How to make a loop silent?

Asa

Asa

Asa

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Hi!

I did my first loop not so long ago, and after some issues (born of my own stupidity) I've got it up and running. It's cool, but not what I'd call quiet. I can slow up the fans, but the temps rise pretty high before I've achieved the level of noise I was hoping for.

I have a second PC I'll be putting under water soon, and I'd like both to be as close to silent as I can get them.

So what's the key to making a quiet (but still reasonably effective) loop? Is there a particular combination of fans and radiators that do well, or are there any other tips and tricks worth considering?

Thanks!
 
from my own experience,
. Don't go too far with the number of radiators. A 360 rad, with good fans, should be enough for dual GPU + CPU setup. More rads demand more fans, hence noise level increases.
. Big cases require more fans or higher rpm fans to push hot air out. Hence, choose the right size case so you don't have to increase fan quantity or rpm.
. Gentle Typhoon, Noctua, Noiseblocker, etc. Use them.
 
Flip side is more rads, more fans but you can run them slower, hence quieter.
What have you got and what temps are we talking?
Is the noise fans or pump?
 
Cenedd said:
Flip side is more rads, more fans but you can run them slower, hence quieter.
What have you got and what temps are we talking?
Is the noise fans or pump?
Click to expand...

in theory yes. In practice, I feel like at lower rpm fans and big case, the hot air accumulated quickly causing idle temp relative high. Load time isn't a problem with many rad setups.
 
My most recent build was a Fractal Design Define S case with an EK XE360 rad in the front and an Alphacool UT60 240 x-flow in the top. DDC pump, 6700K CPU with EK block, 980Ti GPU with EK block. Corsair SP120s on all rads run at slow speed and you could still feel a good breeze coming through the rads but without the noise. Idle temps were initially reading below room temp - which is obviously impossible but does mean it was quite low.
The airflow through the case is important - some are good, some are bad. The Define S is quite good, the Evolv ATX not so much....but it's pretty :D
 
At the moment I've got 420 rad and a 280 rad, with Corsair's 140mm static pressure fans. The case also has 2x 200mm case fans on the front and another at the top.

The pump noise is passable (D5 vario on 3), it's the 140mm fans pushing air through the radiators that seems to account for most of the noise. I have quite limited control over the speed of those at the moment (my case has a basic fan controller with "high" and "low" profiles). I should have a pwm hub (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-pwm-fan-hub-ca-009-pt.html) waiting for me at home so I'll see how hooking those up to the CPU header works out.
 
My setup with, currently, only 2 Gentle Typhoons are running @ 700-800rpm and D5 Vario at lowest setting.
i7 6700K + R9 Nano with EK Coolstream PE 240. Surely it is quieter than Corsair SPs. :)
 
abui1806 said:
from my own experience,
. Don't go too far with the number of radiators. A 360 rad, with good fans, should be enough for dual GPU + CPU setup. More rads demand more fans, hence noise level increases.
Click to expand...
One 360 with silent fans (>1000rpm) isnt enought for 1x cpu 2x cpu.
 
That's a fair amount of rad. Provided they aren't super-slim you ought to get decent temps.
The pump needs to be decoupled from the case to be quiet. Make sure it's mounted with some form of rubber mount between it and the metal or the case amplifies the vibrations. Most people seem to run them on about 2 so like abui1806 you can probably turn it down if it's too noisy.

The Corsair SP120s are fantastic fans. Far too noisy on full but run them slower and they're quiet and still push a good breeze through a rad. The SP140s by comparison on paper seem disappointing but I've not tried them in the flesh. 1/3 the static pressure of the 120s, less flow and a cheaper bearing (sleeve vs fluid dynamic). It could be that's the issue. Just on the numbers, the Akasas look lots better.

Your PWM hub has 4-pin input but 3-pin output. Shouldn't be a problem as I believe that 4-pin PWM fans will still run and be controlled by a 3-pin voltage controlled header. Just worth being aware of.
 
aceCrasher said:
One 360 with silent fans (>1000rpm) isnt enought for 1x cpu 2x cpu.
Click to expand...

It is enough for i7 quad core + Dual GTX 980 equivalent TDP cards (R9 Nano, up coming Polaris cards, GTX 1080, etc).
Just look at the Fury Pro Duo, 350W (2x Nano) with an single 120 radiator and single fan (Gentle typhoon), according to 8 Pack "This Pro Duo never exceeded 56C". :)
 
Thanks for the tips so far. Never would have guessed the SP140s would be a lower standard than the 120s. Going by the numbers on the OCUK descriptions, those Asakas are vastly superior.

