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Corsair H100 / H80 / H60 noise, grinding pump - *fix* + official Corsair response

481K views 2K replies 347 participants last post by  SOSTrooper 
#1 ·
Hello!

UPDATE:
For official Corsair response start here and read on.

Official instructions on how to apply for a selective RMA (advanced RMA available per request) here.
This is no longer true, see here: clicky
Now you have to submit a standard RMA ticket.

Big thanks to CorsairGeorge for speaking up and out!

/update

I'm new here but I've heard from a long-time user s1rrah that there might be some people here interested in fixing their noisy Corsair Hydro coolers.

Some of those units make HDD-like grinding or rattling noise, if you have one you know what I'm talking about.

The simplest cure to that noise is to slow down the pump a bit so the impeller stops rattling. Mind you that this is only patching the symptom of an underlaying issue, one that neither me or you can address at present.

Update: check out the CorsairGeorge's posts in this thread, link at the beginning of this post. The cause has been confirmed to be a shaft/bearing issue which results in rattle under certain circumstances (which I will humbly mention that I have suggested some months ago here), one of them being the voltage to speed correlation, and that is why the diode adapter works - because it slows the pump and puts it out of that resonance/rattle RPM range, without impacting the cooling performance.

The issue had been fixed and the new, corrected units are being delivered to Corsair locations.
/update

There are several methods do fix that.
One is to use a big 4-pin Molex fan controller in case of H100 or H80, or motherboard's fan header in case of H60.

Another, that is my idea, is to use an adapter, dubbed the "voltage dropper" by the Corsair forum's community, to lower the voltage a little. This is equivalent to running the unit off of a fan controller set to about 90%.
How is it done? Plain and simple - a rectifying diode soldered in series with +12V line, encased as a male Molex to female Molex pass-through. Or as a 4-pin Molex to 3-pin fan header for H60. Just mind the diode's polarity!

The thing looks like this:

http://i39.tinypic.com/72vvns.jpg

(ed: or more recently like this: http://cdn.overclock.net/e/e1/e12e487e_9.jpeg)

and is smaller and easier to conceal than a fan controller. And you can sleeve it etc. Also, unlike transistor-based fan controller or a resistor-based adapter, there is no heat generated from this one.
That is the very first I made, later revisions had the +5V and one GND wires removed so they can be easily told apart from any other adapters.
One diode handles up to 1A forward current, so if you have H100 with 4 strong fans, you might need two diodes in parallel.

The only question left is - what diode one should use?
The simple answer is: any one from the 1N4001 to 1N4007 range. I'm using 1N4001 and it's working in about 90% of the cases or more, hard to keep track of all the droppers I've already sent and those that people made themselves to my guidance.
I also tried Schottky diodes, 1N5817 and 1N5819, but they didn't work with the H100 I had. Fine without fans, still grinding when 2 fans were attached. That's because the forward voltage of those diodes is lower.

I've already made and sent tens of those all over the world (North and South America, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, UK and Italy just to name a few) including s1rrah, and like I've said already, they work in >90% of the cases.
When this will not work is if your cooler is one of the somewhat rarer units that will keep on grinding unless slowed down to 1700RPM and below (from original ~2000RPM). If you combine such a unit with a common 12,3V PSU, one diode is simply not enough. And although there are positive reports, I generally do not encourage running the unit at speeds lower than 1800RPM, and some will keep grinding even below 1700RPM.

So go ahead and try that if you have a noisy Hydro cooler.
If you can't or don't want to make it yourself, you can contact me. I've been sending them for weeks every week now, and when I gather 5-10 people and send a batch away.

The discussion started on Corsair's support forum here:
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=97733

I chimed in around page 15 with my findings and solution. As of now it has 32 pages, 467 posts, 57,000 views (update: over 100,000 now, the thread has been closed) and there are numerous cases where people have been RMAing their noisy units 3 or 4 times in a row to no avail, and the mod worked for them and they could finally enjoy their cooler.

If you need more in-depth guidance, feel free to ask.
You can find a detailed photo step-by-step guide in my albums and my sig.

ED: update #3
 
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#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by wlw wl View Post

Well they say the fault rate on these is below 1% so... they don't care that much. They will replace the unit without questions, but you pay for the shipping to them, and that can be pricey for non-US folks.
That sucks. They said the SSD failures were low too but public pressure forced them to pay for the return. I guess Corsair is becoming just a marketing company these days, which is sad IMO.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by wlw wl View Post

I don't know what's the situation on the SSDs, but as far as Hydro series goes, they are in retail partnership with CoolIt.
CoolIt makes the Hydro units, Corsair just sells them. So you could very well say that they are just a marketing company in this case.
Yeah, I know. Corsair doesn't make their PSUs or most of their products...
 
