Water cooling vs fans for noise

[watercooled]

Yeah, YMMV for sure, I just meant it's something to watch out for. I think some AIO pumps take power from the CPU header via a 3 pin connector, and many motherboards will attempt to control what it sees as a non-PWM fan by varying the supply voltage.

It's just important to understand what's happening, particularly if temperatures don't seem right.

[Ttaskmaster]

I think some AIO pumps take power from the CPU header via a 3 pin connector, and many motherboards will attempt to control what it sees as a non-PWM fan by varying the supply voltage.

None I know of - All the ones I've used were powered by PSU and again just use the header for PWM control. It's a bit of a flimsy wire for powering something like that, anyway...

[watercooled]

None I know of - All the ones I've used were powered by PSU and again just use the header for PWM control. It's a bit of a flimsy wire for powering something like that, anyway...

https://www.corsair.com/corsairmedia...0i_GTX_QSG.pdf

I know because that's what my friend has, and I described the problems he ran in to above.

[Ttaskmaster]

https://www.corsair.com/corsairmedia...0i_GTX_QSG.pdf

Hmm.... Well that's a bit silly. Probably one of the reasons I don't like using AIOs any more.
It should still treat it as a non-PWM fan, though, given that's effectively what it is with the 3 pins. There should be a decent fan curve profile by default, unless someone has beggared aboot with the BIOS.

[DanceswithUnix]

My motherboard has a specific fan header for water cooling the CPU. Perhaps it is expecting something like that. As an air cooling user I always wondered why such a header was necessary vs just normal PWM.

[watercooled]

Hmm.... Well that's a bit silly. Probably one of the reasons I don't like using AIOs any more.
It should still treat it as a non-PWM fan, though, given that's effectively what it is with the 3 pins. There should be a decent fan curve profile by default, unless someone has beggared aboot with the BIOS.

Indeed it does treat it as a non-PWM fan, and that's the problem - a fan curve is far from optimal for a pump. And from my own experience, many stock fan curves aren't even optimal for fans, as I mentioned earlier in the thread.

[Ttaskmaster]

Indeed it does treat it as a non-PWM fan, and that's the problem - a fan curve is far from optimal for a pump.

Depends how you set it up. Several of my friends do rather well out of such things.

[GoNz0]

My rig is near silent, big rads, slow fans and PWM pumps mounted on rubber stand off mounts.

[PowerPie5000]

I'm sticking with air cooling and my setup is pretty quiet, albeit I do have a fairly sound dampened case (Aerocool DS230). I'm running 4x 120mm Cougar CFD case fans which are nice and quiet with good airflow & static pressure. The processor is cooled via an Alpenfohn Matterhorn cooler which again is pretty quiet, but I do have a Noctua NH-U12A in the post which should be arriving anytime now . I'd say The loudest fans in my system are the GPU fans (under load), but even they aren't really that noticeable either.

Decent air coolers can be on par or even beat some AIO liquid coolers, and do it quietly too.

[Zak33]

Don't forget the pump noise too on a water cooled solution. My own experience is that a high quality (think noctua,) air cooling solution with the biggest fans possible, tweaked to slowest needed fan speed profiles will be quieter than any water-cooling solution.

this is the truth.

if you cant afford Noctua, look at bequiet! Air cooled, big cooler, quality fan... wins

[Retne]

Cheers all for the replies.
At the moment I am sticking to air over water and appreciate all the replies / discussion [For my PC. I mean... I have a glass of water on my desk for me, so _I'm_ water cooled and am choosing *both* air and water. I'm so demanding.]

[Mondegreen]

Arctic fans is a good choice, it can handle overclocking and it is not loud.

[InkZ]

Run air all my life, just got an AIO, no quieter. The main benefit is having loads of room in your case, unlike with a Noctua.

[watercooled]

One thing to be aware of with AIO coolers, depending on how they're set up, is possibly very little airflow over the motherboard's VRM components. This can be an issue to some degree with tower coolers too, of course.

[jimborae]

You still need fans for water cooling, to cool the radiator. They may be able to run more slowly than on an overworked air cooler, but you also have to consider the noise/vibration from the pump.

It can be quieter or louder, just depends what you choose either way.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that unless you have a specific reason for wanting some sort of water cooling (aesthetics or out of curiosity being perfectly valid reasons IMO), you should consider saving money and sticking with a half-decent air cooler. Something like a Hyper 212 Evo can be had for ~£25 for example.

For some better recommendations, what sort of CPU are you wanting to cool, and is overclocking something you're considering?

What he said....

My air cooled 9700K system is much quieter that my quiet custom loop and temps are comparable as I'm not overclocking custom X79 rig anymore. The air cooled rig is using a Hyper 212 LED in push pull config.

[Weatherboard]

If were talking about noise then then you should go with water cooling, no arguing about that.