"Standard" Windows Service to control and monitor NZXT liquid cooler (Kraken X41/X61)
NZXT was NOT involved in this project, do NOT contact them if your device is damaged while using this software.
I will NOT accept any responsibility for any damage done to your hardware.
I have a desktop built with MSI motherboard, Corsair power supply and NZXT Kraken cooler. Each of these comes with an application to control my hardware. MSI has two apps!. Each was build with .NET framework and eats half gigabyte (or more) of RAM drawing pretty pictures of computer internals, most of the time doing nothing useful - this is not related to actual work. Out of all of them NZXT CAM is most difficult to avoid - if you want to control noise you must have it running. So here is a replacement which attempts to get out of the way as much as possible. It does not have user interface (use PerfMon - it provides counters for all variables that matter), logs proper events (use EventVwr), knows how to work quietly even when user is not logged on and uses 6MB of memory. It would not ask for connection to your Google or Facebook accounts and would not try to upload you data to Azure.
To understand what to do I looked at leviathan and analyzed several consecutive CAM 3.0 versions. In my code I tried to stick to what CAM does with Kraken as much as possible. Presently this service assumes that you have single CPU (with multiple cores) and single NZXT Kraken X41/X61 cooler (it checks for USB Vendor/Product ID "2433:b200"). I am not interested in flashing LEDs on pump (my case is closed and sits under the desk) - but this is realtivly simple to add.
To get CPU temperatures CAM is using CPUID SDK - so naturally Squid is doing the same. Since you paid for NZXT Kraken and NZXT purchased cpuid sdk I am assuming you could extract platform specific version (1.1.4.2) of cpuidskd dll from CAMV2.Hardware.dll assembly (part of CAM installation). Use excellent JetBrains dotPeek for that, its free. Just look under Resources for CAMV2.Hardware.Detect.cpuidsdk.dll or CAMV2.Hardware.Detect.cpuidsdk64.dll (depending on Windows you are running). Rename resulting dll to cpuidsdk.dll or cpuidsdk64.dll and place it into the same directory as SquidSrv.exe.
Kraken presents itself as Asetek VI USB Device (which it is) and CAM communicates with it via old version of Silicon Labs Direct Access Drivers. Drivers are part of CAM installation (subdirectory KrakenDriver) and SDK is freely available form Silicon Labs: Direct Access Driver Software. Note: you need legacy SDK version 3.51 (yes, it works on Windows 10) to get proper SiUSBXp.dll.
It could be much simpler if you install CAM first, make sure everything works, copy what is necessary - before trying to run Squid. As a bonus it will take care of installing proper Kraken USB divers.
Since Kraken device is being opened in exclusive mode you cannot run CAM and Squid simultaneously!
Copy Squid binaries into directory of your choice (I am using "C:\Program Files\Squid"). Add cpuidsdk dll and SiUSBXp.dll (mind proper platform - 32 vs 64 bits). Step into this directory. Using elevated command prompt issue following commands (note, that lodctr needs FULL path):
SquidSrv.exe -install
lodctr "/M:C:\Program Files\Squid\SquidSrv.man
This is standard Windows service which supports normal controls - use "Services" management control as you would with any other service (start, stop, pause, continue).
Service could be customized if necessary using following registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Squid\Parameters\General- Hysteresis (REG_DWORD) 0/1 - same as hysteresis in CAM
- Profile (REG_SZ) - name of currently used temperature profile
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Squid\Parameters\Profiles- Performance (REG_BINARY) - 20 byte array with CAM "performance" temperature profile
- Silent (REG_BINARY) - 20 byte array with CAM "silent" temperature profile
- Fixed (REG_BINARY) - 20 byte array temperature profile I am using
Each profile array keeps pump (and fan) speed values in percents, covering 0 to 100 degrees Celcius in 5 degree steps.
When service is running you can observe operational values using Windows PerfMon:
I experimented with multiple ways of connecting NZXT Kraken. Quietest and by far the most maintainable and flexible way is to ignore NZXT installation manual and connect pump header to any SYSFAN motherboard header (rather than recommended CPUFAN header) while connecting Kraken fans directly to motherboard CPUFAN headers (rather than recommended Kraken connectors from pump). Just do not forget to set SYSFAN control in BIOS to 100%.
Use Visual Studio 2015 Community edition to open and build solution. Do not forget to get UsbExpress header and libraries from here. Just copy content of "SiLabs\MCU\USBXpress\USBXpress_API\Host" directory into usbexpress subdirectory of this project.
- My code is under MIT license
- I used freely available CNTService v1.84 and PerfCtrv2Mgr v1.02 sources from PJ Naughter which are under his license.
Enjoy!