Any value in sticking some of the OCUK noise dampening material to... erm... I don't know where I'd stick it actually. But I'd find some room if it has good feedback!
 
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No problem. I was surprised too - and not in a good way. Noise dampening material will act in a few ways:

1. It stops large panels from acting like a drum skin by adding mass and making it less flexible.
2. It will absorb some of the sound leaving the case through those sides.

It won't really have any effect on noise leaving in the jetstream of fans. If you have your fans set to blow air out of the case, and they're what's making the noise, it'll have limited effect. If they're pulling air in from outside, it may help more.
Speaking of which, it might be worth trying this by mounting your rads and fans so that you have case, fan, rad with the outside air being pushed (push is more efficient that pull) through the rad and into the case. You'll need an exhaust fan somewhere but cases usually have one of those at the back by default.
 
From what I've read I would ignore everything abui1806 has said. It's utter tripe.

More of a fan at lower rpms will be quieter than fewer of said fan at higher rpms. This is a fact.

Bg cases allow more airflow as they can have more fans. Set it up correctly and getting hot air out of a large case is no issue.

You needn't throw money at fan makers to get a good fan.

Fan "stats" are rubbish. They are there to sell the fan not give you impartial methods of comparison.

What are you cooling? Cpu, GPU and case?

I've heard that corsair pwm fans don't like being controlled by voltage. My knowledge of 140mm fans is a bit lacking unfortunately.

D5 pumps are fairly strong at low settings. Mine is set to lowest speed with a fat 360, thin 240, cpu and gpu block. No issues. Putting it to high changes the fluid delta across the loop by a couple of degrees and makes a lot of noises, even through my rubber mounting system.
 
Disco_P said:
From what I've read I would ignore everything abui1806 has said. It's utter tripe.

More of a fan at lower rpms will be quieter than fewer of said fan at higher rpms. This is a fact.

Bg cases allow more airflow as they can have more fans. Set it up correctly and getting hot air out of a large case is no issue.

You needn't throw money at fan makers to get a good fan.

Fan "stats" are rubbish. They are there to sell the fan not give you impartial methods of comparison.

What are you cooling? Cpu, GPU and case?

I've heard that corsair pwm fans don't like being controlled by voltage. My knowledge of 140mm fans is a bit lacking unfortunately.

D5 pumps are fairly strong at low settings. Mine is set to lowest speed with a fat 360, thin 240, cpu and gpu block. No issues. Putting it to high changes the fluid delta across the loop by a couple of degrees and makes a lot of noises, even through my rubber mounting system.
Click to expand...

the difference is that you read and I personally experience it myself. :rolleyes:
 
"From what I've read (of the rubbish you've put on this page)"

Not sure what you are experiencing but it goes against what every other watercooler has experienced ever. Including myself.
 
and I didn't even said one should choose small cases over big cases regardless of the components inside. I said "choose the right size case so you don't have to increase fan quantity or rpm". Meaning that there is no point putting a normal quad core cpu + single GPU inside a Corsair 900D/Caselabs SM8 or equivalents with 8+ fans in there, a mid tower case with 2 fans at front and 2 at top could do the trick and bring less noise. I just feel bad when someone call my own experience "utter tripe".
 
My two cent:

1. Stay away from DDC, D5 is still the quietest pump I've ever cane across.

2. Try to implement automatically controlled D5, if you cant afford a Aquacomputer D5 USB or PWM, go for a D5 vario.

3. Sound dampen the chamber you're placing the pump in.

4. Pick the thickest or least aero-restrictive rads for your case.

5. Include as much rad space as you could for your case, 120mm rad for each component + 120 extra is the norm, but 240 for each component would give you larger headroom and 360mm for each component is the max I did and it was fun.

6. Rad spaces means nothing if your case airflow is crappy. Make sure you have a good airflow in your case.

7. Pick rad fans that have a wide range of pwm cycle, 650RPM is pretty much silent and is a good point for idle speed, but you'd want around 1500rpm under load. I myself only used Gentle typhoon, ek vardar and nb eloops, so those are under my experience.

8. When you start stacking up components, like going for tri sli and 560+480+280, you should probably start thinking about dual loop to keep your two d5 in low rpm, since d5 in higher rpm could be very noisy as well.
 
From experience i would fit as many rads as you can possibly have in your case. and have sp fans run off a fan controller or some sort of software control.

I used to run 4 rads in my 900d and now i run 2. with the same fans and running as slow as i can run them, system is whisper quiet. but the 4 rads did run cooler, even with the extra 4 fans it was still silent.

I do not turn my fans up for gaming or when overclocked. Fans run at 1 speed. That is the the best way for silence and good cooling in my experience.
 
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