I can hear my radiator fans at 400rpm :(

Goose

Goose

Goose

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When i was still air cooling i had three Corsair ML120s as case fans and couldn't hear a think at 600rpm so when i decided to build a custom loop i bought three more. Even at 400rpm i can now hear them and i can only assume it's because of the air travelling through the radiators.

Is this normal or have i simply bought the wrong fans and/or radiators? I'm starting to regret moving to custom water, i feel like i've made one mistake after another. :(
 
Following with interest as I'm obsessed with low fan speeds and silence. I built a water cooled rig and it's very very quiet under load but I can't get the noise floor as low as I'd like. My previous air cooled setup is dead silent until it's been stressed for a good while.
 
LuckyBenski said:
Following with interest as I'm obsessed with low fan speeds and silence. I built a water cooled rig and it's very very quiet under load but I can't get the noise floor as low as I'd like. My previous air cooled setup is dead silent until it's been stressed for a good while.
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I'm exactly 100% the same. I dont mind some noise while gaming and what not because i'll have headphones on, but i like it dead silent at idle when i'm just browsing the web and such.

I suppose i have very sensitive hearing and high frequencies probably irritate me more than they do for other people.
 
I have heard mixed reviews of corsair ML fans. Firstly they must be controlled via PWM as the magnet requires 12v to function and I think I heard that they are sensitive to being mounted incorrectly. I am not a huge fan of corsair stuff, their priority seems to be making a product that looks like it will be good rather than actually being good.

Do you have the option of stopping the fans when idle?

Fwiw I use 8 Silverstone/OcUK FQ121WC fans at 4v which is around 600rpm at idle. Though I am away from my PC at the moment so can't be super critical of the fan noise. I also have some bitfenix spectre which drop to something like 200rpm.
 
Radiator is certainly going to have its airflow impedance and likely with more fans than in heatpipe cooler there's going to be noise from turbulence.
If you went for push-pull fan config, it could be also some kind interaction between fans.
 
Goose said:
I'm exactly 100% the same. I dont mind some noise while gaming and what not because i'll have headphones on, but i like it dead silent at idle when i'm just browsing the web and such.

I suppose i have very sensitive hearing and high frequencies probably irritate me more than they do for other people.
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I’m using Thermaltake rgb fans at 1000rpm and find them very quiet but I understand what you’re saying. The noise can be bearings or could even be vibration around the mounting points. Unfortunately Noctua make the best fans in the business but they don’t make rgb fans, they all have the same shade of poo in the toilet brown but their fans are efficient and super quiet
 
Goose said:
When i was still air cooling i had three Corsair ML120s as case fans and couldn't hear a think at 600rpm so when i decided to build a custom loop i bought three more. Even at 400rpm i can now hear them and i can only assume it's because of the air travelling through the radiators.

Is this normal or have i simply bought the wrong fans and/or radiators? I'm starting to regret moving to custom water, i feel like i've made one mistake after another. :(
Click to expand...

I know how much of a PITA it can be!

The ML120's actually do have a good reputation (e.g. https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/leo-waldock/corsair-ml140-and-ml120-fans/) for low noise at low speeds on radiators, so inherently I'm not sure they are the issue here.

One of the redeeming qualities of the ML series is they can move air through normal radiators without issue, the compromise they make is the other end, at max speed their flow/backpressure handling is not as good as some, but that's not the issue in this case.

Things to check
- Isolation - I always rule out hard coupling between fans/rad and rad/case first in my noise issues, it's amazing how sound can couple/travel and amplify with just touching part of the rad/case that resonates.
- Radiator thickness/fpi. The low noise profile at low speed of the ML's is countered by slightly less performance at full speed, and I tend to match radiators to fans, I'm currently running ML140's on 30mm thick rads @ 400RPM and they are silent (that's 5 fans on rads, 1 case fan).
- How are you driving them? I've had issues driving fans from my motherboard / normal fan hubs (powered splitters in essence), I found using a proper mutli channel PWM device (corsair commander pro as an example) works best for me.
 
Demon said:
I know how much of a PITA it can be!

The ML120's actually do have a good reputation (e.g. https://www.kitguru.net/components/cooling/leo-waldock/corsair-ml140-and-ml120-fans/) for low noise at low speeds on radiators, so inherently I'm not sure they are the issue here.

One of the redeeming qualities of the ML series is they can move air through normal radiators without issue, the compromise they make is the other end, at max speed their flow/backpressure handling is not as good as some, but that's not the issue in this case.

Things to check
- Isolation - I always rule out hard coupling between fans/rad and rad/case first in my noise issues, it's amazing how sound can couple/travel and amplify with just touching part of the rad/case that resonates.
- Radiator thickness/fpi. The low noise profile at low speed of the ML's is countered by slightly less performance at full speed, and I tend to match radiators to fans, I'm currently running ML140's on 30mm thick rads @ 400RPM and they are silent (that's 5 fans on rads, 1 case fan).
- How are you driving them? I've had issues driving fans from my motherboard / normal fan hubs (powered splitters in essence), I found using a proper mutli channel PWM device (corsair commander pro as an example) works best for me.
Click to expand...

My radiators are a Black Ice SR2 Xtreme+ 360 MP Multi Port Radiator (60mm thick) and a Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS (30mm thick).

At the moment i've mounted them base as Chassis>Fan>rad rather than the more common chassis>rad>fan. I've going try reversing things and i've bought some 5mm foam gaskets to place between the chassis and the rads.

The fans are power from two motherboard headers via 3-way splitters but i have an Aquaero 6 on order.
 
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