AIO - Liquid temps and Fan control

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Evening all,

I'm looking at a new build and trying to work out what I would think would be a simple question, details of which I would expect to be included in specs of products.

It seems that most AIOs have moved to using motherboard fan headers, but without providing a motherboard temperature sensor connection (providing liquid temps) you would only be able to control fan speeds by the CPU temp.

I think it's generally accepted that setting fan speed based on transient CPU temp is largely a recipe for rapid fan rampup/down, which is annoying.


So my question is:

Which AIO CPU coolers have liquid temp sensors and which allow the setting of fan (and maybe pump) speeds based on that temperature?

Or does an AIO user have to buy separate fan controller boards/do it in software?



(Note: I'm aware of Argus and that some of the newer Corsair AIOs come with a `Commander`, but they apparently have fairly loud pump noise thanks to not using Asetek pumps any more)
 
My Corsair H150i lets you monitor the coolant temperature - it connects to a USB header.

I think any that only connect to a fan header (or maybe a fan header and a pump header too) will not allow this monitoring since they will report only the fan or pump RPM.

It's a shame as I'd like to upgrade to something bigger (I was looking at the Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 420) but I haven't found anything bigger than a 360 that allows monitoring of the coolant temperature.

Pump noise might not be an issue though (or at least it isn't for me with the H150i) since you can also control that through software. I have the pump running at 25% configured speed (1320 RPM) and ramping up based upon coolant temperature, in the 35-41c range.

I've found beyond 41c coolant I'm going to need the pump at 100% to keep CPU temperature under control, but then at that point the fans need to be spinning fast enough that they drown out the pump noise anyway. At 25% it's inaudible to me from a few feet away.
 
To avoid such behaviour, when I was using an AIO, in BIOS, I tried different pump speed and fan speed, which I take notes for what is acceptable.
Then I set let's say:
up to 60C, 60%
up to 70C, 75%
over 75C, 90 or 100%.
Most of the time, unless stressing the CPU, the pump and fans would stay at the minimum speed which I found acceptable.
For the Arctic Freezer 360, at 60% I couldn't notice them over the other fans. At 75%, on pair with other fans. 100%, a jet.
But performance wasn't that much different from 75 to 100%. Going lower than 50% would give some annoying pump noise.
Best bet, find the sweet spot which your pump is efficient and still quiet and bump over it only when needed.
The arctic won't show coolant temperature, but uses a thicker cooper radiator, hence the performance.
Another option, one of those Alphacool (Alphacool Eisbaer Extreme liquid cooler core 280) radiator with built-in pump and reservoir, them just add your fans, temperature sensor and a block.
 
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