absolute quietest cooler for 3770K

[tracerbullet]

saying any fan is "dead silent" unless it is not spinning is nonsense. you can say " i can't hear it " if you want, but it's not dead silent.

Apparently I got the wrong idea of what you're looking for. We seem to be arguing whether or not fans make measurable noise, or if passive is better than fans to get less noise. I totally agree with what you are saying on this. My fanmate recommendation came because you seemed dead set on having fans, throttling them, and 300-1600 rpm was mentioned. That didn't make any sense to me.

I totally agree that passive is better than fans, and that fans do in fact make measurable noise. I was just trying to give you a better option that anything that might jump to 1600RPM while you were in the middle of trying to record something important, which is what it seemed you were determined to do.

If you can run passive, clearly go for it. If you must have a fan, my basic recommendation is simply to hard set it at a "tolerable" noise level and let it run, so you don't take any chances of it jumping in RPM and destroying something you're working on. That's all.

 

[g1981c]

If you can run passive, clearly go for it. If you must have a fan, my basic recommendation is simply to hard set it at a "tolerable" noise level and let it run, so you don't take any chances of it jumping in RPM and destroying something you're working on. That's all.

i'm sort of hoping it won't do any jumping. i have an older computer with dual xeon supermicro motherboard in which the CPU fans every once in a while spontaneously go to 5,000 rpm then back - it actually scares people when it does that.

but on the motherboard in question the stock intel cooler spins up to moderately loud level during boot, then goes back to idle and stays there. i have never not once had it ramp up for no reason, and even during video editing it didn't seem to ramp up much.

so i'm hoping this will not be an issue.

 

[g1981c]

anyway i just got the Noctua cooler, although i didn't order the Noctua PWM fan for it yet. the cooler comes with non-PWM fans.

most likely i won't get around to installing it until sunday.

the fins are much thicker than i expected ! i remember on my old thermalright the fins were paper thin - but this thing is surprisingly massive - it's so heavy you would think it's made out of copper or something.

so far after unboxing everything my impression is - ridiculously nice. you would think it was an iPhone and not a CPU cooler, based on how it is packaged and the accessories that come with it. the included screwdriver for example has a great chrome plating - WHY ? it's a throwaway item ! insanity !

i think the packaging alone on this cooler is worth the $50 that i paid for it LOL.

i think i used fewer parts to build this entire computer than is included with this cooler lol. my whole bed is covered in parts. scary stuff.

but of course, it won't be worth anything if it doesn't perform !

 

[coffeejunkee]

NOOOO ! ! ! you tell me this now ? when i'm already supposed to take delivery on 92MM noctua cooler today ? if somebody confirmed that i can use speedfan to keep the cooler in passive mode i would have gone with Macho HR02.

that said, it's Amazon, i can send it back ...

this will require a PWM fan, correct ?

one reason why i was not convinced by the passive HR02 option is that when i looked at a system they tested it in - it was about 2 inches from a case fan. so it was technically passive, but it had a 120mm fan right next to it. in my case there would be NO fans anywhere, which is different.

i guess i will have to see how quiet a 92mm noctua fan is - whether it is quiet enough ...

are there any resources you can point me to regarding using a cooler in passive mode with speedfan ?

Sorry, I'm not a 24/7 helpdesk...

But like I said before, you can control a regular fan just as well as a pwm fan. Or rather, it depends on your motherboard which types of fans you can control (or not).

Here is a link to a reasonable decent Speedfan guide: http://unitstep.net/blog/2007/11/02/using-speedfan-to-automatically-control-your-pcs-fan-speeds/

In your case you would set cpu fan minimum rotation speed to 0% and desired cpu temp to something high like 60 degrees so it will only spin up under heavy loads.

 

[g1981c]

Ok the 92mm noctua cooler is installed. Pics:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8234/8355001815_7b6f0efebd_k.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8356065128_aaa4ba7cc3_k.jpg

I'm using one of the two fans that were included ( 3 pin, non-PWM ).

I used speedfan and openhardwaremonitor and both placed the RPM at about 1770, which means the fan is not being throttled.

At this speed it is about equally as loud as the stock Intel cooler was, which if you recall was spinning at 2,000 rpm but was with a slightly smaller impeller.

Of course the CPU is ice cold right now, at about 24C, but that's not really what i am after is it ?

So what now ? Can i slow this non-PWM noctua fan down using motherboard ( i don't care to use the included low noise adapters, or any of my fanmates ) ? Or do i have to buy the PWM noctua fan ?

