How to make a loop silent?

Asa · 17 May 2016 at 11:48

Hi!

I did my first loop not so long ago, and after some issues (born of my own stupidity) I've got it up and running. It's cool, but not what I'd call quiet. I can slow up the fans, but the temps rise pretty high before I've achieved the level of noise I was hoping for.

I have a second PC I'll be putting under water soon, and I'd like both to be as close to silent as I can get them.

So what's the key to making a quiet (but still reasonably effective) loop? Is there a particular combination of fans and radiators that do well, or are there any other tips and tricks worth considering?

Thanks!

Asa · 17 May 2016 at 13:24

At the moment I've got 420 rad and a 280 rad, with Corsair's 140mm static pressure fans. The case also has 2x 200mm case fans on the front and another at the top.

The pump noise is passable (D5 vario on 3), it's the 140mm fans pushing air through the radiators that seems to account for most of the noise. I have quite limited control over the speed of those at the moment (my case has a basic fan controller with "high" and "low" profiles). I should have a pwm hub (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-pwm-fan-hub-ca-009-pt.html) waiting for me at home so I'll see how hooking those up to the CPU header works out.

Asa · 17 May 2016 at 14:21

Thanks for the tips so far. Never would have guessed the SP140s would be a lower standard than the 120s. Going by the numbers on the OCUK descriptions, those Asakas are vastly superior.

Any value in sticking some of the OCUK noise dampening material to... erm... I don't know where I'd stick it actually. But I'd find some room if it has good feedback!

Asa · 18 May 2016 at 09:46

Thanks again all.

I've got the pwm fan hub in now, and every fan going is effectively controlled by the CPU fan header. It works better than I could have hoped. The system is very quiet until the components hit about 60 degrees, where fans start to ramp up gently with a more noticable step up in the 70s. After a couple of hours of Witcher 3 it seems that's where the temps stop rising, and even there it is a lot quieter than before. I'm comfortable trading off about 20degrees in favour of low background noise.

I've also knocked the D5 Vario down to 2, cos it turns out I can hear 3 when the rest of the noise is quelled.

Cooling an [email protected], and 2 r9-290s@1150. I'm sure the temperatures will improve further when I replace those GPUs for something less toasty, and
I will still replace the SP140s for something you guys have recommended.