question about temp sensing in AIO coolers - Solved

[Gorlash]

My previous system was i7-3820, 32GB RAM, Gigabyte MB, Corsair H100i Pro RGB cooler, CorsairLink software. I was *stunned* with how effective this system was for cooling!! I set the cooling curve for 0% at 20C, 50% at 40C, 100% at 60C. This worked great; the system sat at around 30C when Idle, and even with high-performance modern games, the cpu cores rarely went above about 45C. The thing is, the cooling curve was based upon cpu temperature... that makes sense, doesn't it?? We want to set the cooler performance based upon cpu temperature??

So last week, I decided to upgrade my 8-year-old system; I now have Ryzen 7 3700X, Asus X570 MB, Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT cooler, and iCue software... but temperature control is very strange; it appears to me that the cooler is *not* looking at cpu temperature, it's looking at some other sensor. So I posted a question on the Corsair cooler forums, and someone there (who was not a forum expert) told me that the cooler does not look at cpu temperature, it looks at the coolant temp. The problem is (if it *is* a problem, I'm not sure, which is part of my question here), that the coolant temp is *not* really reflecting the cpu temp... at idle, cpu is floating at 40C, but coolant temp is about 26C...

Admittedly, these are okay temps... I've been running an older game which uses CPU vs GPU (Might & Magic 6), and cpu temps are running at about 50C (confirmed via Ryzen Master, HwMonitor, and Speccy)... but the cooler shows temps being about 30C. I'll admit, these still are not problematic temps, but I've uncomfortable about the cooler *not* basing its settings on cpu temp... the entire reason that the cooler exists is to control the cpu temp!!

Am I misunderstanding things here?? I really think the cooler should be acting directly on cpu temps...

One reason that I'm concerned, is that the H115i cooling plate came with some default cooling paste on it, and I just went with that... but I had purchased a tube of Arctic MX-4 paste that I was originally planning to use. The responder on the Corsair forum said that the paste is fine, temps are fine, don't worry about it... but a 15C difference between cpu temp and coolant temp (at idle) doesn't really sound like the heat is being transferred efficiently to the cooler...

Any thoughts on this?? I would *really* like some knowledgeable insights into what I'm experiencing here!!

 

[pendragon1]

you can change that setting in icue, so it reacts to cpu temp. corsair aios can work either way. when based on water temp you can keep fans lower for the short bursts of cpu temp because the flow of water is enough to take the heat away. until there is a sustained load that start to actually raise the water temp there is no need for the fans to ramp up. with it set to cpu temp youll get unneeded fan ramping.
the paste they use is good stuff, as long as you get a good mount.
and your temps are fine.
edit: in icue, set you fan control to custom and then change the sensor between cpu/pump(water temp sensor in the pump)

 

[Gorlash]

you can change that setting in icue, so it reacts to cpu temp. corsair aios can work either way. when based on water temp you can keep fans lower for the short bursts of cpu temp because the flow of water is enough to take the heat away. until there is a sustained load that start to actually raise the water temp there is no need for the fans to ramp up. with it set to cpu temp youll get unneeded fan ramping.
the paste they use is good stuff, as long as you get a good mount.
and your temps are fine.
edit: in icue set you fan control to custom and then change the sesor between cpu/pump(water temp sensor in the pump)

Wow... well, your input is certainly more credible than the other was!!
But, I still would much prefer that it look at cpu temp for its decisions... how do I do that?? I don't see any way to get there...

 

[pendragon1]

Wow... well, your input is certainly more credible than the other was!!
But, I still would much prefer that it look at cpu temp for its decisions... how do I do that?? I don't see any way to get there...

this image might help. create a custom profile and then manually set the pump and fan speeds. if you set it to cpu temp i would keep your fans flatlined at whatever low speed you want until cpu temp starts exceeding your normal cpu "spike" temps, prob ~45c, then max at like 70ish.

edit: just noticed that the graph they show shouldnt be set for pump, thats a curve appropriate for cpu temp. you woulnt wat you water temp to get up to 70c.

edit2: this is sorta how i would set it for water temp but usually i would just got for a straight line from like 35c up to 45. take out all those little steps.

 

[Gorlash]

this image might help. create a custom profile and then manually set the pump and fan speeds. if you set it to cpu temp i would keep your fans flatlined at whatever low speed you want until cpu temp starts exceeding your normal cpu "spike" temps, prob ~45c, then max at like 70ish.

edit: just noticed that the graph they show shouldnt be set for pump, thats a curve appropriate for cpu temp. you woulnt wat you water temp to get up to 70c.

edit2: this is sorta how i would set it for water temp but usually i would just got for a straight line from like 35c up to 45. take out all those little steps.

