[SOLVED] CPU Fan Error - Looking for a replacement fan

Marc_55

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Hi everyone,

I recently started getting a CPU Fan Error at POST and now my PC is starting to shutdown from overheating.

I cleaned out dust from the fan but think I probably need a whole new fan (it’s really noisy now and I’ve had it since Sept 2013). I’m wondering if you could advise me on an equivalent for what I already have since it’s now out of stock:

CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CW-9060007-WW) High Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. 120mm

I don’t want to have to replace my case or any other parts and I’m looking for something equivalent and reasonably priced.

Here’s my case:

Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and All-Black Interior

Any help appreciated!
 
Solution
Always. And more.

Air is nothing but a heatsink with a fan(s) attached, so that's cheaper to manufacture, as you aren't reliant on a 3rd party like Asetek or Coolit to supply a rad, pump, hosing, coolant etc with your name on it and then you toss in a fan(s) and box it all up. So that's price.

Take the Cryorig H7. It's physically smaller than the hyper212, much more compact, but the heatsink in the hyper212 is a 10 year old design, very simply straight fins stacked together, the H7 is a few years worth of testing, aerodynamics, metallurgy, etc all combined to make a superior heatsink and then a fan designed on that heatsinks optimum area is added. Far more effective, efficient, quieter. The Corsair H60 happens to get almost exactly...

Karadjgne

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Well that sucks. Here's the pickle you are in. You have a 6½ year old AIO. You can expect it to have lost a considerable amount of coolant level through evaporation, chemical breakdown etc, the exact same way anti-freeze in a car needs topping off every now and then, even though that too is a sealed system. But the H60 has no way to refill.

For decent cheap fans.

Case Fan: Phanteks PH-F120MP_BBK_PWM 53.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 redux-1300 PWM 54.32 CFM 120 mm Fan ($13.90 @ Amazon)

That said, you are at the point of another decision. That H60 isn't going to last much longer, you can generally expect around 5 years as a good old AIO, and you are passed that by a decent amount. You may already be experiencing the beginnings of its end, and the fan is not the cause of high temps, just noisy, so buying a new fan is nothing but a band aid holding together a cut needing stitches. Basically a new fan could be a waste of time and money and not fix the underlying issue.

Whether you want a new cpu cooler or not, it's time. So do you replace just the fan, or spend a little more on a new cooler or replace the fan and shortly thereafter replace the cooler anyway.
 

Marc_55

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Mar 24, 2016
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Well that sucks. Here's the pickle you are in. You have a 6½ year old AIO. You can expect it to have lost a considerable amount of coolant level through evaporation, chemical breakdown etc, the exact same way anti-freeze in a car needs topping off every now and then, even though that too is a sealed system. But the H60 has no way to refill.

For decent cheap fans.

Case Fan: Phanteks PH-F120MP_BBK_PWM 53.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 redux-1300 PWM 54.32 CFM 120 mm Fan ($13.90 @ Amazon)

That said, you are at the point of another decision. That H60 isn't going to last much longer, you can generally expect around 5 years as a good old AIO, and you are passed that by a decent amount. You may already be experiencing the beginnings of its end, and the fan is not the cause of high temps, just noisy, so buying a new fan is nothing but a band aid holding together a cut needing stitches. Basically a new fan could be a waste of time and money and not fix the underlying issue.

Whether you want a new cpu cooler or not, it's time. So do you replace just the fan, or spend a little more on a new cooler or replace the fan and shortly thereafter replace the cooler anyway.

Oh sorry I said fan but I meant the whole unit. I bought the fan / cooler as a combo (I believe the fan came in the box) so I’m totally ready to replace the whole unit. Just need to find a cooler and fan that’s equivalent and will work in my current setup
 

ViktorHX

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Nov 24, 2019
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From what shop are you buying it?

