Can I get a 2nd opinion (cooling)

[Bossco82]

HI guys,

Ok I have been happily running my 5600x under a MSI 240r AIO cooler since February. Then while checking my usages in DCS and U Boat I noticed my CPU temps were sitting in the 60's not the 50's. There had been a lot of updates but I kept it in mind. Then I noticed over Xmas while playing U Boat that my CPU temps had reached 76 deg C. I did some fault finding with Cinebench R23 and temps seemed higher. By about 10 degrees C on average.

I checked the fans they are fine and the pump shows a 4000rpm output in HW monitor. I have took it out and shook it a little but cant hear too much air either. My 3x 140mm fans feeding the case from the front are ok too. GPU temps are fine too. Mobo/DDR4 temps are also normal

Then while firing up this morning my mobo speaker actually gave an alarm and my CPU was approaching 70 degrees in the bios. So I reckon something has gone wrong inside this AIO? Right?

When I was benchmarking with Cinebench I used Ryzen Master to lock my 5600x to 4200Mhz @ 1.1v, this has been a stable setting before and I didnt want to go too mad fault finding a temp problem. My AIO was hitting 78 degrees C, obviously not right. I luckily have the stock 5600x cooler so I tried with this. It hit 79 degrees C. 

This is leading me to further believe that something is wrong with this AIO and its degrading in some way. The performance of it should not be the same as the stock AMD cooler?  There must be something like a pump fault, air, evaporation or even a blockage of some kind that has found its way to the heat plate. I base this from experience doing custom water in the past. Surely it shows something is wrong if it performs the same as the stock cooler?

I even tried changing the orientation of the radiator. Its usually screwed to the top but this one has the pump in the radiator, not ideal for that scenario. This made no difference and I cant hear any gurgling.

Just wanted to bounce my reasoning off some guys on here before I go down the RMA route with Amazon and MSI, should be fun. Sometimes I over think it then begin to doubt my reckoning.

[Hector45]

Sounds like you're pretty well experienced with AIO's so I'm assuming mounting orientation isn't the issue. 

Sounds like the fluid isn't circulating yet HW monitor shows 4k rpm. Do you know if the pump design is utilizing a magnetically driven impeller? Perhaps the impeller has gotten gunked up and isn't spinning with the motor causing the "false" RPM indication.

Can you check the exhaust side of the radiator for heat transfer to confirm? Or maybe block the airflow through the radiator to check if results change or remain the same?

[AngleOff66]

I always to think of the Gamers Nexus AIO video re orientation.

I think it is why my build will have Noctua fans.  You can always tell if the fan isn't spinning.

I hope that you can solve this.

Best of luck.

[Bossco82]

Those were my thoughts too...

Its a magnetic one fitted inside the radiator itself. So my first thought was evaporation because my radiator is mounted at the top, so the pump is at the top. However I cant hear any air inside, well not enough for that anyway. No proper slush sound! At first I thought the pump was catching air or had air trapped. 

I ran it vertically mounted at the front behind my 140mm fans as a test. So the pump could not be at the highest point. That is when I loaded a 4.2Ghz 1.1v Cinebench run to see if a bit of heat would help it shift, nothing though. Its as if the heat cant get away from the heat plate inside. So I am thinking the heat plate has a blockage in it. I definitely cant be bothered to take it apart and check as its still under warranty.

I was just on Amazon chat and they accepted a return for credit to my account, so thats some good customer service today. To be honest I liked the look of the MSI 240r as my system is mostly MSI. The pump in rad design is a bit flawed though. Dont think I will get another one.

I was aware of the Gamers Nexus video and all the responses. I was also a central heating engineer for over a 10 years so luckily this was in my area. Sometimes you always doubt your own logic though!

I bought a Veltoo V5 air cooler while I decide what to do in the meantime, it was only £26. Like "NoCool" said you can see if a fan stops spinning. Surprisingly though the stock cooler is doing ok, I thought it would be terrible but it is a bit noisy.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Bossco82

[Hector45]

17 minutes ago, Bossco82 said:

I was just on Amazon chat and they accepted a return for credit to my account, so thats some good customer service today. To be honest I liked the look of the MSI 240r as my system is mostly MSI. The pump in rad design is a bit flawed though. Dont think I will get another one.

 

To get around Asetek's patent no doubt.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Hector45

[Bossco82]

Undoubtedly Hector mate. I think Coolermaster has the patent for the rad/pump design. Either way its not ideal. Its a bit too much aesthetics over practicality. 

[rob s]

I have a depp cool gammax 240 on 5600x cpu and my temperature doesn't go above 45 degress

[VpR81]

I had a similar issue (well, with air cooler and temps were'nt going that high) a few years ago. Reason was, that i was using a graphite pad between cooler block and heatspreader of the CPU and it's heat transfer didn't work as intended anymore (was only a couple of months old). Solution for me was to switch back to conventional thermal paste and the problem was solved. I choosed Noctua NT-H1 wich i still use and highly recommend. If you're using a grqphite pad, this may be worth a try.

[BitMaster]

If it wasn't for the GPU I'd reconsider my DIY loop now that I run my old 8700k with a Noctua DH15 and it is really quiet in everyday use.

Imho, the loudest part while gaming is the GPU, so a DIY loop really makes sense once you include the GPU and max out the rad space, so it can run cool & quiet under gaming load for hours. 

For everything else I consider Air over AIO.

 

 

[Bossco82]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I tried new thermal paste, some MX4. If anything it made it worse.

Using the AIO my idles were getting up to 45, gaming got to 75 and a cinebench PBO run was going to 90 so I stopped it. I have the stock cooler fitted now. It's noisy but temps are down again. Even in DCS my CPU was hovering around 60. So I'm certain this AIO is dead.

I would love to go back to custom water again. The last custom loop I had was using an Intel 2700k with a GTX 480, like Bitmaster says they are whisper quiet. I just can't afford it nowadays.

I'll see how this cheap Amazon Vetroo V5 does. I'm a bit broke after Xmas so another AIO or a Noctua will have to wait for a bit.

Thanks for the replies, hope you all have a happy new year.

[Bossco82]

Well I got the Vetroo V5 cpu cooler fitted and it was nearly 25-28 deg C cooler than the MSI 240r AIO I just removed on a cinebench R23 run. So I definitely think the AIO had a problem with the pump itself or a gunked up heat plate.

Either way this cheap V5 air cooler is pretty good. My 5600x idles around 28-30 and tops out at 66 deg C on a full PBO cinebench R23 test. I am happily surprised. Its well made and more than enough for a 5600x or a 5800x. I do miss the look of an AIO in a windowed case but this simply works very very well.

[will-]

went through the same issues, just thought maybe a AIO might not be the answer, but got a new one; different brand and pc has been holding lowest temps i've ever seen w/ a i9 @33c playing all day.

take advantage of ur ceiling fan if you have one on those hot summer days.