Question Old Corsair H75 liquid cooler gurgling with Kraken G12 bracket ?

[blackblade420x]

Hello, I decided to watercool a MSI 2070 super ventus with an old Corsair H75 AIO I had married to a kraken G12 bracket. Installation went fine. The problem is two fold. Possibly three. First, coolers that fit that G12 bracket are hard to find so finding a replacement is almost impossible. I've had that aio for 8 years and pump still works I think. Second, the temps are higher than the stock cooling and the H75 is making gurgling and metallic ticking sounds that sound like coming from the radiator. Could it just be bubbles and low fluid? Third, since the pump is upside down since on a GPU, radiator is above with tubing at the bottom of the radiator as it's supposed to be, could be a problem? Also can the aio be serviced if need be because like I mentioned before, finding a 120mm asetek style as I understand it, replacement is extremely difficult.

 

[bill001g]

Are you sure your cooling issues are not the simple fact that stock coolers have a larger radiator and has 2 fans cooling it compared to your AIO that only has 1. In some ways both are water cooled it is just there is much less water in a heatpipe cooler.

If you look at recent testing of higher end CPU coolers it seems that air coolers are very close in performance to similar size AIO. I am going to bet if there was some technical way to get a air cooler with 3 120mm heatpipe stacks it would be close to a 360aio.

The simple test of any AIO is to see if the air feels warm coming out. You might also feel some small difference in the temp between the tube going to the radiator and the one coming back.

After 8 years there likely has been some water loss. Adding water to most AIO is tricky. I suspect if you really wanted to do it there is some youtube video that shows how. Some I have seen they disassemble the contact plate and add the water that way, lot of screws and I would always worry that it might leak after I took it apart.

Are you sure it is worth doing this. Most people water cooling a video card are primarily doing it for appearance. Most video cards there are power limits that are matched with the included coolers. Then again the hard core guys like to solder things onto their video cards which I never was brave enough to try.

 

[blackblade420x]

I'm trying to cut down on noise for the most part. The stock GPU cooler sounds like a jet engine. As you mentioned, the GPU does have 2 fans as well it has 2 mini fan headers. I have 2 4pin mini adapters that allows for normal 4pin fans. One of the GPU mini headers I have the fan that came with the kraken G12 bracket connected. That works as intended. As for the aio, it's a push pull fan (H75) and im beginning to wonder if it's the fans that are failing. So in essence I have 3 fans working the GPU. 1 92mm fan that cools the vram and an aio with 2 fans cooling the chip. The pump directly connected to the PSU so it runs 100% as instructed. When I connected the 2 push pull fans to the 2nd GPU header, it kept reving up and down to very high rpms (3k). I then tried connecting the push pull fans to a mobo header instead. That got rid of the fan reving but the GPU temps were very slowly climbing but not cooling off.

 

[bill001g]

I don't know how much water a AIO can lose without it affecting performance. I would think it could be a lot since you don't see people getting better cooling by adding bigger reservoirs in custom cooling.
From a quick look you card can use 235watts. That is a lot of power if you would try to cool a cpu with just a single 120 cooler most times you see people use 240.
If you were to compare the size of the radiator on the factory card to your AIO which has more total area. This gets very complex because it the fin density also is important. Could be the radiator on the card is actually larger. You will see that heatpipe technology has come a long way and is very close in performance to water until you get to huge water systems.

 

[Eximo]

Asetek style pumps are pretty much the industry standard. NZXT carries them, so do half of the other brands. You do not have to limit yourself to 120mm either (unless that is your only mount)

https://support.nzxt.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001271093-What-AIO-Liquid-Coolers-are-compatible-with-the-Kraken-G12-#:~:text=branded%20AIO%20coolers%3F-,The%20Kraken%20G12%20is%20compatible%20with%20most%20Asetek%20based%20AIO,and%20the%20Zalman%20LQ%20series.

Probably just gunk floating around inside the cooler, that may be clogging the cold plate or causing issues in the pump.

AIO aren't strictly user serviceable, but you can unscrew the cold plate from the pump housing, thoroughly clean the microfins, and jet plate, and rinse out the radiator and tubing. You then have to refill and get all the air out of the radiator, mix in some biocide and mixed metal anti-corrosive (check your local PC water cooling supplier for premixes or additives)

I have seen people add fill ports to the tank part of the reservoir, but unless you have some tools, probably not worth the expense of just picking up a new one.

 

[blackblade420x]

Asetek style pumps are pretty much the industry standard. NZXT carries them, so do half of the other brands. You do not have to limit yourself to 120mm either (unless that is your only mount)

https://support.nzxt.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001271093-What-AIO-Liquid-Coolers-are-compatible-with-the-Kraken-G12-#:~:text=branded%20AIO%20coolers%3F-,The%20Kraken%20G12%20is%20compatible%20with%20most%20Asetek%20based%20AIO,and%20the%20Zalman%20LQ%20series.

Probably just gunk floating around inside the cooler, that may be clogging the cold plate or causing issues in the pump.