#7 ·
This issue was on my first H100. I have another one, and it's happening too. Off topic, the fan controller on the 600T burnt out as well.

Never buying anything but Corsair memory ever again. That and to RMA a H100 costs €72. A new H100 is €95. Gotta love the way it works out.

ANYWAY, this fixed worked, thanks!
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PathOfTheRighteousMan View Post

This issue was on my first H100. I have another one, and it's happening too. Off topic, the fan controller on the 600T burnt out as well.
Never buying anything but Corsair memory ever again. That and to RMA a H100 costs €72. A new H100 is €95. Gotta love the way it works out.
ANYWAY, this fixed worked, thanks!
That's not good and very frustrating to say the least.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by wlw wl View Post

Well they say the fault rate on these is below 1% so... they don't care that much. They will replace the unit without questions, but you pay for the shipping to them, and that can be pricey for non-US folks.
I doubt the fault rate is 1% considering I got 2 H100s and 1 H80 for different builds and they all had the grind noise.
Fixed it temporarily by running it off a fan controller but it eventually came back a few weeks later.

I'm surprised they make anyone pay shipping considering it's within the first month of use. QC fell off since demand went up,
my previous H50 lasted for years with no issues/ noise.
 
#10 ·
That's the number they gave. Corsair rep said "below 2%" at first, then it changed to "below 1%".
What makes me wonder is that some people RMA their units 3 or 4 times in a row and still get the noise.
And "new" Hydro units (H60, H80, H100) have very much different internal design compared to the old ones with tall blocks, which were the same as Antec Kuhlers. The new Hydro has a flat BLDC + impeller assembly that allows for the lower profile of the unit, but also is the source of all the problems with noise.
I tried contacting CoolIt directly, but they told me to direct all inquiries to Corsair, as expected.

PathOfTheRighteousMan - glad to hear it worked for you. And yes, even the once rock-solid Corsair PSUs have degraded in quality a lot. Even the very high priced HX and AX series have issues common among cheap, low-quality PSUs, something that should never happen with this price tag. I had to replace an HX850 myself, because when switching it on, it was triggering a 10A circuit breaker on 230V... And both the old one and the replacement whine like little b***es on standby. These are made by Seasonic, I believe. My old-ish OCZ for a quarter of that price is 10 times better in almost every way.

I'll make the note that if anyone is willing to donate a (faulty) H60, H80 or H100 to science and well-being of others, I will gladly investigate the cause and find a fix for the problem.
 
#11 ·
My h60 has made a scratchy HDD noise since I first got it. Its pretty soft but its audible. A friend who bought an h60 around the same time as I did also has the exact same noise.

I know somebody who purchased 2 H80s - one didn't come with the correct amount of screws, the other had a fan that had its PWM feature not working, ie it ran at full blast no matter what. Their QC is pretty awful at the moment

Also, RE the grinding noise, I've seen people suggest that some units come with slightly less coolant than they should and that the pump at full speed works to quickly in such cases creating the noise. Not sure if its accurate or not though
 
#13 ·
OP Thanks! .... I just did the 1n4001 diode fix and it worked as described... Pump is now silent.... Now to get quieter fans lol... This is my second Hydro water cooler... I exchanged my H100 for an H80.... Same pump noise...

IN4001 diode from Radio Shack - Check
Soldering Iron - Check
Flux - Check
Heat Shrink - Check
PSU 4pin Molex Extension - Check

Note: Remember to note which direction the silver polarity mark on diode from pic in this thread.

Rattle HDD noise eliminated from Hydro Series Pump - Priceless

Thanks Again!
-Mutt
 
#15 ·
Hi,

In the past few weeks, i've ordered many parts at my local shop, i went there at least 3 times to get them all, the last time was past tuesday.
I came back home with my new GTX560 and a Corsair H80 cooling system.
I had a hard time setting up the H80 (i would have needed a third hand), but when i was finished with it i've putted in my new GC, reconnected all wired and putted my case back at it place, connected it and...
I was really disapointed to hear a sound like as if one of the new fans had problem.

Later i was so releived to discover it wasn't the graphic card fans. But discovering that it was the watercooling pump wasn't either a good news.
I went right away on Google typing "H80 noise" (or to tell the thruth, i began searching in french, wich is my first language).
It didn't take long to stumble on complaints of many users on the official forum.

