HYBRID / AIO users - what fan speed (RPM's) on your radiator???

[wunkley]

Looking for some hard facts and figures here folks, specifically RPM fan speed of your radiator AIO fan(s).
I'm currently trying to get my new rig as quiet as possible and my last thing to nail down and tweak is the fan on my AIO radiator.

Some quick details:

I'm using
- a corsair H55 (so a single, 120mm radiator)
- with a single Vardar F4 120ER fan on the H55 radiator in push out the back of my case
- with a 980Ti running at stock volts (but boosting out the box to 1367 core).
- The 980Ti (palit superjetstream) is modded with a kraken G10, with DIY heatsinks on the RAM and VRM chips, and I have a 92mm noctua fan attached with a GElid adapter and controlled through afterburner. That fan, is quiet!!).

More info and questions

This is all about the fan on the radiator - noise vs speed remember!...

1. The Vardar 120 fan on the h55 radiator is fairly nice and quiet if I keep the RPMs set to max out at 1150 under gaming level temps (using BIOS pwm control. At idle temps I have it set way down at 550rpm).
At these speeds I see temps of around 62 degrees max when gaming in very taxing games (eg Witcher 3 etc) , or benching Heaven at 1440p max max settings.

2. If I have the fan max out at about 1250 I get temps at around 60 degrees max when gaming in very taxing games, or benching Heaven at 1440p max max settings.
However at these RPM's the fan starts to emit slight motor noise that it doesn't do under 1100. It's not loud, but it's kind of a hum that I'd rather do without as I want as silent a system as possible.

3. If I let the fan max out at around 1500 I see temps max out in the low 50's, which is what most people seem to report for hybrid/ AIO cooled 980Ti's. (NOTE: I haven't tested with the fan above 1500RPM. It goes up to 2200, but it's just too loud)

4. I have the H55 pump set (BIOS control fan header) to 80% speed at idle, and up to 100% speed at gaming/ bench temps. Interestinlgy this unit makes a slight vibration/ hum at certain speeds. AT 80% it's totally quiet, at 70% it hums, and 100% it hums. I'm playing with varying options, but for the sake of this thread assume I/ you are running 100% pump speeds on the AIO.

So, with all that in mind, I want to know if my temps with the radiator fan speeds I'm setting are 'normal'. What specific fan speed RPMs do you set on your radiator fan, and what corresponding temps do you get in very taxing games and stress GPU benchies.

(I'm tempted to let the GPU temps go up to 65 and run the vardar radiator fan as slow as I can, to keep it all nice and quiet. The card still boosts to 1367 at 65 degrees).

 

[Marine-RX179]

Considering you said you have mounted the H55 rad to the back of the case, can you give a bit more details regarding how is the cooling setup for your CPU?

 

[tommybhoy]

^
H100i or similar roof mounted from the case shots on another thread.

I'd experiment with swapping the Gelid adapter to the F4 and set a custom profile that keeps temps under throttle point and throwing the noctua onto a mb header.

 

[wunkley]

CPU is cooled by a H100iGTX, the radiator of which is actually mounted in the rear chamber of the case. It's a lian li pc-08 with split front and rear chambers. It's almost a 'cube' case. Hard drives, PSU, and big radiator (if you want, my CPU one is) go in the back. Front chamber then lovely and clean. The 2 intake fans you can see at the top are just that - intake fans (no radiator there). The H100i pipes are actually routing through the back top right, that you can't see, to the rear chamber of the case to the radiator mounted behind the 3 white fans you can see on the front right (see pic below).

However, I think we're drifting way off the point already though

I'm not asking (yet anyway) about possible alternative fan/ radiator arrangements. I'm quite limited by the case design and on doing some testing already, I'm happy with how it is.

Nor am I asking about how to control fan speeds. I've set every single case fan, controlled in the bios, by specific temp factors. I've spend loads of time investiagting and tweaking all case fans. Believe me I know what I'm doing. My motherboard (Asus Sabertooth X99) is fantastic for fan control in the bios. The F4 is on a MB fan header and PWM controlled, and I've been setting fan curves/ limits for it, for various speeds as described in my first post (1150 max, 1250 max, 1500 max etc).

I just specifically want to know what fan speed, in RPM, other people run their GPU AIO radiator fan at. Or what speed they allow it to get to at max, if on a 'curve'. Preferably those with 980Ti cards, or very similar. I'm guessing a lot of people have no idea and just let it do its thing and aren't too fussed by the noise?

 

[tommybhoy]

I just ran my 290X CrossFire@stock and turned up/down the fans manually as needed but mines were in a Primo which meant that 9/10 sat at the lowest they'd go without stalling.

 

[wunkley]

No one else? I thought there were quite a few hybrid AIO users around these days...

 

[shankly1985]

Am using corsair SP quite editions on my H75 and have them running max speed.

 

[wunkley]

Am using corsair SP quite editions on my H75 and have them running max speed.

Cheers bud. So thats 1500rpm at max speed on the SP quiets isn't it? Edit - it's 1450rpm.

Is that in push pull then too? I'm now running push pull on my h55 with a Vardar f4 120 and a gentle typhoon 120mm 1850. Have them both set to max out at around 1100 rpm now and can maintain temps under 60 in heaven bench at those speeds. If I let them run at faster speeds, 1500+ then temps are much lower, but the various noises start to niggle me.

I'm trying to get the best combination of quietness and performance possible. I'm getting obsessed! I don't even *need* to keep GPU temps under 60, but feel like I should because it's 'watercooling'.

