Question Air Cooling Vs Water Cooling

[BChastard]

I recently bought an Arctic Liquid freezer II and saw it has changed my CPU temps to 55C idle which after a google I thought that was okay as it said around 50c was good but today I swapped it out for my old Cryorig H7 and to my surprise, it keeps my CPU at a steady 25c. What the hell is going on, i bought the arcitc liquid freezer II as everyone was giving it major praise for only £90, but it turns out my £20 cryorid H7 is doing a much better job. is my cooler broken. can anyone explain this

 

[Barty1884]

Sounds like a mounting/mounting pressure issue.

At the end of the day, idle temps are not a great indicator of anything really, but there shouldn't be a 25'C variation between an AIO and air cooler.

 

[BChastard]

I followed the instructions vividly, to be honest, the AIO was a bit strange for example the VRAM fan didn't spin what so ever even at overclocked state, I also couldn't hear the water flowing or the pump so I'm not really sure if it was working if it wasn't i feel like my CPU would have overheated and my PC would have shut down much sooner if it wasnt on or what ever. the fans on the radiator were working but yeah

 

[Barty1884]

I followed the instructions vividly, to be honest, the AIO was a bit strange for example the VRAM fan didn't spin what so ever even at overclocked state, I also couldn't hear the water flowing or the pump so I'm not really sure if it was working if it wasn't i feel like my CPU would have overheated and my PC would have shut down much sooner if it wasnt on or what ever. the fans on the radiator were working but yeah

Was the pump connected to power?
Water temp will take a while to equalize, so even if the pump wasn't making the water 'flow', it would still take some time to reach dangerous temperatures.

Did you remove the plastic film from the coldplate?

 

[BChastard]

Yes, I did all of those. What do you mean by 'Water temp will take a while to equalize'

 

[Barty1884]

Yes, I did all of those. What do you mean by 'Water temp will take a while to equalize'

Was a response to this part of your post:

if it wasn't i feel like my CPU would have overheated and my PC would have shut down much sooner if it wasnt on or what ever.

Even without 'flow', the water will take a bit of time to saturate and see CPU temps climb to dangerous territory.


Looks liek there's a single connector for the pump & VRM fan. So if the fan is not spinning, i'm doubtful the pump is either. Could be a loose connection.... looks like there's a header on the underside of the VRM fan that you might want to check hasn't come loose:

 

[BChastard]

it is connected on the underside

 

[BChastard]

I just discovered something... when I manually turn the fan on the pump for a few seconds it will spin but it is at like maximum speed and is incredibly loud