Did I get a bad H55?

Unknown-One

Unknown-One

[H]F Junkie
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Against my better judgement I went ahead and tried another AiO water cooler. Was really hoping the H55 "quiet edition" would be decent, but it seems to have all the usual problems.

The pump in the H55 is now the loudest thing in the entire room. It buzzes constantly and is audible, inside a closed case, 6 feet away. I was also forced to mount the radiator with the hoses coming out of the bottom, as any other orientation results in constant gurgling (air in the line getting pulled through the pump).

Is this normal and "to be expected" with any AiO cooler, or am I actually sitting here with a bad unit? Anything I can do to make the pump stop buzzing?
 
I have an h100i with push pull and I sit right next to it and have never heard any buzzing. Sure, it makes noise but nothing that you wouldn't expect. I'm really happy with it. I also had an h60 and an h80 over the last few years. Zero problems with any of them.

Normally the gurgling (if present at all) goes away per user reviews. Did you just set it up and didn't let it run for awhile?

Can you return or exchange it? Or RMA it? Corsair support is excellent in my limited experience.
 
Sounds like you just have bad luck. I could say the exact opposite about AIOs since my H50, H100i and the H55 I've installed for a friend have worked perfectly with no discernible pump noise once installed in a case.
 
Agreed with bad luck. I have an H80 about 3ft away and two H60's in other systems and they are dead silent. The cases are Raven's though, so I'm sure that helps. The loudest thing in my system used to be those damn WD black drives, but I took those out and put them in a drawer. Now the loudest is the video card fan when playing games like BF4 and such. Never heard a peep from the AiO coolers.
 
So far, I have tried 3 closed loop WC: H60 old & new version, H80 (Corsair refurbished, look brand new though.) None of them have a single issue (other than the H60s' performance are quite disappointing compared to the Silver Arrow.) So I would say RMA your H55 and give it another try. Corsair has been exceptionally good with their RMA services in my experience.
 
bad luck.. probably a problem with the impeller or unbalanced rotor making bubbles, make sure you have the pump connected to a fan header without user fan control i mean deactivated to be sure its at full blast the pump (as it should be per factory instruction).. some people have problem because have some fan profiles to the fan headers making the pump work erratically.. anyway.. if you already tested it just RMA it..
 
Araxie said:
make sure you have the pump connected to a fan header without user fan control i mean deactivated to be sure its at full blast the pump (as it should be per factory instruction).. some people have problem because have some fan profiles to the fan headers making the pump work erratically..
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Yeah, I just double-checked that. The pump is connected to one of the "PWR_FAN" headers on my motherboard, which always deliver full-power.

Araxie said:
anyway.. if you already tested it just RMA it..
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I'm just worried I'll end up with another unit with exactly the same problem. This seems to be an exceedingly common issue.

Edit: For anyone curious, this is how it's currently mounted:

BnaxEDO.jpg
 
do not worry about RMA it will be replaced fast by corsair, i've had a similar problem with my very first h100i unit that had a problem with the impeller it wasn't making any noise but sometimes the pump just stop to work, it was replaced very very fast by corsair without even ask for anything, no question just replaced.. also a friend of mine a similar problem caused too much shake during installation making it to have too much air bubbles inside the loop...he was able to fix it himself by opening one of the hoses fittings to let the air bubbles out then re-sealed and done all problems gone, he was just inpatient to wait for the RMA process..
 
Unknown-One said:
Yeah, I just double-checked that. The pump is connected to one of the "PWR_FAN" headers on my motherboard, which always deliver full-power.


I'm just worried I'll end up with another unit with exactly the same problem. This seems to be an exceedingly common issue.

Edit: For anyone curious, this is how it's currently mounted:

BnaxEDO.jpg
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I have the same setup on my 290x(h55+kraken). My pump sounded like it was going to break apart when it first fired up... once I disabled the fan control in my bios it went away. I cannot even hear it running now.
 
