Cooling Air vs Liquid cool. Noise levels?

[Kaiso]

I'm planning a build in a SG-13 case with Asus B350-I mobo. I'm still trying to figure out a cooling choice. I've never done liquid before. But I was wondering about the noise. I understand that there are varying levels/quality of coolers, but is one of the systems--liquid/air--generally more quiet that the other?

 

[zovc]

I'm actually curious about this, too!

The general consensus seems to be that liquid cooling is usually more silent. (Not an apples-to-apples comparison with one variable changed.) But when I've done looking into this, I've also heard complaints about "pump noise" being audible. Which, I am assuming is what you're "left" hearing when your fans are have a much easier time cooling your system through a radiator instead of an air-transfer heatsink.

 

[confusis]

The advantage of watercooling is the ability to use larger fans than you'd otherwise fit on a CPU cooler. However, given equal situations (say, a single 120mm RAD vs a Single 120mm tower cooler) the water cooling loop would be noisier by virtue of having an extra moving part - the pump..

However, say you are only able to use a 92mm cooler on your CPU or a 120mm water cooler - the water cooler is more likely to be quiet.

 

[Kaiso]

Kinda a what I thought. I've never had water-cooling, so I might use that just for the build experience.

 

[rcodi]

My opinion is that if you have the room go for it, the cooling capacity is generally greater allowing you to run the radiator fan at a lower RPM for longer or even indefinitely because of it. I had a similar setup years back with an older variant of that case. It was a tight fit but it was essentially silent as far as the CPU was concerned, GPU noise is another beast unless you have room to slap an AIO on that too. Always used Corsair AIO units and swapped the fans as necessary because some of the stock fans are rather loud. Just make sure if you swap fans to get one that is meant for radiator usage (high static pressure).

 

[Thehack]

I'm actually curious about this, too!

The general consensus seems to be that liquid cooling is usually more silent. (Not an apples-to-apples comparison with one variable changed.) But when I've done looking into this, I've also heard complaints about "pump noise" being audible. Which, I am assuming is what you're "left" hearing when your fans are have a much easier time cooling your system through a radiator instead of an air-transfer heatsink.

The general consensus is big air coolers are quieter than water coolers while significantly better performance/cost.

Water coolers have:

- More thermal capacity. It can handle spikes of usage and be very cool.
- Easier to install/manage since you can choose where to install the radiator.
- Better aesthetics.

They may seem more compact but if you consider cooling per dB i think they're about the same.

 

[BrotherStein]

I just put in my first aio (corsair H75 I found super cheap) and it is much quieter than my L9i. The GPU fan is now the loudest part of my build. I'm really enjoying liquid cooling at the moment.

 

[Thehack]

I just put in my first aio (corsair H75 I found super cheap) and it is much quieter than my L9i. The GPU fan is now the loudest part of my build. I'm really enjoying liquid cooling at the moment.

The H75 is comparable to something like NH-U12S or NH-U14S.

Slim radiator = 120-140mm single tower.

Fat (XL) radiator or 240mm = Dual towers.

 

[BrotherStein]

The H75 is comparable to something like NH-U12S or NH-U14S.

Slim radiator = 120-140mm single tower.

Fat (XL) radiator or 240mm = Dual towers.

I should mention the only reason I was using a L9i is because my case only had a height of 60mm.