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DPete27
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AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:23 pm

Newegg had the Corsair H50 (quiet edition) for $25 after MIR, so I pulled the trigger on one.
I was previously using a Xigmatek HDT 120mm tower cooler with a single push fan in my Silverstone PS07 (same as TJ08 but different front panel) and a 120mm fan exhaust out the back of the case. Because this case is so small, having a liquid cooler is beneficial for opening up work area inside.

I installed the H50 with an Enermax DF Pressure on the push side, but noticed during my first stress test that, despite the fan being rated for high static pressure, there was a LOT of air "splash-back" and I couldn't feel any noticeable air movement out the back side of the radiator. This is concerning because the radiator exhaust is the only forced air exhaust in my case, so I worry that although the CPU stays cool enough during a stress test, that the waste heat from my GPU will have nowhere to go. Next, I added an Enermax TB Silence PWM on the pull side thinking that the perforated frame would reduce the fan/motor noise of a "pressure lock" between the dense fins of the radiator and the intake of that fan with the added benefit of sucking air out of the case that isn't necessarily passing through the radiator.

I've got the airflow I'm looking for, but I'm not satisfied with the noise profile. One of the main problems is that both fans are PWM so both ramp up as CPU temps increase. The other is that I haven't gained a single degree of temp drop from my tower cooler, to one AIO fan, to two AIO fans. Very frustrating. I have a number of other fans I can try (stock H50 fan, Cougar Vortex PWM, and a number of other random fans I've bought because they were on good sales) but I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to changing out fans, testing, new fan, retest, etc etc. Does anyone have any recommendations as far as what I should use/try to expedite this process?
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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Waco
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:14 pm

A 120mm water cooling system is going to be roughly comparable to a good 120mm tower heatsink. You can calculate fin area to be exact, but I believe you side-graded in terms of cooling surface area while increasing the required static pressure (since the fins are closer together on the H50).
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Kougar
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:56 pm

Just because it's liquid cooling doesn't automatically make it better. As Waco said a single 120 radiator is comparable to other 120mm HSF coolers, some are decent and others are not so good. Tweaktown places the H50 within 3c of similar style 120mm tower Xigmatek coolers.

Looks like there were similar comments made about the fan's static pressure rating. 1.9mm H20 is not a bad static pressure rating, but that assumes to the fan running at max speed when it clearly isn't intended to be be used that way. The fan blades aren't optimized for high static pressure at lower speeds, and if Corsair advertised it that way then it was misleading.

Contrast to the H50's 1700RPM fan, Noctua's NF-F12 fan is rated for 2.61mm H20 at a slower 1500RPM, or similar 1.83 rating if run at reduced speed (1200RPM). http://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-f12 ... cification
 
DPete27
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:29 pm

I actually haven't tried the stock H50 fan yet, it seemed to me that the stock H50 fan is not variable speed(?)

The Enermax DF Pressure that I'm using does ramp up to the 1500rpm limiter under load (giving me about 70C on the CPU), which is supposedly rated for 2.7mmH2O. IIRC, the max speed might have been a touch higher than that, maybe more like 1650rpm (it definitely seems to error on the +10% side) so it's probably cresting 3mmH20 at that point. When I say "splash-back", that's the air that can be felt spilling back out between the fan blades and the frame. You can definitely feel it going the opposite way it should be going.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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Waco
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Wed Dec 06, 2017 11:53 pm

That's the curse of all dense radiators like that - the fins are packed so tightly the only real way to get flow is specially designed fans in push/pull and moderate RPM.
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DPete27
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 10:51 am

I suppose that makes sense. It seems a common weakness I've noticed in multiple high static pressure fan reviews is that they tend to be a bit noisier (less air splashing back, so the fan has to work harder). The more air you try to push though a restricted channel the harder it is to get it all through. The noise vs cooling performance is probably exponential.

My mobo has very limited fan controls, BUT that Enermax DF Pressure fan does have a 3-position rpm limiter switch (1000rpm, 1500rpm, 2000rpm). I think that should be easy enough to test. I currently have the limiter at 1500rpm, but I'll fiddle with that this weekend and see what happens. Maybe my temperature limitation isn't in the cooling ability across the radiator but in the ability to get the heat from the die, through the TIM, through the IHS, through the TIM, through the cooper HSF baseplate, and into the water.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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Waco
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:29 am

The TIM certainly makes a big difference in overall temps but you're fundamentally heat extraction limited by the surface area of the radiator/cooler you're using and the flow across it.

EDIT: If you have a 3570K you don't really have TIM since it's soldered (semantics, yes it's still TIM, but not like newer chips). You're really just playing the heat dissipation game.
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DPete27
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 11:48 am

Ivy bridge was the first non-soldered generation IIRC.
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Waco
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:58 pm

My memory is failing me. :)
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just brew it!
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 1:26 pm

Waco wrote:
My memory is failing me. :)

Better do an overnight run of Memtest86 then...
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Waco
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 4:16 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Waco wrote:
My memory is failing me. :)

Better do an overnight run of Memtest86 then...

Checksum errors on old data. Dammit!
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K-L-Waster
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 4:58 pm

Waco wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Waco wrote:
My memory is failing me. :)

Better do an overnight run of Memtest86 then...

Checksum errors on old data. Dammit!


At least you're retrieving old data. I have multiple blocks that seem to either be missing completely or no longer have pointers....
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just brew it!
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:13 pm

K-L-Waster wrote:
Waco wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Better do an overnight run of Memtest86 then...

Checksum errors on old data. Dammit!

At least you're retrieving old data. I have multiple blocks that seem to either be missing completely or no longer have pointers....

I seem to get a lot of 404s and 503s.
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Chrispy_
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:14 pm

I've yet to see a small AIO do any better than an equivalent sized tower cooler. The only reason I'd touch an AIO these days is if it were 240mm or larger, since that's a surface area improvement over anything I'm willing to hang off a CPU socket.

If you're adamant on keeping the H50, and not willing to tolerate the stock fan or its noise, try one of these, I use them in tiny mITX cases like the SG05 where airflow is important but the path is so obstructed and indirect that I need a static-pressure design:

CM Silencio FP:
Image

CM MasterFan Pro AP:
Image
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Airmantharp
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Re: AIO Liquid Cooling Fans Question

Fri Dec 08, 2017 12:29 am

Chrispy_ wrote:
I've yet to see a small AIO do any better than an equivalent sized tower cooler. The only reason I'd touch an AIO these days is if it were 240mm or larger, since that's a surface area improvement over anything I'm willing to hang off a CPU socket.


Yup; I wasn't too impressed with the H60 and H80i I used, but the H115i I'm using now is quite nice.

Mostly, the purpose is to get the heat directly out of the enclosure more than better performance at the 120/140mm range, though you're basically guaranteed top performance at that, and prices are about the same between the closed-loop coolers and the larger HSFs, and honestly, the closed-loop coolers are easier to install.

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