teach me the way of the curve

hey!

fitted my H110i GT this weekend!

got it on Quiet mode and its hitting max temps of 62 degrees avg.

its fitted to an i7 3770.

any tips on required curve? its idle is about 32-37 degrees.

Remember the curve is designed around water temperature inside the system (H110i GT temperature). It's a little more difficult to set-up than running off CPU temperatures, but since it's a less volatile variable, you won't get the fan jumpiness with short changes in CPU load.

At cold boot your water temp is going to be your room temperature. As it warms up, it will rise a few degrees more. This is your ambient case temperature and it will vary based on case design, physical environment, etc. Most people run 3-5C over room temperature, or perhaps more if you stuff in a corner or cabinet. Whatever that number is becomes your baseline temp. Set the fans to run at a nice low level you are comfortable with for quiet desktop work.

When you apply a load to the CPU, the water will remove the heat from the block and release some of it as it goes through the radiator. The water removes the heat from the chip. The fans aid in removing heat from the water to the air. You don't need an instant increase in fan speed to account for short term CPU usage. When the water isn't able to release all of the heat through the rad (or the case internal temperature rises for other reasons), then more fan speed will help remove more heat from the water.

Unfortunately, this also means that each environment is unique. When it gets hot in your room (or case) the fans will run harder. You may want a different curve for Summer than Winter. You'll need to see how warm the water gets while under load and set a corresponding fan speed you can live with. All that said, it doesn't have to be that complicated. Most people are well served by simply setting a fixed fan speed they can stand before starting a higher load activity. You can set this as a saved profile in LINK and then one click to it. Running fixed speeds may also have benefits for systems where the radiator is a significant part of the exhaust flow. Gaming is a good example of a low-moderate CPU activity that doesn't require a lot of CPU cooling, but your GPU's may create quite a bit of internal case heat you need to remove. Setting the radiator fans to fixed speed may help with overall system temperatures besides the CPU. The water temperature doesn't necessarily reflect maximum cooling potential, but how much heat is currently in the system. If you run Prime95 for 3 hours and your water temp goes to 45C, don't expect your idle temperatures to instantly drop back down to 32C. You can probably guess what number they will hang near until the water cools down some. You are not likely to see that kind of water temperature outside of extreme long loads or very difficult environmental conditions. Putting your case in a cabinet where heat has no where to go will warm up not only the air in and around the case, but the water temperature as well.