Antec Kuhler 920 on its last legs?

Marakith · 9 Aug 2017 at 21:45

Hello

I have an Antec Kuhler 920. Installed it about 6 years ago.

The other week, I noticed one of the radiator fans was clicking so I replaced it tonight.

Now the PC Has gone nuts. Windows is super slow. The mouse lags incredibly and the fans are going at full pelt with CPU temps at 98 degrees. In addition the pump is making quite a din: lots of clicking.

I tried swapping back the original fan but no joy. I also fiddled with BIOS fan settings to force the fans to run more slowly but of course windows barely started.

So what could have happened? Might I have unseated the heat sink? Damaged the pump? Do I need to replace the whole unit?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hotwired · 9 Aug 2017 at 21:57

No idea.

But to start off with remove the entire cooler, clean out the rad of dust, clean off the old thermal paste from the cooler and the cpu, apply new paste and reinstall.

While doing that have a check on the fans, you have two and they need to be blowing in the same direction. If they are not then the airflow through the cooler will be almost nil.

VKleita · 10 Aug 2017 at 10:23

DId you remove the unit to attach the new fan? You did of course replace the Thermal paste at the same time right?

Sounds like lack of contact between AIO and CPU, so CPU is down clocking to prevent damage.

Marakith · 10 Aug 2017 at 18:24

Thanks for the suggestions.

In the end, I think it was just coincidental failure of one of the fans and a catastrophic failure of the rest of the unit. I've replaced it with a Corsair H80i v2 and I'm down to 30C CPU temps - nearly silent too.

Thanks again.