H100i Pump Failing?

[4960X]

I bought the corsair h100i a few months ago and it has been working fine, until today. I used to have my 3770K oc'd at 4.5Ghz with it and the temps always stayed below 70c. Today I noticed my cpu temps hitting 90+ deg celcius without doing anything, no gaming or anything like that. Idle temps are around 40c-50c which is crazy because it used to idle at around 32c. Before I bought this cooler, I knew about the high failure rate of this cooler but I thought that they fixed that with a new revision or something. I guess I can't trust Corsair water coolers anymore.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I bought the corsair h100i a few months ago and it has been working fine, until today. I used to have my 3770K oc'd at 4.5Ghz with it and the temps always stayed below 70c. Today I noticed my cpu temps hitting 90+ deg celcius without doing anything, no gaming or anything like that. Idle temps are around 40c-50c which is crazy because it used to idle at around 32c. Before I bought this cooler, I knew about the high failure rate of this cooler but I thought that they fixed that with a new revision or something. I guess I can't trust Corsair water coolers anymore.

People had been mentioning the uncertainties about these coolers here and there as long as I've been checking the forums near-daily now for the last month or two.

This was also part of a more general issue about water-cooling and more exotic options like chilled-water and phase-change. If you invest in it, you need to accommodate yourself to the risks. Risks are "expected costs" based on probability -- measurable or unmeasurable. The "benefits" were always touted as higher clock speeds.

So if you spent $1,200 on a phase-change system at Frozen-CPU, you might be able to keep your processor at a temperature between -5C+ and room-ambient. Just to keep at room-ambient, the cooler will switch on and off frequently, even if it uses less power that way, and you will always worry that something will go awry with the temperature-control or switching mechanism. Then -- there's condensation risk.

We don't know what percentage of AiO coolers shipped will be defective or die early. The data may be there -- at the manufacturer, or through the biased statistics from customer-reviews (biased because people who are satisfied don't post.)

The other aspect, the closed loop AiO coolers will only perform so well. Most that we've seen will best the top-rated heatpipe air-coolers by maybe 5C degrees. But as I've noted in other threads, some heatpipe coolers rated "the best" are underrated because they come from the factory with EL LIMPO "green-obsessive" fans. And heatpipes don't fail.

This is going to be a dilemma for users attempting to overclock SB-E, IB-E, to some extent IB and Haswell cores -- and likely the Haswell-E cores we expect sooner or later. You might get some mileage from a great heatpipe cooler, IHS and HSF-base lapping, the very best Indium-based TIMs, de-lidded processors and direct-die approaches.

It's a dilemma. I'm not excluded: it will apply to me -- maybe this year.

 

[4960X]

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to go with an NH-U14S with dual fans since it has great reviews.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to go with an NH-U14S with dual fans since it has great reviews.

Whoa! Do you have time to think this over? Your handle says "4960X," but your OP talks about an i7-3770K. Maybe you don't have a lot of time with this Corsair debacle. . . .

I'm not trying to "sell" you on anything. But you'll find a fairly current thread here with no responses but a modestly increasing readership -- just posted a couple days ago. I discovered that the Noctua-p12 and -p14 fans shipped with the NH-D14 ["huge"] heatpipe cooler are so freakin' LIMP, that I could replace both of them with a single Akasa-Viper-140-R (same size and design as the P14) -- thermally controlled through the mobo-CPU-PWM fan-port -- to reduce temperatures by a whopping 5C degrees and no extra noise (that I perceive, anyway.)

The D14 should outperform the U14S. I could go back and scour the reviews, but I think it's true. Maybe by just a few degrees -- I don't know.

But the point of my verbose post above: If -- especially -- you want to cool something like the 4960X flagship Ivy-Bridge (or ANY IB-E core), the TDP on those suckers is about 130W -- at least 40W greater than an i7-3770K at stock setting. The heatpipes may be adequate, but I don't see much OC'ing headroom there. I think I saw an Anandtech article suggesting that an IB-E could generate 200W with a mild overclock.

If it's the i7-3770K, then -- sure.

Now I'm looking at a comparison review that shows the Corsair H100i performing short of 4C degrees better than the NH-U14S:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6916/...-12-more-coolers-the-retest-and-megaroundup/8

So -- that looks great, now that I look closer. The D14 actually performs 4C worse than the U14S. It is hard to keep up with these reviews and new releases . . .

Suppose you dump the Noctua fans and replace with carefully-chosen alternative(s)? You might be able to improve performance by the 4C degrees you need to match what you lost with the Corsair. And because I'm reading these reviews as I draft my response, my opinions are changing on the fly and my response is longer than it should be. . . .

