Quietest CPU cooling - AIO / all in one water?

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Jase2985

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#2625190 22-Dec-2020 07:02

timmmay:

The 5600X seems to get hotter than the old 2700K, and is more peaky in temperature than the old CPU. New Intel may be exactly the same, but I'd probably say go with the Intel.

5600x tdp = 65w

2700k tdp = 95w

they should be very dsmiliar in heat generated due to the different ways intel and amd measure tdp.

you are saying go intel when you have no practical experience in their current generation stuff.

I would also oversepc a cooler, 100w of heat dissipation will mean fans need to run faster to keep it cool.

ratsun81

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#2625219 22-Dec-2020 08:31

Jase2985:

timmmay:

The 5600X seems to get hotter than the old 2700K, and is more peaky in temperature than the old CPU. New Intel may be exactly the same, but I'd probably say go with the Intel.

5600x tdp = 65w

2700k tdp = 95w

they should be very dsmiliar in heat generated due to the different ways intel and amd measure tdp.

you are saying go intel when you have no practical experience in their current generation stuff.

I would also oversepc a cooler, 100w of heat dissipation will mean fans need to run faster to keep it cool.

TDP is in my opinion one of the worst things that both CPU manufacturers are doing currently. Its not being measured consistently between the 2 and each manufacturers boost technology goes well above the ratings.

I had an 8086K and now my current 3900X on the same water setup. Both behave very similarly. Both these chips are rated 95/105W TDP

The reality of it is they need a minimum of 95/105W of heat dissipation to avoid thermal throttling. Having more cooling will mean less noise. But the other side of the coin is the higher cost.

Its quite clear that the older architectures behaved differently which used to get up into the 60c range and now the norm is into the 80c range...

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timmmay

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#2625224 22-Dec-2020 08:41

Yeah that boost is what causes a lot of the noise. I considered turning boost off, doesn't reduce performance all that much, but have left it for now. I tweaked PWM to keep the fan speed fairly low until the CPU hits about 70 degrees which helped a lot. It's more the varying speed or weird harmonics that seems to bug me rather than the absolute noise. A noise that's constant is easy to get used to.

Jase2985

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#2625273 22-Dec-2020 08:57

change the fan ramp speed, its will make sure its not spinning up quickly for any blip kind of event, it will do it slowly or it will wait a set period and if its still hot after that time it will speed the fan up. a lot of transient events dont last that long and it will normally not change speed.

timmmay

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#2625281 22-Dec-2020 09:22

Jase2985:

change the fan ramp speed, its will make sure its not spinning up quickly for any blip kind of event, it will do it slowly or it will wait a set period and if its still hot after that time it will speed the fan up. a lot of transient events dont last that long and it will normally not change speed.

Yeah, simply opening a large web page can jump the temp from 40 - 65C for a few seconds. I couldn't see that setting in the Gigabyte BIOS. I just set it to be a constant speed about 20% until it gets pretty hot. Seems to work.

Jase2985

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#2625287 22-Dec-2020 09:30

likely wont be in the bios

im using Asus AI Suite 3 with my Asus motherboard.

timmmay

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#2625303 22-Dec-2020 09:48

Gigabyte doesn't have fan control in software, just in the BIOS, as far as I can see.

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Jase2985

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#2625338 22-Dec-2020 09:58

timmmay:

Gigabyte doesn't have fan control in software, just in the BIOS, as far as I can see.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-AORUS-ELITE-rev-10/support#support-dl-utility

on thew software page for your motherboard under utilities, download APP center

and in there will be something called Smart Fan Advance

ratsun81

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#2625373 22-Dec-2020 10:31

Jase2985:

timmmay:

Gigabyte doesn't have fan control in software, just in the BIOS, as far as I can see.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-AORUS-ELITE-rev-10/support#support-dl-utility

on thew software page for your motherboard under utilities, download APP center

and in there will be something called Smart Fan Advance

System Information Viewer
(Note) Support AMD 500 series motherboards (support may vary by model).
(Note) Please install APP Center first before install this utility.

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timmmay

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#2625384 22-Dec-2020 10:51

Thanks guys, I couldn't find it so I just used the one in the BIOS. I have it now, seems to be working fine. That rear 140mm Noctua fan can really pull a lot of air through at high speed.

timmmay

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#2638439 19-Jan-2021 21:09

I've replaced the Noctua NH-U12S CPU cooler with a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, imported from Amazon.com (which costs a bit because it's fairly heavy). The DRP4 has two towers and two fans, 120mm and 135mm, and overall is about 2x or 2.5x the size of the Noctua. The Silent Wing fans are engineered for volume first, including "6 poles" for smoother operation than the standard four poles (so I read). Fitting was a bit fiddly, but not difficult. Temperatures are about the same, 40C idle in a 23C room, 60C with prime 95, 65C with prime 95 plus web browsing.