I'll try hooking the pump directly to 12v from my power supply when I get home on the off-chance that the motherboard isn't actually supplying 12v from the PWR_FAN header.

If that doesn't help, then I guess it's RMA time... And yeah, I'm very familiar with Corsair's excellent RMA department. Been through a pile of PSU's with them already, and they've been great about it (in spite of being on my 8th replacement :eek:).
 
Well, bad luck, can't get the pump to quiet down... and even ignoring the constant buzz, it makes gurgling sounds periodically. Not good.

Got an advanced-replacement through Amazon. Hopefully the next one is assembled properly.
 
Replacement arrived, hooked it up on my test-bench, gave it a listen, aaaaaaand

It's worse than the first unit... Vibration is worse, buzzing is worse, gurgling is MUCH worse.

So now WTF do I do? You guys sure they don't just sound like this?
 
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Did you let it run for a while at least?
When my Coolermaster system arrived, I was in the same situation as you, it gurgled and buzzed, and gave all kinds of weird sounds, and I was really worried, but after about 30 minutes running all noise disappeared I can't even hear the pump over the fans, even at the lowest possible voltage where they would spin.
 
Have you tried purchasing a different aio? I never recalled my old h80 and h100i ever being loud. Heck, even my d5 pump in my custom loop is silent.
 
Honestly, I would just get it replaced again, if the same problem happens, maybe you aren't destined to have that one and just get a silent air cooler.
 
M76 said:
Did you let it run for a while at least?
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Yeah, the new unit is markedly worse in every respect. It's so under-filled that it never stops making gurgling noises. I let it run for an hour on a desk and it sounded like I had set up a fountain in the room.

tonyftw said:
Have you tried purchasing a different aio? I never recalled my old h80 and h100i ever being loud. Heck, even my d5 pump in my custom loop is silent.
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I've tried both the H80 and H100, returned them and went back to air-cooling on my CPU for the same reason. Pump was NEVER quiet or properly balanced, which ended up making air-cooling the quieter option every single time.

I was hoping this one would be different, considering it has a different pump design and is marketed as the "quiet edition" of the H55...

Anyway... the NZXT mounting bracket wont work with the H80 or H100 (they're square, the bracket only accepts round AIO coolers). Even if I wanted to try them again, I couldn't...

ob1 said:
Honestly, I would just get it replaced again, if the same problem happens, maybe you aren't destined to have that one and just get a silent air cooler.
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The quality control on these is really THAT bad? :eek:
 
maybe you could make a sound loop using your mic with noise canceling off.....just curious how bad it really sounds:)
 
I'll try and get a recording. I had to uninstall it and go back to me previous air cooler because it was just too annoying to live with.

The pump was so terrible that the entire case was vibrating (to the point that placing my hand on the top would seriously quiet it down because it would dampen some of the vibration).

Now on my second RMA. Hopefully this one is better rather than worse...
 
This is going to be another evga acx cooler wild goose chase. You should get a quieter case perhaps. You seem to often be seriously bothered by the mechanical noises that the gear you buy makes. That ACX thread went on and on and on. How many times did you RMA those coolers? At the time I was on your side until around RMA number 4. At which point I thought I saw a pattern emerging. This definitely seems like a continuation of that behavior pattern.
 
Bluesun311 said:
This is going to be another evga acx cooler wild goose chase. You should get a quieter case perhaps.
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Check the photo, this is a Fractal Design R3.

Recommended highly by Silent PC Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1192-page4.html

The ONLY thing that makes the pump semi-bearable is my current case. It has enough noise canceling material pre-installed to kill a lot of the noise (but that still doesn't make it quieter than the Nvidia reference cooler mounted in the same case).

Bluesun311 said:
You seem to often be seriously bothered by the mechanical noises that the gear you buy makes. That ACX thread went on and on and on. How many times did you RMA those coolers? At the time I was on your side until around RMA number 4. At which point I thought I saw a pattern emerging. This definitely seems like a continuation of that behavior pattern.
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Of course I'm bothered by it. I've sunk good money into gear that's supposed to be quieter, and when it shows up it's worse than the reference cooler. In regard to the ACX cooler, EVGA never did manage to deliver a properly working unit, I had to mod it myself to get it to operate as-advertized.

