Quietest fans to put on a radiator?

[Sonikku]

Perhaps I am spoiled by my evo 212 that was inaudible. But with my new intel 9 series build, I knew I wanted to overclock as high as it could go, and was assured my evo would not be up to the task. I started looking at water coolers for the past week and then got this cooler when it went on sale for $75 on cyber monday, the EVGA CLC 280.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N16CAKN/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was my expectation that the larger fans would mean quieter operation. The youtube reviews I watched on it suggested that 1500rpm was the sweetspot and they did not appear to be nearly as loud as they are in person. The fans, sadly, sound like a jet engine even at idle. When I first booted my new system it was excrutiating, 1400ish rpm according to the motherboard. But even now that I have EVGA Flow Controll installed and have lowered the fan RPM to the lowest RPM possible, (900rpm) it is still super loud, abit not as much as before. I don't need my CPU to be 28c if it means the fans sound like a jet engine even at the lowest speeds possible, but it does not appear I can go any lower so I'm thinking all I can do now is replace the EVGA fans with quieter ones. Which are the quietest?

At a glance, these Noctua fans that come with a anti-vibration mounts and a gasket for water coolers look like a good choice, but I can only find them in 120mm size.
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A1...&qid=1543688495&sr=8-8&keywords=Noctua+NF-F12

I'll need 140mm fans for my 280 cooler, however. And these larger fans that they make don't appear to include the gasket or anti-vibration mounts.
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A1..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=KNTK5F5EC7XZNZFQBQBH

Any ideas?

 

[ao_ika_red]

A12x25 is currently the fanciest beige Noctua you can have right now. Here's some words from @UsandThem about it.
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-140mm-adaptor-and-redux-line-nf-p12.2544930/

 

[Sonikku]

I'm really not a fan of the beige to be honest, having a window case. But I suppose it does not matter because if I use them for intake on my radiator, I'll basically never have to look at them lol. But what bugs me is that they only seem to make that quality fan in the 120mm size. I have a 280mm cooler and if I go with these things I'm left to wonder why I didn't bother just getting a 240mm cooler instead.

 

[UsandThem]

A12x25 is currently the fanciest beige Noctua you can have right now. Here's some words from @UsandThem about it.
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-140mm-adaptor-and-redux-line-nf-p12.2544930/

Yeah, it's an amazing little fan. It's performance pushing through filters / heatsinks / other restrictive areas is nothing short of awesome. I will admit they are pricey, but worth it IMO.

I also saw you said you don't like the color of Noctua fans as I typed this? Then take a look their redux line or Chromax line:

https://noctua.at/en/products/product-lines/line-chromax

https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/redux

The other fans I use that I really like are the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 and the Phanteks PH-F140XP_BK. Phanteks also has other fans that are higher static pressure, but are a little nosier.

 

[Flayed]

I use NF-A14 ULN case fans they are very quiet I think they are 800 rpm I can't hear them over my CPU cooler fans which I really should swap out for something quieter.

 

[UsandThem]

I use NF-A14 ULN case fans they are very quiet I think they are 800 rpm I can't hear them over my CPU cooler fans which I really should swap out for something quieter.

They are good ultra-quiet case fans (I own a couple), but if someone put them on a radiator, they're going to have a bad day.

 

[Sonikku]

Yeah, it's an amazing little fan. It's performance pushing through filters / heatsinks / other restrictive areas is nothing short of awesome. I will admit they are pricey, but worth it IMO.

I also saw you said you don't like the color of Noctua fans as I typed this? Then take a look their redux line or Chromax line:

https://noctua.at/en/products/product-lines/line-chromax

https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/redux

The other fans I use that I really like are the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 and the Phanteks PH-F140XP_BK. Phanteks also has other fans that are higher static pressure, but are a little nosier.

Yes, I linked the chromax in my OP. My concern was that despite being 140mm, they lack the gasket or anti-vibration mount and seem inferior to the first one linked.

They are good ultra-quiet case fans (I own a couple), but if someone put them on a radiator, they're going to have a bad day.

Why aren't they good on a radiator? That's what I'm trying to do, to quiet down my new evga clc 280 closed loop and I don't understand what fans are who or bad for what yet.

 

[UsandThem]

Why aren't they good on a radiator? That's what I'm trying to do, to quiet down my new evga clc 280 closed loop and I don't understand what fans are who or bad for what yet.

Maybe because their max RPM is 800 and they have really low static pressure. They are designed to be case fans, and not radiator or heatsink fans.

Just because you buy say a 1800 RPM PWM fan, it doesn't not mean you have to run it at full speed. They can run at reasonable speed, and increase in speed as needed. That why PWM fans (and their headers) are nice.

