Hi Everyone,
First of all, allow me to say hello, as this is my first post on this forum. I've been visiting Tom's Hardware for quite some time now as an anonymous user and I have always found the advice here very helpful. Hopefully, now that I'm "official", I would be able to share some of my experience as well.
Back to the topic at hand, I have recently built a PC featuring the i9-9900K and the Cooler Master ML240R AIO. When I first set the PC up, I ran some tests to see if everything was working properly. Unfortunately, I discovered that the cooler was offering quite poor performance in terms of thermals:
Since this is my first experience with AIO cooling, here's my question: is this normal behavior for this type of cooler? In their response, Cooler Master said that this model should be able to handle CPUs up to 250W - I can hardly see that happen, considering that it doesn't manage to cool the CPU at 140W already (assuming these are the same Watts we are talking about...).
Here are some more details based on questions I've seen in similar threads:
Thanks in advance!
First of all, allow me to say hello, as this is my first post on this forum. I've been visiting Tom's Hardware for quite some time now as an anonymous user and I have always found the advice here very helpful. Hopefully, now that I'm "official", I would be able to share some of my experience as well.
Back to the topic at hand, I have recently built a PC featuring the i9-9900K and the Cooler Master ML240R AIO. When I first set the PC up, I ran some tests to see if everything was working properly. Unfortunately, I discovered that the cooler was offering quite poor performance in terms of thermals:
- Idle temperature was ~30-35C (which I suppose is ok) with occasional spikes to sometimes over 40C
- When running Prime95 (small FFTs, AVX off) the CPU temperature immediately jumped to ~80-83C for the duration of the Turbo. After the CPU got power throttled, the temperature would drop to ~60C and stabilize at ~68-69*C with CPU Package Power at ~95W
- When running them same Prime95 test with AVX on, behavior was similar, although the temperature on Turbo would immediately increase to over 90*C
- Idle temperature was similar
- When running Prime95 (small FFT, AVX off) the CPU temperature jumped to ~80-83C and slowly climbed up, as if the cooler didn't manage to distribute the heat created on the CPU. The temperatures would climb to over 90C where I would stop the test. CPU Package Power was ~140-150W
- Running Prime95 with AVX was impossible - the temperatures would start at ~90*C so I stopped the test after a short moment
Since this is my first experience with AIO cooling, here's my question: is this normal behavior for this type of cooler? In their response, Cooler Master said that this model should be able to handle CPUs up to 250W - I can hardly see that happen, considering that it doesn't manage to cool the CPU at 140W already (assuming these are the same Watts we are talking about...).
Here are some more details based on questions I've seen in similar threads:
- I have a pull configuration on the radiator fans, which pull air into the case through the radiator from the front. There is a single 120mm fan at the back of the case that acts as an exhaust (I'm planning to add one more at the top)
- My motherboard is an ASUS MAXIMUS XI Hero. I'm using XMP I and answered "No" on the prompt to use AI OC, so settings are stock (MCE is off)
- When touching the hoses on the cooler, I don't really feel a difference in temperature (one of them should be hotter as far as I learned). The radiator itself also does not seem to be hot, but I admit I haven't touched the fins, only the edges
- I applied fresh thermal paste when replacing the cooler - pretty sure it's ok
- The radiator is mounted with tubes facing up (the only way I could fit it) - could that cause the pump to suck in air bubbles?
- Using HWiNFO64 for measurements
Thanks in advance!