Now I've been through two H55's and both of them vibrate like an unbalanced washing machine. Wouldn't you be frustrated too?
 
Unknown-One said:
Check the photo, this is a Fractal Design R3.

Recommended highly by Silent PC Review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1192-page4.html

The ONLY thing that makes the pump semi-bearable is my current case. It has enough noise canceling material pre-installed to kill a lot of the noise (but that still doesn't make it quieter than the Nvidia reference cooler mounted in the same case).


Of course I'm bothered by it. I've sunk good money into gear that's supposed to be quieter, and when it shows up it's worse than the reference cooler. In regard to the ACX cooler, EVGA never did manage to deliver a properly working unit, I had to mod it myself to get it to operate as-advertized.

Now I've been through two H55's and both of them vibrate like an unbalanced washing machine. Wouldn't you be frustrated too?
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Maybe return it and try the H75 its round so it will fit on the G10 bracket and its suppose to be a better pump than on the H55.
 
Makaveli@BETA said:
Maybe return it and try the H75 its round so it will fit on the G10 bracket and its suppose to be a better pump than on the H55.
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H75 is next on my list, just have to see about returning the H55 first.

Wish they sold the H75 without the fans, though. I'm planning on never using the included fans, so they're a total waste.
 
The only time I have ever had noise from an AIO is if I did not get the mount pressure equal. Also, did you try rotating the rad to the get tubes at the top?
 
Kwisatz Haderach said:
The only time I have ever had noise from an AIO is if I did not get the mount pressure equal. Also, did you try rotating the rad to the get tubes at the top?
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Mount pressure doesn't seem to make any difference (it makes the same noise even when it's not mounted to anything). The pump buzzes and vibrates badly no matter what.

And rotating the radiator so that the tubes enter/exit at the top results in non-stop gurgling. I assume this is because an air pocket ends up right next to the inlet / outlet ports.
 
Very odd, the only AIO unit I ever used was a CoolIt ECO 120 and it was completely silent. My 180mm case fans on my Silverstone FT02 case made more noise than the pump. Weird.

I would recommend buying one of these units from a brick and mortar store if there are any around you. That would make returning them a lot easier than shipping it back to amazon all the time.
 
Bootleg Usher said:
I would recommend buying one of these units from a brick and mortar store if there are any around you. That would make returning them a lot easier than shipping it back to amazon all the time.
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Yeah, problem is the only "computer" store nearby is a BestBuy, and they don't really carry water cooling components of any kind :p

But yeah, I can only assume Amazon is sitting on a bad batch of H55's right now. Getting one bad one is unlucky, getting two in a row makes me think there's a legitimate problem with the pallet of product they received.

Going to try an H75 and see what happens...
 
H75 arrived today, and...well... I can't really say that's it's "better"

It doesn't buzz like the H55, but it's still not even remotely quiet. Its been running on my desk for the last hour and it STILL hasn't stopped chewing on air bubbles. Almost sounds like there are plastic shavings running through the loop.

*sigh* the quality control on these things is SERIOUSLY shit. Going back in the box and back to Amazon tomorrow...
 
Very funny :rolleyes:

Got fed up and decided to go ahead and start voiding warranties. Cracked into the H75 and discovered it was just hilariously under-filled.

Added a good portion of distilled water, re-sealed the loop, dropped the voltage on the pump just a touch below 12v to help shut it up, and it's now quiet as a mouse when mounted inside of a closed case.

Edit: and for anyone wondering, there's a HUGE drop in pump noise at around 10v, but cooling performance doesn't really seem to be impacted until you get below 7v. Maximum load temp on my GTX 780 (1300MHz core clock @ 1.2v) is only 60c even with the pump at 7v and the case fully closed-up.
For the sake of the pump, which isn't designed to be variable-speed, I'm using a resistor with a fixed value to ratchet the voltage down. This will keep the pump at a lower fixed-speed, which should be safe.
 
