[SOLVED] How do I know if my AIO is empty? Improving Temperatures for PC.

[JerrWolf]

Hello everyone, I've owned this Corsair AIO CPU cooler for going on 6 or 7 years now so I contacted Corsair support and they told me that the AIO coolers tend to last 5-7 years.
I was also talking with a friend who has the same CPU as me. He told me my temps were fine, but then took back his statement when I told him that mine was cooled with an AIO (his was air cooled).

So I'm now curious, is my AIO empty and just pushing air like an overly complex air cooler?
I have an i7 4790k CPU w/ Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX 240mm as it's cooler and an 980ti GPU.


CPUID HWMonitor tells me that while under load (I have an MMO Game open) the temperatures are around 54-58c with the absolute highest I've seen at 64c; but since then I have turned off any overclocking and turbo boosts on the CPU. (it's currently at ~4000 instead of the boosted 4500.

For any possible reference, my GPU also runs about the same temps or higher with it's fans forced to be on @80-90%. (It's got that "no spin" technology but it runs hot without them lol.)

I've replaced the thermal paste on my CPU maybe 2-3 years ago at the latest with my Artic Silver 5 compound, but the compound itself was maybe 3-4 years old at that point.
Does the GPU need a replacement on thermal paste too? Is it as user friendly to apply as CPUs are? Is Artic Silver still one of "the best" brands for that?
I see Corsair has their own brand now, does anyone have any say on that?
Is there a way to easily refill the AIO myself or is that a more advance DIY technical step?
Would getting brand new fans also benefit with my temperatures issue? I know they don't lower temps, just push air, but I'd like the hot to at least not be sitting around in the corner of my room where I sit while I use the PC lol. The fans are also 5-7 years old, some came with the case some bought separate.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

To add to above.
Corsair never said what it was clogging or permiation which is what I think happen over time.

The reason for not putting on the replacement came when corsair notified me (approx 1week /Arctic 34 already on) that the H100iv2 had been discontinued and would be sending back a remanufactured H100i pro xt.
Not that it isn't capable of cooling or because of it being a remand but because the Arctic 34 exceeded my expectations and my wife saying " I like how quiet it is you can Leave My Computer alone Now" LoL

 

[JerrWolf]

On hwinfo64, you need to select sensors.
You will find the various fan speeds under the motherboard section.

The only bad installation setup is to have the cpu and pump mounted at the highest point in the system.
Putting the radiator on the bottom, for instance.
If there is any air in the system, it will collect in the pump, making the pump ineffective.

If you have any apps open, that is not idling.
Enter your bios and look at what temperature the bios displays.

Or, after booting to windows and before starting anything except hwinfo should get you idle temperatures.

After leaving the PC off for a few hours, I turned it back on and went into bios, it started at 25c (which is probably around where my room temp is, the central air is set to 73f but my room tends to be much hotter than the rest of the house.

It then went up to 31c and that's the point I let the PC boot into windows. Going right into HWMonitor the CPU temps were 41-43c which HWInfo also reflected.
Here is a terrible phone photo of my BIOS readings for the CPU and Fans.

 

[geofelt]

After leaving the PC off for a few hours, I turned it back on and went into bios, it started at 25c (which is probably around where my room temp is, the central air is set to 73f but my room tends to be much hotter than the rest of the house.

It then went up to 31c and that's the point I let the PC boot into windows. Going right into HWMonitor the CPU temps were 41-43c which HWInfo also reflected.
Here is a terrible phone photo of my BIOS readings for the CPU and Fans.

I don't see the photo, but what you describe seems normal and nothing to worry about.

 

[JerrWolf]

I don't see the photo, but what you describe seems normal and nothing to worry about.

Weird, I had it displaying in my post, maybe I didn't confirm an upload or something.
Here is an imgur link then,

https://imgur.com/8Mfrd9C

View: https://imgur.com/8Mfrd9C


This is what the settings were, I just did a clean install of windows (for a separate reason), so now the settings are different but the temp is the same.


