[SOLVED] Arctic Liquid AIO

[littleboy123]

Hello! I am brand new to PC building and I have finally finished installing everything. Everything booted and I got Windows installed as well. When I went to check the temps of my GPU and CPU, I noticed my intel i9900k was idling insanely high (85-99 degrees). I have triple checked everything for my Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 240 and from ( my noobie ) eye everything is installed correctly. The thermal paste is on adequately, no plastic on the heat sink etc. Everything I've used in this build is brand new.

Its hard for me to believe that a brand new unit is faulty right out of the box? Am I missing something? How can I tell if there is actually liquid circulating throughout? I've grabbed the tubes and since I've never done this before, its hard for me to tell if liquid is flowing or not. There is a slight vibration but I cannot tell if that's just from the other components in the case moving or not. Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[USAFRet]

Either the waterblock is NOT installed correctly, or maybe there is an air bubble in the lines.

 

[littleboy123]

Ok. The waterblock meaning the large radiator? I've side mounted and mounted it at the top to no avail. Any way to get an air bubble out of the lines? Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Ok. The waterblock meaning the large radiator? I've side mounted and mounted it at the top to no avail. Any way to get an air bubble out of the lines? Thanks

The waterblock, meaning the thing bolted to the CPU.

 

[littleboy123]

Ahh okay! For the 1151 socket, I installed the washers, 4 standoffs, mounted it, and then installed the thumb screws. Not sure if there's even another way I could mount it. When I took off the waterblock to inspect, I could see the shape of the chip in the thermal paste ( if that makes sense ) so that leads me to believe that i am getting adequate surface connection to the CPU.

 

[USAFRet]

Ahh okay! For the 1151 socket, I installed the washers, 4 standoffs, mounted it, and then installed the thumb screws. Not sure if there's even another way I could mount it. When I took off the waterblock to inspect, I could see the shape of the chip in the thermal paste ( if that makes sense ) so that leads me to believe that i am getting adequate surface connection to the CPU.

Even just one corner not quite screwed down properly will do exactly that.
I've done that same thing. Not the same cooler, but same concept.

For a potential bubble....what case, and where is the radiator mounted?

 

[littleboy123]

Hmm! I've checked the standoffs and they are all flush with the motherboard and the screws are snug but nothing too insanely tight.

The case is a Fractal Design Meshify C and I have it mounted to the front of the case. I've tested it and put the radiator on top but it didn't change anything. I feel like I should be able to hear water moving but again i'm a novice at this. I've tried even slightly jostling the radiator to see if I can even hear water but I didn't hear anything. Not sure if that makes any difference but figured i'd let ya know

 

[rickypicky5]

Hello! I am brand new to PC building and I have finally finished installing everything. Everything booted and I got Windows installed as well. When I went to check the temps of my GPU and CPU, I noticed my intel i9900k was idling insanely high (85-99 degrees). I have triple checked everything for my Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 240 and from ( my noobie ) eye everything is installed correctly. The thermal paste is on adequately, no plastic on the heat sink etc. Everything I've used in this build is brand new.

Its hard for me to believe that a brand new unit is faulty right out of the box? Am I missing something? How can I tell if there is actually liquid circulating throughout? I've grabbed the tubes and since I've never done this before, its hard for me to tell if liquid is flowing or not. There is a slight vibration but I cannot tell if that's just from the other components in the case moving or not. Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I have the Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 240 installed in the front of my case, as input into the case, with my i9-9900k. My idle temperatures on all cores is about 25C. When I game (BF5) my temps usually never get higher than about 65C.

When I first installed the AIO, my temps were not that good, so I rechecked everything and discovered one standoff for the water block wasn't screwed all the way into the back plate on the other side of the motherboard. This was causing the water block to not make good contact with the CPU. I corrected that problem and then screwed down the water block to the standoffs. That certainly helped my temperatures.

At that point, I had the radiator installed in the front of my case in a pull configuration, with my radiator screwed to the case and the fans installed behind the radiator, pulling air from the outside, through the radiator. That worked pretty good, but I decided I wanted the fans screwed to the front of the case with the radiator behind it, so the fans would pull air from the outside of the case and push it through the radiator. Unfortunately, I initially screwed that up because I had the fans facing the wrong way and they were pulling air through the radiator and out the front of the case! This was causing temperature issues because I didn't have ANY fans bringing cool air into the case (all my other fans were positioned for exhaust as well). Essentially, I wasn't getting any airflow inside the case!

When I switched the AIO fans the other way (to push air through the radiator), my temperatures returned to acceptable levels, similar to the pull configuration.

 

[littleboy123]

OK! I'll take a look at my backplate and see if everything is where it should be. Thanks for the tip!

 

[littleboy123]

Everything seems to be flush and even with the motherboard. Thanks

 

[rickypicky5]

OK! I'll take a look at my backplate and see if everything is where it should be. Thanks for the tip!

It might not be obvious by looking at the backplate. You may have to remove the water block first, then try to tighten down the standoffs. And, if you remove the water block, you really should clean the CPU and the underside of the water block and reapply the MX-4.

 

[littleboy123]

Yep yep! I went head and took off the waterblock and tried to see if there was any wiggle room for the stand offs - to no avail. For your AIO, can you actually hear liquid flowing within it? On mine, all fans are spinning including the water block one but I can't hear any liquid "flowing" but again, i'm a novice at this so I don't know if I should hear that or not.

 

[rickypicky5]

I can't really hear liquid flowing within it on mine either.

Are you sure the two fans attached to the AIO are facing in the right direction? The air flow, from the spinning fans, should be either pushed or pulled through the radiator.

 

[littleboy123]

I believe they are both pushing air outside of the case, they came pre installed on the radiator from Arctic. Thanks

 

[littleboy123]

Update : I had the mounting brackets on the waterblock upside down shes running like a champ now. Thanks for the suggestions guys, Happy Friday!