Anyone use water cooling JUST for the noise?

[Locut0s]

I'm not an overclocker but I do like to keep my PC on 24/7 and it's in my bedroom. The way things are it wold be awkward to move it anywhere else. The computer I have now is loud enough and the next one I am going to build will only be louder. Some nights I almost have difficulty falling asleep because of the fan noise. I was wondering, does anyone here use water cooling just for it's noise advantage. And if so HOW much of an advantage are we talking about?

 

[mrkun]

You could also try getting a fan controller to turn down the fans at night.

 

[Locut0s]

You could also try getting a fan controller to turn down the fans at night.

True. Thanks. However I'd like the comfort of knowing that temps would never go too high even at night. Also it would be nice to be able to run things like BOINC projects and other stuff with idle CPU/GPU time and for that the system would be under load.

 

[MisterDonut]

Fan controller or better fans...

EDIT: I totally misread your post. It's really tough to keep a loaded CPU under reasonable temps without your fans running. If you're more interested in the noise, get better fans/heatsink. H2O isn't worth it for just noise. If you want better temps all around + less noise, buy h2o, but make sure you want it for temps too (not just noise). lol.

 

[TwinsenTacquito]

Yes, I built one for a friend for that reason. It's pretty freakin' quiet. I really don't think it is worth it for the sound level.

 

[Locut0s]

Fan controller or better fans...

EDIT: I totally misread your post. It's really tough to keep a loaded CPU under reasonable temps without your fans running. If you're more interested in the noise, get better fans/heatsink. H2O isn't worth it for just noise. If you want better temps all around + less noise, buy h2o, but make sure you want it for temps too (not just noise). lol.

Yeah, k, thanks. The PC I'm thinking of building will likely either have something like a 5970 or 2 cards in SLI. That will also necessitate something like a 700W PSU. For HDDs I'll have at least 2 or 3. I'll also be running a i7 9xx series CPU. Realistically how quiet can one make such a system with good quality fans? Right now I have something like 4 or 5 120mm fans and that with one video card and an older quad core Intel.

 

[Apocalypse23]

I'd recommend you invest in a bang for the buck cooling case. Such as the Coolermaster Storm Sniper Black edition. I just ordered one from ncix, will be picking one up at their Langley outlet this week. Look up some reviews on this case, you can price match it for $130, goto shopbot.ca and search. It's got an in built fan controller with an easy turning knob on the top so you can control the speed at any time, it also runs fairly quiet, I'm going to be using this for my Tri Crossfire setup running an i7.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...-storm-sniper-black-edition-video-review.html

 

[CurseTheSky]

If you end up pricing out a water cooling loop, compare it to the cost of buying a Silverstone FT02. The case is extremely quiet with the fans turn down low, and it cools very well.

 

[RaiderJ]

My first watercooled computer didn't really overclock that much, so the biggest benefit was the noise reduction. I definitely think swapping out air-cooled components and a case will be the cheaper path to go, but watercooling is a fun project. Plus, you'd have less dust being packed in your case.

I'd say price it out and see what the difference in cost is.

 

[Anubis]

Yeah, k, thanks. The PC I'm thinking of building will likely either have something like a 5970 or 2 cards in SLI. That will also necessitate something like a 700W PSU. For HDDs I'll have at least 2 or 3. I'll also be running a i7 9xx series CPU. Realistically how quiet can one make such a system with good quality fans? Right now I have something like 4 or 5 120mm fans and that with one video card and an older quad core Intel.

pretty quiet but that depends on your definition of quiet to a degree, im running a system not that different from what you described and there inst much noise, an after market I7 cooler with any of the quality 120mm fans will be near silent i run 2 Gentle Typhoons on mine and you cant really hear them, i run 4 120mm Yeta loon low speed case fans and they make almost no noise at all, the PSU you wont hear ever. the loudest thing in your system would be the vid cards and when idle they shouldest be loud at all,

my AC is louder then my comp, as well as a standing 18inch fan on its lowest setting

 

[smackababy]

I wouldn't say I water cool just for the noise reduction, but it is certainly not a con. Good fans, coupled with a good loop is near silent performance. If anything I would say I water cool PCs because if I don't I get withdrawls. Addiction is not pretty, so be careful.

 

[the_tool]

Yea, go for liquid cooling if you can. The noise level goes down, but its good for other reasons which would be the main advantage. - Plus you'll get some sleep

 

[MrK6]

Air cooling is so good right now it's difficult to justify a "water cooling for silence" build. I tried building such a system last year and their was barely any improvement despite the cost. To get to a point where water cooling would be noticeably quieter than decent air cooling, I would have to overclock my system so far that the heat output (and all associated annoyances) would override any benefit of lower noise.

 

[cbn]

Air cooling is so good right now it's difficult to justify a "water cooling for silence" build. I tried building such a system last year and their was barely any improvement despite the cost. To get to a point where water cooling would be noticeably quieter than decent air cooling, I would have to overclock my system so far that the heat output (and all associated annoyances) would override any benefit of lower noise.

For CPU cooling, I definitely agree with you. A large tower takes care of the noise of a moderate overclock easily.

But what about the video card(s)?

This System from Thermalright looks super nice, but notice how large it is.