So if all of these temps are normal (40c with the PC simply just being on, 50-60c with it running a game), then I guess aside from physical discomfort, I have nothing to worry about.

So to wrap up the conversation, unless others have something to add, would buying a new AIO cooler make the temperatures drop 10-20c so that even under load it was in the 30-35c range instead?

 

[geofelt]

Weird, I had it displaying in my post, maybe I didn't confirm an upload or something.
Here is an imgur link then,

https://imgur.com/8Mfrd9C

View: https://imgur.com/8Mfrd9C


This is what the settings were, I just did a clean install of windows (for a separate reason), so now the settings are different but the temp is the same.


So if all of these temps are normal (40c with the PC simply just being on, 50-60c with it running a game), then I guess aside from physical discomfort, I have nothing to worry about.

So to wrap up the conversation, unless others have something to add, would buying a new AIO cooler make the temperatures drop 10-20c so that even under load it was in the 30-35c range instead?

No way that is possible.
A liquid cooler is still an air cooler.
The only difference is where the heat exchange from the radiator takes place.
It starts with ambient temperature.
Actually, not ambient(or room temperature) but the temperature of the air near the radiator.
You start with room temperature, 22c(72F) and go up from there.
Inside a case, particularly a poorly ventilated one, the temperature will be higher.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Sorry I dont see any air, aio or loop being able to do that.

Having the H150i Elite Capellix 360mm on my 3600x oc'd @ 4.325 runs 58.8c during Ghost Recon with a custom curve set.

And through all this have you said what your pump speed is set at? If you did I definitely missed it.

On a off topic question but still related to ambient temp have you tried closing down some of the air registers in the other rooms try to force more air into the room where your cpu is at to help lower you ambient temp?

 

[JerrWolf]

No way that is possible.
A liquid cooler is still an air cooler.
The only difference is where the heat exchange from the radiator takes place.
It starts with ambient temperature.
Actually, not ambient(or room temperature) but the temperature of the air near the radiator.
You start with room temperature, 22c(72F) and go up from there.
Inside a case, particularly a poorly ventilated one, the temperature will be higher.

Sorry I dont see any air, aio or loop being able to do that.

Having the H150i Elite Capellix 360mm on my 3600x oc'd @ 4.325 runs 58.8c during Ghost Recon with a custom curve set.

And through all this have you said what your pump speed is set at? If you did I definitely missed it.

On a off topic question but still related to ambient temp have you tried closing down some of the air registers in the other rooms try to force more air into the room where your cpu is at to help lower you ambient temp?

I see, I was just curious because I see all these people (yours included) with nice overlocked CPUs with temps around mine or lower.
Meanwhile, my CPU is sitting at BASE clock speeds with NO OC and NO Turbo settings enabled.
I don't know how to change what speed my AIO pump is. It's a Corsair product, but it's an old one and does not work with their new iCUE software. I tried the old software (Corsair Link), and it didn't seem to change anything no matter what settings or values I set. So to answer the question: Default speed.

For the off topic question, do you mean simply closing the vents to the central air slightly in other parts of the house? I've considered it, I had concerns on raising the electric bill due to the AC running longer. However, I do not know if it'd truly make a difference in the bill because I can hear the AC turning on and off all day lol.

So I guess my concern stems from just the southern heat and poor air circulation in my room causing the overall temperatures of my system to raise.

What benefits or downsides are there to running the pump speeds higher? I know it was touched up on a bit earlier in the thread, but if I am able to find a way to do so I'd probably want as much info as I can before doing so.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Yes on the closing down slightly on all the others.

Yrs ago I used 8 very cheap thermometers suspended from the ceiling about chest high in all the rooms of a 16x80 mobile home in oklahoma.
At that time the 1 particular yr it was already 100f the 3rd week of April.
Closing down those registers closest to the central air unit in the back of the home helped tremendously the front part the furthest away from it.

