Pump all of a sudden making noise..

I put this build together in late August/early September. Since then, no issues and been loving my first custom loop! Tonight I was sitting on my computer with my headphones and music on and heard what sounded like water pouring/leaking out and saw massive bubbles in the pump. Got all paranoid that it all of a sudden sprung a leak after all these months, but that wasn't it.

Noticed that during the typical silence I was used to, the pump was no longer showing up under Devices in the iCue software. And when it started rattling on, it was. Then silent/gone. I decided to reboot the computer and upon boot, it made it for about 15 seconds and then for a couple seconds every other minute, but mostly silent like I'm used to and then ultimately stayed silent

Is there something going wrong with the pump? Like I said, it's NEVER made this sound before. And the fact it was going in/out of iCue also has me worried. Noticed no issues with temperature while it was doing that, but I dunno. I've also never really noticed any indication that the water is actually flowing, like in the video you can obviously see.

The short video is a short clip I made after I rebooted and it appeared to go back to normal after the initial non sense I filmed. The longer one is what I shot before I rebooted. Have the phone basically in the case so hear the fans and GPU whining, but every once in awhile can still tell something is happening. I also kept trying to tab between desktop/game (different profile settings) to encourage it, why the video jumps around.

Yes, it's not as full as I'd like it. Was planning on draining it and possibly adding a 120mm to it in a month or so. Also just noticed how dusty it was in there again. :(

Also for what it's worth, I never notice any difference with anything between the settings I change it to. Whether it's reporting 1200 RPM, 1400 RPM or 2000 RPM in iCue, I honestly couldn't tell the difference between any of them. And I've had it set at the 'Hydro X Series Pumps' setting since it prompted me about it like a month or whatever ago and it's @ 2020ish RPMs.

Only time I ever witness like a "stream of bubbles" like you see, is if I had the computer totally off and booted it up. With in the first few seconds I saw some bubble action, but then it'd stop and be dead still and like that the rest of the time I had it on.

Short video: [ame]

Long video: [ame]

^^ Some of the noise in the "Long" video is the fans/GPU like I said. But when the bubble action comes and the extra noise is introduced, it sounds like it's coil whine from the GPU ramping up, but the noise is coming from the pump.

*EDIT*

Adding a short clip of how it was shortly after the "Short video" and how it is 99.99% of the time. Absolutely calm/silent and really no indication that the water is flowing what so ever: [ame]

Sorry if it's normal (even though I've literally never experienced it and it's all like the short clip aside from powering on from it being shut down). Just get REALLY paranoid with this stuff, especially since it's NEVER done this before over the course of what, 5 months?

Obviously the pump is going to sound different at different RPM levels. So for testing purposes, you need to get off the Hydro X curves and take back control. Using a fixed pump speed, you can check sound response at various RPM levels between say 1000-3000 in 300 rpm increments. It's not uncommon to have the pump "make noise" at a specific RPM point that resonates through the case just right. However, that is usually a narrow band and once you know where it is, you just avoid it. Either way, you won't know until you do a more controlled check.

I am more concerned about the "dropping in and out of iCUE" remark. Do you mean the XD5 is dropping off from Commander Pro port #6 and then returning? Are you running any other full spectrum software monitoring like AIDA or HWiNFO? Do any of the fans drop off the Commander Pro? Do you have any other Corsair iCUE products like keyboards, mice, headsets, etc. and do they drop off as well? I can see you have an X570 board and there have been complaints about that specific chipset.

Obviously the pump is going to sound different at different RPM levels. So for testing purposes, you need to get off the Hydro X curves and take back control. Using a fixed pump speed, you can check sound response at various RPM levels between say 1000-3000 in 300 rpm increments. It's not uncommon to have the pump "make noise" at a specific RPM point that resonates through the case just right. However, that is usually a narrow band and once you know where it is, you just avoid it. Either way, you won't know until you do a more controlled check.

 

I am more concerned about the "dropping in and out of iCUE" remark. Do you mean the XD5 is dropping off from Commander Pro port #6 and then returning? Are you running any other full spectrum software monitoring like AIDA or HWiNFO? Do any of the fans drop off the Commander Pro? Do you have any other Corsair iCUE products like keyboards, mice, headsets, etc. and do they drop off as well? I can see you have an X570 board and there have been complaints about that specific chipset.

Heh, I know it should make a noticeable difference between RPMs. I'm stating it NEVER has. I can swap between the presets and honestly couldn't tell the difference between one or the other. Why when it started making a sound tonight, I got worried. I'll toy with that as suggested and see if I can produce it by revving it all the way up.

IIRC, when it'd start making the noise and show back up in iCue, it was doing no more than the 2000ish that the preset does. So not like it was doing 3000 RPMs or something - or at least, iCue wasn't reporting it correctly then if it was. All I do know for sure is that I've NEVER heard that before and I have my PC on upwards of 18 hours a day some days and am on it between work and play for a majority of it.

