Help me configure my aio liquid cooler

[ph0ton.exe]

I have a corsair H115i pro closed loop liquid cooler on a ryzen 5 2600. I would like to overclock the cpu but i know im gonna need the cooler to accommodate the higher clock speeds. As for the dedicated monitoring software for the aio cooler, to make a LONG LONG story short, its no gud because it doesnt give accurate temp readings.

the manual for the cooler instructs you to connect the pump to the cpu fan header on the motherboard. even though my asus b350-f has a dedicated aio pump header, I read its better to follow the manuals recommendation. the only problem is when i go into the bios to configure the cooler, i dont know if im configuring the speed of the pump or the fan speeds and if im supposed to configure the pump at all.

I mean what makes a bigger difference in temps, the speed of the pump or the speed of the fans? and should i leave it on pwn or dc? also ive heard its good to just run the pump at 100% but im not too sure.

I would greatly appreciate the help of someone knowledgeable in this field!

 

[Darkbreeze]

The manual says that because not everybody has a board with a dedicated pump header. Connect your pump to the pump header.

Pump should run full speed AT ALL TIMES on every cooler I've seen or worked with. Fans are a different story. Speed of the pump, being full speed, is more important, but all things are important. A system with a working pump and fans that aren't working will probably work for a while. No pump working, it will immediately overheat.

As far as monitoring thermals, I'd advise using either CoreTemp or HWinfo. Here's why.

HWmonitor, Open hardware monitor, Realtemp, Speedfan, Windows utilities, CPU-Z and most of the bundled motherboard utilities are not always terribly accurate, invariably, and in some cases. Some are actually grossly inaccurate, especially with certain chipsets or specific sensors that for whatever reason they tend to not like or work well with. I've found HWinfo or CoreTemp to be the MOST accurate with the broadest range of chipsets and sensors. They are also almost religiously kept up to date.

CoreTemp is great for just CPU thermals including core temps or distance to TJmax on AMD platforms.

HWinfo is great for pretty much EVERYTHING, including CPU thermals, core loads, core temps, package temps, GPU sensors, HDD and SSD sensors, motherboard chipset and VRM sensor, all of it. Always select the "Sensors only" option when running HWinfo.

In cases where it is relevant and you are seeking help, then in order to help you, it's often necessary to SEE what's going on, in the event one of us can pick something out that seems out of place, or other indicators that just can't be communicated via a text only post. In these cases, posting an image of the HWinfo sensors or something else can be extremely helpful. That may not be the case in YOUR thread, but if it is then the information at the following link will show you how to do that:

*How to post images in Tom's hardware forums



Run HWinfo and look at system voltages and other sensor readings.

Monitoring temperatures, core speeds, voltages, clock ratios and other reported sensor data can often help to pick out an issue right off the bat. HWinfo is a good way to get that data and in my experience tends to be more accurate than some of the other utilities available. CPU-Z, GPU-Z and Core Temp all have their uses but HWinfo tends to have it all laid out in a more convenient fashion so you can usually see what one sensor is reporting while looking at another instead of having to flip through various tabs that have specific groupings.

After installation, run the utility and when asked, choose "sensors only". The other window options have some use but in most cases everything you need will be located in the sensors window. If you're taking screenshots to post for troubleshooting, it will most likely require taking three screenshots and scrolling down the sensors window between screenshots in order to capture them all.

It is most helpful if you can take a series of HWinfo screenshots at idle, after a cold boot to the desktop. Open HWinfo and wait for all of the Windows startup processes to complete. Usually about four or five minutes should be plenty. Take screenshots of all the HWinfo sensors.

Next, run something demanding like Prime95 version 26.6 or Heaven benchmark. Take another set of screenshots while either of those is running so we can see what the hardware is doing while under a load.

*Download HWinfo


For temperature monitoring only, I feel Core Temp is the most accurate and also offers a quick visual reference for core speed, load and CPU voltage:

*Download Core Temp

 

[bmockeg]

I would run your pump at 100% if overclocking. Fan speed shouldn't matter much. Mine stay at the lowest speed most of the time

 

[Darkbreeze]

Pump should be at 100% even if you're not overclocking.

 

[ph0ton.exe]

First, Id like to thank you for your detailed description and breakdown of the problem I had. After reading your response I plugged the aio pump into the dedicated connector, booted up my pc, waited for it to finish running startup apps, and got screenshots of my pc sensors. Oh, and I had HWinfo and heaven benchmark already installed and i was using HWinfo to view my temps from the start. If you look at the cpu temps in the bios vs in windows, you'll notice that temps are 10 degrees lower in windows than in the bios. I think that might be because the bios itself may be giving inaccurate temps. anyway all my pc info on idle is in the screenshots. I'm not satisfied with the idle temps but it could be becuase my ambient room temp is also way hotter than i would like it to be (if i dont have a fan on, i sweat bullets just to give you a hint of how hot it is).