I think I'm missing something here... These are the settings that I'm using now... but it doesn't change the fact that the temp that they are showing on the right, are *still* coolant temps, not cpu temps... and that 29.70C that they are showing, is *well* below the 45C that the other programs are showing for the cpu !!

 

[pendragon1]

I think I'm missing something here... These are the settings that I'm using now... but it doesn't change the fact that the temp that they are showing on the right, are *still* coolant temps, not cpu temps... and that 29.70C that they are showing, is *well* below the 45C that the other programs are showing for the cpu !!

click the 3 line menu thing next to it. you are missing the drop-down menu above the curve window... ice up to date?
edit: but that is basically my setup, just my low fan speed is at like 20%.

 

[Gorlash]

click the 3 line menu thing next to it. you are missing the drop-down menu above the curve window... ice up to date?
edit: but that is basically my setup, just my low fan speed is at like 20%.

*am* I using an old version? I have 3.37.140...
When I click on the three-line icon next to any of those four objects, I get two options: 'Unpin from dash' and 'Pin to space'. Selecting either of those, does not do anything visible on my machine!!!
Damn, I feel like I'm operating in the wrong world...

 

[Gorlash]

*am* I using an old version? I have 3.37.140 (later: no, that's current)...
When I click on the three-line icon next to any of those four objects, I get two options: 'Unpin from dash' and 'Pin to space'. Selecting either of those, does not do anything visible on my machine!!!
Damn, I feel like I'm operating in the wrong world...

NO!! I got it!! The Sensor label above the graph, is a pull-down menu... one of the options is 'AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Package' ... Once I select that, it is looking at the cpu temps, supposedly...
Okay, let me experiment with this for awhile... sadly, the 'temp' field is still showing coolant temp, not cpu temp... but as soon as I selected AMD package, it fired up the fans until the cpu was down below 40C (currently at 35C)...

Okay, I (think I) know what is going on now...

Thank you, pendragon1 !!!

 

[pendragon1]

look for "check for updates" in the top menu somewhere.
oh ok.
dont we all sometimes....
edit: do you have the usb cable hooked up? nm silly q if you see the pump temp. maybe reinstall. there should be that dropdown....

edit2: motherboard control suites, like the asus one, can take over and cause the dropdown to not show as it doesnt detect the cpu sensor with them running. got one running? or other monitoring software?

 

[Gorlash]

One of the problems that I had with this upgrade...
well, there were *two* problems...
1. I had abandoned doing my own system builds many years ago... every time I tried to replace core hardware in the past (15+ years ago), I ended up with a couple of days of real headaches, and when things went wrong, I didn't have an alternate machine to fall back on, which made troubleshooting very difficult. So I long ago decided I wasn't going to do custom builds any more; I would just buy custom builds from 'reputable' companies... the problem being, of course, that 'reputable' is a relative term; but that's what I've been doing for many years now.
2. When I *did* decide to upgrade my current machine this time, I decided to replace almost *everything*, all at once... the main component that I wanted to keep was my

VENGEANCE® C70 Mid-Tower Gaming Case — Military Green​

I *love* that case; it looks so cool, and *everything* is easily accessible...
So I replaced motherboard, cpu, memory, boot drive (I now have a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 NVMe drive!! It simply *cruises* !!!), and eventually the cooler as well, which is a separate story... but this was certainly pushing my luck!

The difference now, is that there is a massive load of credible guidance for doing a build, which didn't exist in the early 2000s and before... so I spent a month carefully researching every step of the process... and the result is, that almost everything just fell into place and worked... the only issues that I've had, are a couple of software install issues, and this ambiguity about how to handle the cooler... and I now have a system which hopefully will carry me for another 10 years or so...

 

[Gorlash]

BTW, is there some way that I can mark this thread as *solved* ?? Many boards encourage that, and my issue *is* solved... but I don't see any 'solved' button...

 

[pendragon1]

BTW, is there some way that I can mark this thread as *solved* ?? Many boards encourage that, and my issue *is* solved... but I don't see any 'solved' button...

theres an edit button at the top of the page on the right. you can edit the title and add "solved" or close it if you want.
edit: i totally missed the post where you said you got it going. good stuff.

 

[Gorlash]

Just as a final follow-up, I've been playing M&M6, which loads the cpu pretty thoroughly... Now, with this technique implemented, and iCue actually acting on cpu temperature, I'm running a steady 45C with the game running; previously, it was going up to high 50s... I realize that this supposedly is still fine for the cpu, but the point is that the cooler is actually doing its job now!!
With system idle, cpu is sitting at around 32C... very nice!!!

As for noise, the cooler fans are noticeable when game is active, but it is in NO way objectionable...