I did notice a while back, the voltage readings for the commander pro disappear and reappear like the pump did tonight. Or go from reading 12/5/3 to 0/0/0 - honestly don't recall which it was or maybe both? Wanna say the latter for sure though, since I'm vaguely recalling that as an issue. And IIRC, the pump has done this once or twice before, but never accompanied by what sounded like it was leaking and doing it's own version of a "whine". Or maybe it was a fan or two. I wanna say I've had the 4 sensors not show up neither. I honestly don't remember. Just know I've had something else besides the CP issue happen and rebooting made them stop poofing, or so I think it did. I just figured software glitch and didn't worry about it.

Honestly, for all I know it could happen more often than I've seen. I've only had the iCue software open all night since it happened because it happened. And the other times I noticed it, because I was fiddling around with RGB at the time.

I do have HWiNFO running. And yes, I do mean it was only showing "5" things connected and not "6". 1-5 being fans, with 4 being 2 piggy backed (read that as ok, hope it is) and 6 being the pump with the GPU/CPU blocks piggy backed. Other than the full Hydro X setup, 6 LL fans and 4 strips, I have no other Corsair products. Only what's IN my case.

Ok. I just made one and put it to the max it had (5000 RPMs) and set the pump to it. THAT is DEFINITELY the sound I heard. So I guess when it was playing hide and seek with iCue, when it was coming back in, it was displaying the incorrect RPMs and running faster than the profile was set to. Like I said, my system temps were no different than normal (55ish C), so no reason for anything to try to run the pump faster as a cooling solution. Honestly I thought that 2400ish (I think?) I've seen it do, was the highest.

Kinda a bit more set at ease here now knowing that and feel dumb posting. But guess I should try to figure out what caused the game of hide and seek and for it to run faster than I have ever heard.

Side note: Having this run at higher RPMs and actually seeing some movement, is what I was originally looking forward to and thought I'd see. But, never did with it running at 2000ish RPMs. So thanks for that! But can definitely do with out it all of a sudden sounding like I have a leaky faucet in my PC case. lol

I did notice a while back, the voltage readings for the commander pro disappear and reappear like the pump did tonight. Or go from reading 12/5/3 to 0/0/0 - honestly don't recall which it was or maybe both?

 

............

 

I do have HWiNFO running. And yes, I do mean it was only showing "5" things connected and not "6". 1-5 being fans, with 4 being 2 piggy backed (read that as ok, hope it is) and 6 being the pump with the GPU/CPU blocks piggy backed. Other than the full Hydro X setup, 6 LL fans and 4 strips, I have no other Corsair products. Only what's IN my case.

That is the kind of thing to watch out for when running HWiNFO. Mismatched 3.3/5/12v rails are common (12v rails reads 5v, etc). The other one is the fans drop in and out on the Commander and I am wondering if you are getting tiny micro-spikes in RPM when this happens. It loses contact for a fraction of second as the two programs interrupt each other. RPM spike as it looses the sensor data.

The Hydro X curves are too mild for me, although my loop is relatively complex with a lot of travel and 3 blocks. Most people can get buy with a 1500 rpm min on the desktop. Load speed between 2000-3000 rpm. You typically will not see any improvement beyond that except in really large or 4-6 block systems with a lot of resistance. My prior EK D5 had this "groan" at 2500 rpm +-75 rpm. It expanded a bit over time and I started using what were essentially plateau like pump speed controls. 2000 rpm from 25-32C, immediate climb to 3000@33C, flat until 40C, etc. For some reason the pump changing speed was more noticeable than expected. Flow speed really doesn't make a lot of difference, except when you are too low. Most people could use one speed for quiet desktop and another fixed speed for load, if your real sustained loads are predictable (gaming, renders, encoding run, etc).

For now, I would try and quit HWiNFO and see how things go. Also, make sure you are using the Portable version that does leave the drive in play when it is not running. The wild card is someone else just sent me a PM detailing a conflict between the just release iCUE 3.25.60 and HWiNFO, even when Corsair monitoring is disabled and the portable version is used. What iCUE version are you running?

Simple search, if not recollection (if you read it), I spazzed out over the coil whine from the GPU when I installed the water block too. I never experienced that before, even though it's apparently common with fan cooled too. Just didn't hear it this time because of the XT's airplane engines it had on it from stock.

So thanks yet once again for your assistance!

That is the kind of thing to watch out for when running HWiNFO. Mismatched 3.3/5/12v rails are common (12v rails reads 5v, etc). The other one is the fans drop in and out on the Commander and I am wondering if you are getting tiny micro-spikes in RPM when this happens. It loses contact for a fraction of second as the two programs interrupt each other. RPM spike as it looses the sensor data.

 

The Hydro X curves are too mild for me, although my loop is relatively complex with a lot of travel and 3 blocks. Most people can get buy with a 1500 rpm min on the desktop. Load speed between 2000-3000 rpm. You typically will not see any improvement beyond that except in really large or 4-6 block systems with a lot of resistance. My prior EK D5 had this "groan" at 2500 rpm +-75 rpm. It expanded a bit over time and I started using what were essentially plateau like pump speed controls. 2000 rpm from 25-32C, immediate climb to 3000@33C, flat until 40C, etc. For some reason the pump changing speed was more noticeable than expected. Flow speed really doesn't make a lot of difference, except when you are too low. Most people could use one speed for quiet desktop and another fixed speed for load, if your real sustained loads are predictable (gaming, renders, encoding run, etc).