Is there a chance i could enable something in bios etc ?

My motherboard is Z77A GD65 by MSI - it has UEFI bios.

 

[Ketchup]

Ok the 92mm noctua cooler is installed. Pics:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8234/8355001815_7b6f0efebd_k.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8356065128_aaa4ba7cc3_k.jpg

I'm using one of the two fans that were included ( 3 pin, non-PWM ).

I used speedfan and openhardwaremonitor and both placed the RPM at about 1770, which means the fan is not being throttled.

At this speed it is about equally as loud as the stock Intel cooler was, which if you recall was spinning at 2,000 rpm but was with a slightly smaller impeller.

Of course the CPU is ice cold right now, at about 24C, but that's not really what i am after is it ?

So what now ? Can i slow this non-PWM noctua fan down using motherboard ( i don't care to use the included low noise adapters, or any of my fanmates ) ? Or do i have to buy the PWM noctua fan ?

Is there a chance i could enable something in bios etc ?

My motherboard is Z77A GD65 by MSI - it has UEFI bios.

Two thoughts:
1. That system looks pretty slick with the mew cooler. Maybe you should try to get a clear cover for the side.
2. You motherboard probably has a built-in speed control function for the CPU fan socket. Either in the BIOS, software, or both. I have never had luck with speedfan, and abandoned it years ago.

 

[g1981c]

now that i think about it the Noctua is much louder than the stock Intel cooler, and there isn't nearly the airflow you would expect out of the back of the cooler. on the plus side the noise it makes is very well behaved.

it seems though the fan is not a good high pressure fan - i can tell a lot of air is blowing out of the side right from under the fan but not much is going through. it doesn't seem to be very good at pushing air through the actual heatsink.

that said i'm sure it has more cooling power than i need.

Two thoughts:
1. That system looks pretty slick with the mew cooler. Maybe you should try to get a clear cover for the side.

thanks, but i think it looked better with intel cooler. intel cooler was blue to match the blue mobo. the noctua colors are very classy on their own, but when you put it on a mobo with flashy colors it doesn't work together.

2. You motherboard probably has a built-in speed control function for the CPU fan socket. Either in the BIOS, software, or both. I have never had luck with speedfan, and abandoned it years ago.

i'm tired today, but i will certainly take a look into that when i'm not.

 

[Ketchup]

it seems though the fan is not a good high pressure fan - i can tell a lot of air is blowing out of the side right from under the fan but not much is going through. it doesn't seem to be very good at pushing air through the actual heatsink.

that said i'm sure it has more cooling power than i need.

Based on the temps you are seeing, I'd say it's a good fan.

Just remember, the model you bought is more well-known for low temps than it is for quietness. It is quiet for the amount of heat it dissipates, but that doesn't mean it was made for general silence.

 

[g1981c]

Based on the temps you are seeing, I'd say it's a good fan.

Just remember, the model you bought is more well-known for low temps than it is for quietness. It is quiet for the amount of heat it dissipates, but that doesn't mean it was made for general silence.

i realized it's also blowing air through the sides, not just back, so i guess the total amount of air passing through is decent. just not as much coming out of the back as i expected.

 

[Ketchup]

i realized it's also blowing air through the sides, not just back, so i guess the total amount of air passing through is decent. just not as much coming out of the back as i expected.

You are correct. This is part of the reason it works so well.

 

[g1981c]

OK i went to the BIOS and the automatic CPU fan control was disabled. i then enabled it and set target temperature to the highest available option at 70C and i set minimum fan speed to minimum available option 0% RPM.

it had no effect whatsoever.

i then plugged in the Noctua into a system fan header, and plugged in the intel PWM cooler into CPU header, and just placed the intel cooler to the side ( intel cooler wasn't actually cooling anything ).

intel cooler got throttled from about 2050 to about 1020 rpm, or to 50%. it didn't seem to want to go below 1000 rpm.

just in case without changing any settings i plugged the Noctua back into the header intel was plugged into, but it was still 1700 rpm.

moral of the story:

1 - i didn't have to buy anything at all. i simply had to enable fan control in BIOS and my RPM would have gone down from 2,000 to 1,000 which probably would have made it quiet enough for me considering how small the intel fan is.

