Noisy Enermax LiqTech 360 - Watery Noise

Flapjack

2[H]4U
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Apr 29, 2000
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I had to hard to swap motherboards (ASRock X399 Taichi failed on me) and now my 360 is noisy... like a fishtank. It sounds like someone is taking a shower in the other room or something. I had no noise from the system on the Taichi board, but have a ton of noise now.

While I was swapping the motherboards, I didn't take the cooling fully apart, but I did lay the case on it's side to make it easier to work on. I wasn't concerned about air bubbles, since it's a sealed system.

The only other thing I would think could cause it (besides something going bad... it's only a few weeks old) would be maybe different voltage to the point between the header on the ASRock and the one on my new board (Asus ROG STRIX X399-E Gaming). There are three different headers you can use. After reading this thread, I did what most do and plugged the pump into CPU_FAN and the radiator fans into CPU_OPT.

Temps seem normal (32-32C for CPU) so far (no OC), but the bubbling is annoying. Anyone experienced this?
 
I have the exact same setup and have no problems that I can detect, however I have 4 systems running in this room. putting my ear right up against the case though does not indicate anything more than a gentle hum from the case and rad fans
 
I have the exact same setup and have no problems that I can detect, however I have 4 systems running in this room. putting my ear right up against the case though does not indicate anything more than a gentle hum from the case and rad fans
I have so much stuff running in this room, it's a miracle I can even hear it. That tells me it's pretty loud. The main source of noise in here is my server rack, which has five Dell R710s, two Dell 1gbps switches, and two quanta 10gbps switches running... and I can still hear the gurgling.

When you say you have the exact same setup, are you referring to just the cooling, or the motherboard as well? I don't see it listed in your signature block. If you do in fact have the same board, what do you have the pump and rad fans plugged in to?
 
I don't know about the ASUS board, but I know on my ASRock Fatality I have the pump plugged into the port marked pump and set it to be always maxed out. Check the bios settings maybe the Asus is trying to adjust the voltage of the pump to reduce it's reported RPM as if it were a fan and causing issues. IIRC the Enermax instructions tell you to make sure to set the speed of the pump to max no matter what header you use. A simple way to test this is to run a short high load test like prime 95. If the temp goes up the board should ramp up all the fans it thinks it can control to max in a few seconds and if the noise goes away then that is the problem.
 
I don't know about the ASUS board, but I know on my ASRock Fatality I have the pump plugged into the port marked pump and set it to be always maxed out. Check the bios settings maybe the Asus is trying to adjust the voltage of the pump to reduce it's reported RPM as if it were a fan and causing issues. IIRC the Enermax instructions tell you to make sure to set the speed of the pump to max no matter what header you use. A simple way to test this is to run a short high load test like prime 95. If the temp goes up the board should ramp up all the fans it thinks it can control to max in a few seconds and if the noise goes away then that is the problem.
That's actually a good idea. I'll drop Prime95 on and see what happens!
 
The absolute hottest I can get it is 51C, running Prime95 on maximum heat. The fans are obviously louder. It's hard to tell if the burbling is any quieter... it's still there. Maybe 50% quieter?

I wonder if I should try plugging the pump into the W_PUMP header and just put the radiator fans on the CPU_FAN header.
 

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The absolute hottest I can get it is 51C, running Prime95 on maximum heat. The fans are obviously louder. It's hard to tell if the burbling is any quieter... it's still there. Maybe 50% quieter?

I wonder if I should try plugging the pump into the W_PUMP header and just put the radiator fans on the CPU_FAN header.
 
It was definitely that header! I have it on the water pump header and it's quiet as can be. I can only hear the fans on a full load with Prime95 now. Thanks for the ideas. It's even cooler at idle, as well (28C vs 31C).

For anyone using the Enermax LiqTech TR4 systems and an Asus ROG STRIX/Extreme/Gaming, do not follow the popular advice (pump on CPU_FAN and radiator fans on CPU_OPT). Put the pump on the W_PUMP+ header and the radiator fans on the CPU_FAN header.
 
