3900x h150i RGB PRO XT Help

Hi all,

 

Recently bought a H150i and it's been fantastic. The fans are connected to the AIO and temperatures seem normal for a Ryzen.

 

Knowing that icue causes high idle temps for Ryzen, whats the best process to ensure the AIO is doing what its meant to be doing without the necessity of running icue 24/7?

 

ATM I installed it, loaded the lighting profile onto the AIO, set the fans to balanced and made sure icue wouldn't load during startup. Is that all? Do I need to kill the corsair process as well, or even uninstall it? Would it impact the AIO performance?

 

Many thanks.

Another question. I want to get a commander pro and set 6 fans to a flat rpm. Will the RGB and flat curve continue to run without icue being open?

H150i XT - Without CUE active, it will run from the last known curve as long as you are using coolant temperature (H150i Temp) as the sensor control variable. That's what you want to use anyway, so no trade-off. It may take you a little bit to learn the typical coolant range and fan comfort level, but once you do you're good to go. It's better not to uninstall iCUE, but set it not to run on start-up (CUE settings panel). You can also go into the Windows services and change the start-type for Corsair.Service (32 bit) and Corsair.Service.CPUID.Remote. Those are the two that can cause conflicts with other programs (and the rest if you like). They don't do much on their own with CUE not running in terms of CPU% (0.1% on my Intel), but that is not an AMD so I don't know if will be the same. Either way, neither is required for the cooler to follow its orders when the software is not running.

 

Commander Pro - Same rules apply as above, with the notable change being the native control sensor for the fans. That is the 1-4 10K thermistor temperature sensor wires that comes with the Commander. Change the sensor to this measuring air temp (or coolant temp in custom loops) and it will follow its orders as well. You can program it to follow a normal curve of exhaust temperature for instance or tell it sit at 900 rpm flat and it will do so. Once again, easier to leave CUE installed so you can load it up, make small adjustments, and quit.

 

RGB lighting control is more varied by product. However, in relation to the Commander, we are talking about strips, fans, or Hydro X. All of them have 'Hardware Lighting" capabilities and can be set to do a either a preset or basic manual effect like wave/ripple/static. These are definitely functional, but the really fun and complex patterns for newer fans like LL and QL are going to require the software be active.

Hi c-attack,

 

That was really helpful, thank you. I have icue still installed and open it to make adjustments, I wasn't sure on the services but thank you for covering that. I'll set them to manual.

 

Also thank you for confirming the Commander Pro. I have 6 ML120 RGB fans coming to accommodate my LianLi Dynamic case, so I'll run a flat rpm and RGB then just quit icue and open when required.

Oh I forgot to mention that I do have the XT running on balanced (which seems fine) and it seems like its referencing the coolant temperature as a sensor. Again I really didnt touch much as it seemed to be doing its job. Coolant idle temps seem to be around 27 with a spike to 34 under heavy load. I understand this is caused by room temp/case temps. Edited September 1, 2020 by Scattrick

The XT presets (Quiet/Balanced/Extreme) will all work without the software. Additionally, they should still trigger a max fan blast if something were to happen and the coolant temp increased to a high level. If you are happy on Balanced, you can leave it there.

 

Your temps sound normal to me and about as good as most people in a temperate or other warm climate will do in Summer.

Is it worth doing a firmware upgrade on the unit if prompted? Or can it present more problems than benefits?

For the XT or the Commander? We never know what’s in those updates. The XT is relatively new and in general firmware updates are few and far between. If there is an update for that, I would probably take it. I don’t recommend people flash their AIO coolers on a regular basis or any time something unexpected happens. The Commander hasn’t had an update in at least a year, so not likely your inquiry.

Ok thanks c-attack. Yeah it was for the AIO. I've just read on here some bad stories when it comes to firmware updates.

Across 10 years and multiple brands, I've had a few brick. None of them were Corsair, but in general the AIO is one I am less keen on unnecessarily flashing the firmware. It can happen to any piece of electronics, but some types seem more prone to error. The problem with the AIO is it happens, you are stuck with having to immediately replace it to regain functionality. People keep back up keyboards or mice. Not as many keep a back up cooling solution.

So another question.

 

Attached is my case setup. Case temperature using the commander pro sensors range from 22.5c (bottom right of the mb) to 26/27c (top of the mb above cpu) and up to around 36/37c when gaming.

 

My AIO temp is around 32c when the top sensor is 26/27c and 36/37c when the sensor reads the same.

 

Is this normal behavior? I know its not room temperature, but ambient within the case.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Scattrick

That looks pretty normal to me. The standard "expected idle coolant temp" I throw around is +4-7C above ambient room temperature. That is just an average over years of collecting info. Each case set-up is unique with radiator location, orientation, physical case design, and materials adding/substracting from the expected total. If you clamp a dust filter to the radiator, you know the temps will go up at idle as the airflow is heavily affected at the low idle fan speeds. Same thing with glass vs mesh and of course the top of the case is usually 2-3C warmer than the bottom (and that's before GPU heat gets involved).

 

Your load coolant delta of +6C is pretty consistent with mixed use (CPU + GPU). If you ran a straight CPU only test, you might get less with the clear difference being the GPU waste heat in the case.

 

Temp probe values are very positionally dependent. You slide it 2cm to the left (away from some piece of hardware) and you might drop 3C. However, your +4-5C spread from top to bottom is consistent with my testing in the XL. I like the case, but I didn't get as much air through the bottom as I was expecting and the glass box shape creates a clear restriction on the side fans, especially when they are used as exhaust. Regardless, I think you are on spec compared to my data.

Edited September 25, 2020 by c-attack

Thank you c-attack