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Antec Kuhler 920 Power Setup Options -- Thoughts?

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ktownhero

Registered
Joined
May 5, 2012
I have a Kuhler 920 arriving later this week, and I'm curious as to what folks here think of these two setup options:

1) Default setup -- Use a motherboard connector for the pump, plug the fans into the pump, and plug the USB connector to an internal header so that the software can control the fans.

2) My alternative setup -- My motherboard graciously has three headers near the CPU. It has two headers for CPU fans and one PWR fan which provides constant power. So, my second option would be to run the pump off of the PWR header (I'll be keeping it at 100% no matter what) and plug each fan into the two CPU headers so that I can use pure motherboard or Speedfan control. The CPU headers are separate, but are controlled together via the BIOS so there is no issue of the fans running at different speeds.

What do you think? Is the Antec software solid enough to be something that I'd want running on my computer 24/7, or would it make more sense to set it up with internal system control?
 
To the best of my knowledge antec software should fit your needs and if i recall correctly you can edit all the fan/pump settings in the bundled software as well. I'd just stick with that personally.
 
To the best of my knowledge antec software should fit your needs and if i recall correctly you can edit all the fan/pump settings in the bundled software as well. I'd just stick with that personally.

I'm always skeptical of OEM software, that's my fear. Like when you buy a motherboard and get all of these utilities that sound good on paper but are unstable and poorly optimized. I guess there is no harm in setting it up the recommended way and trying myself, I can always change later.
 
I'm always skeptical of OEM software, that's my fear. Like when you buy a motherboard and get all of these utilities that sound good on paper but are unstable and poorly optimized. I guess there is no harm in setting it up the recommended way and trying myself, I can always change later.

I just picked up and installed an Antec 920 h20 cpu cooler.

I installed it on my Asus Rampage iii Formula, I was also skeptic like you about the software. But I tried it, first boot up, I had a problem with CPU FAN ERROR. I went into bios just to monitor my temps, and they were already wayyy cooler than my previous huge Raidmax X3 air heatsink. So I reloaded, same error, so I pressed F1 to continue to boot. Got to Windows 7 quickly with my SSD, slapped in the disc it came with, which was cracked by the way. Didn't matter, It installed easily, and Windows 7 loaded all the drivers and recognized the USB controller, and then I was in whats called "the dashboard."

I quickly went into settings, to see fan speed. I bumped everything up, the min and max temp the fans operate at, which was causing my cpu fan error in the first place, due to them not getting enough voltage I guess.

Set my settings, and rebooted. Cleared CMOS, and went into bios to make sure the fan controller was set to full not auto. It was set to full, I just pushed up the min fan speed to 100% since this is my gaming rig in my home office/man cave.

Temps are nice on my i7-950 @3.7GHz using the ASUS CPU level up on setting "crazy."

I get about 30-36*C at idle in windows 7 without a hitch, where as before I was at 50*C at idle with the same 3.7GHz overclock. I will be stressing it tomorrow to make sure it can handle high temp's ok.

But I highly recommend the software they provide, it's actually great!

You can even adjust the LED light that's on the CPU block to whatever color your heart desires. It has a RGB scale and you adjust it to mix your special color.
 
I just picked up and installed an Antec 920 h20 cpu cooler.

I installed it on my Asus Rampage iii Formula, I was also skeptic like you about the software. But I tried it, first boot up, I had a problem with CPU FAN ERROR. I went into bios just to monitor my temps, and they were already wayyy cooler than my previous huge Raidmax X3 air heatsink. So I reloaded, same error, so I pressed F1 to continue to boot. Got to Windows 7 quickly with my SSD, slapped in the disc it came with, which was cracked by the way. Didn't matter, It installed easily, and Windows 7 loaded all the drivers and recognized the USB controller, and then I was in whats called "the dashboard."

