Looking for an awesome quiet air cooler

[ttaskmaster]

As I said, I test and review lots of cooling components .. and I use the air temp going into cooler recorded at at same time as I record CPU / GPU temp for baseline temp, not the room ambient.

Depends what aspect of the performance you're testing, I suppose. If you're seeing how effective a cooler is, then that's good, but if you just want to measure one against another then you generally just need a consistent form of measure across all products.

Indeed, air flow / wind carries sound, but it does not 'make it seem louder'.

I disagree - It *seems* louder for the same reason you don't put the mic in the airflow. It's not actually louder, of course, you're just picking up more of the noise when the airflow is directed toward you, but again, as subjective as the rest of it.

Manufacturer's rating have little to no relevance to the sounds we hear from our fans in our uses.

No, but in the absence of buying twelve of each fan from each manufacturer and trying them all out, we have to start somewhere... and I generally find that's enough to make a quick comparison sufficient to inform a puchasing decision.

Many people do not realize how different fans sound in use

Or more importantly, what makes the same fans sound totally different.

Most users have no idea that push versus pull sound difference is largely the result of the fan's motor mounting framework giving 3-5mm more spacing between impeller and what fan is mounted on when pushing then when fans is mounted to pull.

I (usually) find pull makes for a less turbulent airflow, for this reason.

I often use the thick (3mm ish) fan 'gaskets' on radiators to lower fan noise.

I'd consider those wherever there's any kind of gap between fan and rad, really. More for sealing the airflow and reducing the little noises of air escaping, rather than any 'vibration dampening' like they're sold as.

 

[doyll]

Depends what aspect of the performance you're testing, I suppose. If you're seeing how effective a cooler is, then that's good, but if you just want to measure one against another then you generally just need a consistent form of measure across all products.

I disagree - It *seems* louder for the same reason you don't put the mic in the airflow. It's not actually louder, of course, you're just picking up more of the noise when the airflow is directed toward you, but again, as subjective as the rest of it.

No, but in the absence of buying twelve of each fan from each manufacturer and trying them all out, we have to start somewhere... and I generally find that's enough to make a quick comparison sufficient to inform a puchasing decision.

Or more importantly, what makes the same fans sound totally different.

I (usually) find pull makes for a less turbulent airflow, for this reason.

I'd consider those wherever there's any kind of gap between fan and rad, really. More for sealing the airflow and reducing the little noises of air escaping, rather than any 'vibration dampening' like they're sold as.

How can you have a "consistant form of measure across all product" when tesitng in a case if you do not measure the air temp going into the cooler? Using room ambient in their so-called 'real world comparison' is not comparing coolers against each other, but comparing only how their specific system performs with different coolers.

If your dB meter records a higher number it is a real difference, not a *seems" difference.

While their specs do help a little they give us enough information to make an 'inform'ed decision .. and it does not take 'twelve of each fan' to do a decent bit of testing. 3 fans is good, 2 is okay. Fan testing and reviews from sources like Thermalbench give a very good idea of how the fans will perform .. other sites like CoolingTechnique also do good tests of fan performance at different speeds.

Free airflow, on radiator on cooler in case, etc. .. I have not heard a single sound bite of a fan that sounded like the actual fan does in same application. Can you give me links to sound clips of fans that sound like the actual fan does?

While the work very well at sealing fan to whatever it's attached to, the added spcing makes a big difference in sound profile and level. I have made 8mm spacers(I have light-weight / easy to cut material 8mm thick) because of how well it lowers and changes the fan sound profile. Try putting a 3-5mm spacer (more is even better) between fan and what you have it attached to and you will hear the difference.

 

[ttaskmaster]

How can you have a "consistant form of measure across all product" when tesitng in a case if you do not measure the air temp going into the cooler?

I wasn't speaking about any measure in particular, be it temperature, sound or anything... just making the point that whatever you measure must be done in a consistent manner.
How useful that manner is in the real world is another matter.

but comparing only how their specific system performs with different coolers.

