Is my Corsair H100i V2 failing?

[Gabby2805]

Almost 3 years ago, I built my first PC. All of the components were brand new including a 'Corsair CW-9060025-WW Hydro Series H100i V2 240 mm Extreme Performance All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler'. At first, my PC was very quiet and the performance was great. I have thoroughly cleaned it and replaced the thermal paste at least a couple of times since the the first installation.

 

Over the last few months, I have noticed my CPU running hotter and my fans getting louder. Naturally, I just assumed these were signs that another deep clean was needed. My PC is very important to me, both for doing work as part of my Computer Science degree and my in free time for playing games. So, I have to transport the poor baby to and from my uni dorm a few times a year which unfortunately means packing it sideways in the original case box. I took my PC home this weekend and intended to give it a clean over the next couple of days.

 

However, I tried using it at home first... and there is a horrendous noise coming from the cooler. The fans are extremely loud and there is an awful grinding/scratching noise coming from the pump. Today, I dismantled part of my PC to give it a good clean and look for any problems around my fans and radiator. I did not remove the pump because I did not bring my thermal paste with me. It is now relatively dust-free and I couldn't find anything that looked wrong...but unfortunately, the awful noises still persist and my CPU is now running at 100 degrees celsius at idle.

 

My system has not shut itself down but obviously, I do not deem it safe enough to leave on since I don't want to risk long term damage to my expensive intel 6700k. The cooler is still within its five year warranty so I have sent a ticket to Corsair and I am waiting for a response. While an exchange would be brilliant, I would really rather not go through the hassle of battling my case for why I should get a new one and waiting who-knows-long to receive a new one while I'm basically stuck without a PC and have coursework deadlines.

 

I'm really hoping anyone might have a suggestion of how I can fix my issue.

 

Thank you 

[Stormseeker9]

Sounds like a broken pump to me

[Jurrunio]

*partly why liquid cooling isnt good for work systems*

 

See if you can get a cheap air cooler of some sort and get by class work for a while? Or even just go air cooling forever.

[Gabby2805]

11 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

*partly why liquid cooling isnt good for work systems*

 

See if you can get a cheap air cooler of some sort and get by class work for a while? Or even just go air cooling forever.

Do you really think air cooling is a better option overall?

 

It isn't really a work system, its primarily gaming machine - it's just really handy for my course too.

When I was choosing my parts, I was very close to getting a simple classic CoolerMaster hyper 212 evo. However, since I play very heavily modded Skyrim which puts a heavy load on my CPU, I didn't think this would provide sufficient cooling and that it would create far too much noise.

 

For this reason, I thought liquid cooling was the right choice for me...but perhaps I was wrong.

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, Gabby2805 said:

Do you really think air cooling is a better option overall?

 

It isn't really a work system, its primarily gaming machine - it's just really handy for my course too.

If it slows down your work then it applies

 

4 minutes ago, Gabby2805 said:

When I was choosing my parts, I was very close to getting a simple classing CoolerMaster hyper 212 evo. However, since I play very heavily modded Skyrim which puts a heavy load on my CPU, I didn't think this would provide sufficient cooling and that it would create far too much noise.

 

For this reason, I thought liquid cooling was the right choice for me...but perhaps I was wrong.

 

Big air coolers like the Dark Rock Pro 4 and Mugen 5 Rev B exist for higher heat output CPUs

[Gabby2805]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

Big air coolers like the Dark Rock Pro 4 and Mugen 5 Rev B exist for higher heat output CPUs

 

Thank you, I appreciate your advice. Its definitely worth considering I suppose, I'd just have to think about noise levels too.

[Votivee]

As far as I know, there isn't a DIY solution to fixing bad AIO pumps. You wouldn't be able to anyways without voiding your warranty. If you want just a temporary solution then you can pick up a cheap air cooler such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 until your RMA goes through. I think they are about $30 (USD).

 

If you're looking to get away from liquid cooling completely, you can pick up a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 or a Noctua NH-D15 for about $90 (USD). Either one of those will cool just as well if not better than your H100i while being quieter and you'll never have to worry about your cooler going bad ever again.

[Jurrunio]

19 minutes ago, Gabby2805 said:

 

Thank you, I appreciate your advice. Its definitely worth considering I suppose, I'd just have to think about noise levels too.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-guide,4597-4.html

 

it's not even about noise, but how much room your case have and whether liquid coolers look better for you. You'll need a bigger radiator than 240mm to argue with noise levels.

[Gabby2805]

2 hours ago, Votivee said:

As far as I know, there isn't a DIY solution to fixing bad AIO pumps. You wouldn't be able to anyways without voiding your warranty. If you want just a temporary solution then you can pick up a cheap air cooler such as the Cooler Master Hyper 212 until your RMA goes through. I think they are about $30 (USD).

 

If you're looking to get away from liquid cooling completely, you can pick up a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 or a Noctua NH-D15 for about $90 (USD). Either one of those will cool just as well if not better than your H100i while being quieter and you'll never have to worry about your cooler going bad ever again.

Thank you very much for your helpful response. They are definitely two good options I can certainly consider.

 

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-guide,4597-4.html

 

it's not even about noise, but how much room your case have and whether liquid coolers look better for you. You'll need a bigger radiator than 240mm to argue with noise levels.

Thanks again, you've provided me with lots of useful information that I wasn't aware of across your several posts. I'm actually hoping to get a new PC case (bigger, quieter, cooler) either for or after my Birthday in just over a months time so that's something I can bring into the equation too.

