[SOLVED] Is it time to say goodbye to my Aio?

[SSDBreadSlice]

My 14-month-old Aio is suddenly failing to cool my CPU, with temps tickling 110c on idle at worst (all other components avg 25c). It's been (recently) set to 100% but dramatically fluctuates between 200-900RPM. It's been cleaned (as well as everything) and reseated multiple times, I've tried multiple radiator placements (I don't have alternative fans) & rooms in my house, setting/resetting bios, and even that trick where you let it sit out to settle air bubbles (which I could sometimes hear). Yet I've never been able to pull past 90c at idle with avgs at 100c. One pipe seems very hot while the other is room temp, which I've read are signs of blockage, but my bizarre troubleshooting seems to do nothing. Went ahead and ordered an air cooler after giving up (still not arrived). Today I decided to turn the tower sideways, and suddenly the aio is avging 70c idle, which is still not good but a big difference. What would this change tell me about the state of the aio? Does it need replacing or does more fiddling around seem promising?

Thanks for taking the time to read, unfortunately, I don't have the money to begin replacing multiple components, I must address what appears to be the most likely suspect based on what the symptoms are. I've already ordered an air fan for $45 but can return it if it doesn't look like it will help. I'd rather not have to chuck my aio but it seems like water cooling is an expensive investment and I have no other computers to test the poor thing out on. Also, my computer experience is about the same as a squirrel's, having only gathered most of my knowledge from trying to fix this issue.

 

[Phaaze88]

Liquid cooling is an expensive investment - it's not as obvious with the EZ mode AIOs.
A year and 2 months is pretty quick for one to go out...
If tilting the tower sideways got you lower temps, then the pump was either clogged, or air was trapped in it.

Full PC specs?
How is the AIO mounted in the PC? A pic of the interior would help - use imgur.com or something similar.

 

[Karadjgne]

What AIO? Wouldn't happen to be an Enermax Liqtech 1 or 2 would it? They have had major coolant issues at @ the 1yr-18month period with severe gunk build up blocking the microchannels in the pump head.

All the older companies like corsair, nzxt, fractal design etc don't usually quit at anything less than 5 - 6 years. Or more.

 

[SSDBreadSlice]

This pc is quite a mystery, it's an IBP pre-built and a (mostly) new gift albeit no helpful information about it from the original owner, and also my first desktop since 2004 (yike). I'll try to list what I've undug.
AMD Ryzen 5
16G RAM
MSI GAMING PLUS motherboard
IBP single fan AIO
6 or so Be Quiet! fans literally lining the entire inside (it seriously might fly away)
Some giant pre-mold model IBP case
FSR I'm unable to upload a picture, please accept this line drawing instead.

     (OPEN TOP VENT)
       OUT OUT OUT
    ┌────────────────┐  (FILTERED FRONT VENT)
    ┃╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╴╕ └╌╌╌┘┃
RAD ┃  PUMP ┄╮╵ └╌╌╌┘┃IN
(IN)┃┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯╵      ┃
    ┃ ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯╵ └╌╌╌┘┃IN
    ┃╳╳╳╳╳╳╳╳╳╵ └╌╌╌┘┃
    ┃═══════╖ ╛      ┃IN
    ┃       ║   └╌╌╌┘┃
    └───────┵────────┘
       IN

The previous tilt solution did not in fact work, temps went up within an hour on idle and the same was so after several tests with vertical/horizontal laying.

The aio is even more of a mystery, because it's IBP branded the manufacturer would either be Asatek or Apaltek, the former responsible for NZXT, corsairs, etc, and the ladder responsible for Enermax. Regardless of who dun it, there could still be a problem with the product. You guys may have been on to something about the gunky pipe, as stated, one pipe is red hot while the other lukewarm, and the telltale rice crispy noises coming from one of them.

So, I tried the method of taking the aio out for a spa day, giving it a brief yoga lesson and letting it take a nap overnight. Also, a good time to clean and reapply thermal paste, which is always a joy. This took care of the crispy noise but without any temp changes. In fact the temp actually reached max this time and the hot/cold pipe duo returned with a vengeance. At this point, I was ready to just put the whole tower away until the new fan arrived but I couldn't help but fiddle.

I swapped my dedicated surge protector & outlet (justincasies?). In the BIOS I disabled HPET (from enabled) and enabled AMD CoolnQuiet (from auto) as per a random youtube video I was desperate enough to listen to. I also changed to Windows Power Saver (from AMD's Version) with min 40 max 100 (still going to fiddle this). One or all of these fids brought temps to 55-75 idle (from 110) albeit with crazy temperature parkour (literally 55 to 75 at one point). Still way too hot, but less hot.

I then updated BIOS (oops). This brought temps to stable around 45-50c idle --which continued even after opening a few chrome tabs. Still coming off of the CPU frying anxiety and am too afraid to push it any farther yet.