2 - the motherboard will throttle a 4 pin PWM fan, but not a 3 pin fan.

now i am thinking i should either get a 92mm noctua PWM fan ( which was the original plan ) but its going to be at least $20, and it feels a bit wrong because i already have two brand new 92mm noctua fans here.

or i can get that Nanoxia PWMX 4 pin to 3 pin PWM controller thing which is $12, and would allow me to use the fans i already have, but its nowhere to be found in stock.

any other product like Nanoxia PWMX that is actually in stock ?

i could even go back to the intel cooler, and attempt to RMA the noctua, but i don't really want to do that. i still hope to get 300 RPM using a Noctua fan.

anyway i'm dead. i'm going to sleep - not ordering anything until i get some sleep. so hopefully tomorrow morning i can read your ideas and make a decision.

good night !

 

[lehtv]

Did you check temperatures while stress testing the CPU - does the stock fan spin up? Somehow I don't think the stock CPU fan is efficient enough at 1000 RPM at full load, it should be audible at full load

No idea what's going on with the Noctua fan.

or i can get that Nanoxia PWMX 4 pin to 3 pin PWM controller thing which is $12, and would allow me to use the fans i already have, but its nowhere to be found in stock.

You can plug a 3-pin fan into a 4-pin motherboard connector, but obviously it'll lack PWM

I'd have gone with the passive HR-02, as you can probably guess...

 

[coffeejunkee]

Ok, one last try:

1. install Speedfan
2. read the link I provided
3. disable any bios cpu fan warnings
4. plug the noctua's fan into a casefanheader
5. check if Speedfan can control it, else try another
6. set up a profile to your liking

 

[g1981c]

Ok, one last try:

1. install Speedfan
2. read the link I provided
3. disable any bios cpu fan warnings
4. plug the noctua's fan into a casefanheader
5. check if Speedfan can control it, else try another
6. set up a profile to your liking

I already decided not to use speedfan. The idea was if i'm going to get fancy with speedfan i would go with HR02 and have it completely turn the fan off at idle. i decided i would rather go for a solution that was *almost* as good but did not require any special software.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Ok, but next time you create a thread like this please warn people you will not actually do what any of them recommend.

 

[g1981c]

Did you check temperatures while stress testing the CPU - does the stock fan spin up? Somehow I don't think the stock CPU fan is efficient enough at 1000 RPM at full load, it should be audible at full load

I didn't, but i don't see why it wouldn't spin up. After all, this is the same fan that was already spinning on at 2,000 rpm on that same cpu header, before i enabled the smart thingy.

Also i would add that when i first enabled the smart thingy the fan took probably a minute if not more to spin down - it wasn't like it went straight from 2,000 to 1,000 - it just started slowly slowing down and took a minute or two to get to 1,000.

You can plug a 3-pin fan into a 4-pin motherboard connector, but obviously it'll lack PWM

I'd have gone with the passive HR-02, as you can probably guess...

before installing Noctua i had a moment of doubt, and wanted to return it and get HR-02, but the Noctua was already here and unboxed, so i decided to just go through with it.

similarly when i was able to slow down the intel cooler later in the day i again had my moment of doubt and thought i should go back to the intel cooler, but once again, the Noctua is already installed so i'm going to go through with it.

the intel will not go below 1,000 rpm and frankly it will probably be inaudible at 1,000 rpm ( i couldn't verify that, because i had all the other fans running ) but if the Noctua can go to 300 rpm it should be just as quiet. of course if i was smart i would send the noctua back and use the Intel, but unfortunately as you know i am an id1ot, so i *have to* go with the most illogical solution or else i can't live with myself.

 

[g1981c]

Ok, but next time you create a thread like this please warn people you will not actually do what any of them recommend.

sorry i was interrupted before i could finish responding to your original question.

4. plug the noctua's fan into a casefanheader
5. check if Speedfan can control it, else try another

when i was in BIOS it had options to control system fan 1 and system fan 2 only ( plus the CPU fan of course ). the mobo has four system fan headers - but only the first two are 4 pin, the other two are 3 pin. the ones controllable from BIOS are the 4 pin ones. in other words the mobo will only control PWM headers.

now i didn't try plugging the Noctua into a controllable 4 pin system header, but i'm going to assume it will not control it, because it didn't work in a 4 pin CPU header. and even if those 4 pin system headers for some reason are able to control 3 pin fan's speed i don't want to use them - i want to use the CPU header so that BIOS can not only adjust it's speed but do it PROPERLY according to CPU temp, and not anything else.