And I correct myself: "The D14 should outperform the U14S." WRONG!!

One more thing: About the fan. The U14S ships with a fan with RPM rivaled by my new Viper 140R. So you may not improve performance so much by replacing it. It's your call, though!

 

[4960X]

Whoa! Do you have time to think this over? Your handle says "4960X," but your OP talks about an i7-3770K. Maybe you don't have a lot of time with this Corsair debacle. . . .

I'm not trying to "sell" you on anything. But you'll find a fairly current thread here with no responses but a modestly increasing readership -- just posted a couple days ago. I discovered that the Noctua-p12 and -p14 fans shipped with the NH-D14 ["huge"] heatpipe cooler are so freakin' LIMP, that I could replace both of them with a single Akasa-Viper-140-R (same size and design as the P14) -- thermally controlled through the mobo-CPU-PWM fan-port -- to reduce temperatures by a whopping 5C degrees and no extra noise (that I perceive, anyway.)

The D14 should outperform the U14S. I could go back and scour the reviews, but I think it's true. Maybe by just a few degrees -- I don't know.

But the point of my verbose post above: If -- especially -- you want to cool something like the 4960X flagship Ivy-Bridge (or ANY IB-E core), the TDP on those suckers is about 130W -- at least 40W greater than an i7-3770K at stock setting. The heatpipes may be adequate, but I don't see much OC'ing headroom there. I think I saw an Anandtech article suggesting that an IB-E could generate 200W with a mild overclock.

If it's the i7-3770K, then -- sure.

Now I'm looking at a comparison review that shows the Corsair H100i performing short of 4C degrees better than the NH-U14S:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6916/...-12-more-coolers-the-retest-and-megaroundup/8

So -- that looks great, now that I look closer. The D14 actually performs 4C worse than the U14S. It is hard to keep up with these reviews and new releases . . .

Suppose you dump the Noctua fans and replace with carefully-chosen alternative(s)? You might be able to improve performance by the 4C degrees you need to match what you lost with the Corsair. And because I'm reading these reviews as I draft my response, my opinions are changing on the fly and my response is longer than it should be. . . .

And I correct myself: "The D14 should outperform the U14S." WRONG!!

I have three computers at home, one with a 4960X, 3770K and one with a 2700K. My main computer is the one with the 4960X and it has a custom water cooling kit and it has been running great for a few years now(knock on wood).

The problem now is with my second computer which is running a 3770K and H100i. At this moment, my second computer is unusable due to my h100i failing and the temps going through the roof.

The NH-D14 might outperform the NH-U14S but it's a lot bigger and takes up too much space in my case which makes it difficult to work inside the case. Not only that, but the NH-U14S should be much quieter since it sports a much more update fan (Noctua NF-A15 PWM) compared to the NH-D14 (Noctua NF-P14 & Noctua NF-P12). Now that I'm writing this, I might wait and go with the successor of the NH-D14 since it looks fantastic!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have three computers at home, one with a 4960X, 3770K and one with a 2700K. My main computer is the one with the 4960X and it has a custom water cooling kit and it has been running great for a few years now(knock on wood).

The problem now is with my second computer which is running a 3770K and H100i. At this moment, my second computer is unusable due to my h100i failing and the temps going through the roof.

The NH-D14 might outperform the NH-U14S but it's a lot bigger and takes up too much space in my case which makes it difficult to work inside the case. Not only that, but the NH-U14S should be much quieter since it sports a much more update fan (Noctua NF-A15 PWM) compared to the NH-D14 (Noctua NF-P14 & Noctua NF-P12). Now that I'm writing this, I might wait and go with the successor of the NH-D14 since it looks fantastic!

I think it would be awfully close between (a) a D14 with the Squish fans replaced by one good 140mm, and (b) the NH-U14S with the fan it's got. Of course, you could easily slap a Delta 0.80A 3,000 RPM Tri-blade on that U14S, and match or beat the Corsair. [It's important to point out that a thermally-controlled Delta Tri-blade is quiet at 2,000 RPM and lower.]

The only thing left to see is whether there is linearly more cooling performance with the double-tower "X-D14" with the towers like the U14S. How many heatpipes!? We need the "pudding," because the proof is in the pudding! Did ANY-one have an idea when this "X-D14" will be released?!

I'm sorry. I've got my Medicare card, and I'm acting like a Teener at a Rave. . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

By the way, 4960X. Did you OC that 4960X? How much?

I gotta know!

MORE: TechSpot had a revealing review of the U14S compared to several others -- using an i7-4960X with tests at 4.3Ghz or 300Mhz exceeding the "turbo" top-end. I had to rub my eyes: A heatpipe cooler [NH-U14S]?! Showing 54C under load @ 4.3 Ghz?!