Which is what most users ultimately care about... which is why I don't really read much about what results 'testers' get... because it bears no resemblance to how the things will do when I install them among the particulars of my own system!

If your dB meter records a higher number it is a real difference, not a *seems" difference.

Again, talking about the human ear at that point, hence the 'seeming' part.

and it does not take 'twelve of each fan' to do a decent bit of testing.

If my desired setup requires 12 fans, it needs 12 fans to see how those fans perform compared to other models. Speaking mostly about noise levels, airflow interaction (if any), case reverb and the like, here.

Can you give me links to sound clips of fans that sound like the actual fan does?

Of course not, for the reasons you give.
I don't 'bench-test' fans myself - I just buy them, see how they do in my particular rig and only record some numbers off them, for comparisons a little more accurate and structured than simply how I may (or may not) remember the previous fans sounding like...

Try putting a 3-5mm spacer (more is even better) between fan and what you have it attached to and you will hear the difference.

I already did - between my Pull fans and rads I have the case itself. It's enough for the Noctuas, but other fans have let too much air in through the gaps, especially non-square ones, which got noisy and really needed the gaskets. Unfortunately they weren't as good as the Nocs, so I swapped back and have been happy ever since.

 

[doyll]

I wasn't speaking about any measure in particular, be it temperature, sound or anything... just making the point that whatever you measure must be done in a consistent manner.
How useful that manner is in the real world is another matter.

Which is what most users ultimately care about... which is why I don't really read much about what results 'testers' get... because it bears no resemblance to how the things will do when I install them among the particulars of my own system!

Again, talking about the human ear at that point, hence the 'seeming' part.

If my desired setup requires 12 fans, it needs 12 fans to see how those fans perform compared to other models. Speaking mostly about noise levels, airflow interaction (if any), case reverb and the like, here.

Of course not, for the reasons you give.
I don't 'bench-test' fans myself - I just buy them, see how they do in my particular rig and only record some numbers off them, for comparisons a little more accurate and structured than simply how I may (or may not) remember the previous fans sounding like...

I already did - between my Pull fans and rads I have the case itself. It's enough for the Noctuas, but other fans have let too much air in through the gaps, especially non-square ones, which got noisy and really needed the gaskets. Unfortunately they weren't as good as the Nocs, so I swapped back and have been happy ever since.

In reply to 1st and 2nd; reviews using room ambient do not have a fixed intake air temp, therefore no constant to base comparisons on .. and if their test system in a case is not identical to ours (and it is not) the results are not applicable. By intentical I mean not only the exact same components in same case, but all fan speeds have to be the same as well. Cooler intake air temp is somewhere between 2-5c above room temp to 8-20c above room temp .. meaning CPU temps vary by the same 2-5c or 8-20c. Cooler intake temp in case also changes with cooler changes .. end result is like I said, the reviews' results are only applicable to identically built systems with identical temp to rpm fan curves. Maybe that is what you want, but I do not. I don't give a tinker's damn how their system performs with different coolers. I only want to have an accurate comparison of cooler performance .. and the only way to do that is at the very least to be using the cooler intake air temp to calculate CPU delta temp. Even with a bench test station the cooler intake air temp will vary a few degrees from room ambient .. which is why I keep saying cooler testing has to be base on cooler intake air temp and not the room temp. It's not perfect because if intake air temp varies more then 4-5c it will affect the cooling ability, but way better than using room temp

While I understand your rational, knowing how 2 or 3 of the same fans tested on a radiator / case / cooler in a controlled environment gives us (at least it gives me ) a pretty good idea of how 10+ fans will perform. Sure, there may be a few unforeseen differences in different systems, but not many. I can see how case vibration harmonics and maybe impeller harmonic if too close to vent / radiator surface might develop but not very often.

Using the case or a thin seal and using a 5-10mm spacer are not the same thing. Many of the problems users have with blade harmonic noise is a direct result of how close blade is to the case vent / radiator fins. Increase the distance between them by 5-10 or 12mm and these noises often go away.