I also wanted to know if my pump rpms look like they're running at 100%. i cant curve the rpm in the bios like i can a normal sys fan so I hope its running at max speed.

https://imgur.com/RVgfkF6

https://imgur.com/H5q5wgQ

https://imgur.com/LHG6A1W

https://imgur.com/vbTWzII

https://imgur.com/pC7FXKk
don't know if this means anything but i get that warning when i start the program.

https://imgur.com/VZH6LjV

https://imgur.com/OHJNqJk
bios readings (sorry for the blurry image, i have a bad camera)

temps after 5 minutes of heaven
https://imgur.com/BNXpwSs

https://imgur.com/KN2ndsz

https://imgur.com/1cPkeOD

hope this as much a help at finding the problem as you've been

 

[Doctor Rob]

I have the same cooler BUT with the 1800X CPU.. so very similar. and YES pump at 100% always.. and then for the fan speeds I have mine set in the corsair link program to change with the water temps.. that way its more accurate as for instance if the water is still room temp why blast the fans.. now if the water temps are higher then room temp etc.. I have them spin faster.. currently with my computer idle browsing the net and watching a movie the water temps sit at about 87F with the fan speed at about 1400rpm (something like 50% fan speed I think but quiet).. then on a sliding scale I have it set to go all the way up to 100% if the water temps get to 111F (not sure why but heck its good for me).. then my CPU temps are nice and cool. (I don't OC the CPU at all). then you can use one of the other programs to chart your temps while playing games and tweak the fan speed to the water temps as I would recommend as needed. I think for my setup the fans get up to about 75% fan speed at most while gaming as I don't want hot water

 

[ph0ton.exe]

I would totally use corsair link to configure my fans . . . . . if it behaved well with my pc. It gives CRAZY inaccurate temp readings like 90C IDLE. I had to delete it but i may try it out again to see if itll work.

here's a whole forum dedicated to my problem with the software: http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149101

 

[Darkbreeze]

Temps are ALWAYS higher in the BIOS than they are at idle in Windows on the desktop. That's because when you are in the BIOS, even though the CPU is not under a major load, it is STILL under somewhat of a load from the UEFI environment AND because there are NO power saving features in play when you are in the BIOS/UEFI like there are once you have loaded the operating system and are in the desktop environment.

There are already fan profiles for your cooler in the Link software provided by Corsair, and your fans SHOULD be connected to the fan connectors located ON the pump. Then you can use the Link software for controlling the fans via the profiles that are apart of the Corsair link program. Once you become familiar enough with the existing profiles, and what works best for your system, I believe you can create custom fan profiles for your AIO fans through the link software as well which will tailor your fan speeds to your own preferences if none of the pre-configured profiles suit you.

Make sure you have the latest BIOS firmware version installed. If you do not, install it. I can't remember if the Corsair coolers have upgradeable firmware or not, but if they do, you might want to do that or you might want to check to see if there is a newer version of the link software that will work better with your system

If not, then you can definitely connect those fans to the CPU_FAN header and CPU_OPT header, and use those profiles in the BIOS to control your fan speed based on either the pre-configured fan profiles for those two headers or a custom profile of your choice.

You do not want to connect those fans to any other headers, like SYS_FAN 1, etc., because the response time will be too slow AND those fan headers for the system (Case) fans respond to a different thermal sensor than the ones for the CPU FAN and CPU OPT headers.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, minimum pump speed should be around 2100RPM and maximum should be around 2500RPM, so you are right in the middle of that.

 

[ph0ton.exe]

after updating to the latest version of corsair link, I get the same results. this is also on the latest bios update.

5% LOAD

https://imgur.com/hJ8iNhk

is there anything i can do to change where its getting these readings from?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Oh, Jebus. You have an AMD system. Thermals are never going to look right. AMD uses "Distance to TJmax". They do not use actual thermal readings. I do not know whether Corsair link takes this into account, but they can't get accurate thermal readings from the sensors because AMD sensors are not designed to work that way.

Distance to TJmax is a thermal margin. Not a scientific measurement. Look in the Corsair link options to see if there is an option to see distance to TJmax.

Use CoreTemp to monitor you actual CPU core temps. Install CoreTempt, open it, click on the Options menu item. Click on the Advanced tab. Put a check mark next to Use distance to TJmax in temperature fields. For HWinfo, don't bother looking at the Core or package temps. Only look at the values for Distance to TJmax.

I'll have to look into whether Corsair has factored this into their cooling scheme or not, but I suspect this is either a changeable option in the options, or is a gross oversight on their part. Not really sure on that as I've not used any of their AIO's on any AMD builds I've done in the last five years or so. Only air coolers. I have used AIO coolers on Intel builds, and of course this is a non-issue on those.

 

[ph0ton.exe]

I found a solution to corsairs little hiccup, I think. . .

If you look at temp #1 in the screenshot i sent of corsair links crazy cpu temps, you'll notice its not unreasonable for idle cpu temps, if a little high. well i ran a cinebench stress test and monitored that temps readings and wadayaknow, it increased and decreased at reasonable cpu like intervals and temps during the stress test. I had to confirm my suspicion so I opened HWinfo to check the temps and there was but a one degree difference in the HWinfo CPU temp readings and the Temp #1 readings. Now, I can map the aio fans to change according to the temps of Temp #1 A.K.A. my cpu temps!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, as long as you're happy with it, but I'm 100% sure that none of those temps are going to be strictly accurate as far as core temps are concerned like what you'd see from the sensors on an Intel build.

See here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2122665/understanding-temperature-amd-cpus-apus.html

 

[ph0ton.exe]

Quick Follow-up

Tried the amd overdirve software you recommended and it ended up blue-screening my pc upon restart. booted into safe mode and isolated it from the boot process to safely boot into windows properly. turns out amd overdrive is not supported by ryzen

read Ray_m's post for the brief answer: https://community.amd.com/thread/218655

Any other software you recommend will give accurate cpu temps on ryzen systems?

Update: I may make a separate thread for more info on reading and interpreting amd (ryzen) cpu temps since this threads main questions is thoroughly answered. (ill link it here if you would like to give feedback there, just lemme know)

 

[Darkbreeze]

I didn't recommend Overdrive. In fact, I DON'T recommend using overdrive. I only recommended that you read that article as to how AMD thermal margins work. I recommended that you use CoreTemp and change the advanced options to "Show distance to TJmax in temperature fields".

CoreTemp WILL accurately read Ryzen thermal margins.