FWIW I keep both my 280s on the w_pump/cpu_opt headers on asrock x399 and make sure to set those as water pump/DC-max and not fan mode in the bios. Asrock boards at least have this level of granular control on these kind of headers.

It always reads around ~2800 "RPM" done that way which I assume is what the pump should read at full power on any other board. Radiator fans duplexed on a cpu header in PWM mode.
 
that's most likely what the "issue" was, the header was set to dynamic speed instead of full speed.
 
FWIW I keep both my 280s on the w_pump/cpu_opt headers on asrock x399 and make sure to set those as water pump/DC-max and not fan mode in the bios. Asrock boards at least have this level of granular control on these kind of headers.

It always reads around ~2800 "RPM" done that way which I assume is what the pump should read at full power on any other board. Radiator fans duplexed on a cpu header in PWM mode.
that's most likely what the "issue" was, the header was set to dynamic speed instead of full speed.
I didn't see that in the BIOS, but I could've missed it.
 
in the bios's fan control section you should be able to set it to dc and then 100% to keep it at full blast. or something like that.
Well it's definitely running a few degrees cooler, so that CPU_FAN header must be dynamic, like you said. However, I moved the radiator fans to that header after I moved the pump to W_PUMP. I don't mind the radiator fans being variable.
 
If your pump's "RPM" is up around ~3000 that should be full power. (LPM is what actually matters if we could easily measure it)

The DC mode and full voltage options is only available for some headers, but the bios for asrock x399 boards are all basically the same - the power option comes up after you change the mode from PWM to DC. Integrated pumps are meant to run all out but radiator fans on a cpu linked PWM header is my usual way too, no need to be louder when its idle.
 
Everything's been fine since my last post, but now it's suddenly noisy again. The only time it quiets down at all is if I reboot. It's pretty quiet in BIOS. It can get that quiet during normal operation in Windows, but the chatter seems to ramp up with the radiator fans (when they ramp up due to temperature).

I haven't changed anything in the BIOS. The only thing I did was remove AI Suite 3, which was making my mouse incredibly laggy. That was a few weeks ago. Hard to tell when the pump noise started again, but it was definitely after that.
If your pump's "RPM" is up around ~3000 that should be full power. (LPM is what actually matters if we could easily measure it)

The DC mode and full voltage options is only available for some headers, but the bios for asrock x399 boards are all basically the same - the power option comes up after you change the mode from PWM to DC. Integrated pumps are meant to run all out but radiator fans on a cpu linked PWM header is my usual way too, no need to be louder when its idle.
I believe I have it set the way you suggest. I've attached a screenshot.
 

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I am not saying this is your issue, but check the other enermax thread. Check your temps and that there is no corrosion around the tubes and fill ports just to make sure.
 
I am not saying this is your issue, but check the other enermax thread. Check your temps and that there is no corrosion around the tubes and fill ports just to make sure.
I figured it out, though I'm pretty disappointed. Even though the noise is almost the same (hard to tell for sure because of noisy servers), but it looks like it's the middle fan on the Enermax 360. If I stop it with my fingers, the sound goes away. That would explain why it ramps up when the fans do.

Guess I'll have to contact Enermax. I wonder if there are some better fans I should use instead.
 
Well if it's just a fan then that's a good thing. :) I don't know if I would bother with enermax's warranty for the fan you'll probably have to pay to ship it back most likely so IMHO just get a decent replacement I found this article on Google: https://www.consumermentor.com/best-radiator-fans/
I think that's what I'll do. I was hoping someone here could make a recommendation. It's nice and quiet now. The only issue at this point is they do seem to speed up/slow down at random times. I don't know if there's a way to change the sampling threshold of when they should change speed, but this is ridiculous.

I moved the entire rack of servers back into our storage room, so I hear EVERYTHING now, lol.
 
Fan control is 100% up to the MB by default, you can change the temp source each header uses in the asrock bios. Off the top of my head the very fast changing temp source on X399 is called "tctrl" in asrock, its technically the most accurate(?) but cpus really do change thermals quite fast. Ironically the better your cooler is the quicker your temps will drop like a rock when it goes to idle.

