Corsair H80 noise

[Blintok]

So i have had this cooler for about a month and i guess i thought it would be quieter than my other computer.

To preface.
Antec 1100 case.
200mm fan top rear
2x120mm fan bottom front blowing in across drive bays
1x120mm fan on back of case blowing in on rear of cpu/motherboard
Corsair H80 set up with 2 fans blowing into case.
i have the h80 plugged into a white molex power connector + the fan connection
to the cpu fan connection on motherboard - complains of no fan on cpu if i dont.
(ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Z68)


last week i put the H80 on the lowest setting because the noise was bugging me. But that made it worse. So i had a closer look to try to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.
(my other computer with similar fan set ups (Antec 900 case) but with air cpu cooler is dead quiet.)

The noise sounded like a turbine or when a cars/motorcycle rad fan kicks in. I noticed the inner fan on the H80 was the culprit. It would speed up/slow down going from completely off to full speed and back to slow.

so wondering, is the fan defective? is my motherboard trying to control the fans speed?
Both fans(inner and outer) are plugged into the h80. Only does this on the low fan setting. It still noisy (but not as bad) on the middle setting.

so wondering if this is normal for the h80 fan on low setting. Dont want to have to take everything apart unless i have to

 

[Raider1284]

can you not plug the fans directly into your motherboard, which would allow you to control the speeds through a program like SpeedFan?

The pump from the h80 is supposed to be plugged into the cpu fan connector.

 

[WT]

I have an H80 with a similar issue - I replaced the stock fans with a pair of AP15's (1850's) and the noise sounds like fan cavitation after the PC has been on for at least a half hour. My fans were changed to blow out rather than in.
I am tempted to unplug both fans and see what happens, but the fan noise isn't always there. Maybe 1 out of 5 times it remains silent.

There appears to be a recall on the H100 units, but I don't see anything specifically for the H80.
http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99361

 

[lsv]

Try it out with the fan off for a few minutes, the pump in those units is just terrible and makes so much noise.

 

[Blintok]

Did some more digging/investigating. Came across a post on the Corsair forum about the left side fan connect on the cpu block being flakey. Just so happens my wild fan happened to be plugged into the left most plug.

so i unplugged it last night and plugged it into the cpu header on the mb. Havent had a chance to test it yet as i did that after i shut down for the night. Going to see how it works with the Asus speedfan utility tonight.

 

[WT]

Did some more digging/investigating. Came across a post on the Corsair forum about the left side fan connect on the cpu block being flakey. Just so happens my wild fan happened to be plugged into the left most plug.

I noticed that one of my AP-15s wasn't even SPINNING after I plugged them both into the H80. Keep in mind this is a brand new fan out of the box. I had to stick a paper clip in and spin up the blades to get it working (but there was no obstruction at all once it began to spin).
I then swapped the fan power headers (my H80 is mounted with a 90° turn due to capacitor clearance issues with the Z68 Gigabyte board) with each other and now both fans work again.
I've been told the AP-15s draw less than the stock Corsair fans, so I am really at a loss as to why I'm having problems. And yes, it was the 'left' fan header as it is mounted.

 

[Rvenger]

It doesn't sound like a fish tank pump does it? If that is the noise, its definitely the pump. That was the reason why I got rid of my Corsair H60.

 

[WT]

Blintok, your issue sorta sounds like the fan issue that many owners are having with this cooler. The fans auto-adjust their speeds but sometimes do not throttle back properly, and the fan controller also does not make any noticeable change to the fan speed.

My problem is different than most were having, in that the fan volume seems to increase the longer the PC is on, until it is louder than my old monster air cooled ZeroTherm Nirvana NV120 HSF. My noise does not appear to be from the pump - you can tell its from the fans instead. I'm leaning towards having a bad AP15.

 

[Raider1284]

It doesn't sound like a fish tank pump does it? If that is the noise, its definitely the pump. That was the reason why I got rid of my Corsair H60.

I had a similiar problem with my h60. The problem was caused by the pump running two quickly. slowing it down slightly got rid of all pump noise!

 

[Blintok]

So last night i removed the inner fan and ran like that for the rest of the evening.
Did not seem to effect CPU temps (as in running hotter) but it was still kind of loud
and using ASUS fan expert did not make any diff to fan speed. Was always stuck at around 2500rpm. I stopped using the h80 block fan connects connecting the remaining outer fan to the CPU header.

So this morning i took it all apart. removed the corsair fan and installed an Antec fan i had. This time placing it in the blowing out of case orientation. Huge difference.
Fan xpert profiles worked on this. fan rpm will ramp up as cpu temps climb. At idle temps were still 17c to 20c and fan rpm was 900.

Still tho this machine in the Antec 1100 case is louder than my machine in the antec 900 case. (the 900 has same fan setups. only diff is cpu cooler - arctic 7 freezer in this case)

I think most of the noise now is coming from the top 200mm fan. seems to only run at 100%. There is a dongle for the fan that lets u turn off the LED lights and a spot for fan speed but the toggle is not there. Cannot seem to control this fan with fan xpert.

but reading further. my asus manual says fan xpert only works with CPU Fan and the 2 headers marked CHA fan. Which the 200mm fan is not plugged into. Going to try that tonite and see how it goes. Strange that the antec 1100 fan is 1 speed but the 900 is 3 speed.

will see how it goes tonite. i may get a new (3 speed) 120mm for the rear of the rad if temps go up too much. But i dont overclock so may be ok as is.