H80 pump speed drops off for no reason

What's going on here?




This is a brand new system, and I immediately started having issues with the cpu temperature. You can see in the screenshot, the temperature hit 60C inside of ten minutes while at idle. The rapid jump to 80C was nothing more than some background process kicking in. I haven't dared to try a real load yet. Afterwards, it will drop down to the mid 60s again. I tried cleaning and reapplying the thermal paste, but no change.

Prior to that I noticed that the cpu fan (h80 pump) was only running around 500-700 rpm - my understanding is it should be around 2000. After the thermal paste chore, I found the fan speed running around 3000. So, I thought, alright, I'll take it. But it doesn't last. After some random amount of time it drops off again - which I now realize has probably been happening all along. There is a change in the noise from pump at the same time it drops off. I currently have the fans set to run full speed in the BIOS, so it shouldn't be due to throttling - besides, it happens no matter how high the temp gets.

So, what do I have here? Is the pump dying? And why is my stock clock cpu running so hot in the first place?

You sure the connector to the Mobo is correct? Is the Nobo controlling the speed of the pump instead of the H80? I never had one, so just tossing some ideas out there.

Or:

The H80 has a pretty high return rate. RMA it, get another.

Does the behavior change when you push the button on the pump to turn it up to the 3rd speed ?

http://imageshack.us/a/img811/2020/20120916180410846.jpg

Here is the connection to the Mobo. I'm pretty sure it's right. The heatsink connects to the Mobo and the two fans around the radiator connect to the heat sink. The button on the front controls the fan speeds. The CPU fan controller is controlling the pump speed.

I have a feeling RMA is going to be the answer, but I'm hanging onto hope that I just need to blow on it or hit something with a hammer. Anything that might be quicker than waiting on the turnaround.

\dev\goat said:

Does the behavior change when you push the button on the pump to turn it up to the 3rd speed ?

Click to expand...

I can hear the fan speed change - and I've got it running on the 3rd speed. The numbers in the Fan Speed monitor don't change though.

Fan speed or pump speed? It you take a metal rod etc and tape a paper cup etc to the end or something like that and put it to your ear, unless you got mechanics stethoscopes, you should hear the pump change speed. Pumps make noise. kleave the sace side off, put the case next to where you sit etc.

My 35x (swiftech pump) from 4' (tech stand) I can hear the diff of 3500 RPM to 2000 RPM easy. 3500 I can hear, 2000 pertty much silent.

Your fan speed monitor is the pump speed I think, the fan speed is not measured.

Something is wrong, how old is that cooler? New? If so, seen them bad outta the box more than once.

Do a bit more Tshooting, but you can't have temps like that. Go back to the stock cooler for now if you don't fix it, RMA.