Air Vs AIO noise

Telecaster · 19 Jan 2015 at 19:45

I only have limited experience of AIO/CLC coolers, but would I be right in thinking that air coolers are generally quiet at idle speeds and the AIO coolers are quieter under load?

My experience is that whilst idling when the fans are down I can hear the pump quiet clearly.

My current air cooler is silent at idle and only slightly noticeable whilst gaming, whereas I'd say the AIO/CLC was just noticeable all the time.

I would prefer silent operation at idle.

mick4545 · 19 Jan 2015 at 20:42

You've answered your own question. Air for silence at idle. My Noctua D15 has only one fan spinning at idle and is silent.

setter · 19 Jan 2015 at 20:47

The fans that are supplied with the corsair AIO's are loud compared to those supplied with high end air coolers. Off course you can add quieter fans to the AIO, but if you dont have any to hand it's more expense to add them. I use an alpenfohn k2 which is supplied with two very high quality quiet fans for less than an equivalent AIO. But then the size of such a cooler is another factor for some users.

Audigex · 19 Jan 2015 at 21:37

There are several things to consider

1) Pump noise. Present on an AiO, not on an air cooler. Minimal, most people wouldn't even notice

2) Fan noise. Probably not much in it, especially since you can buy similar fans. Radiators tend to be slightly noisier per fan, since they're pushing through tighter fins

...which leads me on to...

3) Number of fans. Typically you'd mount an AiO as an exhaust, so any fans on it REPLACE the case fans.

eg in a Fractal Arc Midi, the AiO is the only exhaust you need. You go from 4-5 fans (1-2 on the air cooler, one on the back, and 2 on the top) to 2 (on the rad, assuming you go 240mm). Why? Because the hot air from your CPU is being exhausted directly, using the not-that-warm air from the rest of your case.

Having run both in an identical setup, with identical/comparable fans (replacing Air Flow for Static Pressure of simialar noise output) I found the AiO to be comparable at idle and progressively (relatively) quieter as the speeds ramp up.

Telecaster · 19 Jan 2015 at 22:44

My AIO coolers haven't managed to get anywhere near my air coolers noise performance at idle, same fans but it's always the pump I can hear, probably because it's a really quiet room.

McGraw · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:19

My pc is almost silent at idle (h60 with corsair quiet fan) apart from the pump noise which you soon filter out.

Harl0 · 20 Jan 2015 at 10:27

I use a Corsair H60 coupled with one of these bad boys: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-039-SV

You can hear the pump if my case is open, but as McGraw mentioned, its barely noticeable even under load.

Telecaster · 20 Jan 2015 at 12:45

Yes noise levels are impressive under load, but seeing as the speakers or headset will drown it out I prefer the idle noise performance of air coolers I think, just sat hear in the quiet whilst general browsing and emailing is nicer without the whir of a pump!