In PWM mode each header also has several default options for fan RPM (quiet, normal, performance, full power: something like that) but you can usually do a custom curve too.

Just be sure your pump stays on full which is ~3k for both of my 280 enermax, no good reason to vary that speed.
 
Fan control is 100% up to the MB by default, you can change the temp source each header uses in the asrock bios. Off the top of my head the very fast changing temp source on X399 is called "tctrl" in asrock, its technically the most accurate(?) but cpus really do change thermals quite fast. Ironically the better your cooler is the quicker your temps will drop like a rock when it goes to idle.

In PWM mode each header also has several default options for fan RPM (quiet, normal, performance, full power: something like that) but you can usually do a custom curve too.

Just be sure your pump stays on full which is ~3k for both of my 280 enermax, no good reason to vary that speed.
Cool. I'll play with it a bit.

Any recommendations on the RGB fan kit I linked above? I'd like to be able to control them in Asus Aura. Just started playing with it, and it's awesome.
 
that fan kit needs to use corsair link to control them so prob wont work with the asus stuff, unless they add support for corsair. also they are only ~44cfm, make sure that's not a downgrade from the enermaxs.
 
that fan kit needs to use corsair link to control them so prob wont work with the asus stuff, unless they add support for corsair. also they are only ~44cfm, make sure that's not a downgrade from the enermaxs.
I'm new to the whole RGB stuff. There's at least one RGB header on the motherboard. I can't use that? As for fan speed, I'm not too worried, since I'm not overclocking. I may some day. Who knows. I can't even get the damned RAM to run at full speed....

I set the fans to PWW and "Quiet" for the profile and they're great now. I don't know what the change to temps were, as I had to remove that POS Asus AI Suite 3, because it was lagging the entire computer. What does everyone use nowadays to monitor CPU/mobo temps?
 
it might, it might not. youd have to check to see if the mobo can control it or not or check the website. rgb is so disjointed its stupid, hardly any of the manufacturers work with the others control software. if they are just regular rgb pins you should be able to control it. if its a usb header it needs its own software and might not.

you can just use afterburner and enable everything you want to see in the options. if you dont enable logging youll still get ~5 min on the graph.
 
watery noise brought me here
Lol. It's been a fun thread. I've had two different "watery noises" so far. I still can't believe the fan made that same noise... took me a while to figure it out. I've had many a fan fail, but this one is just weird sounding.
it might, it might not. youd have to check to see if the mobo can control it or not or check the website. rgb is so disjointed its stupid, hardly any of the manufacturers work with the others control software. if they are just regular rgb pins you should be able to control it. if its a usb header it needs its own software and might not.

you can just use afterburner and enable everything you want to see in the options. if you dont enable logging youll still get ~5 min on the graph.
So is there any way to "daisy chain" three RGB fans (bought separately) and plug them into one 4-pin RGB header? I know you can do that with the strip LED lights (ie: Philips Hue).

On a side note, I don't see any system monitoring tools on the Asus page for my motherboard. It looks like they removed AI Suite 3, which worked great... but made the machine laggy.
 
So is there any way to "daisy chain" three RGB fans (bought separately) and plug them into one 4-pin RGB header? I know you can do that with the strip LED lights (ie: Philips Hue).
not sure about that but pretty sure you need a controller of some sort. i think there is a kit of those fans that comes with one.
ais3 is ancient maybe it was causing more issues than its worth at the moment. not sure.
 
Lol. It's been a fun thread. I've had two different "watery noises" so far. I still can't believe the fan made that same noise... took me a while to figure it out. I've had many a fan fail, but this one is just weird sounding.

So is there any way to "daisy chain" three RGB fans (bought separately) and plug them into one 4-pin RGB header? I know you can do that with the strip LED lights (ie: Philips Hue).

On a side note, I don't see any system monitoring tools on the Asus page for my motherboard. It looks like they removed AI Suite 3, which worked great... but made the machine laggy.
I haven't heard any gurgling in mine. Usually (real) water gurgling is a sign there is some air in your loop. You would need to add a little coolant in that case, but as long as the temps stay reasonable, it isn't something to worry about.