[SpookyCitrus]

I had the same issue with mine after 5 years of use. Used it in three different builds before it died a couple months ago, one morning I powered on my PC and my CPU was not cool at all jumped up to 74c in just a few minutes of web browsing which normally even overclocked I never saw above 42c. I reseated and reapplied thermal compound and nothing, ran a stress test and it instantly went to 90c. Pump had died so no water was moving through the rad or tubing just sitting there, went out and replaced it with an h100i pro 2018 edition mainly because it was on sale and I've never had an issue with corsair aios. Loving it so far but I recently did a build at work almost identical to mine but with a different case and a Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and even with the same processor and overclock as mine the thermals were a tad better idle about 29c with the Dark Rock Pro 4 and my H100i pro is about 34c idle, the Dark Rock Pro 4 with a case like the Meshify C with some High RPM Noctua or Be Quiet fans is a killer when it comes to thermals, and I'm pretty tempted to make a little upgrade.

[Gabby2805]

3 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

I had the same issue with mine after 5 years of use. Used it in three different builds before it died a couple months ago, one morning I powered on my PC and my CPU was not cool at all jumped up to 74c in just a few minutes of web browsing which normally even overclocked I never saw above 42c. I reseated and reapplied thermal compound and nothing, ran a stress test and it instantly went to 90c. Pump had died so no water was moving through the rad or tubing just sitting there, went out and replaced it with an h100i pro 2018 edition mainly because it was on sale and I've never had an issue with corsair aios. Loving it so far but I recently did a build at work almost identical to mine but with a different case and a Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and even with the same processor and overclock as mine the thermals were a tad better idle about 29c with the Dark Rock Pro 4 and my H100i pro is about 34c idle, the Dark Rock Pro 4 with a case like the Meshify C with some High RPM Noctua or Be Quiet fans is a killer when it comes to thermals, and I'm pretty tempted to make a little upgrade.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and solutions - that's really helpful and gives me lots to consider.

 

I suppose a lot of it will depend on whether they agree to send me a new one or not. If they do then I could perhaps stick with a stock fan or buy a 212 evo to keep me going until it arrives or even until I'm done with uni at the summer to avoid having to transport it for at least a couple of months. If they don't, then perhaps I'd consider getting a beefy air cooler like you mentioned instead. 

 

Could you please tell me how the noise levels differed between your personal build with the h100i and the work build with the Dark Rock Pro 4? That would be very interesting.

[SpookyCitrus]

2 minutes ago, Gabby2805 said:

Could you please tell me how the noise levels differed between your personal build with the h100i and the work build with the Dark Rock Pro 4? That would be very interesting.

To be honest the client build was much quieter than my personal, I feel the Meshify C with Dark Rock Pro 4 had better noise levels mainly because the airflow is fantastic and the GPU doesn't have to work as hard to keep cool, my personal build is in an NZXT H500i with the H100i pro 2018 cooler, so liquid cooled and in an enclosed case with not too much area aside from the back for fan noise to escape, and the loudest part is my GPU when gaming. The fans on my GPU are the loudest in my system by far, it's an enclosed case with okay airflow so the GPU doesn't get adequate cooling and has to pretty much run 100% a majority of the time while under loads, the airflow is really my only regret about getting this case. But even with the jet engine that is my GPU the noise isn't audible when gaming or wearing my headset. The one I did for a client was a Fractile Design Meshify C, with the Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and I replaced all the stock case fans with Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 High RPM fans. So they're high rpm as well as super quiet with rubber screw threads and bushings to prevent vibration and noise. It all around was a very cool, very quiet build, the GPU and CPU coolers both get a heavy intake of cool air from the three intake fans plus the two fans on the Dark Rock Pro 4 blow directly out the rear exhaust fan, it's an ideal build for thermals and is pretty quiet. Plus the GPU never had to go into jet engine mode to keep cool even under full load.

[Gabby2805]

5 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

To be honest the client build was much quieter than my personal, I feel the Meshify C with Dark Rock Pro 4 had better noise levels mainly because the airflow is fantastic and the GPU doesn't have to work as hard to keep cool, my personal build is in an NZXT H500i with the H100i pro 2018 cooler, so liquid cooled and in an enclosed case with not too much area aside from the back for fan noise to escape, and the loudest part is my GPU when gaming. The fans on my GPU are the loudest in my system by far, it's an enclosed case with okay airflow so the GPU doesn't get adequate cooling and has to pretty much run 100% a majority of the time while under loads, the airflow is really my only regret about getting this case. But even with the jet engine that is my GPU the noise isn't audible when gaming or wearing my headset. The one I did for a client was a Fractile Design Meshify C, with the Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and I replaced all the stock case fans with Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 High RPM fans. So they're high rpm as well as super quiet with rubber screw threads and bushings to prevent vibration and noise. It all around was a very cool, very quiet build, the GPU and CPU coolers both get a heavy intake of cool air from the three intake fans plus the two fans on the Dark Rock Pro 4 blow directly out the rear exhaust fan, it's an ideal build for thermals and is pretty quiet. Plus the GPU never had to go into jet engine mode to keep cool even under full load.

 

You're a star! Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me all of that. I'm definitely heavily considering switching to air cooling now! I'll just have to see what Corsair say first.

[Corsair Nick]

Sounds like you've already taken the right steps in reaching out to our technical support team for a replacement.  We do offer an advanced RMA option where the replacement can be shipped ahead.  If you run into any issues with the RMA, feel free to let me know and I can help you out.