 

For now, I would try and quit HWiNFO and see how things go. Also, make sure you are using the Portable version that does leave the drive in play when it is not running. The wild card is someone else just sent me a PM detailing a conflict between the just release iCUE 3.25.60 and HWiNFO, even when Corsair monitoring is disabled and the portable version is used. What iCUE version are you running?

Was using 3.24.52. Forgot to check for that update when I checked for the firmware updates for the PROs. Just updated to the latest, 3.25.60.

As for the speeds, even after awhile of having it at 5000 RPMs, I didn't mind it. The initial "leaky faucet" sound went away. I actually like looking in and seeing all the liquid movement and the sound after awhile was pretty much non existent, or at least, wasn't noticeable over the fans and stuff. Just glad to now know I almost had a heart attack over nothing. :laughing:

Yeah, the GPU coil whine is a bit of a bummer. The screamer 80mm fans on the GPU always hide it. You go full water, start a game, and then that buzz from the case on the title screen. The irony of spending all that time to make it quieter and I still use headphones. It does fall under the category of what I normally tell people about fans and general noise. Even when you lower all the noise down, something still has to be the loudest thing in the case. Most of us are used to the the diffuse sound of a fan. HDD clicks, GPU coil while, pumps, and the like are not so easily dismissed. It's really difficult to make a "zero noise" kind of system and be happy with it.

4800 rpm might be a bit much. You likely can still get the whoosh of water at 3000-3500 with less mechanical noise in the mix. It's funny, a lot of people get really worried about the water sounds. I personally like them and it goes into the above category of preferential noise.

Yeah, the GPU coil whine is a bit of a bummer. The screamer 80mm fans on the GPU always hide it. You go full water, start a game, and then that buzz from the case on the title screen. The irony of spending all that time to make it quieter and I still use headphones. It does fall under the category of what I normally tell people about fans and general noise. Even when you lower all the noise down, something still has to be the loudest thing in the case. Most of us are used to the the diffuse sound of a fan. HDD clicks, GPU coil while, pumps, and the like are not so easily dismissed. It's really difficult to make a "zero noise" kind of system and be happy with it.

 

4800 rpm might be a bit much. You likely can still get the whoosh of water at 3000-3500 with less mechanical noise in the mix. It's funny, a lot of people get really worried about the water sounds. I personally like them and it goes into the above category of preferential noise.

Yeah, got the wooshing went down to like 3600 and still had it. Will toy with it a bit more later for sure. And honestly I could live with the water sound, it just scared the living crap out of me coming out of no where. Like I said, did seem to majorly chill out a bit after intentionally running it at that speed for a minute or two. But the bubbles...ohhhhh the bubbles! Well, maybe not necessarily "bubbles", but you get what I'm talking about. heh

Also can't forget the little spinner on the GPU actually spinning. That's super duper important, facing down towards my power supply and only visible if I stand on my head. Plus I mean...it spinning now? Temperatures gonna drop sooo much now! /sarcasm :laughing:

Anyways, thanks again for your help! And I'll do a bit more fiddling per your suggestion.

So, today it started removing all sensors, mixing up the voltages and then removing a fan and the pump. I closed HWiNFO and ended all things related to iCue and restarted it and it re-recognized everything. Little bit later, same thing. Closed Afterburner (forget I actually have it open for OSD and G13 stats) and a little bit later, same thing.

I'm not sure what else I could have that could be conflicting with it to cause the hardware dropping from iCue.

MSI Afterburner should not have any effect. We all use that. HWiNFO definitely does. Make sure you are using the "Portable Version" of HWiNFO. The other leaves the driver in place when not running. If you really get yourself tangled, restart the PC versus killing and restarting services.

Ahhhhh! I did read you suggest getting the "Portable Version", but had just figured if I unloaded this one, it wouldn't matter cause it wasn't loaded. Didn't sink in when I read the part about the driver. I'll definitely swap and see. Apologies for making you repeat yourself. :(

But good to read about AB. Hadn't heard of it conflicting, but I figured I'd unload any/everything I could think of that might have been causing it.

Update:

I swapped over to the other version and was fiddling around and felt like system was running a couple degrees warmer than it should, so checked iCue. NOTHING was in there except the voltages and they were reporting 0. As I was watching it, noticed the fans and pump came back one time shortly after, fans reporting 900ish RPM while the pump was 0, then poofed again.

Presuming that when it does this, it lowers the the speed at which they're running. Basing this off of my hunch that something was up seeing my temps a bit higher and the fact that my fans didn't sound as loud as normal.

I've come up with a theory on what's causing it and going to test it out. I have a profile for the desktop and profile for games and sometimes I swap back and forth between the 2 A LOT. And at times, probably like game > desk > game before the software has a chance to fully adjust stuff. Thinking maybe that could be why? Going to reboot and just use a single profile for a day or so and see.

EDIT: Nope! Not even an two hours later, sensors missing along with #5 fan and #6 pump and the voltages are mixed up. Don't even have the portable HWiNFO running.