It won't make that much of difference in your cpu temps but it will help while you are sitting in there but at this point a couple of degress is better then nothing.

Now I live in Denver in a 2bd apartment.
For many yrs We could not even sleep in the bdrms in the summer because the 1 apartment a/c can't cool the rooms and was paying $240 to $275 a month electric bill
June thur Aug and now I have 2 portable A/c's in the bdrms.
So 3 A/c running and my bill last yr for those same months was $40-50 less each month.
Go figure no more sweat rolling as I sit at the cpu in my Scibby's.

So if you can't control the cooler through Corsair Link4 or Icue, then have you got your rad fans hooked up to fan headers to control the fans?

Do you or did you plug in the 9pin usb to micro usb from the mobo 9pin usb header to the pump head?
Without that wire hooked up then Ya your pump is only running the default speed.
Not running in performce /extreme mode does have a big impact on temps.

If you at anytime uninstalled CL4 Or Icue did you rerun it from the corsair installer?
And did it ask you if you wanted to remove the config files also.

I have had on occasions CL4 especially not work properly for not removing the config files before a reinstall.
Why I can't tell you and people have always said both programs can be buggy.
Maybe that was 1 one the bugs ?

So let us know exactly how either per corsair instucts or how you have it hooked up.

I can look later this morning at my son's h110i which is using the CL4 and see if there is a force firmware update in there. I do know there is on Icue.

RUBIX_1011 when your in a traffic jam in Kc or St. Louis I could be sitting next to you.
Some times I get through there 8 times a month. LOL

And Op I do know some of your heat and humidity very well.
On the times in those 2 cities mentioned I'm on my way or coming back from Albany, Ga.
Gotta get some 💤.

 

[JerrWolf]

Yes on the closing down slightly on all the others.

Yrs ago I used 8 very cheap thermometers suspended from the ceiling about chest high in all the rooms of a 16x80 mobile home in oklahoma.
At that time the 1 particular yr it was already 100f the 3rd week of April.
Closing down those registers closest to the central air unit in the back of the home helped tremendously the front part the furthest away from it.

It won't make that much of difference in your cpu temps but it will help while you are sitting in there but at this point a couple of degress is better then nothing.

Now I live in Denver in a 2bd apartment.
For many yrs We could not even sleep in the bdrms in the summer because the 1 apartment a/c can't cool the rooms and was paying $240 to $275 a month electric bill
June thur Aug and now I have 2 portable A/c's in the bdrms.
So 3 A/c running and my bill last yr for those same months was $40-50 less each month.
Go figure no more sweat rolling as I sit at the cpu in my Scibby's.

So if you can't control the cooler through Corsair Link4 or Icue, then have you got your rad fans hooked up to fan headers to control the fans?

Do you or did you plug in the 9pin usb to micro usb from the mobo 9pin usb header to the pump head?
Without that wire hooked up then Ya your pump is only running the default speed.
Not running in performce /extreme mode does have a big impact on temps.

If you at anytime uninstalled CL4 Or Icue did you rerun it from the corsair installer?
And did it ask you if you wanted to remove the config files also.

I have had on occasions CL4 especially not work properly for not removing the config files before a reinstall.
Why I can't tell you and people have always said both programs can be buggy.
Maybe that was 1 one the bugs ?

So let us know exactly how either per corsair instucts or how you have it hooked up.

I can look later this morning at my son's h110i which is using the CL4 and see if there is a force firmware update in there. I do know there is on Icue.

RUBIX_1011 when your in a traffic jam in Kc or St. Louis I could be sitting next to you.
Some times I get through there 8 times a month. LOL

And Op I do know some of your heat and humidity very well.
On the times in those 2 cities mentioned I'm on my way or coming back from Albany, Ga.
Gotta get some 💤.