 

[g1981c]

now, before i order the 92mm Noctua PWM fan - any last words ? LOL

 

[Ketchup]

now, before i order the 92mm Noctua PWM fan - any last words ? LOL

Oh man, you just need to rebuild the whole thing, lol.

 

[coffeejunkee]

now, before i order the 92mm Noctua PWM fan - any last words ? LOL

Well, there is a good chance those 4-pin casefanheaders are actually voltage controlled. I could also tell you that Speedfan uses the same cpu temperature readings as your motherboard to control fanspeed. But it's probably better if I tell you to get that pwm fan you want.

 

[g1981c]

But it's probably better if I tell you to get that pwm fan you want.

you are a wise man !

ok then, i ordered it from here:

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-B9-P...A28CFGAEH1L7HN

it's 300 miles away from me, versus only 30 miles for Newegg but when i called Newegg just now they said 36 minutes hold time, and Frozen CPU just picked up the phone, so ...

when i order from a store for the first time i like to give them a call just to see if they will pick up or not

the robot girl voice from Newegg is actually trying to make it sound as if they would be doing me a favor by calling me back 40 minutes from how - HAHAHAHA ! ! !

once you have experienced REAL customers service, why would you settle for that 40 minute hold time crap ? what is this a soviet line for butter ? a food stamp office ? a department of motor vehicles ?

the people who say that Newegg has great service - what planet do they live on ? well, i can't get much further than that without going into politics ...

 

[g1981c]

PWM Fan installed. Note the 4 pin connector and LNA in this pic:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8191/8364686279_8220ca3621_k.jpg

YEAH BABY ! IT WORKS !

Without LNA the mobo throttled it down to 530 rpm, with LNA to 510 rpm. Not a big difference by any means, but even at 800 rpm it was already basically inaudible. At 510 rpm i can have my head 12 inches from the fan and all i hear is the traffic outside, the coil whine from the seasonic PSU, and 7200 rpm Samsung 2TB storage disk spinning at idle.

At 1700 rpm this fan was pretty damn loud ! twice as loud as the stock cooler at 2000 rpm. I was a bit scared ! I was afraid i would not be able to slow it down enough to silence it - but i was

Even though it didn't go down to promised 300 rpm for whatever reason ( i set the most aggressive settings on mobo - with min RPM set to 0. ) it went down ENOUGH for the fan to disappear into my room's background noise.

I didn't try closing the windows yet, or waiting for 3AM when there is no traffic but really i don't care - it is quit ENOUGH i can tell you that.

temps - 32C at idle ( by comparison normal body temperature is 36.7C ) and it went up to 58C when i did some video rendering to stress it. the funny thing is even at full CPU load the fan was still only at 510 RPM. i set 60C as target temperature in BIOS and it didn't quite get to it even at the lowest 510 rpm that it can possibly run at.

so i don't know whether it would actually spin up or not if it got hotter, but it seems perfectly capable even if it does not.

 

[g1981c]

i know i said i wasn't going to overclock but now i sort of have to. if i can't even get the fan to spin up at full load that means i have some wasted thermal headroom.

one of two things will need to happen - i will either need to OC it, or i will need to close the case ( without adding any case fans ). because as it is i have overcapacity in cooling.

i should probably do both.

 

[lehtv]

Having overcapacity in cooling is not harmful to your computer, thus you don't have to overclock.

 

[g1981c]

ok i overclocked to 4.2 ghz using MSI OC Genie automatic overclocking

it was getting a bit warm under load so i removed the LNA adapter as it was only cutting 20 rpm at idle but limits top rpm by 300

so with LNA out of the loop, and mobo target temp set to 45C i have:

41C idle @ 540 rpm
60C under load ( rendering video ) @ 1260 rpm

i will note that @ 1260 rpm the fan is still inaudible ! either the first fan i had was a lemon, or 1700 rpm vs 1260 is really a big difference !

under load when i put my finger on the heatsink it feels body temperature - barely warm - it seems there is a problem getting the heat from the CPU to the fins, but there is no problem getting the heat out of the fins as they are barely warm at 4.2 ghz at full load.

so that's great. the only downside seems to be that now the computer pulls 51 watt from the wall at idle versus without overclocking it pulls 32 watts. under load it pulls 90 watts, so that's not a big change from 75 watt load without overclock. the big change is at idle - because without overclocking the CPU seems to idle as low as 1.600 mhz or so to save power but with OC it's always at 4.2 ghz.

so basically the downside to OC is the electrical bill here. it's probably not worth it too ...

edit: went back to factory default to save power @ idle