Doesn't that leave "more headroom?!"

 

[4960X]

By the way, 4960X. Did you OC that 4960X? How much?

I gotta know!

MORE: TechSpot had a revealing review of the U14S compared to several others -- using an i7-4960X with tests at 4.3Ghz or 300Mhz exceeding the "turbo" top-end. I had to rub my eyes: A heatpipe cooler [NH-U14S]?! Showing 54C under load @ 4.3 Ghz?!

Doesn't that leave "more headroom?!"

My 4960X is currently oc'd at 4.7Ghz @ 1.4V (custom water cooling kit btw).

The NH-U14S is truly a fantastic cooler that often gets overlooked by enthusiasts. Just imagine what that cooler can do with dual fans in push/pull config.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My 4960X is currently oc'd at 4.7Ghz @ 1.4V (custom water cooling kit btw).

The NH-U14S is truly a fantastic cooler that often gets overlooked by enthusiasts. Just imagine what that cooler can do with dual fans in push/pull config.

1.4V seems a bit on the high side (to me), even if your (six!) core temperatures don't exceed 50 or 60C. But IDontCare was more optimistic about this . . .

Just for practical reasons, I don't think I'd spring for the 4960X, and I'd probably give the 4820K or 4930K a good look. And like I said -- those comparison tests had the 4960X at 4.3 Ghz with the NH-U14S and load temperature of 54C. So . . . it's sort of like that Clint Eastwood line at the end of Dirty Harry: "Do ya feel lucky?! . . . " :biggrin:

 

[tweakboy]

Get Thermaltake next time. thx

 

[4960X]

1.4V seems a bit on the high side (to me), even if your (six!) core temperatures don't exceed 50 or 60C. But IDontCare was more optimistic about this . . .

Just for practical reasons, I don't think I'd spring for the 4960X, and I'd probably give the 4820K or 4930K a good look. And like I said -- those comparison tests had the 4960X at 4.3 Ghz with the NH-U14S and load temperature of 54C. So . . . it's sort of like that Clint Eastwood line at the end of Dirty Harry: "Do ya feel lucky?! . . . " :biggrin:

I agree with you about the 4960X not being worth it. The 4960X was given to me as a gift for my bday and I would have never bought it with my own money. There's very little difference in terms of speed between the 4960X and 4930K and the 4930K is ~$500 cheaper so yeah.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I agree with you about the 4960X not being worth it. The 4960X was given to me as a gift for my bday and I would have never bought it with my own money. There's very little difference in terms of speed between the 4960X and 4930K and the 4930K is ~$500 cheaper so yeah.

Don't agree with me . . . I don't think that was what I meant. [And I wish someone would give me a flagship for my birthday!]

Maybe three weeks ago, a guy popped up in CPUs&OC'ing. He was definitely new to Anandtech. But he was also new to "this business." Said he wanted a new hobby. Said "sky's the limit" and he had "money to burn." This spawned various remarks.

So he was set on buying the Rampage IV Black Edition Asus board. He was going to buy the i7-4960X. He was going for the whole enchilada. But it was obvious he was a total noob to this. Later, he turned up here in "Cooling" asking about fans. Said he was going to put 15 fans in the case.

Folks were really puzzled. "Fif-teen FANZ?!" they said. And I said. Anyway, he took offense, acted like someone with "acute rejection reaction syndrome" but he hadn't been "rejected." Said he was going to sell his parts for a song, and never to return here again.

So the other day, I was sitting in a small, warm and quiet place, having brought with me a pile of this year's Maximum PC magazines. Picked up their "2013 Dream Machine" issue. The DM was going to be a $16,000 project. It had four SSDs and four 4TB HDDs. I don't know if it was two or four vid cards in SLI. Water-cooling up the kazoo.

. . . And . . . . 15 "Gentle Typhoon" fans.

From time to time I think about springing the kilo-buck for one of these flagship processors. I swear -- I'm almost on the verge. But I'd want to lap the IHS. I'd want to OC the sucker. So it sets one to thinking.

"Maybe . . . .half that much . . . "

But it's interesting, isn't it? We think we're getting "almost as much" for an OC'd midrange CPU. We'd never know for sure that we were, and never know for sure that we weren't.

. . . I haven't started ordering parts . . . . yet . . . :biggrin:

So when I do . . . I don't know if I'll come in here and brag about it, or hide the fact, wanting to avoid people calling me a spendthrift. And that's another reason I keep putting off the next build. People can call me a spendthrift, but even if I keep it all a secret . . . I might have to live with being one.