Question Is my AIO cooler bad?

[ttonks93]

Don’t know what brand it is, it came with my prebuilt PC. Recently fitted some Phantek T30’s to my CPU and GPU AIO coolers. They’re working great on the GPU, getting 60 degrees at full load. But with my CPU i get around 85 degrees with a slight bit of load. Also i can feel the hot air coming from my GPU cooler but my CPU cooler is cold.

Is the cooler bad? Air in the system? Bad thermal paste application?

What AIO cooler would you guys recommend? Doesn’t need to have any fancy RGB and doesn’t need to have good fans as i would be swapping them for the T30s i have.

CPU is a i9-13900k.

 

[turtletarget111]

Good luck cooling a 13900K. That CPU just runs hot because of the sheer amount of wattage it draws. If you want cooler temperatures and your prebuilt system has a real BIOS you could consider undervolting the chip. Setting the fans on the AIO to run faster or have a more aggressive fan curve can also help. If you feel comfortable doing so you could take a look at the thermal paste application, however the vast majority of system integrators simply use the pre-applied thermal paste on the cooling product, which is often more than necessary and won't negatively affect temperatures. It would only help if there wasn't enough to begin with.

 

[ttonks93]

I’m thinking of changing to AMD once their new architecture comes out so i may wait for that. Any AIO coolers you could recommend as i don’t think mines that good as i can’t feel any hot air exhausting from it only cool.

 

[geofelt]

What is the make/model of your case and fan/aio placement?
What are the aio coolers?

If the aio coolers have any age to them, they might be starting to fail. Think 5 years.

AIO cooling is really air cooling.
The difference is where the heat exchange takes place.
An aio cooling system needs, above all good airflow.

 

[ttonks93]

Case is a Fractal Mesh 2 Lite, i have 3 Be Quiet Silent Wings 4 140mm intake fans (2 on bottom of case, 1 on rear) and 6 Phantek T30 120mm exhaust fans, 3 on my CPU cooler (don’t know the brand) and 3 on my GPU cooler (RTX 5090 Supreme Liquid). CPU cooler is mounted on top, GPU cooler on front.

The only thing that concerns me is my CPU temps are hot but i feel no hot air coming from the top of the case, feel plenty from the front. GPU cooler is doing its job but CPU cooler isn’t.

 

[beyondlogic]

Case is a Fractal Mesh 2 Lite, i have 3 Be Quiet Silent Wings 4 140mm intake fans (2 on bottom of case, 1 on rear) and 6 Phantek T30 120mm exhaust fans, 3 on my CPU cooler (don’t know the brand) and 3 on my GPU cooler (RTX 5090 Supreme Liquid). CPU cooler is mounted on top, GPU cooler on front.

The only thing that concerns me is my CPU temps are hot but i feel no hot air coming from the top of the case, feel plenty from the front. GPU cooler is doing its job but CPU cooler isn’t.

i would go with install it in the top fans pointing upward as exaust.

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DeepCool LE720 ARGB 360mm All-in-One Liquid Cooler - R-LE720-BKAMMN-G-1​

 

[ttonks93]

Would this be good? As i already have fans.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/lian-li-hy...MImeSJzb-_jAMVx5hQBh1P5QI0EAQYAiABEgKFiPD_BwE

 

[JayGau]

Your fans are not cooling the CPU, they are cooling the liquid, and it can absorb a lot of heat before getting hotter (high thermal capacity). For example, my liquid never reaches more than 9°c above the room temperature and there's never a lot of hot air coming out of my radiator. The 5090 has an insane TDP so it's not surprising that you can feel the heat from the radiator since the liquid is likely getting pretty hot, but the CPU has a lower TDP so it doesn't heat the liquid as much as the GPU.

Also, you say you get 85c spikes for small loads. Do you get that right after you booted your PC (after it was off for a while)? When you boot your PC, the liquid is at its lowest temp since it didn't have time to warm up, so if you already get those high temp spikes it means that it has nothing to do with the fans (again, the fans cool down the liquid). High temp spikes right after booting either means that the contact between the cooler and the CPU is bad or it's just the CPU's normal behavior. And as I read on forums when looking for the 13900k temperature, it's pretty much what other people get:

https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/ygdngp/what_temperature_should_the_i913900k_have/?rdt=54151

 

[turtletarget111]

I’m thinking of changing to AMD once their new architecture comes out so i may wait for that. Any AIO coolers you could recommend as i don’t think mines that good as i can’t feel any hot air exhausting from it only cool.

Arctic Liquid Freezer III is still the best AIO according to independent testing, and also happens to be on the extremely affordable side. Get the largest AIO your case will fit (likely 360mm).