I'll see if I can adjust the vents, the house if a 1 floor 3 bedroom, one side (by the thermostat and actual unit) is usually nice and chilly, the other half not so much.
Only concerns I'd have is the areas (would be living room and dining room) are no longer cold, and the electric bill raising.
But from what you're saying, adding a portable AC unit actually lowered the bill?

I have the 2 fans on the radiator plugged into the pump headers, and then the USB (for Corsair Link I believe) plugged into the Mobo in the USB headers near the bottom I believe.
I've just fresh installed Windows so I'll redownload the software and see if there is a difference.

It sucks having old Corsair products because their old software is terrible. Not to say ICUE is amazing now, but it is certainly better than what we have had in the past.

This southern heat sucks, I'm in Florida and there is no such thing as Winter here, Just Less Hot Summer, Summer, Hotter Summer, and Even Hotter Summer.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

In bios
On the header you have the corsair pump lead plugged into make sure there is no curve.
Set it to the highest limit across the top.
From 0 degress to infinite 100%
If you can get the icue controls working properly to control you pump speed on extreme.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

So from looking @ my son's running CL4
I'm not seeing a force firmware update.

Lets us know what happens with Icue.

 

[JerrWolf]

So something that is actually making me scratch my head more.

As I stated above, I did reinstall windows onto this PC yesterday.
I put the fans to PWM Full Speed already, and took off the Turbo and did not OC it still.
So the speed of the CPU and Fans are the same.

My CPU is @4.00GHz with no Turbo, and Non-Turbo max performance in the boot setting. ( tried Max Battery which brings that down to 800 but there is no difference I can see in temps)


I also took everything out and gave it a cleaning (I did not take out the CPU or detach pump, only radiator).
So my PC is cleaner than before--not that there was much to clean.
And I also moved it from under the short part of my L desk to the side of my desk.

The temperature of my CPU in BIOS is now 34-45c (idle)
and HWMonitor tells me the min and max temps (with nothing open or just browser) is 45c-68c. With it jumping around 49-55c
Before it was usually 40-45 with a max of ~53c.
Now I'm a little more concerned again! The max temps are higher doing "nothing" than when I have stuff like a game running.
-visible confusion-

The only differences are;
There is no thin cheap desk 6in above it now.
Instead of my bed being about 2.5ft away from the rear of the case, it's a wall ~5in behind the rear of the case.
Instead of the small fan I had blowing directly in front of the case (which did not make a big difference if any) it has it blowing against the side of the case now (which has vents for case fans).
I removed the dust filter in the front of the case.
2 wood blocks I had it sitting on are together instead of leaving a gap. (I elevated it up from the blocks using baking cooling pans to see if there was a difference, and there really isn't one.

In bios
On the header you have the corsair pump lead plugged into make sure there is no curve.
Set it to the highest limit across the top.
From 0 degress to infinite 100%
If you can get the icue controls working properly to control you pump speed on extreme.

So from looking @ my son's running CL4
I'm not seeing a force firmware update.

Lets us know what happens with Icue.

I do not see in my BIOS any mention of the pump itself, only the CPU fans, which are already at full speed.
I'll be installing iCUE and I guess that Corsair Link 4 software to see if any changes with the OS reinstall.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Unfortunately if you have CL4 on and was running fine and decided to put Icue on just for say a corsair void headset Icue will now override the CL4 to where you must use Icue for coolers controls.

So from early it sounds as if you do have it hooked to corsair instructions.
But you actually have No way to verify other then sight and hearing to tell whether those rad fans are ramping up with cpu temp rise.

I am really beginning to think even those fans maybe also running in default mode and not ramping up as they should.
Please try to confirm if you can see and hear them ramp.

 

[JerrWolf]

Installed the 2 software.
As expected iCUE still does not include the pump.
And it turns out prior I installed the wrong Corsair Link.
The UI for this version is much more up-to-date.
And the settings do actually change things.
I've set the pump to Performance, and is now going at 3000-3090RPM.
The fan is going at 1440-1500RPM.