 

[Sonikku]

I see. To better explain the situation, I have a 9600k I hope to OC to 5ghz that I want to be want to be as quiet as possible under load. I don't need the cpu to be 28-33c either, 60c under load would be fine so long as it's stable and quiet under a lower RPM. I've had intels that could go above 80 before throttling so I know they're tough chips. I'm willing to put in a gasket, get anti-vibration mounts, even pay $30 a fan if it achieves this goal as I honestly can't deal with the current noise level.

So if it were you, what fans would you get if you had loud fans on a 280mm closed loop cooler set to intake and wanted your system to be near silent or as close to it as possible?

 

[UsandThem]

Personally since I don't mind the color, I'd get Noctua NF-A14 PWM fans. If you can't stomach the color, you could go with NF-P14r redux-1500 PWM.

If those don't work for you, take a look at Phanteks PH-F140MP or Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 140mm high-speed.

Out of all those options, Be Quiet would be the loudest at full RPM, but has the highest static pressure.

 

[dlerious]

I'll second UsandThems suggestions - Be Quiet Silent and Phanteks. Don't have much experience with Noctua, though the fans on my NH-D15 aren't loud.

 

[Flayed]

If I was you I would sell the CLC and buy an NH-D15. Why put up with extra noise from the pump and loud fans for a 10% overclock that you probably won't even notice in day to day usage of your pc.

 

[Sonikku]

The pump led also looks cool.

 

[aigomorla]

The pump led also looks cool.

oh no.... another one bites the dust to RGB... lol...

Yeah RGB has gotten pretty insane lately with "Gamer" tag.
We have RGB everything now...

I see. To better explain the situation, I have a 9600k I hope to OC to 5ghz that I want to be want to be as quiet as possible under load. I don't need the cpu to be 28-33c either, 60c under load would be fine so long as it's stable and quiet under a lower RPM.

So if it were you, what fans would you get if you had loud fans on a 280mm closed loop cooler set to intake and wanted your system to be near silent or as close to it as possible?

What is it at right now when what you currently have?
Going from 70C -> 60C which is ~ 10C reduction is VERY difficult, while conserving noise.

Move to Alaska or someplace where its cold outside?

No im serious here, where are you seeing any numbers of 9600K doing 5ghz @ 60C under load?
Which 60C temp we talking about?
Is this the CPU socket temp, which is reported in BIOS? or we talking about a 60C across 6 cores?

If these are core temps then i am pretty sure those are broken CoreTemp results, where TDP hasnt been properly calibrated, and they are giving off readings of +10C like they sometimes do, until the author comes around and updates the microcode for processor in core temp.

I just dont see it happening...
Not unless you can get really cold ambients, and im talking about 7-10C ambients internal case temp, which means your room must be 2-5C lower then that.

 

[Sonikku]

I haven't OC'd it yet, I'm still working on the machine a bit. But it's 28c at idle and 37c at 4.5ghz turbo.

 

[Sonikku]

I went with two of these.

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A1...&qid=1544263477&sr=1-3&keywords=Noctua+NF-A14

It was JUST what I needed. It went from jet engine loud to nearly silent with identical cpu temps. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

[dbrons]

I went with two of these.

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A1...&qid=1544263477&sr=1-3&keywords=Noctua+NF-A14

It was JUST what I needed. It went from jet engine loud to nearly silent with identical cpu temps. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Nice fans, glad you found something. I'm late to the discussion but I'll just mention i put two ek Vardar140er on my corsair h115 and they work well and quiet. Plus they are black

 

[fastamdman]

I am so confused here....I just did a build for a client with the evga 280 and at idle the fans on it were extremely quiet. I'm wondering if you had a defective unit or if the rpm was reporting incorrectly.

Regardless, I am glad you found fans that you liked. I would be curious to see what your temps are while stress testing, with your "acceptable" noise levels. If you get a chance, run IBT or Aida64 or LinX and let us know what your max cpu temps are

 

[Sonikku]

I get 30-32c at idle running the Noctua fans at 580rpm and about 45-50c under full load with turbo enabled (about 4.4ghz) at the same rpm. But if running those prime95 type programs stress tests the temps beyond 60c, EVGA flow control will force them to go all the way up to 1500rpm, making it difficult to get an accurate reading of how hot the cpu gets at low rpm.

And that's the thing I REALLY don't like about EVGA flow control is that it basically mandates 100% RPM after the 60c mark, regardless as for how you set up the rest of the fan curve. These processors should be able to run all the way up to 80c without throttling, so I may have to uninstall it and set up my own fan curve in the bios or something.