Noise vs Cooling: Fan Setup Query

R-TYPE

R-TYPE

R-TYPE

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Hi all, a question about fans and cooling. I have a loop cooling a CPU waterblock (i7 4790K 4.6-4.8ghz)and two GTX 980 EVGA Hydrocopper (full waterblocks, various levels of OCing being tested but about 1510 boost clock). Fans are controlled by Aqauero 6 and Aquasuite fan controller curve.

I have three radiators:
1.1x 240 XSPC RX with push/pull 4x120 alpenfohn wing boost 2 fans, min 0rpm, max 1500rpm.
2.1x 240 XSPC EX with push 2x alpenfohn wing boost 2 fans, min 0rpm, max 1500rpm.
3.1x 360 XSPC EX with 4 push / pull EK Varder FF5-120 fans, and 1 push EK Varder FF5-120 fans (I have an 'asymmetrical' configuration, using 3 120 fan positions one side, 2 the other), min 1200rpm, max 3000rpm.

The intention was to have a 'silent' system, however the issue is I cannot get the Varders to spin to 0 rpm; they baseline at their minimum of 1200rpm which to me is not quiet enough.

Consequently during unloaded normal desktop use, it is relatively loud, and when in max game mode is a little louder (still nothing to write home about but my goal was "silent").The Alpenfohns are silent at 0rpm and at their minimum standard speed of 500rpm.

I am therefore considering to replace the 5x EK Varders on the 360 rad with 5x Alpenfohn wing boost 2s. I know the Varders have a beter higher static pressure than the alpenfohns.

The question: would replacing the varders with alpenfohn have a negative impact to my cooling do you think, or maintain the same or similar performance?

Temperatures with current setup: at idle, assuming 22 room temp: water temp is 22/23C, under load never peaks above 32C. CPU idles at 24C, max 60-65C at load stress test. GPUs idle at 24C average, max 41-42C under load (pushing 4K with an OC at about 1500-1510).

At idle, Alpenfohns are at 550-600rpm, Varders at 1200rpm. At load, Alpenfohns get to 1100-1200, Varders to about 1350rpm max.

I guess it comes down to static pressure? I hope if I replace varders with alepnfohns, the alpefohns will be more silent, and then be approximately the same noise level as the varders when under full load - varders max to 1350 on load, way below their 3000rpm max. So whilst the varders is operating just above minimum, the alpenhfohn would be near it's max of 1500 assuming it can cool as efficiently as the varder. But this all depends on the direct ability of Varder vs Alpenfohn.

Before I go ordering and replacing things and pulling the system apart, any opinion on this please anyone? Thanks. :)
 
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Personally, I'd opt for replacing the whole batch of fans to Vardar F2s, which is essentially the sweet spot for quiet PC, but that might be out of your budget :(

Also, I think you can get the Vardars to turn off when idle.

You can set the fan curve to activate when CPU temp reaches, e.g. 40C, and then go to fan set up and uncheck hold minimum power.

In that case your loop will stay passive, and only activate when your CPU reaches target temp.
 
Thanks DeFiniLoGy. I can get the Alpenfohns to sit at 0rpm, using the curves as per your post. But whatever I do I cannot get the Varder to reduce to 0rpm. When I set minimum power to 0%, it spins at full power / full rpm. If I then set it to 1% power, it spins at it's minimum of 1200rpm. I'm banging my head on the wall....! It's either that the fan cannot spin below 1200rpm, or, potentially the 5 way akasa splitter cable used to connect the fans?

The F2 looks good but what does "PWM Duty Cycle 50%-100%" mean in the specs on the product page? The FF5 has the same notation. Am assuming this means it can't spin below 50% of its max rpm capability?
 
I use Akasa Piranhas on my 2 x RX360's in P/P as they can go as low as 600 RPM which I can't hear from a foot away. They don't go above 1000 RPM to keep the water at about 6c above ambient so say 27c on average. That's on a 4790 and a 980.
 
As a fellow silent watercooling fanboy - I'd ditch the vaders.
They are good fans - but are designed for high fpi rads.
The RX and EX rads you have are designed for low speed fans (aka quiet cooling)

I'd also remove half the fans - push/pull is pointless unless doing max benchmarking runs.
At most you'll see a 2-3c rise in card temps at full load which will still be way below the stock cooler.

1 tripple rad will cool your system - so you have 480mm of extra cooling capacity.
If one of the rads is roof mounted try running it passive (no fans) as an exhaust
with the other two running active as intake (positive pressure case)
I'm guessing you have base/front/roof rads in your V1000
 
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I had trouble getting Noiseblockers running properly off an Akasa Splitter (into an Aquaero 5), have you tried with out it?
 
PWM fans never turn off, they idle at a minimum speed which for the Vardar F2-120 is less than 500 rpm (essentially inaudible). PWM duty cycle means that's the guaranteed range of PWM signal control, but almost always you can get lower with a good PWM controller like the Aquaero. This doesn't mean that the RPM control range is 50%, that's where the RPM response curve comes in. If you want to see how these look, refer to my review : http://thermalbench.com/category/fans/
 
R-TYPE said:
Thanks DeFiniLoGy. I can get the Alpenfohns to sit at 0rpm, using the curves as per your post. But whatever I do I cannot get the Varder to reduce to 0rpm. When I set minimum power to 0%, it spins at full power / full rpm. If I then set it to 1% power, it spins at it's minimum of 1200rpm. I'm banging my head on the wall....! It's either that the fan cannot spin below 1200rpm, or, potentially the 5 way akasa splitter cable used to connect the fans?

The F2 looks good but what does "PWM Duty Cycle 50%-100%" mean in the specs on the product page? The FF5 has the same notation. Am assuming this means it can't spin below 50% of its max rpm capability?
Click to expand...

Have you tried going into Advanced Setting Tab and check PWM controlled for the Vardars?

I'm not entirely sure really, but I can turn off my Vardar F2, but holding them at min power is really silent already lol
 
So am considering replacing the Varders this weekend with 5 of the aplenfohn. When gaming (with some big overclocks) the Varders get to about 1750 rpm max, not even halfway to the maximum Ie, 250 rpm more that the alpenfohns would at their max capacity. Whilst this means a much quieter system at low usage, the test will be how much faster will all of the fans in the system need to spin to compensate for the lower overall spin speed on that front rad.

Edit: oh and yes I have tried going into Advanced Setting tab but this still won't allow me to spin the Varder lower than 1200.
 
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ubersonic said:
Newer motherboards have the ability to turn off PWM fans depending on temperature, the latest ASUS ones do this and it's integrated into AiSuite/Qfan.
Click to expand...

Well I can turn off PWM fans by switching off the PSU too :p

My point was that is not a PWM control at play.
 
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