What's this noise ?
What's this noise ?
You have a rare (every 30 seconds) hissing or sizzling sound coming from your PC. I worry it might mean your Corsair AIO is malfunctioning, possibly leaking onto a hot surface, but I haven’t seen any liquid or moisture inside and haven’t noticed coolant levels dropping as if the system was running out.
How could an 18-month-old Corsair AIO fail?
Another possibility is a bearing in a case fan, though I’d expect it to make a consistent noise rather than just occasional sizzling.
This is urgent because we’re near Christmas and need anything fixed or ordered quickly!
Would you like me to post a video to help illustrate the issue?
a video would assist, along with complete system specifications, but there’s no component in a PC that generates enough heat to produce a sizzling noise from a leaking AIO. it would need to instantly boil the water, reaching at least 100 degrees, otherwise nothing would be that hot. if it dripped onto power rails inside your PSU, you’d encounter sparks and blown fuses. if you don’t notice any coolant residue on anything or around the hoses, joints, or radiator, it’s unlikely to be a leak—possibly the AIO pump is failing, fan bearings are worn, or another issue exists.
Here we are...
This is the sound from 50 seconds. According to the link, you'll notice normal system noise initially, followed by hissing after one minute.
The system runs an i9 13900k with 128GB RAM, an RTX 4080, a full set of NVME drives, SSDs, and spinning SATA drives.
All Corsair fans are in the 18-month age range.
that sounds very... odd... my initial reaction was imagining sand inside a vacuum cleaner LOL
maybe a torn dust filter is getting caught in a fan, so check everything—ensure nothing is obstructing your fans, that there are no kinks in the AIO hose, etc...
you might hear hissing from air trapped in a cooler pump, but this should be avoided by keeping the radiator at the highest point (as you already do), which would help maintain stable temperatures
if there was sufficient air in the cooler to cause this issue, it’s unlikely you’d experience consistent stable temperatures
i still believe unplugging all the case fans and observing whether the noise persists, then unplugging the AIO fans to see if the sound remains
if the noise continues, the only possibility is the pump (edit: possibly a broken spinning HDD, which usually produces a distinct clicking sound) anyone else heard something similar?
Not the supporters – they’ve managed to stop them, and the sound remains. I’m featuring the best AIO fans here. It’s tough to identify the noise beyond being in the back of the setup. Also, it isn’t the GPU – those fans aren’t spinning. The issue seems to be more severe today. (remembering I didn’t encounter this problem until lunchtime yesterday!)
do you have any method to check or test your pc with another cooler before spending money just in case? many pc shops will have spare parts they can use for troubleshooting if you bring your pc in. but i think the cooler is the main issue, since nothing else seems to be making a sound like that, though i might still be mistaken. if the problem is getting worse, have your thermal paste changed yet?
You're always safe by turning off the pump. The CPU won't overheat immediately and can simply slow itself down. Still, it seems a replacement might be necessary. Reach out to Corsair. In the meantime, you could grab an affordable Thermalright cooler—they offer solid performance for the price.
I'm getting a new cooler tomorrow, so I can do some testing if needed, right? It looks like the most probable choice is now, doesn't it? I'll also bring the pump cable tonight to check if that stops the noise and confirms it.
It's also worth noting that temperatures seem a bit higher today too—just a little increase, but noticeable. (especially since I have a big liquid temperature display on top... 😂)