AIO Pump wrong rpm

[Deepcuts]

Hello,

Searched a bit for other topics on the same problem but could not find any. My apologies in advance if this is has been discussed in the past.

NZXT Kraken X62 and Asus maximus X HERO

Kraken X62 USB is plugged into a USB header on the MB.
Kraken X62 AIO plug in plugged into AIO header on MB
The two radiator fans are plugged in CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT


The problem is if I cut the power via the PSU power button, at next boot the AIO pump will work in silent mode (low rpm).
I have to start CAM software to make the pump operate at full speed. If I do not cut the power from the PSU, the pump will retain it's settings.
At least for my build, the pump speed makes quite a difference in CPU temperatures so I would like to run it at full speed all the time without CAM.

I am not 100% sure if Kraken X62 pump can be controlled via the AIO pump header on the MB or only via the USB header, but the rpm readings from the MB are a bit strange. Might be the reason why the pump does not run at full speed after a a PSU shutdown?
In BIOS I set the AIO pump to run at 100%.


Values after I start CAM once and I do not cut the power from PSU

BIOS show 5500+ rpm while the max speed of the pump is ~2.700 rpm


HWInfo shows ~2.700 rpm


Ai Suite also shows 5500+ rpm



BIOS values after I cut the power from PSU.

Pump is in silence mode now (~1200 rpm), but BIOS shows it is running close to max rpm.

[Raja]

A few things:

1) Can you share how you've set the AIo header in UEFI? Disabling Q_Fan control for the AIO header should result in the pump running at full speed all the time, unless the NZXT AIO has some kind of fallback mode which runs it at reduced speed until it sees a PWM signal. The POST process usually results in a small delay before the firmware config for fans is applied - that might be causing an issue, but cannot be certain.

2) It's likely the NZXT software reads the RPM via the USB connection, and its possible HWinfo does, too. If there is a difference, it's likely due to the standards the pump follows for RPM reporting. The onboard headers are supposed to be Intel fan control compliant.

[Deepcuts]

AIO header is set to Auto in BIOS.
Will test with AIO header with Q_FAN disabled and report back.

[Raja]

Q-FAN to disabled runs that header at full speed. Not sure how you were setting things up.

[Deepcuts]

Disabled Q-Fan for AIO header.
Saved settings and turned off the power to my PSU.
Powered back the PSU and I see the same thing.
BIOS and AI Suite report ~2200 rpm for AIO. Meaning the pump runs in silence mode (low rpm)
HWInfo reports ~1100 rpm.
Started CAM and the pump went full speed @ ~2700 rpm
As far as I can see BIOS sees double the real rpm of the pump and does not make the pump run at 100% even with Q-Fan disabled.

Might be an incompatibility between Kraken X62 and X HERO, at least in the way the MB reads the pump rpm.

[Menthol]

Have you tried with the USB connection disconnected

[Deepcuts]

Menthol wrote:
Have you tried with the USB connection disconnected

Unplugged the AIO USB from the MB and now the BIOS does not show any rpm readings.
I guess Kraken X62 needs the USB for powering up the pump and the AIO pump plug only reports the rpm but does not allow controlling the speed.

I think I have miss understood the way I can control this AIO.
I was under the impression that the USB was only for controlling lights and reading liquid temperature. But it seems I wrong.
later edit: just found a blog post from a NZXT rep. saying: "the cable running from the pump to the CPU_FAN header only reports pump speeds. The actual readings are being reported via the USB cable."

Nevertheless, if anyone knows a way to make the pump speed go 100% all the time without CAM software, please share.

[Raja]

In that case, you will need the software.

[Carbonicdk]

I have a X62 too. My finding is that the fan connector on the X62 which goes on the CPU header is for avoiding missing CPU cooler errors. If you computer looses power whatever setting you have made in CAM is reset to default.

NZXT likes their CAM software, they currently have a PR issue because it collected so much telemetry about their users and while it's better now, it's still clear they want it to run all their hardware.

All in all, connect it to the CPU header and set it to 100% in bios and run CAM to control it. If you don't want it spying on you, disable it's internet in Windows Firewall and use it's offline mode. You don't have to have CAM running but that's the only way to get notifications if the pump stops working.

[Deepcuts]

Carbonicdk wrote:
You don't have to have CAM running but that's the only way to get notifications if the pump stops working.

An alternative is to run hwinfo at boot.
Right click the Pump section and click Alert Settings.
You can define an alert if the pump runs below some value.


Still, I wonder why my BIOS shows double the actual rpm of the pump. Would be nice to show the real value, not that it matters so much given that the BIOS cannot control it.