AIO aren't strictly user serviceable, but you can unscrew the cold plate from the pump housing, thoroughly clean the microfins, and jet plate, and rinse out the radiator and tubing. You then have to refill and get all the air out of the radiator, mix in some biocide and mixed metal anti-corrosive (check your local PC water cooling supplier for premixes or additives)

I have seen people add fill ports to the tank part of the reservoir, but unless you have some tools, probably not worth the expense of just picking up a new one.

As I understand it, aseteks started being phased out a few years ago so they are becoming harder to come by and the ones you can buy are at steep premium. I have seen the videos servicing closed loop aios as you mentioned but man, I'm nervous about going that far. I'll do it as a last resort. Also I've seen videos using the exact setup (2070 super+G12 bracket) on a Corsair h60 120mm working fine so I think the size isn't an issue. Not to mention I'm out of room because I already have an Arctic 280 on my CPU. Only have one 120mm spot on the back of the case open. I ditched the old push pull fans that came with the 8 year old aio and gonna try putting a noctua static fan on it thats coming in mail today instead and see if that does anything. I'm also wondering if the 140mm fan that I use as a top exhaust is stealing airflow from the aio in rear because they are really close to each other to the point of barely touching

 

[Eximo]

From the listings at Asetek visibly identifiable as the typical mount:

NZXT Kraken / Kraken Elite / Z / X
ASUS ROG STRIX
XPG Levanto
Fractal Celsius
Razer Hanbo
EVGA CLCx
ThermalRight Frozen Fusion

Admittedly not very many 120mm, but that is more of a you problem than a compatibility problem, chassis are fairly cheap, so you could get a case with an available front mount for a 240 or 360mm radiator support.

ASUS Republic of Gamers STRIX LC 120 Liquid CPU Cooler ROGSTRIXLC120

The ASUS Republic of Gamers STRIX LC 120 Liquid CPU Cooler is an all-in-one closed-loop cooling solution for both Intel and AMD processors. Its heatsink features customizable RGB LED lighting as well as pre-applied thermal paste. The radiator measures 120mm long and is densely packed with...

www.performance-pcs.com

Thermaltake Water 3.0 120 ARGB Sync

All-in-one 120mm liquid cooler with PWM fan that supports 5V RGB capable motherboards

www.performance-pcs.com

You might even be able to track down less normal brands from overseas that use Asetek as an OEM.

Another factor would be the move to more fancy LED stuff and screens on the pump unit, but generally these are fairly removeable if they interfere with the G12 bracket. Though I wouldn't think that would effect the mount.

 

[blackblade420x]

From the listings at Asetek visibly identifiable as the typical mount:

NZXT Kraken / Kraken Elite / Z / X
ASUS ROG STRIX
XPG Levanto
Fractal Celsius
Razer Hanbo
EVGA CLCx
ThermalRight Frozen Fusion

Admittedly not very many 120mm, but that is more of a you problem than a compatibility problem, chassis are fairly cheap, so you could get a case with an available front mount for a 240 or 360mm radiator support.

ASUS Republic of Gamers STRIX LC 120 Liquid CPU Cooler ROGSTRIXLC120

The ASUS Republic of Gamers STRIX LC 120 Liquid CPU Cooler is an all-in-one closed-loop cooling solution for both Intel and AMD processors. Its heatsink features customizable RGB LED lighting as well as pre-applied thermal paste. The radiator measures 120mm long and is densely packed with...

www.performance-pcs.com

Thermaltake Water 3.0 120 ARGB Sync

All-in-one 120mm liquid cooler with PWM fan that supports 5V RGB capable motherboards

www.performance-pcs.com

You might even be able to track down less normal brands from overseas that use Asetek as an OEM.

Another factor would be the move to more fancy LED stuff and screens on the pump unit, but generally these are fairly removeable if they interfere with the G12 bracket. Though I wouldn't think that would effect the mount.

Thanks for those. That's looking like the issue. Old pump. I got it working by removing the top fan and put a noctua on the 120mm radiator. Temps are staying between 36 and 45c at idle. Haven't tried to load it tho because it has an annoying gurgling and ticking sound that's concerning but it is holding temps down. So I assume the pump is dying or not enough fluid? Not interested in aesthetics just trying to cut noise for family reasons. Looks like I'll just have to break down and buy another damn case (only 2 years old tempered glass) or just give up and put the stock jet engine sounding cooler back on. They never just make anything easy ffs. Already have a 280 aio for my CPU in front. The top and back is only slotted/open for one 120mm fan or aio each. Well top can fit a 140mm but still only one opening instead of two like a lot of other cases. Well thanks y'all for the ideas.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Haven't tried to load it tho because it has an annoying gurgling and ticking sound that's concerning but it is holding temps down. So I assume the pump is dying or not enough fluid?

Can you show a photo of your system with side panel removed?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

You have to position radiator in a way, so air stays in top of the radiator and doesn't go into tubes nor pump.