The AIO pump is producing sound while CPU usage remains elevated.
The AIO pump is producing sound while CPU usage remains elevated.
Hello everyone. This prebuilt has been running for about a year and a half, but I’ve had to swap out one of the AIO pumps recently—it looks like the second one is about to fail. Over the past couple of days there’s been a loud, high-pitched sound (like a card hitting the blades), and after opening the case, dust was cleared with Q-tips. It keeps making noise and suddenly stopped due to CPU overheating. I think it shut down because it got too hot, though it didn’t report anything when I turned it back on. This fan is my second one, and I’d need to replace it in another year and a half.
I’m not sure if I’m not cleaning the PC enough or if I’m skipping deep cleans. I mostly use compressed air and don’t take the fan off for maintenance. My cat has long fur, so maybe hair is getting into the vents? Or perhaps something in my BIOS is intentionally throttling performance? The AIO pump speed shows N/A but was listed as running at 40°, while it usually hits around 50°. After rebooting, it jumped to 74°—so it shut down again. I thought maybe a BIOS setting was disabled, which could mean my RAM was underperforming all this time. Since that seemed odd, I disabled it, wondering if the BIOS had an issue.
When I replaced the first fan, it ran at 40° and averaged about 50°. After shutdown, it started at 74° and I tried to clean again. Now it’s averaging around 65° after over 25 minutes of use. I’m not playing games or streaming, but I’m still on my PC for 12–16 hours daily, smoking cigarettes and marijuana for about 12 to 16 hours each day. Could these habits be affecting things?
I’ve attached some pictures for reference, though they might not be clear. I hope someone can help me figure out what’s going on. Thanks in advance for any advice. P.S. The photos aren’t great, but I tried to capture what I thought would be useful.
It's the AIO pump you're using. It's linked to my CPU and has a fan on the back panel. I think because it has a fan sometimes I call it an AIO pump, while the CPU fan isn't always running. Sigh, I guessed that too. Another thing: I purchased a 120mm pump. Is that sufficient for a Ryzen 5 3600 and the 2060 Super or should I upgrade to something like 140 or higher? Am I using these pumps excessively? Is it normal for them to last about seven months?
Sorry I didn't notice people couldn't enlarge the images. I've been chatting with Amazon for a replacement as quickly as possible. Actually, the noise comes from the fan, not the block connected to the CPU, and I don't think I have radiators. It's a Kraken M22. Here are some screenshots I took. I wasn't aware how poor the photos were. I'm unsure if I can capture my bios, but here are the current readings. Really sorry for the low-quality images. P.S. I'm not very clever—I do have a radiator. I connected it to the fan and then placed them on the backplate of the PC. So maybe the issue is with the fans themselves.
Looking for a way to show the actual build? I'm trying to determine how everything is positioned. The M22 definitely includes a radiator, the fan should be attached to that, and the radiator/fan unit should be secured to what appears to be the back of your case. In this model, the pump is located in the center of the radiator, so any sound would likely come from there. The pump is the square part in the middle without fins. If you can silence the fan with a finger while still hearing the noise, it's the pump; if the noise stops when the fan is turned off, then the fan is the issue. I suggest replacing it with a good tower cooler like a Hyper 212 or Vetroo V5 and removing the 120mm AIO setup, as it has caused many problems.
I faced problems with NZXT fans too, especially on my Kraken X61, which was loud and stopped working after months. Fortunately, the shop provided me with better Noctua models as replacements. If the issue lies with the fan itself, it’s usually easy to swap it out. As @mike_seps mentioned, you can try manually adjusting the fan while the system runs to check if that’s the source of the noise.
Hopefully these images are sufficient. The room is quite dim, and my lights are at maximum brightness. My phone is about to die—it’s an old S8+ that I’ve dropped 150 times. It’s a NZXT Kraken M22 I purchased from Amazon. They told me I need to use their authorized service, but Amazon offers next-day shipping. Since I live in a small town with no local store, and the site charges $120 extra for same-day delivery, I might skip my warranty and opt for a cheaper deal on Amazon right now. I’m aware this isn’t ideal, but I don’t want to wait. I suspect the cord is too thick and probably shouldn’t be there. I didn’t have ties, and it’s so rigid it won’t bend. I’m just leaving it as it is.
Those images seem quite low quality too. Please don’t be upset. It was saved in 3:4 format and I turned on the flash. I’m not sure if I’m being silly or not. Why are the pictures so small? I planned to take them but wasn’t sure it would affect viewers. I stopped the fan because the radiator was making that noise, which caught me off guard—I thought it was just the fan.
Because the radiator is faulty, could I just purchase the component separately for around 20 or 30 dollars instead of buying an entire AIO? Are all units equipped with identical screw holes in the same location so they fit together easily? Don’t worry about AIOs being difficult to open or refill—just let me know!
It's the actual pump inside the radiator that matters. Since this is your second unit and budget is limited, I still recommend a solid tower cooler. Fewer issues should arise, especially with proper thermal paste application. You'd likely get comparable or even better performance than with a 120mm AIO. Just my opinion.