New AIO, not so great cooling

Adam Tench · 25 Aug 2021 at 08:04

Hi all. I have a bit of a strange situation going on. I swapped out my CPU from a 5600x to a 5900x and used my NH-U12s temporarily until the AIO came. Temps were around 40 idle never going more than 70 with hardly any irregular spikes.

The new AIO arrives, a liquid freezer 2 360 rev 4 and temps are around 40 idle still but as soon as I open a web page, a program or even load Windows updates the fans spin up quickly because the temperatures raise suddenly. They can go into the 50s within seconds which is very weird. If I stress the CPU it flies up to 80c straight away.

Corsair 4000d case, aio front mounted with tubes at the top as this is the only way. Push fan config.

Any thoughts on what the issue could be?

Defy Belief · 25 Aug 2021 at 08:27

Re-mount it. Is the pump definitely working?

SonicSW20 · 25 Aug 2021 at 08:56

I wouldn't expect to see much of a drop in idle temperatures tbh.

Load doesn't sound quite right, assuming the AIO is actually working (can you hear the pump running?) then its probably not mounted right or has insufficient thermal compound.

phil-k · 25 Aug 2021 at 09:45

also can you adjust the Pump speed, is it too slow?

Mesai · 25 Aug 2021 at 10:04

Is it connected to the right header on the motherboard and/or is it configured correctly via the BIOS to be using the correct sensor and PWM?

Adam Tench · 25 Aug 2021 at 14:01

Defy Belief said:
Re-mount it. Is the pump definitely working?

It's definitely working. I can hear the water trickling around. I will try remounting

Adam Tench · 25 Aug 2021 at 14:02

Mesai said:
Is it connected to the right header on the motherboard and/or is it configured correctly via the BIOS to be using the correct sensor and PWM?

As directed the instructions say to use the CPU fan header. BIOS settings show as pwm

Adam Tench · 25 Aug 2021 at 14:03

phil-k said:
also can you adjust the Pump speed, is it too slow?

How would I do this?

SonicSW20 · 25 Aug 2021 at 14:07

Adam Tench said:
How would I do this?

For the sake of testing, set the pump to run at full speed in the BIOS. It might be noisy but at this stage you're ruling out problems, you can adjust it back down later. Most AIO's are quite happy running at lower speeds, the manual may have a suggested speed range.

liamstears · 25 Aug 2021 at 16:02

How is the AIO mounted? I know you say front mounted but if the block is above the rest the issue could be water not getting to the block, post a pic?

Also to be honest your temps don't sound that off to me, AIO's are ok but shouldn't be purchased for performance cooling. Big air coolers do perform better and of course a custom loop also does

MikeTimbers · 25 Aug 2021 at 21:06

I'm not entirely surprised. Various videos over the years have shown that AIO don't compare all that well with top range heatpipe coolers. people see big radiators and think that must be good cooling but watercooling needs good flow and decent blocks.

Always run the pump at 100%. Sudden heatspikes can happen too quickly for the pump to speed up enough to cool the cpu. Run the fans at a constant speed even when only lightly using the computer. Ramp them up when gaming.

Simon42 · 25 Aug 2021 at 21:41

Can you temporarily hold or strap the radiator near the top of the case with pipes facing down towards the pump/block.

This will ensure the small amount of air inside is at the top of the rad and not entering the pump/block and causing the performance issue.

SonicSW20 · 25 Aug 2021 at 23:10

MikeTimbers said:
I'm not entirely surprised. Various videos over the years have shown that AIO don't compare all that well with top range heatpipe coolers. people see big radiators and think that must be good cooling but watercooling needs good flow and decent blocks.

That might have been the case 10 years ago, but a good current model outperforms a good air cooler on cooling performance (even when noise normalised), though the difference is only a matter of a few degrees depending on how much heat its dealing with. They also take significantly longer to reach a steady state which can be advantageous depending on the workload.

ANDARIAL · 26 Aug 2021 at 08:25

Re pump speed
I have this AIO rev2 i think and pump and fans are daisy chained as standard,only 1 fan header/plug so you cannot set fans or pump separately without messing with the cable

Drumroll · 26 Aug 2021 at 13:29

Some mounting issue, I assume, if pump works.
Using the rev2 here and even under stress test the 3900X PBO on, holds at 4.25 and 74ish Celsius.
On Bios, I use 50% up to 60C, 70% up to 70C and 100% over 75C.
After sorting out the issue, I would suggest fine tuning the fans. Mine are quieter at 70% than they are at 60% or 65%. 50% quieter than 45%. Just about to find the right balance where the fan noise is a continuous balanced hum.

Adam Tench · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:32

Thank you everyone. I was just about to mention that the pump speed cannot be tuned separately from the fans. I'll take the fan speeds above and see how i get on. I have taken the block off, cleaned the paste and mounted again. Will be interesting to see how it performs now.

Drumroll · 26 Aug 2021 at 16:07

Correct, pump can't be adjusted on it's own.
I only get the fan's RPM here, so not sure if pump runs at full blast all the time, or follow the PMW of the fans.
Tried the Arctic Freezer II, all revisions, mostly as a stop gap between open loops, but now settled for a rev2 B-Grade from Overclockers, and never noticed pump noise, regardless of fan RPM.
Maybe the fans are louder than the pump all the time?
Would be interesting to know the pump speed.

Just to add, tried the Corsair HYDRO SERIES ICUE H150I ELITE CAPELLIX, the fans are good, the performance is good, but the pump, can't stand the high pitch, always present, even at low speeds.
Nice options as coolant temperature, pump speed, etc. But I prefer the Arctic for slightly better performance and much quieter pump.

ANDARIAL · 27 Aug 2021 at 08:18

I think the block can be mounted`offset`that `may` improve temps on certain cpus

SonicSW20 · 27 Aug 2021 at 10:46

ANDARIAL said:
I think the block can be mounted`offset`that `may` improve temps on certain cpus

Shoudn't matter too much with Intel CPU's are the heat generation is pretty central, with Ryzen the IO die (single larger part at the bottom) doesn't really produce much heat compared to the chiplets at the top. So depending on the design of the coldplate / mounting its orientation can affect cooling:

ANDARIAL · 27 Aug 2021 at 11:17

Yeah i just stuck my 3700X on default position,might try offset when i get around to replacing tim or cpu.
Temps only get to around 70 something when gaming anyway