But my temperatures are still in the 50s to 60s instead of low 40s to 50s. (I do not see it go into the 60s often or for long, it spikes and then goes down).

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Now you have full control over that unit and was able to notice the difference in how long it took to reach those higher temps.
You have the ability to set those fan as a curve or just use use the Quite, Balanced, Performance or Extreme fans speeds.
Personally myself I usually run it in performance mode on the fans and Extreme on the pump and if I'm doing something that may be more intense then max on the fans till it's finished.
( like Ocing, and the testing there after P95, Aida64, Asus RealBench, Cinebench )
Which I do like the ability to control things on the fly. Yes My mobo's have their Programs to do so but some of those are way worse then CL4 / Icue in my dealings with them.

As far as 1 of your earlier Question Yes you can change the corsair fans out But what you put on needs to be a Higher Static Pressure fan.
Like below and yes there are cheaper fans but I'm hooked on Noctua's.
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-F1...&qid=1625868022&sprefix=noctua,aps,201&sr=8-4
But as you can see the aren't cheap and with the age of your H100i I will not advise unless you intend to replace the cooler with another 240mm wc Or a air cooler the can take those fans. ( I have had either the 120's on the 240mm and the 140's on my 2x 280mm coolers since not long after getting each perspective cooler, Except my new 1 The H150i E C 360mm)
With the price of those 2 fans you could buy this

Amazon.com: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO - Tower CPU Cooler with BioniX P-Series case fan in push-pull, 120 mm PWM fan, for Intel and AMD socket - Red: Electronics

Buy ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO - Tower CPU Cooler with BioniX P-Series case fan in push-pull, 120 mm PWM fan, for Intel and AMD socket - Red: CPU Cooling Fans - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

So you still have a very well aged cooler that is now fully operational but that cooler won't Last Forever. How you are prepared when it goes is totally up to you.

Like I said this is my 1st Aftermarket Air cooler and so far It has Exceeded my Expectations compered to a 240mm Aio.
Last night my ambient room temp was 70-71f / 20-21c and her 2600x was idling @ 24.5c -25.7c with it spikes ( It's RYZEN that what they do ) with the fan curve I have set in bios the fan rpm was 1155rpm.
Today it's 22c-74f idling basically 1 open broswer idling @ 29.3c with avg of 33.5c 1157-1173rpm and running aida64 fpu test with 1 open browser after 10mins of FPU Test her system is running @ 73c and the arctic 34 fans running @ 1928rpm
1 of her Reused as the front middle fan Noctua 120's is louder then the Arctic 34 which I can back off of or leave because with the current setting and I hear it loud then I need to see whats up otherwise her system is Very Quite.

 

[JerrWolf]

This is what I'm having an issue getting around.
You're saying your specific CPU is idling around 20-29c
With ambient air of 22c.

My room if I could check would be around 22-25c, excluding when I've had the PC on all day or was playing a game for like 5hrs where maybe it's closer to 30c or a little higher or lower.

But my idle temps are currently high 40s and 50s. Almost double yours (on the low end)
Does your CPU just run really cold? Does my CPU just run super hot?
I have ZERO overclocking, it's running at it's base 4.0, instead of 4.5 turbo. I don't even have the XMP profiling enabled for the RAM because I heard that increases heat production.

I have my pump now running as fast as the software will let me, I have my fans running as fast as the software will let me, it's freshly cleaned of dust, with the front dust filter and empty HDD trays removed.

And it's still high 40-50c literally doing nothing.
Even with several browser tabs and Steam open, the temps are still in the 40-50 high range.

and yet my CPU cooling is "fine with no issues"?
It's very confusing.

I'll check tomorrow morning when I turn the PC on to see if the temps are magically back down, at least to what they were yesterday.

I'll take 40-45c over 49-60c idle temps.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Her 2600x is not not oc'd
My 3600x is with the H150i E C

But when her h100i was pulled off for rma it still had good ide temps but coud not handle the load.