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H60 on my 280x and H100i on my CPU, never heard any buzzing.

Now fan noise, that's another story. :)
 
Dunno what to tell you, every AIO I've ever had through my hands has had extreme quality control issues with the pump and/or fluid level.

I had to under-volt the pump on the H75 I'm using now to 7v to make the pump noise acceptable, even after filling the unit properly. Out-of-the-box it had so little coolant that it was pulling air through the loop constantly, which was also less than quiet...

Maybe we have different ideas of what constitutes "quiet"
 
Unknown-One said:
Maybe we have different ideas of what constitutes "quiet"
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I wouldn't call my setup "quiet" by any means...I have gotten complaints from teammates over Skype about a "whirring noise" in the background when I talk, and it was undoubtedly the two 120mm fans blowing through the H100i radiator, the one 120mm blowing through the H60 radiator, the 120mm front case fan and the 120mm PSU fan. I consider it a small price to pay for temps within 20° of ambient on a 50% CPU and 17% GPU overclock. I can only hear my pumps running if I take the side of my case off and get down next to it. The H60 was even a used part from the FS/FT forum.
 
I bought a H60 back in 2011 that had some major buzzing issues. I returned to Amazon for a replacement, and the replacement was just as bad. Returned that also, and haven't bothered with AIO water cooling since.
 
zeroARMY said:
I bought a H60 back in 2011 that had some major buzzing issues. I returned to Amazon for a replacement, and the replacement was just as bad. Returned that also, and haven't bothered with AIO water cooling since.
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Pretty much the same experience here every time I try an AIO. They all seem to be defective or suffer from a critical design flaw that prevents them from being quiet.

The ONLY thing that I've found that can make these pumps run at acceptable noise levels is under-volting. The pump on the H75 is actually effective all the way down to 5v, with minimal loss of cooling performance.

12v = Humming and constant trickling sound from cavitation.
7v = Reduced hum to acceptable levels, occasional trickling sound from cavitation.
5v = No detectable hum, cavitation issues eliminated, very slight loss of cooling performance.
 
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Well, that's the thing, it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend. Even if you get an H110 for $130, it still has the SAME pump with the SAME problem.

Their top-of-the-line product uses the same pump as their bottom-of-the-line product. What genius thought that one up?
 
thats completely untrue, i have several corsair AIO and have used (and still working) 2x H50 old (yes the big pump). 2xh100i, 1xh80, 1xh80i, 1xh70, 2xh110. none of those units have any noise with the pump, even if you run any of those PC with all fans OFF you will not hear the pump more than the GPU fans at 30%. 2 of my server machines with 2xH110 are running with the fans at 700RPM with passive cooled GPU and only one intake fan. pump its dead silent you can't even hear that machine on in the server room which its completely silent the only sound its the mini Split AC unit..
 
Araxie said:
thats completely untrue
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What's completely untrue?

What I said was accurate:
- Every unit I've received has sounded awful and had terrible pump noise.
- The low-end (H55) uses the same pump as the high-end (H110) cooler.

Araxie said:
i have several corsair AIO and have used (and still working) 2x H50 old (yes the big pump). 2xh100i, 1xh80, 1xh80i, 1xh70, 2xh110. none of those units have any noise with the pump, even if you run any of those PC with all fans OFF you will not hear the pump more than the GPU fans at 30%. 2 of my server machines with 2xH110 are running with the fans at 700RPM with passive cooled GPU and only one intake fan. pump its dead silent you can't even hear that machine on in the server room which its completely silent the only sound its the mini Split AC unit..
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Well, lucky you.

The pumps in all of the units I've received are not silent unless run at 5v. I can get away with 7v in a closed sound-insulated case. 12v is a total no-go.
 
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