But what was chocking me the most in this is that i've buyed that thing because i was advised to by my reseller (i wanted a normal processor fan).
So i contacted them with a link to the Corsair forums and all they replied to me is "we can't RMA it because there's a red paper in the package that say you have to do it directly with Corsair" and "we sell dozen of thoses per weeks and we never heard anyone had any problem with it".

Today i filled in the RMA form on Corsair website.
But i dont think i want to continue on that path because i think it will cost me to much to send it back to Corsair and get another noisy pump from them.

So, i think the only solution is the voltage reduction molex pass-through.
I was unable to find a shop selling the proper molex pass-through.
So, if you're willing to, maybe you could make one for me ?

I suppose we need to exchange private messages and email so you get all needed informations and i can send some money by PayPal or something.

Thanks.
 
#16 ·
Sure that's not a problem, I've already got like 12 people from OCN on the list for this batch.

While I can give you no guarantee that it will work for you, the success rate is very high (about 80%) and it's much cheaper than RMA for us in Europe so it's worth a try IMO.

Drop me a PM with your full address.
 
#17 ·
I started to write a pm about this but I decided to make my first open post here instead.

I recieved my cable today and my H100 pump is now totally silent and I have had it running now for a few hours and haven't noticed any difference in temperatures compared to before.

So I would like to thank wlw wl for all his work and his kind spirit to help others. I can warmly recommend anyone who experience the same problems with their pumps to contact him if you like to have this problem fixed.

Corsair should hire him!
thumb.gif


Thanks again for all the help. I'm forever grateful!

cheers.gif
Cheers from Sweden!
cheers.gif

/Per
 
#18 ·
That's great to hear, buddy
cheers.gif


Worth noting, it took only 3 days to get to Germany, Sweden and Netherlands, actually two days, because I posted it Tuesday afternoon so it must have left on Wednesday. That's pretty quick
thumb.gif


Side note, so far the adapters I've sent (not counting those that people made themselves and they worked) have worked - made the pump completely silent - in 88,5% of the cases
smile.gif
 
#20 ·
My h100 made a grinding noise as well when I first got it. It's been a little over a month now and it doesn't happen anymore so it was probably just an air bubble in the pump that finally worked it's way out.

For those of you that just bought an h80/h100 and you hear a little noise coming from the pump just give it a couple weeks before you go out and buy adapters and what-not because it could just be a little air.
 
#22 ·
I think that if it were air bubbles, slowing down the pump wouldn't work to begin with, at least I don't see a reasonable explanation to this. Sure, in some cases it may be air bubble, and in these cases slowing down the pump does not help, but in most cases it does.

ED: cases, cases, cases... poor vocabulary is poor
biggrin.gif
 
#23 ·
I'd personally like to thank wlw for the voltage dropper. I really recommend this if anyone is having a pump-grinding sound from your Corsair coolers.

I experienced similar problems with everyone with my h80 pump making an HDD-like scratching sound. Corsair advised me to leave the case on its side and let the air bubbles be slowly removed from the pump. We'll i've been waiting for over a month now and nothing worked, so I decided to go with the voltage dropper fix. Here's a before and after video.

Delivery was extremely quick, shipped out last tuesday from Poland, arrived in California today (monday) Thanks a bunch!
thumb.gif


 
#24 ·
Hey friend, that's beautiful!

The noise is super irritating because while it's not very loud, it can be heard over anything else and is quite disturbing.
I'm glad it worked for you so well.
thumb.gif


And that's a nice PC too
smile.gif


For some folks the effect isn't so dramatic, the noise is lessened but not completely gone.
I've analyzed the internals of the Hydro series units and I see a couple of points for improvement, in particular one that could fix this problem once and for all.
I'd need one of those units that I can't sacrifice for testing but that I can't do so theories will remain theories.
I don't know however why Corsair hasn't officially addressed this noise issue yet...
 
#25 ·
A small update.

I've been running with the dropper connected for 4 days now and it is still oh so wonderfully quiet!
tongue.gif


Although I don't have a fancy video like ilikepie45290 does here is a before and after image of the temps of the CPU in idle mode.

The text is in swedish though.
redface.gif


Before
http://i42.tinypic.com/29ft8j5.jpg

After 4 days.
http://i41.tinypic.com/10hm5tu.jpg

So huge thanks again to wlw wl for all the help!
thumb.gif


Cheers!
cheers.gif

/Per
 
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