Yes your temps are higher then anyone would want to see on a daily basis but they are still currently safe and with what you have done you would think it would be better.

Have you tried a p95 or cinebench r23 to see just how high your temps go?
If you do p95 do the small ffts with the Avx's disabled.

💤 time.

 

[JerrWolf]

I ran Prime95, settings you mentioned above.
I got;
"Completed 4 tests in 18 minutes - 0 erroers, 0 warnings"
HWMonitor had my CPU temps around 68-72c

Also it would seem my PC was just having a hiss-fit last night because the temperatures are back down to 29c in bios and mid 30s low 40s in OS.

I'm still considering closing the other vents in the house a bit, but for now I've simply removed the one in my room and it seems to be making a slight difference.
I'll be buying a better vent cover to replace the old one.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Ya last night sounded like you could have taken it for target practice. LOL
Good to know it's looking better.
68-72 is pretty good running p95 sml fft's.
So now maybe add xmp back to your settings and could run p95 again.
It sounds like you have some temp headroom now.

As said the vents won't help that much cpu wise but it certainly got to be helping you if you can feel the difference.

 

[JerrWolf]

Ya last night sounded like you could have taken it for target practice. LOL
Good to know it's looking better.
68-72 is pretty good running p95 sml fft's.
So now maybe add xmp back to your settings and could run p95 again.
It sounds like you have some temp headroom now.

As said the vents won't help that much cpu wise but it certainly got to be helping you if you can feel the difference.

I think that was with XMP enabled (I can always run again regardless).
Aside from killing off my PC from OCing/Turbo Enabled, my only other issues were my own personal comfort and the PC chugging electricity like an athlete and water to stay cooler.
But that doesn't seem to be the case, especially if the temps are normal for it.

And yes I certainly was ready to use this thing, at least the radiator, for target practice yesterday! lol.
I'd still feel more comfortable, in both senses, if I could get the temps lower, but that does not seem to be the case.
Seems like what it is at (40-60c range) is normal and to be expected without extensive custom water loops.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

Whats the chance of being able to turn turbo back on ? And see how the temps react to your liking.

 

[damric]

Long thread, read many but not all of the responses. Best way to tell if your AIO needs refilled is to shake it. But considering how old it is, it is a good candidate for some modifications. It is a myth that these things cannot be taken apart and serviced by yourself. I love taking old AIOs that someone trash binned and taking a knife and a screwdriver to them. As long as the pump is in good shape, you can replace all of the tubing, just be careful not to destroy the little plastic barbs that you will find on the ends of the hoses. They work just like the metal ones you find on real water loops and are fitted to your pump-block and rad. You can do things to improve performance greatly like adding more radiators and reservoirs. You can add flow/temp sensors just like on real loops too. For the hose replacements I usually take a piece of the old hose and the barb to the hardware store and size it up with the vinyl tubing. The older corsairs use 3/8 ID of I recall, but I think an H100 uses slightly larger. While you have it open, flush that thing out really well. If you find yourself comfortable doing this repair job, then you are probably also ready to start some full custom loops once your budget allows. Btw you can also build those dirt cheap too, comparable to AIO cost if you don't mind using imported parts.

 

[JerrWolf]

Whats the chance of being able to turn turbo back on ? And see how the temps react to your liking.

Going to see how the temps, both the PC and my room, fair for a day or two more.
Then see if it is tolerable enough to add more heat.

 

[JerrWolf]

So after several days, excluding one morning where my room is naturally warmer than usual and I had my PC and game running; the temp in my room seems to be bearable enough for me to live with.
It got to the point where I was no longer worried and checking my PC temps constantly frantically making sure the temps were not too high.
I'll just continue to deal with the temperatures as they are, I don't have my nice cold ambient room temps as I had in the east coast lol.

Thank you to everyone who answered and gave info/advice.