Depends on what you mean by daisy chain. Do you mean the fan function? The fan connector that comes with the Enermax Liqtech TR4 360 will connect 3x pwm fans. I would make sure the fans are plugged into a header that can handle >1 amp though (most handle 1.0 amp / 12w max).
The ASrock Taichi x399 has 2 header that handle 1.5a (18w) meant to drive either a pump as power hungry as the D5 pumps or daisy-chained fans. It sucks about your experience with the Asrock board. I had a Gigabyte Aorus gaming 7 x399, and that one died. I replaced that with the Asrock TaiChi. My suspicion was that a fan header blew on the Gigabyte board and took something else out with it.

If you mean strictly the leds, then I am not sure what you use for that, but I suspect there might be some way to daisy-chain those.

The Enermax Liqtech coolers have been getting some bad usage results lately. It seems they get bio crud buildup over time and need to be cleaned or replaced. I am keeping a close watch on mine and if (when) it gets that way I will be replacing it with a custom water cooling setup. So far my TR 1950X isn't getting any hotter than 56c (Tdie)/ 83c (Tctl).
 
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I haven't heard any gurgling in mine. Usually (real) water gurgling is a sign there is some air in your loop. You would need to add a little coolant in that case, but as long as the temps stay reasonable, it isn't something to worry about.
This is actually my first closed-loop system. I've been watercooling since I had to mill my own blocks at the machine shop with a tupperware container as a reservoir with an Eheim aquarium pump and shitty poly tubing, lol. Things have come a long way. You can have noise without air. If the voltage drops too low, the flow becomes turbulent and makes noise.

Depends on what you mean by daisy chain. Do you mean the fan function? The fan connector that comes with the Enermax Liqtech TR4 360 will connect 3x pwm fans. I would make sure the fans are plugged into a header that can handle >1 amp though (most handle 1.0 amp / 12w max).
The ASrock Taichi x399 has 2 header that handle 1.5a (18w) meant to drive either a pump as power hungry as the D5 pumps or daisy-chained fans.
I was talking about the RGB function. It's been a while since I installed it, but I'm pretty sure the fans are just regular fans that connect into a 3-way splitter.

It sucks about your experience with the Asrock board. I had a Gigabyte Aorus gaming 7 x399, and that one died. I replaced that with the Asrock TaiChi. My suspicion was that a fan header blew on the Gigabyte board and took something else out with it.
Yeah, I actually liked the board a lot. I still have a brand-new replacement from RMA that I need to sell. From what I understand, it was just a bad batch in the early stages of production, and they've fixed it now. The Asus is a good board too, however. There's no reason for me to swap boards at this time.

If you mean strictly the leds, then I am not sure what you use for that, but I suspect there might be some way to daisy-chain those.
Yeah... that was my question. I'll just need to do some more research, as I really don't know much about doing custom RGB stuff. I just enjoy what is on the board, RAM, etc. I haven't even goofed around with those much. I just picked a profile in the Aura app that I liked and haven't touched it since. All I want to do is replace the three non-lighted Enermax fans with three that are RGB, and somehow plug all three of those into the empty 4-pin RGB header at the top of the Asus motherboard.

The Enermax Liqtech coolers have been getting some bad usage results lately. It seems they get bio crud buildup over time and need to be cleaned or replaced. I am keeping a close watch on mine and if (when) it gets that way I will be replacing it with a custom water cooling setup. So far my TR 1950X isn't getting any hotter than 56c (Tdie)/ 83c (Tctl).
I have seen that also, just today, looking at the NewEgg reviews. When I bought it, there were only a few reviews. I don't remember what my temps were when I put the thing together, but MSI afterburner says it's 62C. Not sure if that's good, but keep in mind, I have it on the "quiet" PWM profile in BIOS, and have unplugged the middle fan, which was making all the racket. I also have an open case for the first time ever (pic attached). Not sure if that helps or hurts, as I know some people are crazy about setting up "case airflow" for best CPU temps. I haven't paid attention to that crap in 10 years. The last chip I overclocked was my AMD FX8320. It was 3.5ghz stock, but ran at 4.0ghz all day long at stock voltage with a decent air cooler, and quiet case fans. It was such an easy overclock, I couldn't resist. I don't think I'll OC my TR 1950. I just need to spend some time to get the stupid memory up to speed. I bought the nice G.Skill PC3200 stuff, but I can't get it to run anywhere near that speed. It's sitting at 1050mhz or so right now. :(
 

