AIO to Air

[slipd]

Hi guys,

I'm considering moving back to an air cooled solution for my main gaming rig... I might have been unlucky but I've had 4 different AIO's since mid-Lockdown 1.0! My current Corsair is on the verge of going back because it's just so noisy The hum of the pump is the only think you can hear in my rig when it's idle and its doing my head in.

I'm after recommendations; I'd still consider a decent AIO but I think I'm finished with Corsair and Coolermaster. And air coolers? With fans, max budget of £150. I just want silence

Rest of rig in my sig.

Thanks!

 

[slipd]

Wow, thanks for some great suggestions here people! I keep seeing the Arctic Freezer II coming up, both here and from research? I nearly bought this when I got my Corsair AIO originally but I opted instead for brand familiarity - I have Corsiar RAM, mech keyboard etc.

I'm so undecided right now, the air cooling options just seem a bit simpler and there's less like hood of pump noise - which yes, @Sgarrista, I will confirm later for sure but I'm almost 100%. Unless its the southbridge fan on the mobo, but I've no way of monitoring that without the side off? Doesn't seem to be a sensor for it - not one that picked up in any Windows apps anyway.

^^ Also, I'm not much of a modder, I've never had windowed cases, so the aesthetics of "cool" looking cooling are wasted with me

Re: my other cooling, I bought a pack of 5x Arctic PWM fans in the summer and recently moved them on in places of some Noctua NF-P14s; 2x 140mm intakes at the front, 1x exhaust and 2x NF-P12 120mm, cooling the rad. I'm well happy with them, they're quiet but they shift heat (quietly!) when they need too.

Some of the Noctua air solutions look interesting...

 

[slipd]

Thanks all, went for an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240mm in the end - I've got a spacious case but I still need use of an optical drive periodically and if I want the rad at the top, which I do, I'd be prevented from having a 360mm. So far so good though and it is definitely quieter than the Corsiar and my temps are better. I didn't realise it had a six year warranty on it?

If it starts to get too noisy, I'll be going for air cooled