H150i Pro, strong water\pump sound

Hi,

 

I have my H150i pro for over a year now.

Before it was cooling the 2700x and it did a fantastic job of it.

At launch i upgraded to the 3900x and yeah its a hotter CPU and i had no issues with it until recently.

 

My temps are a bit higher at idle where I'm averaging at 50c (before i was around 35c to 40c with all the bios updates and chipset drivers installed and up to date) and i get to 80ish in load which forces the fans to go to 100% (Noctua NF-F12 3000RPM).

 

About a week a go I noticed a pulsating\wave like sound coming from the PC (this is the only w\c i have) almost sounds like water been pushed through a narrow gap, so my natural thinking is that maybe the cooler got gunked up like i saw happen before on youtube.

it would go away for sometime and then come back.

 

Just wandering if someone had similar experience.

 

Thanks.

You need to look at coolant temp (H150i Temp) to assess cooler efficiency vs most other problems. Most people idle around +4-6C above their room temp or the case ambient temp is the lowest possible value. Load temps for your combination should be about +6C more for cpu only loads. Any kind of flow issue should show as elevated H150i temp at idle and load, along with abnormally long times to cool off after load.

 

The other variable to be aware of is room temp or case ambient temp. +5C case temp means +5C. This can masquerade as an issue in combination CPU/GPU loads that heat up the whole case.

 

Can you clarify whether you are talking about a ‘sloshing’ water sound or gurgle vs a sonic pulsing wave? Occasional gurgles may be air bubbles, but those usually don’t impact performance. A sonic pulse is more likely a pump issue and that is more concerning. The pump speed should stay at its mark with clear +-30 rpm fluctuations. A big drop is a concern.

Thank you for your reply, I should also mention I'm from NZ and for the last few weeks we experienced warmer days around 25c during the day but I usually use my PC in the evening but I never shut it off. I heard before that having the aio constantly running is not ideal but these are my needs from the system.

My case is Lian li o11 dynamic, with the rad positioned on the top with the noctua fans bringing cool air from the top with 3 noctua fans on the bottom as intake for the gpu and 3 more fans on the side as exhaust. This was working really well until a few weeks ago like I mentioned.

 

The noise that I experience is sloshing sound with a pulsation that seems to come from the pump. I hope not.

 

I need to double check when the sound comes back if the rpm of the pump fluctuate.

 

Also, the temp on the main screen in ique is the cpu temp or the water temp?

 

Thanks.

Click on the H150i tab in iCUE. The temperature on the right side of the screen will be the coolant temp. If you boot up and that value starts rising and doesn't stop, that is a major problem. However, that does not seem to be the case.

 

It sounds like basic bubble trouble. If you have the radiator above the pump, try tilting the O11 either 1) back panel lower toward the desk or 2) slide the front glass out and lift from there so the front is elevated. You should only need to hold it for a few seconds to let the bubble escape the pump. *Switch the pump to Extreme mode prior to doing this to create the most fluid pressure.

 

Side note: Your F12 3000 rpm industrials... are those on the H150i fan controller or the motherboard? There have been control issues reported specifically on the 3000 rpm PWM variant (and not the 2000 rom). A pulsing sound from those fans is very much a possibility if there are not agreeing with the PWM controller. This is not likely an issue if you are running from the Asus MB and I have not seen any complaints for that controller.

I will try tilting the case.

The noctua fans connected to the motherboard via an ek 4 way splitter that's is been fed through a data power cable and as they can only controlled with limited function I have ordered 2 noctua fan controllers each for 3 sets of fans. These controllers are designed for the 3000 ppc fans, or so it's stated on noctua website. I'll report back when I get the controllers on Monday. Thanks a lot for your help and patience.

OK, good. That most likely rules out the fans as the pulsing source. Keep them on the motherboard. The motors on the 3000 rpm versions just don't like Corsair controllers.