What budget you want to spent, from what I am looking at
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 (2018)
its 75 bucks..
Now I can see some equivalents of it for 90 or even for 50 bucks
Or Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H75 (2018) oder this
Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 140
 

Marc_55

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Mar 24, 2016
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Was thinking of either Newegg.ca or Amazon... whichever is cheapest. Newegg have the H60 (2018) for $84.99 CAD. It seems to have a slower RPM than the older mode though, is that going to cause me some problems?
 

ViktorHX

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Nov 24, 2019
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Its 300RMP, its not that much it could still be the 2000 RPM, not sure why did they put 1700 there but its even on Black Friday sale so you may save some money on that as well..

Dynamically adjust fan speed between 600 RPM to 1,700 RPM with a 120mm CORSAIR SP Series PWM fan. < This is the newegg one
 

Karadjgne

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No issues at all. It's a different fan to the older style, it's a more effective fan so doesn't need the higher rpm to get the same results.

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML120L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX L240 V2 69.34 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ Amazon Canada)

Any of these will work in your case, there are better models, but they cost more. I generally don't recommend 120mm AIO's as they are in the same performance range as budget air, but I do prefer the look, I ran a Corsair H55 on my i5-3570k for just over 6 years.
 

Marc_55

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Which one is the best? I’m still tempted to get the H60 because it’s what I’ve had before unless there is something better about one of these other models that I should know about?

It’s been a while since I fitted this, do I need to buy thermal paste? Or should it come with some?
 

Karadjgne

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Depends on what it's cooling and to what usage it can be expected and your overall expectations.

If you have a smaller cpu, say an old 3rd gen i5k, that's not really overclocked past @ 4.3GHz, then a 120mm is fine. I got gaming temps at 55°C and maxed out Prime95 at 70°C, so really needed nothing more. My i7-3770K at 4.9GHz was a different story altogether, got the same temps but required a 280mm AIO to get that. Even with its current giant double tower aircooler I had to drop the OC to 4.6GHz to maintain the same temps.

So with you, a 120mm will get you roughly exactly what you've been dealing with for the last 6 years. A move to a 240mm and putting it on top can get you slightly better load temps, but cut down significantly on noise, since the fans won't need to spin as fast. A 240mm has @ 250w potential, a 120mm has @ 140w potential, so significantly different capacity.

It's not exactly 'which one is better' as they'll all run roughly the same, the rads and pumps are basically the same with differences in fans making any real temp differences, but a switch to 240mm can make a more pleasurable difference if the 120mm was taxed to start with. If you have it on an old i3, pushing @ 50w, a 240mm will mean silence as it's capacity is way overkill, the fans barely moving over idle speeds, so even a 120mm is way more than enough.

What's best, and what's best for you and your tastes and aesthetics is often 2 different things.

All new coolers, air or AIO, will come with included thermal paste, and it's mostly pretty decent. Some will be tubed, some pre-applied. Whether you stick with that or not is up to you, I generally don't as there is always the possibility the pre-applied paste has dried out a little sitting on the shelf for too long, or in the shipping container for months at sea etc. But I have my own preferences for thermal paste, Noctua NT-H1 / Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut / Gelid GC Extreme.
 
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Marc_55

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Depends on what it's cooling and to what usage it can be expected and your overall expectations.

If you have a smaller cpu, say an old 3rd gen i5k, that's not really overclocked past @ 4.3GHz, then a 120mm is fine. I got gaming temps at 55°C and maxed out Prime95 at 70°C, so really needed nothing more. My i7-3770K at 4.9GHz was a different story altogether, got the same temps but required a 280mm AIO to get that. Even with its current giant double tower aircooler I had to drop the OC to 4.6GHz to maintain the same temps.

So with you, a 120mm will get you roughly exactly what you've been dealing with for the last 6 years. A move to a 240mm and putting it on top can get you slightly better load temps, but cut down significantly on noise, since the fans won't need to spin as fast. A 240mm has @ 250w potential, a 120mm has @ 140w potential, so significantly different capacity.

