240mm AiO liquid cooler fans running high

[King Mustard]

Just installed a OcUK Tech Labs 240mm AiO liquid cooler on my i7-6700K / MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon.

The temperatures are fantastic but fan-wise, I'm getting (during idle):

CPUFAN1

• Liquid cooler fan #1
• 120mm Silverstone FQ121WC
• Smart mode / around 1700-1750 RPM

CPUFAN2

• Liquid cooler fan #2
• 120mm Silverstone FQ121WC
• Smart mode / around 1700-1750 RPM

SYSFAN1

• The liquid cooler itself
• Smart mode / around 1300-1350 RPM

SYSFAN2

• Rear exhaust
• 140mm Thermaltake that came with my Suppressor F1 case
• Smart mode / around 780 RPM
• Doesn't appear to be the causing the noise issue as it was fine before the liquid cooler installation

SYSFAN3

• Front intake
• 200mm Silverstone that came with my Suppressor F1 case
• Smart mode / around 550 RPM
• Doesn't appear to be the causing the noise issue as it was fine before the liquid cooler installation

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just installed a OcUK Tech Labs 240mm AiO liquid cooler on my i7-6700K / MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon.

The temperatures are fantastic but fan-wise, I'm getting (during idle):

CPUFAN1

• Liquid cooler fan #1
• 120mm Silverstone FQ121WC
• Smart mode / around 1700-1750 RPM

CPUFAN2

• Liquid cooler fan #2
• 120mm Silverstone FQ121WC
• Smart mode / around 1700-1750 RPM

SYSFAN1

• The liquid cooler itself
• Smart mode / around 1300-1350 RPM

SYSFAN2

• Rear exhaust
• 140mm Thermaltake that came with my Suppressor F1 case
• Smart mode / around 780 RPM
• Doesn't appear to be the causing the noise issue as it was fine before the liquid cooler installation

SYSFAN3

• Front intake
• 200mm Silverstone that came with my Suppressor F1 case
• Smart mode / around 550 RPM
• Doesn't appear to be the causing the noise issue as it was fine before the liquid cooler installation

The Silverstones seem to max out a 24 dBA for a noise level. And at those RPMs, I'm surprised you're irritated by the noise. I think you should look into a clever means of isolating contact between radiator and fans, either with rubber noise-isolators, or a DIY solution with nylon screws, nuts and self-adhesive rubber hose bandage.

Is there a way to control those fans so they bottom out at a lower speed? I have four 140mm fans in my new Skylake rig -- five including the pusher fan on my cooler. Jus-a-minute: . . . . My case intakes (four) are running at about 970 RPM as is the CPU fan. The rear exhaust runs at idle 1600 RPM. I've got a barrel fan in the rig running now at about 2,000 RPM. the barrel fan and the exhaust fan are the noisiest. And for the Barrel fan, I had to do a "DIY" noise isolation effort with rubber washers.

Oddly, for those two fans, running at those idle speeds, there is no noise to speak of. And under load, most of the noise comes from the exhaust fan, at a level that is still relatively quiet.

In the end, water-cooling was preferred to eliminate noise. But, in fact, water-cooled rigs can be noisier than air-cooled solutions coupled with thoughtful motherboard control. Metal radiators transmit and amplify sound. Again, see if you can do something to eliminate the contact of the fan-shrouds with the metal cooler.

Also, at the auto-parts store, you might find a mechanic's stethoscope so that you can pinpoint the actual points of contact that generate the most noise. I have found this very helpful, so I can focus my solutions on those points.

 

[XavierMace]

Does that liquid cooler not have the option to plug your fans into the pump like most (all?) other Asetek units?

 

[King Mustard]

Figured it out.

The fans are 3-pin, non-PWM and so, as they're plugged directly into my motherboard and not into a separate fan controller, they run at 100% all the time.

I will replace them with 4-pin/PWM fans

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Figured it out.

The fans are 3-pin, non-PWM and so, as they're plugged directly into my motherboard and not into a separate fan controller, they run at 100% all the time.

I will replace them with 4-pin/PWM fans

Well . . . what motherboard are you using? Why do they have to run at 100%?

I can't see why you can't control those 3-pin fans from the motherboard.

Put it another way. When I buy fans for intake ports, I always prefer PWM fans, just as I would for CPU and exhaust. There's no likelihood that I'd be FORCED to choose a 3-pin fan for either of those two items. But sometimes, you cannot find the type of fan you want for intake at the price you want to pay in anything other than a 3-pin voltage-controlled fan.

So I'd at least focus attention on seeing if you can avoid a needless fan replacement.

 

[King Mustard]

Well . . . what motherboard are you using? Why do they have to run at 100%?

I can't see why you can't control those 3-pin fans from the motherboard.

Put it another way. When I buy fans for intake ports, I always prefer PWM fans, just as I would for CPU and exhaust. There's no likelihood that I'd be FORCED to choose a 3-pin fan for either of those two items. But sometimes, you cannot find the type of fan you want for intake at the price you want to pay in anything other than a 3-pin voltage-controlled fan.

So I'd at least focus attention on seeing if you can avoid a needless fan replacement.

My MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard does not appear to allow me to control non-PWM fans; I've tried every setting in the UEFI.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard does not appear to allow me to control non-PWM fans; I've tried every setting in the UEFI.

Then, I suppose -- you'd want to replace the 3-pin with PWM. I've never had an MSI board so I don't know the BIOS organization or whether they've simply abjured 3-pin options. The ASUS boards allow you to do it either way on the same port. I picked my board -- perhaps sacrificing this or that feature -- because it's the model which takes this attention to fan control and cooling to a higher level than some other models. I can actually monitor the temperatures at various parts of the motherboard, including two "VCORE" VRM components. There are more fan ports than I'd ever need, in addition to one PWM port for "Pump." Anyone who buys a Sabertooth board and feels it necessary to spend money on a separate front-panel or other type of controller is out of their mind.

But as long as you have just two or three PWM ports on another board, except for buying PWM replacement fans, you can "do" pretty much the same thing. If the number of ports is limited, then buy a Swiftech 8-port splitter or hub for ~$10.