I would close the case expecting 50c idle from a stock fan, but I have an AIO and I feel that 50c idle is way too hot for it to be working properly. One pipe still seems to be overheating, albeit it's somehow cooling the CPU to a survivable state. The pump does indeed appear to be clogged but I'm unable to remedy it. Perhaps sitting in a box for a few months until I have better fiddling methods will magically solve the problem, for now I'm sticking to a nice air cooler that will give me more obvious signs of being broken or not, and it also gives me another chance to apply thermal paste, which is always a joy. Once it's running I'll reply with the thrilling conclusion. In the meantime I'll try to optimize placement of the fans and see if it has any changes in temps. (open to suggestions)

Thank you both for your help. I think the lesson I learned today is to put my trust into fiddling, it will always yield results eventually.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ok. Ryzen are not Intel. They definitely do not behave the same. Intel at idle drops all it's core speeds and voltages, but maintains all core active. Any background tasks get split up amongst the varied cores, so generally you'd see the cpu sitting @ 10°C higher than ambient and getting periodic spikes in temp as processes and a services started/stopped.

Ryzen don't keep all cores active. The shut down unused cores, leaving just one core active, which takes on all the load of the background tasks. This load concentrated on one core is a heavier workload, so is higher heat.

Intel also reads the temps every 256ms, so there's a constant update to the software which responds every few seconds to allow you to read it, or it'd be a constant blur. Ryzens read far slower and the temp you see is an average of 3 seconds worth of temps, but can be dictated by exactly when the temp was read.

So saying that you get normal spikes from starting processes, the Ryzen cores might see 30-30-50-70-40-50. What you'd see is 1st 30 then 70, making you believe your pc was at 70°, it isn't. If the temp gets read 330ms later, you'd be seeing 2nd 30 then 40 and be absolutely clueless about the 70°C spike. Ryzen Master would take that and average the temps, so the first you'd get a temp of @ 50° and the second would get a temp of 35°C.

So it's perfectly normal to see temps of 50°C at idle with a Ryzen, yet tomorrow you could have the same situation and see temps of 35°C at idle. It all depends on the exact moment the temps are queried and whether it's catching processes starting or not.

70°C is far too hot. Use HWInfo (sensors only) and watch the temps real-time at idle is it just 1 core getting that hot, all cores, is it constant or just a spike giving a max reading.

Your aio is backwards. At the rear of the case it should be set as exhaust. It's not doing you any favors being an intake. If using low rpm fan, use it as pull, if using a fan @ 1300rpm or higher (running speed, not max) then use push. Either way as exhaust.

iBUYPOWER-Brad

•May 1, 2019
This cooler is made by an oem called Apaltek, who also make the M22 version of NZXT's Kraken and a few other coolers on the market.
Some other folks are saying its made by NZXT and is similar to units all over the market (which are all made by Asetek, not Apaltek) but this is incorrect.
The major difference is that Apaltek coolers have their pump in the radiator and Asetek coolers have their pump in the CPU block. Asetek is more expensive but has higher performance, Apaltek has slightly lower performance (a few degrees depending on CPU and overclock), but is more budget friendly, allowing us to do lighting and sleeved tubing at the same price of a plain jane Asetek unit.

Answers that.

In which case I'd be giving IBP a call, it could very well be a defective pump and may still be covered under warranty. Well it should be anyway, from the manufacturer, I can't see any aio not being covered for less than 3 years for defects. Whether it's gunk, diaphragm failure, low coolant level, it's a sealed unit, so all of that applies as manufacturer.

 

[SSDBreadSlice]

I have tried maybe 6 programs at this point that all have widely varying ideas about temp readings which given your explanation now makes a lot of sense. I only use HWinfo, which reported all cores avg 54c min 48c. After reconfiguring the fan as a push exhaust temp is now avg 55c min 47c, with no difference from fiddling with rpm. The rest of the computer idles 25c and that one pipe is still heatless. Signs seem to be pointing to the pump, as all was peachy for a year or so the way it was configured.

Unfortunately I'm positive it's a 1yr warranty from IBP but I'll ring them anyway, I'm sure they'll have some interesting ideas.

 

[Karadjgne]

Well IBP technically is the vendor, so they'd probably only cover 1yr parts and labor, but the aio itself will/should still be covered under manufacturers warranty. So it'll be interesting for sure how they handle that aspect as the aios are made for IBP, not a retail version.

If they say no, I'd just keep the fan as a rear exhaust, ditch the aio entirely and replace it with something cheaper, like an Arctic esports 34 duo or Noctua NH-U12S or if you prefer the aio setup and looks, a full fledged 240mm like the CM ML240R is excellent and has rgb capable lighting. If you don't want rgb, a fractal design s24 or Arctic Freezer 2 240mm is also excellent. And quiet.