Sub 20dba CPU Cooler

Ch3m1c4L · 9 Jun 2014 at 10:03

Whats the best <20dba CPU cooler, that is at most 165mm tall?

Will be cooling a 4670k, on a MSI Z97M Gaming Intel Z97, which will be in a Silverstone SG-09b case.

I cant decide if a Noctua D14/15, phanteks, prolimatech or an AIO unit will be best.

I would rather not be spending ~£100 on a cooler, just to save one or two degrees over one half the price, so I guess I am looking for a "mid range" on cooling capacity, silence being most important.

Aesthetics mean nothing for this build, since you cant see inside the case, and the components already don't match perfectly, but black/red/grey/white are all being used in the build.

snips86x · 9 Jun 2014 at 10:05

H80i or H100i?

The best way to keep the above quite is to create a customer fan curve. This will adjust the PWM fans based on the temp of the coolant.

On boot/reboot they are noisy, but even when gaming, mine are sub 1100rpm and I cannot hear them. My graphics card is louder.

Ch3m1c4L · 9 Jun 2014 at 10:37

That sounds fine to me. I wasn't sure about noise levels since they were up to 30 odd dba at max and obviously don't know how it performs at lower RPM's.

Are they worth it over the lower (cheaper) corsair hydros? will have a proper google about the differences at lunch.

dacads · 9 Jun 2014 at 11:04

Noctua U14S

Ch3m1c4L · 9 Jun 2014 at 11:37

Dont think the U14S will fit, its fan looks to be extending beyond the 165mm top of the cooler (might be able to lower it though), but it overlaps the top PCI-E slot on the board and due to the airflow design in the SG-09 I wont be mounting it the other way around.

The U12S looks like a good contender though.

dacads · 9 Jun 2014 at 11:40

Yes it's one of the quietest coolers out there

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5417/noctua-nh-u12s-cpu-cooler-review/index9.html

Ch3m1c4L · 9 Jun 2014 at 11:55

Yea I read through this review http://bit.ly/1hz7PIV

Which puts it in a very good spot for performance V noise.
To get a worthwhile amount of cooler, it appears I need to either spend a lot more, or have a much louder cooler.

So it seems to fit my needs pretty well. The machine isn't going to be given an insane overclock or anything, Just clocked to what runs stable at a reasonable temp/noise level.