Also, some interesting findings for AIO pump noise for any other noise obsessives out there. I've done some testing running the pump at different levels (via controllable fan header on my mother board). Above 85% power and the unit makes a humming / slight vibration noise. It's by no means bad, at all, but if you're after total quiet I've found that limiting it to max at 82% is totally silent, and the loss in cooling performance is minimal compared to 100% power.

 

[shankly1985]

Yeah Push Pull its not the fans speed that will reduce temps its the size of the rad on the cooler.
These small Corsair coolers just do an ok job some games when the frame rate is capped at 144 I can hit 70s tomb raider for example.. If I was to use say H100 I would have even lower temps.

 

[wunkley]

Actually the fan(s) speed on the radiator does have a significant affect on temps. Believe me I've tested to death over the last week or so with different fans, and in single and push pull configs.

To give a basic example, and as described in my op, with one fan on my radiator, if I set it to max out at around 1100rpm temps will get to around 62 degrees max. If I set the fan to max out at 1500rpm temps will get to the early 50s max. That's a 10 degree difference for 300rpm. I'd say that's very significant.

Also, now running with 2 fans in push pull, I'm seeing temps max out at around 57 degrees with both fans at only 1100rpm. So that's a 5 degree reduction for the same rpm speed, by having 2 fans. The fans on your radiator, are actually very important.
For my set up now, if I'm happy for the temps to climb to the early 60s, I can let both my fans rpm go down to only around 900, which is getting into really quiet territory.

 

[ttaskmaster]

No one else? I thought there were quite a few hybrid AIO users around these days...

Loads of them around... but probably not many who control the fan directly through the BIOS based on exact RPMs matched to exact temperatures...

I always thought the whole point of AIOs was to plug the fans into the pump and let that read the temperatures, so allowing it to decide what pump speed and fan speed(s) are required. Certainly that's how I used to do it.

By contrast, my w/c loop is set to pump around 3300rpm (setting 3, pretty darn quiet) and the fans on the 120 and 240 rads sit at 750rpm. Keeps my air temps down around 18ºC at the moment, which is about 3º above ambient, and the CPU easily down in the lower 30s.
However, I manually control all my fans through the Lamptron on the case front.

 

[savagesam117]

I ran my Fury X in an ITX case, rad on the rear with a stock fan, stock settings, and it bench it wouldn't go past 58c with 1120/560 on it. And it was near enough silent. CPU at 4.6ghz on a 240mm aio in the top, this would hit 60c in bench test.

I'd definitely get another hybrid card or go fully watercooled again. These air coolers are far too noisy!

 

[Klunt Bumskrint]

Wunkley, what are you using to control the gpu rad fans?

 

[wunkley]

Wunkley, what are you using to control the gpu rad fans?

Most of the fans in my system (11) including the 2 I now have on the GPU rad are plugged directly into motherboard fan headers (asus x99 sabertooth - has loads!) and then Qfan in the motherboard bios is used to control. It's very good and allows for minute tweaking, fan curves etc etc, linked to specific temp sensors on the board, of which there are several. I use the 'pcie1' temp sensor of the MB as the reference point for the fan speeds on the rad. I have a 'graph' in Qfan for the GPU fans that's as low as possible at idle, then when the pcie1 sensor temp hits 35 degrees I set it to sharply rise to whatever speed I want the fan to max out at, then maintain the graph in a straight line at that speed/ RPM's so noise is constant (still experimenting with the perfect settings for noise vs performance)

I'm then monitoring fan speeds (amongst lots of other stuff) via hwinfo64 and gadgets run on second screen.

 

[varkanoid]

You were asking for limited specifics so I imagine thats why you have limited response.

I use a fan controller for my fan on the H55 which is mounted at the front of my case so I get cool air from outside not air from inside. The pump just runs at full speed. I also have the case at my feet in its own compatment to the right of my sitting position no where near my hearing with designed airflow to the case so is quiet for me. So I am not one of your target comparisons.

I always find it curious why people have their PC on display or sat next to them on the desk. Okay you made it look pretty but when only you can see it and you dont look at it when you use it whats the point. You are just inviting the extra noise.

 

[razorpakk]

In my case the H55 wasn't tightened properly to the card.
Went from 60s to 45-50 (what's usually reported by hybrid users), but it is intake on my Evolv (using eLoop at moderate rpm).

P.S. I also control the radiator with the usual pwm 60-90%, no need to keep it always at full throttle.

 

[ttaskmaster]

I always find it curious why people have their PC on display or sat next to them on the desk. Okay you made it look pretty but when only you can see it and you dont look at it when you use it whats the point. You are just inviting the extra noise.

Mine is pretty quiet, despite having seven fans (I downsized, heh heh).
Mine is very pretty.
Mine is built by me, for me, to appeal to me.
Mine stays on most of the time, because it's sooooo pritty.

I do look at mine during use, sometimes just sitting back and pridefully enjoying my own efforts for a bit, sometimes because all my pritty pritty flashing LEDs and things do actually indicate what various components are doing at any given time.

I don't have a fancy car to drool over every time I go into the garage, so I have a fancy PC instead!

 

[wunkley]

You were asking for limited specifics so I imagine thats why you have limited response.

I use a fan controller for my fan on the H55 which is mounted at the front of my case so I get cool air from outside not air from inside. The pump just runs at full speed. I also have the case at my feet in its own compatment to the right of my sitting position no where near my hearing with designed airflow to the case so is quiet for me. So I am not one of your target comparisons.

I always find it curious why people have their PC on display or sat next to them on the desk. Okay you made it look pretty but when only you can see it and you dont look at it when you use it whats the point. You are just inviting the extra noise.

Is it me , or do you sound a bit narky?

Anyway, personally speaking, I don't ***** 350 notes on a very nice looking lian li glass and aluminium case, to then shove it on the floor under a desk. Sort of obvious really.