Recommendations for silent 360mm AIO

Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2004
Posts
7,621
Location
Derry
I've just upgraded from a Ryzen 1700 to a 3700x and the temps on it seem to be quite a bit higher, I'm using an NH15S and both fans which used to be completely silent on the 1700 which was OC'd to 3.9ghz but even at stock on the 3700x it's getting noisy.

I'm looking to swap to a decent 360mm AIO but the last (coolermaster) one I had was constantly gurgling and the cooling wasn't that great, anyone recommend a decent, quiet one? I don't care about RGB or any of that faff.

Cheers
 
Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2020
Posts
146
Personally I'm a fan of Corsair's H150i series

The reason being, they have software control of pump and fan speeds, and let you monitor the temperature of the coolant rather than the CPU temperature. Many other AIO coolers don't let you monitor the coolant temperature so you can only go with the CPU temp for controlling the speed, which changes much more rapidly, leading to annoying audible changes in fan speeds.

The included software only lets you control the pump speed at three profiles and not vary it based upon coolant temp (the fans can be controlled based on coolant temp though) or if you want more fine control then use Argus Monitor.

I'd actually like to upgrade to a 420mm AIO for even quieter operation under sustained load, but I haven't seen any that let your monitor their coolant temperature.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Apr 2016
Posts
3,425
Definitely something with good software but there is no such thing as a silent aio.

It’s always the pump you can hear!
 
Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2020
Posts
146
True. Unless your case design can block that noise, if you are really close by in a quiet environment you will hear the pump even if all fans are totally stopped.

I've configured mine (using Argus Monitor) for 25% pump speed unless the coolant temperature reaches over 35 C, which doesn't happen when at idle. Still, you can just about hear it.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Apr 2016
Posts
3,425
I’m actually really happy with my Arctic freezer now. I set a low pump/fan curve in the bios and even with an open case and the pc under a table it is now barely audible. Much much better than my x52 kraken but like the poster above says still audible. Fans are silent even at low rpm but the pump always seems to be the most audible.
 
Associate
Joined
9 Aug 2006
Posts
311
Location
Leeds
Personally I'm a fan of Corsair's H150i series

The reason being, they have software control of pump and fan speeds, and let you monitor the temperature of the coolant rather than the CPU temperature. Many other AIO coolers don't let you monitor the coolant temperature so you can only go with the CPU temp for controlling the speed, which changes much more rapidly, leading to annoying audible changes in fan speeds.

The included software only lets you control the pump speed at three profiles and not vary it based upon coolant temp (the fans can be controlled based on coolant temp though) or if you want more fine control then use Argus Monitor.

I'd actually like to upgrade to a 420mm AIO for even quieter operation under sustained load, but I haven't seen any that let your monitor their coolant temperature.


Is that running the iCue software?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
28 Dec 2004
Posts
7,621
Location
Derry
typically independent reviews show the NH15S as being similar in performance to an AIO.

the 1700 and 3700X are both 65W parts so I don't really understand why the same cooler isn't working just as well with the 3700X.

I have a suspicion it might have been down to agressive default fan curves and some crap thermal compound, I've replaced it with some arctic silver and tinkered with the curves and I'm back to silence again!
 
Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2020
Posts
146
Is that running the iCue software?
It does come with iCue, but I don't use it. I use Argus Monitor instead. iCue lets you control the fan speeds of the cooler based upon the coolant temp, but the pump speed can only be set to one of three fixed profiles (I think something like Silent/Balanced/Performance) and not set to vary depending upon temperature.
 
Associate
Joined
9 Aug 2006
Posts
311
Location
Leeds
It does come with iCue, but I don't use it. I use Argus Monitor instead. iCue lets you control the fan speeds of the cooler based upon the coolant temp, but the pump speed can only be set to one of three fixed profiles (I think something like Silent/Balanced/Performance) and not set to vary depending upon temperature.

Great. Thanks. One thing that has put me off some AIOs is the extra software needed to control them, however, I already have iCue installed for my keyboard and mouse.

Is the pump noisy if set to performance mode?
 
Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2020
Posts
146
Great. Thanks. One thing that has put me off some AIOs is the extra software needed to control them, however, I already have iCue installed for my keyboard and mouse.

Is the pump noisy if set to performance mode?

Yeah quite noisy in performance mode, you can hear the whine of it clearly over fans if they are low speed. At 100% the pump is about 2900 RPM.

Right now with the curve I've defined it's at 25% (~1300 RPM) and I can't hear that from where I sit a few feet away. That's with the fans down to about 600 RPM (40%) on a curve too. I can't hear those either at that speed.
 
Soldato
Soldato
Joined
26 Oct 2013
Posts
9,714
Location
Leicester
Yeah quite noisy in performance mode, you can hear the whine of it clearly over fans if they are low speed. At 100% the pump is about 2900 RPM.

Right now with the curve I've defined it's at 25% (~1300 RPM) and I can't hear that from where I sit a few feet away. That's with the fans down to about 600 RPM (40%) on a curve too. I can't hear those either at that speed.
To control it through argus have you disconnected the USB header then and just use the pump through cpu fan header?
Interested as I use argus for chassis fans anyway
 
Associate
Joined
28 Oct 2020
Posts
146
To control it through argus have you disconnected the USB header then and just use the pump through cpu fan header?
Interested as I use argus for chassis fans anyway

Nope, still through its USB connection. Argus Monitor has specific support for the H150i and can control the pump and fans. You need to have the Corsair software installed for the system to have the driver and low level interface to, but it doesn't actually have to be running.
 
Back
Top Bottom