It's not exactly 'which one is better' as they'll all run roughly the same, the rads and pumps are basically the same with differences in fans making any real temp differences, but a switch to 240mm can make a more pleasurable difference if the 120mm was taxed to start with. If you have it on an old i3, pushing @ 50w, a 240mm will mean silence as it's capacity is way overkill, the fans barely moving over idle speeds, so even a 120mm is way more than enough.

What's best, and what's best for you and your tastes and aesthetics is often 2 different things.

All new coolers, air or AIO, will come with included thermal paste, and it's mostly pretty decent. Some will be tubed, some pre-applied. Whether you stick with that or not is up to you, I generally don't as there is always the possibility the pre-applied paste has dried out a little sitting on the shelf for too long, or in the shipping container for months at sea etc. But I have my own preferences for thermal paste, Noctua NT-H1 / Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut / Gelid GC Extreme.

Thanks for the useful info! It’s being used to cool an i7 3930K which is usually not used for gaming. Mostly art stuff like ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, Marvellous Designer.

I suspect that the CPU is currently not being taxed to max capacity. I might pick up some paste just in case there’s an issue at install time. I’m not particularly worried about noise but I would like to ensure that it’s enough to cool my rig. I have a GTX 970 in there at the moment with an 850W NZXT HALE90 PSU
 

Karadjgne

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Maya can get seriously cpu intensive, but that's still a 130w 6/12 Sandy-E cpu that can easily hit over 150w at just 4.6GHz, and closer to above 200w easily with a 5GHz OC.

So honestly, a 140w aio was probably seeing well into the 70's if not higher at times. A 240mm would give some seriously needed breathing room if you happen to run anything really cpu intensive like compiling, winzip etc that can and will use every available thread.

It won't hurt to be overcooled at lower usage, but will hurt to be undercooled at higher usage. A 240mm would be the wiser choice.

Non-rgb aios tend to do better overall, better fans.
 

Marc_55

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Hrmm you make good points. I have the H100i in my gaming rig and it’s nice and cool / quiet. That being said prices in Canada right now seem crazy for those. Not sure if I can double the budget I had planned to spend when the 140 seemed to do the job ok until now
 

Karadjgne

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Karadjgne

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Always. And more.

Air is nothing but a heatsink with a fan(s) attached, so that's cheaper to manufacture, as you aren't reliant on a 3rd party like Asetek or Coolit to supply a rad, pump, hosing, coolant etc with your name on it and then you toss in a fan(s) and box it all up. So that's price.

Take the Cryorig H7. It's physically smaller than the hyper212, much more compact, but the heatsink in the hyper212 is a 10 year old design, very simply straight fins stacked together, the H7 is a few years worth of testing, aerodynamics, metallurgy, etc all combined to make a superior heatsink and then a fan designed on that heatsinks optimum area is added. Far more effective, efficient, quieter. The Corsair H60 happens to get almost exactly the same temp range and results as a hyper212. Also happens to cost double.

Efficiency isn't capacity. Or vice versa. Take for instance your H60, it's got @ 140w capacity. The Corsair H100i has @ 250w capacity. So if you graph that using temp as Y axis and range as X axis, and you challenge your 130w cpu, by the time that temp line hits 130w, you are at 70°C. Same test on the Corsair at 130w and you barely hit 50°C. So it's not just efficiency, it's the relationship of capacity.

To test for efficiency requires 2 coolers of the same capabilities, same capacity. And since most rads come from only 2-3 vendors, the chances of the pump/rad being almost identical are pretty good. Which leaves the lions share of effectiveness on the fans, and some are better than others. Then you'll see 2-5°C differences at load etc. That's efficiency.

In the US, historically 120mm aios were @ $70, 240mm @ $110, 280mm @ $130. By comparison you'd get aircoolers with equitable performance at $30, $60, $90.

Big argument for price. Especially for an upgrade or change. Not so much so for a new build, case has 2 fans, you want rgb. A $130 rgb aio is cheaper than the $90 aircooler and 2x rgb fans at $30 each.
 
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