[SOLVED] Water cooling is not cooling water?

[frappyhobo]

Hello,

I bought a PC less than six months ago and only recently I kept hearing a clicking sound coming from my pc. I had ignored the problem until I realized that my CPU was thermal throttling whenever I played games, this is weird because the system is water-cooled.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the sound was coming from the watercooler itself. I opened up the bios and fiddled with the fan settings for the CPU fan and found that at above ~94% fan speed the watercooler would start making that noise. I also noticed that, when under load, the tubes were pumping water but it didn't seem to be getting cooled. The water throughout both cold and hot tubes would be extremely hot to the touch.

When idle, the water seems to do fine to cool the CPU, but when under load, the water can't dissipate the heat by itself and thermal throttles the CPU.

If anyone has any solutions, it would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[velocityg4]

Sounds like a failed pump. It should be under warranty. Although I'm sure you don't want to be without a computer for however many weeks until they inspect it and send you a replacement.

I'd say to buy a replacement then RMA to old one to the manufacturer. Whenever they send you a replacement. Sell it on eBay. You can always check if they'll send you a replacement before sending back the old one. Although I wouldn't want to be waiting while your computer has severe heat issues.

 

[rubix_1011]

Can you describe how you are certain the system is thermal throttling in games? It doesn't seem correct that the cooler would 'work at idle' but not under load.

If the cooler isn't working, it would also indicate rising temperatures even while idle over the course of several minutes. The same issue should exist if you turned the PC on and allowed it to sit idle for 10-20 minutes. Over the course of that time, the CPU would reach throttling temps just the same. Is this happening?

Depending on the system itself, the cooler used and how it is installed, there could be any number of issues.

Can you provide a photo or link to the system you purchased?
Was the cooler installed when you received it or did you (or someone else) install it when you got it?

 

[Paperdoc]

Yes, a failed pump might cause this problem, but as rbix_1011 says, you would expect that problem to show up even at idle and low loads, not solely at max workload. Three other possibilities exist.

1. The AIO system you have does not have enough cooling capacity for the workload your system does at max load in games.
2. The system as designed has the capacity, but somehow the pump circulation capacity has decreased so that it cannot move the water around fast enough.
3. (A possible version of #2) The system has lost some of its water, and what is being pumped around is a mixture of water and air bubbles, which is significantly reducing water flow and hence heat flow.

In any of these scenarios, although both lines might feel hot, one should certainly be hotter than the other. Are you sure they are the same?

Bottom line is: you need to contact Tech Support from the cooling system maker for their advice and possible replacement parts.