H100x install ideas

Aaron Tennant · 10 Jul 2021 at 22:54

Just finishing my build.

I have a h100x water cooler. Installed and working fine. Cpu temps idle about 26-30 degrees. Max out at 50 degrees on stress test at 100% load.

I have the radiator fans connected to the commander pro. With custom fan curves.

But I have the pump connected to the Sata cable, and the other connector off the pump to the commander pro also.

That way it shows up in icue as a fan and I control it by percentage or fixed rpm.

has anyone else done this or is that a terrible idea.

the motherboard is z77 sabertooth. (Old school) so doesn’t have a pump header.

MikeTimbers · 11 Jul 2021 at 10:39

I never mess with AIO pumps - just run them full on. They're quite puny.

Aaron Tennant · 11 Jul 2021 at 11:13

thanks

I’m not even sure where to connect it to the motherboard, I think it’s a 3pin power connector and the cpu fan is 4pin. I can probably connect it to one of the assist fans on the mobo. But they are all controllable in the bios in terms of rpm, I believe. So it’s no different than connecting to the commander pro. I will set it to a fixed rpm. Or like 80 or 100 percent in icue.

turbot1984 · 11 Jul 2021 at 11:26

Aaron Tennant said:
thanks

I’m not even sure where to connect it to the motherboard, I think it’s a 3pin power connector and the cpu fan is 4pin. I can probably connect it to one of the assist fans on the mobo. But they are all controllable in the bios in terms of rpm, I believe. So it’s no different than connecting to the commander pro. I will set it to a fixed rpm. Or like 80 or 100 percent in icue.

Hi Aaron, my H100X is controlled via bios fan curve, it didn't work with icue.
It can also be controlled in Win 10 via Dragon center, assume Asus has something similar?

Aaron Tennant · 11 Jul 2021 at 14:18

I have mine plugged into the 6th port on the commander pro and it shows up. I can then adjust the fan curve via icue.

I prefer having it all on one software, I just wanted to check I wasn’t going to break it! But I can’t see how it’s any different than controlling the fan curve in the bios.

or am I missing something really obvious

Drumroll · 11 Jul 2021 at 15:19

Unless fan rpm is bound to pump rpm, most modern/decent AIO should be pretty quiet at 100%.
The Arctic Freezer II, my only recent experience with AIO, would be pretty reasonable up to 70-80%, but the fans are bound to same % pwm as the pump, unless you disconect the fans and use an extension cable and connect the fans directly to a controller or the motherboard.

Aaron Tennant · 11 Jul 2021 at 17:43

The two fans from the radiator go into a y connector and that goes separately to the commander pro.

The pump has the sata connected and it’s own 3pin that’s going into the commander pro.

So In theory controlled independently from the pump.

Drumroll · 11 Jul 2021 at 18:33

Understand, sorry.
The benefit of connecting the pump and be able to control it as if it was a fan, more novelty than actual necessary.
Most pumps, even custom loop, the best idea is find the sweet spot (balance between noise and performance) and leave at it. No reason to increase or decrease the pump speed for no reason, no much gain, anyway.
A downside would be that, as the pump isn't connected to the CPU header, in case the pump fail (don't happen too often, but may, we never know), in theory your CPU would throttle to protect itself, but a faulty fan (in this case the AIO), would add an extra layer of protection.
At the moment, my D5 pump is connected to the motherboard, instead the Aquacomputer Quadro. As soon as I decide the sweet spot, I leave at it, and just goes to full blast if the CPU goes over 70C or 75C.
Fan curves are great for fans, but for pumps, I wouldn't bother.

Aaron Tennant · 11 Jul 2021 at 19:54

Thanks for your response,

Yeah that’s a good point regarding it being connected to the cpu fan! As it would throttle the cpu to protect it. However it’s a 3 pin and my motherboard Z77 sabertooth is quite old and the cpu fan is 4 pin, I couldn’t connect it to that I don’t believe.

This guy did and wasn’t sure if it blow the motherboard, or if he just had other issues. Not sure I’m brave enough to try!

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/i-blew-my-motherboard-asus-z77-sabertooth.1374177/

I could connect it to a 3pin assist fan

In icue I can set the AIO to be on a constant rate. I think, like you say just set it to a constant rate, I can set it to 100% or 80% I don’t think I I’m worried about the pump noise.

the fans have a bespoke curve to go on full of the temp goes above 65-70.

also in Icue I can monitor the cpu temps. And if the fans go mental I can tell the temps have gone through the roof.

Aaron Tennant · 13 Jul 2021 at 22:36

Just to update I found that having it installed to the commander pro, it still fluctuated all the time, even where set to a constants rpm or percentage. I made a profile just for the pump set it to a fixed rpm and made no difference!

I have connected it to the 4 pin cpu on the motherboard and that seems to have a fixed rpm of 4000 ish. Which I read reads double so 2000 which I believe is max for the pump. It fluctuates a tiny bit. But I’m happier that it’s at a constant speed for it pumping coolant.

the fans I have going to the commnder pro and they have a custom curve.

seems to run about 40 on light to mid load and didn’t go near 50 even when I stress tested the cpu at max load! Fans kicked in lovely and not even that noisy.