The difference in noise is quite significant to my ear. The DRP4 is much more pleasing to the ear. When it's at 100% you can hear the air being pushed around, but there's no annoying vibration, harmonics, or anything else - it's as good as or better than my ten year old Noctua cooler. It's also less peaky - when I'm using the computer it takes longer for the temp to go up when the CPU is used, and the fans stay on a lower speed, maybe because it has more thermal mass.

The Noctua NH-U12S I took out made a noise that irritated my tinnitus. The fan is virtually silent when off the heatsink but the air blowing through the heatsink made a noise that bugged me, and was louder than I liked. I don't think there was anything wrong with it, it just bugged me.

I've used the Gigabyte Fan Control to tweak the fan curves. I let it get hotter before the fans ramp up, and I do a fast ramp at the threshold rather than a slow gradual ramp because I find the constant speeding up and slowing down of fans annoying. My old computer had a manual fan controller so it was on one speed unless I turned a knob, which worked quite well actually.

The Fractal Design R5 is a bit rubbish. I've had to put rubber in many places to stop vibration - between the hard drive and the mount, between the hard drive cage and the frame, between the front filter and the case, and I haven't gotten around to putting the bottom filter back in yet because it vibrates. Sometimes the front door of the case vibrates as well, nothing much I can do about that. I would think carefully before buying a Fractal Design again.

So all in all I highly recommend the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU cooler, and I'll be using their products in preference to Noctua in the future.

arcon

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#2638615 20-Jan-2021 10:25

timmmay:

The Fractal Design R5 is a bit rubbish. I've had to put rubber in many places to stop vibration - between the hard drive and the mount, between the hard drive cage and the frame, between the front filter and the case, and I haven't gotten around to putting the bottom filter back in yet because it vibrates. Sometimes the front door of the case vibrates as well, nothing much I can do about that. I would think carefully before buying a Fractal Design again.

Hey I have had the Fractal R5 for 6 years now :D I found a problem with this case is that even though its engineered for silence like many of their products, airflow is pretty awful so fans have to try very hard to keep temps in check.

I'm retiring it soon for a new build with a Fractal Meshify 2 XL... going big lol. Custom loop on everything.

rb99

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#2638870 20-Jan-2021 13:52

Interesting how people get different results and like different things. Personally I'm pretty happy with my Fractal R5 and Noctua NH-U12A. Does get a bit noisy when flat out with Handbrake or similar, but it is on my desk, not under it. Gets a bit hot in summer (higher ambient temps obviously). Airflow seems OK to me. It does have a door but you can look in the side through the grill around the edge of the door and see out the other side. Mine seems pretty vibration free, even with maybe 5 fans, 7 HDDs and two bluray drives inside (which is why I got it, lots of space for such things).

No doubt there are better alternatives but its not like I can afford to try a different cooler or case on a whim so...

That Dark Rock does look good though.

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rb99

timmmay

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#2638930 20-Jan-2021 14:48

rb99:

Interesting how people get different results and like different things. Personally I'm pretty happy with my Fractal R5 and Noctua NH-U12A. Does get a bit noisy when flat out with Handbrake or similar, but it is on my desk, not under it. Gets a bit hot in summer (higher ambient temps obviously). Airflow seems OK to me. It does have a door but you can look in the side through the grill around the edge of the door and see out the other side. Mine seems pretty vibration free, even with maybe 5 fans, 7 HDDs and two bluray drives inside (which is why I got it, lots of space for such things).

No doubt there are better alternatives but its not like I can afford to try a different cooler or case on a whim so...

That Dark Rock does look good though.

Might just be bad luck I got a case the tolerances don't work well together. Maybe I got a slightly louder Noctua.

On your CPU cooler, do you just hear the noise of the air pushing around, or can you hear a weird hum / harmonic? My fan off the heatsink is fine, just about quiet, but when pushing air through the heatsink it gets loud.

rb99

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#2638950 20-Jan-2021 15:29

Difficult to say really.

But I'll try. In its not doing much state, I say it sounds possibly like a main air pushing round / general whirring hum, with a much fainter lower pitched hum. Plus the Noctua sometimes speeding up and slowing down a bit, but nothing drastic at the moment. In its hard working state not sure if the general air pushing around noise changes much, probably because I think most of the case fans are fixed on a high setting, but the Noctua definitely gets louder. I think it does have a harmonic / kind of fast wobble / fast undulation / rhythm thing.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

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