Looking into a liquid cooler for i7 6800k

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liberty610

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Hey everyone,

To start off, this is my current build via pc parts picker:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/liberty610/saved/G48RsY

I am currently using the cooler master hyper 212 Evo cooler on my cpu. I am not overclocking at all, but was wondering about looking into my first liquid cooler.

I do not know much about laid cooling, and I'm not even sure if I really need to change to it. I'm kinda am enthusiast, and I like the idea of my cpu being super cool.

I do a lot of video rendering, audio production, and started greeting into pc gaming the last few months. When using Handbrake to render/compress videos and my cpu goes under full load for a good half hour to an hour, my cpu temp peaks between 47 and 52c depending on the ambient temp in the room. This is pretty venous the red flag mark, but I was wondering if I would benefit from a liquid cooler.

I don't know much about custom loops or anything, so I was looking into something like the Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2. I see some reviewers saying the plump fails quite frequently though.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Should I get a liquid cooler for my cpu? If so, what other options are there that are similar to the Corsair one?

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 

liberty610

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Okay Guy's I have the cooler installed, but I don't seem to be getting any power to the fans or possibly the cooler. And I don't know if the pump is working either. If I connect the fans to the motherboards other headers the fans kick on at full speed, and the CPU header pin they are not turning on.
 


Well most importantly. We need to make sure pump is working. If you turn it on with the case open you should be able to feel or even hear the pump doing it's thing. Verify that first before we do anything else.

Make sure you do as I suggested first. Leave the case OPEN and make sure things power on before you simply plug all your stuff back into the system.
 

liberty610

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Okay, it's on now. what's the manual fail to say was that the SATA power connector had also be connected. Now that that's plugged in, the corsair logo is lighting up on the pump and the fans are running.
 


Ok great. Make sure in Link you can see all that also. Make sure to monitor temps the next few days while you game or something to ensure there is no problems with the setup or unit.
 

liberty610

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Right,I planned on monitoring temps. when the pump wasn't working it spike to 93c so I turned it off right away.

The reason why I didn't originally connect the Sata cable was because I saw a video from Linus based off of another unit that that cable was only there 'If needed'. I cannot remember exactly what the circumstances were. When I called tech support at Corsair, they informed me that on this higher model, it has to be connected. But the funny thing was, I followed everything in the manual, and nowhere in the manual doesn't say anything about the Sata cable. So you can understand why I didn't originally connect it.
 


Yeah thats because on the other models, the CPU header is enough to power the pump alone. But I think this one with the bigger pump and RGP lighting, it requires additional power.

However, when I did my build. I plugged everything in and it worked right away. I do the same with graphics cards. Some come with 2 6x connectors and a lot of people say on most builds you dont need to plug in that 2nd 6x. I always plug it... it ensures correct power usage to the unit and there is no reason to chance not using it just to save like a dollar a month in your power bill.
 

liberty610

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I agree. I have the GTX 1080 8GB from MSI and I have all the power pins plugged in. Mine actually never powered on until they both where in.

So far everything seems good to go! I have not done any gaming yet to heat up the graphics card, but I did run HWMonitor during my last gaming session with the Cooler Master Evo 212 on the cpu. I screen shot all the temps after I stopped gaming and went into idle mode for a bit. That way I have a good read out of all the temps before, during, and after gaming. This way, I can see how much of a difference there is in temps for the CPU and the other components now that this cooler is in. I'll report back later when I am all done with that!

So far, my idle temps with the Corsair program running on 'Quiet' mode are around 24c to 25c where before they where at 30c to 33c. So I am interested to see what the results are with the different fan settings when she is under full load.
 

liberty610

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Ok guys, so I have been at testing all day, and I can honestly say, I am impressed with this cooler. As I type this, I am render a full HD video - 1080p 60fps @ 50mbps and it is pushing all 6 cores of my 6800k to the max. This has been going on for about 5 minuets so far, with random gaming and stress testing to the CPU through out the day without a full shut down. The hottest any of the cores got was 43c, and right now under load, I am onlyt getting 40c on most cores. Some are only 38c or 39c. This is with the Corsair Link software running on quiet.

I don't see these temps going any lower though, even if I boost the fans to performance. I am assuming it is because the airflow in my case is really good? And it doesn't need the extra fan juice? Either way, I have dropped my full load temps almost a full 10c and my idle temps 5 or 6c. I am assuming this is good. I guess 5 to 10c is a big jump in the component world...
 

Mikeandike

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Your CPU temps can only get as low as the ambient temperature in your room (thermodynamics for ya there), unless you go about some ridiculous phase changing magic.
 

liberty610

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Yea, I somewhat figured that, but I am still learning a few things about the liquid coolers. Thought maybe there was a different principal with them. Thanks for the input! I have learned a great deal from this thread!
 


Well it is a little different since you are dealing with liquid vs air. However the over all temps are dictated by the size of the pipes being used, the overall amount of fluid in the system, the pump and the rad. The Rad and pump are pretty much the biggest two concerns.

A pump can only pump so fast and a Rad can only cool so fast. Even with the best pumps and rad there is a limit to how much it can cool in X amount of time in such a small configuration. (meaning not adding extra Rad or longer piping etc...)

Hope that makes sense.

You shouldn't be worried. You are getting great temps for sure.
 

liberty610

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Just wanted to come back and update on my cooler - It is working great for the current Intel 6800k CPU I have, but in a few hours, I should be receiving my Threadripper 1960x and Gigabyte Aorus X399 Gaming 7 motherboard. My cooler, as stated by AMD, is one of the coolers that will work with the monster sized CPU chip.

Pretty excited about today!