Corsair H50 water pump question

thesupermedium

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Hi all,

I'm new to the water cooling scene, and though eventually it might be nice to expand into GPU and RAM liquid cooling, I've decided to start out with the Corsair H50. With the amount of noise my current CPU cooler produces, I have to turn up my speakers when talking on skype and listening to music. On hot days I even have to open the side of my case because the current heatsink dumps hot air in there.

So that is why I'm switching to water cooling, and I plan on purchasing the unit this Friday. Now for the real question: I've heard about a few motherboards throttling the power to the water pump, which lowers the l/h if I am correct. I would like to know, if my motherboard happens to be one of them, which switch I might be looking for in the Bios, and how I'd go about adjusting the voltage. Many searches have turned scarce and confusing answers, so if someone could take a few minutes to just basically tell me what to look for, I would be very thankful.
 
Solution

Conumdrum

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I'd start wit the top of this forum. Read up on real watercooling first.

The H50 is a really decent top notch AIR cooler. Yep, it has water, but the rad, pump, and CPU block is just a bit better than a top air cooler.

Think physics for a bit. A small radiator, weak pump, not top class CPU cooler at a LOW price for what you get equals what? The H50.

It's pretty good. But a real WC loop with twicw the radiator area, a pump that will last you for years and able to use bigger flowrates and head pressure, a CPU Block that blows away the H50 ( A top world class block)

It starts at $250, a reall high end CPU only loop is close to $300.

You need to understand many small issues for watercolling. Heat load of your planned parts. ::::DELTA T TEMPS:::: Ambient room temps. Case size. budget. Tolerence to noise. There are 5 leadig radiator makers, and 10 leading fan makers. Mixing and matching can be hell if you buy the wrong parts. Dissimilar metals and corrosion. Flow rates vs head pressure.

PLEASE start at the top of rhis forum, join a few other forums, read every sticky you can find thats not 2+ years old an drevisit with your question.

CYA in 2-3 weeks. No hurry. Do it right.

As curious, took me three months on 4 diff forums almost every day till I bought my first WC part.

My current setup. Big, but basically just a WC loop. Balanced and quiet.............

http://www.overclockers.com/annual-water-cooling-cleaning-rebuild-journal/

Nice forum BTW.

 

Conumdrum

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The H50 connect to the CPU fan header. You want to turn off any fan control. Run it at 100%. Tou can use a secondary header on the mobo for the fan on the rad. You can play with settings for best temps.

You'll probably want a new fan in push pull on the rad, TWO fans pulling cooler air into the case. You'll have to adjust the rest of the case fans to adjust. This is where folks get beter than top air cooling setups on the H50.
 
Solution

thesupermedium

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Well, technically speaking, the H50 is not water cooling. However, It will (hopefully) solve the problem of hot air being dumped into my case. Thanks for the advice though. I've already been researching water cooling for some time, and am not going to attempt it until at least after Christmas of next year, which is when I plan on upgrading from my Phenom II to an i7. You did answer my question though, and I do currently have CPU smartfan enabled, which I will disable. Do I need to disable cool and quiet as well? And the 3 pin plug for the pump should be running at full voltage I assume? Again thank you for the help, and for taking a few minutes to assist me.
 
Not only can you get higher OC's at lower temps with the better air coolers but the H50 also serves to decrease case air throughput. So not only is your CPU not as cool as it could be, but all your components are dealing with lower air flow and therefore increased temps.
 

thesupermedium

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But are they as quiet? Air flow in the case is not an issue for me because mine is an open one with the mesh fronts and top. Also, I plan to add another 120mm fan and maybe even one of those little internal ones. Right now my number one issue is sound. My fan runs at a almost a steady 6000rpm on warm days.
 

God does it ever. 4000rpms on left 4 dead 2, damn near 5000 with prime...at least on the X4 955 I have. I under volted it just for quietness.

Most board control the CPU fan and one other(most not all. some control one, some can control ALL). So in general do not plug the pump into the cpu fan slot. you can use that for the fan on the cooler. If you are worried, use a molex - 3 pin fan adapter and it will always get full speed. There is a slight down side to this, you will not be able to read the pump speed(if supported on this unit).