have spoken to CS today, and I was told that I am to send the whole unit back. I did not ask the CS rep, but from what I read I am supposed to pay the shipping costs for sending back the unit, which in my case would amount to easily a quarter of the total cost of the unit, which I find unreasonable.

 

Is there a way to just order the new PWM fans instead? For RAM Guy: the RMA request associated with this is #5728794

 

 

2) Is the firmware update to v1.05 part of the fix for the high-pitched noise, and if not, what issue(s) is it supposed to address?

Update: Never mind about this question; I re-read the announcement and the fw update adds support for the PWM fans that 'are' the fix.

 

Update: The new version of Corsair Link appears to work well on my machine (running Windows 8 64 bit). I had no trouble updating the H80i's firmware to v1.05.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Technobeard]

5707662 is your RMA number, 5728794 is just a duplicate you've made :) I closed it for you.

 

The rep in 5707662 stated: "Please disregard the message that advises you to return your product. You will not be required to return anything."

 

Please look at your emails from 3/8. The email would have been titled "Tech Support Express Case [5707662] - RMA Advised". Fill out the rest of the RMA and then send an email as detailed in the case notes and you'll be done.

[Haylee]

Thanks Technobeard, I received my pair of PWM fans a few weeks back and they are indeed much quieter, especially when not under load.

 

Unfortunately they are still quite noisy when running at full speed, but that is unrelated to the whining noise issue that the old 3-pin fans had at idle. To some extent you're always going to get some noise when revving two 120mm fans in push-pull configuration up to >2000 rpm. I am considering experimenting with some of the well-known quiet 120mm fans on the market to see if I can make things less noisy overall - the H80i fans are easily the noisiest part of my system at this point.

 

That said, thanks to Corsair for identifying and rectifying the problem with the 3-pin fans.