I quickly went into settings, to see fan speed. I bumped everything up, the min and max temp the fans operate at, which was causing my cpu fan error in the first place, due to them not getting enough voltage I guess.

Set my settings, and rebooted. Cleared CMOS, and went into bios to make sure the fan controller was set to full not auto. It was set to full, I just pushed up the min fan speed to 100% since this is my gaming rig in my home office/man cave.

Temps are nice on my i7-950 @3.7GHz using the ASUS CPU level up on setting "crazy."

I get about 30-36*C at idle in windows 7 without a hitch, where as before I was at 50*C at idle with the same 3.7GHz overclock. I will be stressing it tomorrow to make sure it can handle high temp's ok.

But I highly recommend the software they provide, it's actually great!

You can even adjust the LED light that's on the CPU block to whatever color your heart desires. It has a RGB scale and you adjust it to mix your special color.

This is really great information, thank you. You are running the fans at 100% all the time? I have heard they are really loud. How is the noise, and why aren't you running them on a sliding scale?
 
This is really great information, thank you. You are running the fans at 100% all the time? I have heard they are really loud. How is the noise, and why aren't you running them on a sliding scale?

Thank you. Yes I'm running actually 50% fans at all times and it ramps up to full at 40*C, but when I game I set it to full.

When it is spinning at max speed, it isn't as loud as some people say, but it's more of a "whirr." To be honest it sounds better than my RAIDMAX X3 air heatsink I had before this. It's in my home office so I don't care about sound, I have a logitech Surround sound and TurtleBeach Headset, so no problems about can't hear anything, lol.

Literally this desktop I built is just my gaming machine. Like right now I'm on my 2010 Macbook Pro for everyday stuff, internet, downloads, etc. The only times I ever turn on my PC are to game.

UPDATE! Running at 4.0GHz now, and I'm running at a cool 38*C at peak usage in my games like ARMA 2 OA which is very CPU dependent.

I think my BCLCK was set to 200 and a x20 multiplier. Runs so smooth and cool! It's worth the extra few degrees.

A lot of people say "oh benchmark using Prime95!" Well I don't ever use Prime95, I only play games, so why not bench it in the games I play? Which is more real world scenario!

If I'm playing my games which is all I do on this computer at 38*C full 1920x1080, max everything, AA at very high or even 8x. It runs smooth! I can't believe it! Before I was getting choppiness in Arma gameplay, but now I believe due to me disabled HyperThreading, the cores run cooler and faster in my specific scenario and what I need it for, gaming and windows 7.
 
38C? What are you measuring your temps with?


CPU-Z, BIOS, and a few others. I'm a bit anal about how things run. Ambient room temp AC is set to 76*F.

EDIT* Also the reason I primarily bought this, as I was ok with my 3.7GHz on my Raidmax X3 air Heatsink, was that the heatsink was so huge, it was blocking access to my first slot of RAM, and with x58 boards like mine, tri channel is a must, and even in dual channel, you have to use the first slot. So I gained a huge improvement in memory speeds going a full tri channel 3 x 4GB because I installed the Antec 920 water cooler, which most new closed loop cpu coolers have just a block plate and isn't bulky blocking the Memory sticks like it did on my board.

Also I was running around 50*C at idle in bios and others with my prior air heatsink. I noticed a huge decrease in temps after I opened the whole case up and rewired and wire tucked all the wires behind my NZXT Phantom Case, which helped flow the air around much better.
 
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So I got this today and have it installed. First of all, this was, hands-down, the most miserable installation process that I have ever experienced in 20 years of building computers. The screws that this comes with aren't long enough, and you have to get pretty damn creative to get them to work. Seriously, would it kill them to send screws that are 2mm longer?

Anyway... I have it installed now, and it seems pretty good. Temps are running noticeably cooler than my Evo, though nothing earth-shattering. It should be enough to allow me to run slightly lower voltages and get a 4.5GHz 24/7 OC going for my 3570k, which is all I wanted.
 
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