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
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
