H100i V2 Pump Speed

Hello everyone.

I had to RMA my previous cooler and finally installed the new one. I am new to the custom PC game, so please forgive my ignorance. I wanted to know if the H100i V2 pump speeds are nominal. Right now in Corsair Link, my pump speeds read between 1200 - 1260 rpm on Quiet Mode. Set to Performance they read 2010 - 2100 RPM. In BIOS though it says it is lower; around 962 RPM.

My pump header is connected to the 'AIO Pump' socket on the motherboard, while the fans are connected to 'CPU Fan'. Is this the correct setup?

Your current set up of pump/AIO header and fans/CPU Fan is viable, but you are missing out on the benefits of the cooler. Fan speed does not affect CPU temp directly and on most recent CPUs, you will see very dynamic changes in CPU temp for normal desktop operations. You don't need your fans to spike to 1500 rpm because you open iTunes. Some boards have fan delays to ameliorate this (including Asus), but the actual results are mixed. On some of my Asus boards the delays don't work. The delays on CPU fan are already short, but all three of my X99 and Z370 boards ignore the delay setting on CPU fan. The only reason to run this way would be if you can't or don't want to run the Link/iCUE software. In that scenario, board control is better than no control.

That said, something is off in your reported speeds. The "low" pump speed (Quiet in iCUE or Balanced in Link) should be just under 2000 rpm as reported by the software. The Extreme (iCUE) or Performance setting (Link) should be just under 3000 rpm. The BIOS will show half the actual pump speed on the H100i v2 model. Your AIO header on the board should be configured to run 100% by default (what you want), however it is possible to change that. You need to go into the BIOS Q-Fan (you may need to F7 to Adv. BIOS interface, move over to the "monitor" column, then go way down to the bottom to find that text version of Q-Fan. I believe that is the only place you can enable the header to make it like a normal CHA fan header or the preferred "disable" locking the power at 100%. Do you have AI suite running and it is overriding the BIOS controls?

You may also want to make a decision about whether to give the software a go. If you move the radiator fans onto the H100i v2 fan controller (connectors from the pump), that will leave CPU fan empty and give you a very noticeable CPU FAN Boot error. This is to prevent you starting up the PC without active cooling, but has the more practical effect of notifying you if the cooler fails on boot, something you might not otherwise notice for several minutes. You can disable the warning, but it usually makes more sense to move the pump lead to CPU FAN, then "disable" Q-Fan control for that header or set to "Full Speed" in the EZ BIOS Q-fan graphic interface. Both are the same thing.

That said, something is off in your reported speeds. The "low" pump speed (Quiet in iCUE or Balanced in Link) should be just under 2000 rpm as reported by the software. The Extreme (iCUE) or Performance setting (Link) should be just under 3000 rpm. The BIOS will show half the actual pump speed on the H100i v2 model. Your AIO header on the board should be configured to run 100% by default (what you want), however it is possible to change that. You need to go into the BIOS Q-Fan (you may need to F7 to Adv. BIOS interface, move over to the "monitor" column, then go way down to the bottom to find that text version of Q-Fan. I believe that is the only place you can enable the header to make it like a normal CHA fan header or the preferred "disable" locking the power at 100%. Do you have AI suite running and it is overriding the BIOS controls?

I am using Corsair Link to control fan and pump speeds and I turned Q-fan control off in BIOS. Once I did that the pump speeds increased to 1890 - 1950 RPM in Quiet mode and 2880 - 2940 RPM in Performance mode. Fans are between 960 - 1020 rpm on Quiet mode and about 1560 RPM in Balanced mode, 1740 - 1800 RPM in Performance mode.

If you move the radiator fans onto the H100i v2 fan controller (connectors from the pump), that will leave CPU fan empty and give you a very noticeable CPU FAN Boot error. This is to prevent you starting up the PC without active cooling, but has the more practical effect of notifying you if the cooler fails on boot, something you might not otherwise notice for several minutes. You can disable the warning, but it usually makes more sense to move the pump lead to CPU FAN, then "disable" Q-Fan control for that header or set to "Full Speed" in the EZ BIOS Q-fan graphic interface. Both are the same thing.

Sorry for my ignorance showing but what do you want me to move the cable that is plugged into the CPU FAN header? Right now the fans are connected to the main power cable.

I am using Corsair Link to control fan and pump speeds and I turned Q-fan control off in BIOS. Once I did that the pump speeds increased to 1890 - 1950 RPM in Quiet mode and 2880 - 2940 RPM in Performance mode. Fans are between 960 - 1020 rpm on Quiet mode and about 1560 RPM in Balanced mode, 1740 - 1800 RPM in Performance mode.

All set then. Q-Fan off, "disabled", and Full Speed are all the same setting. Good to go.

Sorry for my ignorance showing but what do you want me to move the cable that is plugged into the CPU FAN header? Right now the fans are connected to the main power cable.

In your initial statement you listed the pump on the AIO Header and the Fans on CPU Fan. If you can control them via Link, it seems they are already on the H100i v2 controller (which is good). You don't have to do anything. If the H100i v2 power lead is on AIO Pump and you have already disabled the CPU boot error, then fine. If the H100i v2 is actually on CPU_FAN, that is ideal for most people. Neither affects the functionality. Using CPU Fan provides a warning if the pump fails on power on.