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Yeah... that was my question. I'll just need to do some more research, as I really don't know much about doing custom RGB stuff. I just enjoy what is on the board, RAM, etc. I haven't even goofed around with those much. I just picked a profile in the Aura app that I liked and haven't touched it since. All I want to do is replace the three non-lighted Enermax fans with three that are RGB, and somehow plug all three of those into the empty 4-pin RGB header at the top of the Asus motherboard.

You can use something like this, just keep in mind that 12v and 5v RGB are incompatible and headers have a limit to how many LEDs can be powered from a single one(three fans shouldn't be an issue but check your MB manual).
 
This is actually my first closed-loop system. I've been watercooling since I had to mill my own blocks at the machine shop with a tupperware container as a reservoir with an Eheim aquarium pump and shitty poly tubing, lol. Things have come a long way. You can have noise without air. If the voltage drops too low, the flow becomes turbulent and makes noise.
lol Those old eheim pumps and tupperware. Been there too :D


I was talking about the RGB function. It's been a while since I installed it, but I'm pretty sure the fans are just regular fans that connect into a 3-way splitter.
Ah! gotcha!

Yeah, I actually liked the board a lot. I still have a brand-new replacement from RMA that I need to sell. From what I understand, it was just a bad batch in the early stages of production, and they've fixed it now. The Asus is a good board too, however. There's no reason for me to swap boards at this time.

I normally love Asus as my vendor of choice. I'm not all that impressed with their TR offerings though. So far I am really liking the Asrock TaiChi.

Yeah... that was my question. I'll just need to do some more research, as I really don't know much about doing custom RGB stuff. I just enjoy what is on the board, RAM, etc. I haven't even goofed around with those much. I just picked a profile in the Aura app that I liked and haven't touched it since. All I want to do is replace the three non-lighted Enermax fans with three that are RGB, and somehow plug all three of those into the empty 4-pin RGB header at the top of the Asus motherboard.

I would guess that the led strips are internally wired up in parallel so daisy chaining should be ok as long as the amperage doesn't get too high on that led header. Serial internal wiring would mean they need a hella lot of voltage on that header. Since all you get in a PC is 12v so I am pretty sure that the parallel wiring is what is happening there. I really haven't farted around with lights since my *really* old build having a bunch of ccfl tubes. I don't even bother with clear case sides anymore.

I have seen that also, just today, looking at the NewEgg reviews. When I bought it, there were only a few reviews. I don't remember what my temps were when I put the thing together, but MSI afterburner says it's 62C. Not sure if that's good, but keep in mind, I have it on the "quiet" PWM profile in BIOS, and have unplugged the middle fan, which was making all the racket. I also have an open case for the first time ever (pic attached). Not sure if that helps or hurts, as I know some people are crazy about setting up "case airflow" for best CPU temps. I haven't paid attention to that crap in 10 years. The last chip I overclocked was my AMD FX8320. It was 3.5ghz stock, but ran at 4.0ghz all day long at stock voltage with a decent air cooler, and quiet case fans. It was such an easy overclock, I couldn't resist. I don't think I'll OC my TR 1950. I just need to spend some time to get the stupid memory up to speed. I bought the nice G.Skill PC3200 stuff, but I can't get it to run anywhere near that speed. It's sitting at 1050mhz or so right now. :(

I posted in Kyle's Enermax Liqteck review thread here with some pictures of what one owner found in his loop. I suspect that if it gets that gunked up the rad would be pretty plugged as well. As mentioned I am keeping a close watch on mine and have a care package of custom LC bits on the boat from China so I'll be ready if it goes tits-up. (y)
 
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