Discussion Is it possible to have a silent 10L setup with aircooling?

[simonvanderveldt]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering what your experiences are with smaller ITX cases (+-10L) housing relatively powerful hardware (I'm looking at the Zen3 equivalent of the 3700X and a RX 5700 (XT)) and keeping them as silent as possible (let's say whisper level/30-35dB).

Is this possible with aircooling? Most of the sub 12L cases are very perforated, I assume this is necessary to maintain decent airflow and thus temperates? My case sits against a wall on the left side so a perforated panel won't work. And aren't these perforated cases more noisy?

I expect the main challenge will be the GPU. I've been using a blower cooler because it helps move the warm air out and it works fine for my RX480 but for the more powerful GPUs like the RX 5700 XT they simply make too much noise on their own to make them feasible. So I'd expect the only viable option would be a to use an open-air GPU cooler but that might pose some issues with regards to thermals for the rest of the case/the CPU in these smaller cases.

So I'm mainly wondering if a setup like this would be possible with just aircooling and if so which case and components people would suggest/have good experiences with.
If a slightly larger case like the NCASE M1 would easily be able to do this (it does have a perforated left side panel though) I'd be open to that option.
And I also don't mind to go the custom watercooling route but only if there are clear benefits for achieving a silent PC in 10L. I don't really care about overclocking.

What have been your experiences with this? Anyone switch from air to watercooling or from water to aircooling? Is it possible to get a 10L case this quiet?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the probably noobish question


P.S. I've already searched on this forum, r/sffpc and Optimum Tech's videos and haven't been able to find a definitive answer/looking for some real world experiences.

 

[Phuncz]

It is possible but it also means you should have realistic expectations and plan towards the most efficient setup. Ideally you want to move the heat out as quickly as possible and have the largest heatsinks you can find. To minimize noise, you want the Noctua NF-A12X25 PWM fans to maximize airflow and minimize noise. You want the largest heatsinks the case supports, but it would be better to see how much heatsink you'll need and find a case that will fit this. You also want to over-dimension the PSU so that it's fan doesn't become a problem either.

Mind you that whisper-quiet and 30-35dB are both relative and subjective. I think my system is whisper-quiet with comparable components, air-cooled inside a Kimera Cerberus case. But when I load both the CPU and GPU, I will be able to hear them. To make them whisper-quiet in all scenarios, I'll need to go for an aftermarket (bigger) heatsink and a much more efficient (but simpler) airflow, which will require a custom case.

A custom fan-curve with proper fans will go a long way. My standard fan setup is to keep the fans at a low speed up to 50-55°C so I can't hear it browsing the web or watching video. I ramp it up to ~50% towards 75°C and let it go to 100% over 80°C. This all depends on the fans used and what the component's overheat tresholds are.

 

[simonvanderveldt]

It is possible but it also means you should have realistic expectations and plan towards the most efficient setup. Ideally you want to move the heat out as quickly as possible and have the largest heatsinks you can find. To minimize noise, you want the Noctua NF-A12X25 PWM fans to maximize airflow and minimize noise. You want the largest heatsinks the case supports, but it would be better to see how much heatsink you'll need and find a case that will fit this. You also want to over-dimension the PSU so that it's fan doesn't become a problem either.

Thanks for the answer!
I think I've already pretty much maxed this out. I've got pretty much the best CPU cooler possible in the space I have available (NH-U9S) and given that I won't be able to have air exhaust/intake on the sides I don't think any other type of air cooler (like a top down one) would be better.

There are two changes I can think of that might help:

• Add some 15mm fans on the bottom of the case as intakes. I'd have to raise the case though (it's currently directly on the ground). I can imaging this might help a bit? Especially give the GPU is currently the hottest and loudest component.
• I could flip the case, have the GPU on top and try to exhaust the heat there I guess? Or maybe still intake? This would also allow me to have a air intake/exhaust on the right side, so maybe it's a good idea to try that?

For the current setup I can replace the NF-A12x15 with a 25mm version and see if it improves things. The 15mm one is already pretty quiet though, so not sure if it'll matter a lot.

Mind you that whisper-quiet and 30-35dB are both relative and subjective. I think my system is whisper-quiet with comparable components, air-cooled inside a Kimera Cerberus case. But when I load both the CPU and GPU, I will be able to hear them. To make them whisper-quiet in all scenarios, I'll need to go for an aftermarket (bigger) heatsink and a much more efficient (but simpler) airflow, which will require a custom case.

Yeah, I know, this is a difficult thing, everyone's definition is different I guess. Right now it's slightly too loud and with a blower RX 5700 XT it's way too loud, so looking for ways around that.

A custom fan-curve with proper fans will go a long way. My standard fan setup is to keep the fans at a low speed up to 50-55°C so I can't hear it browsing the web or watching video. I ramp it up to ~50% towards 75°C and let it go to 100% over 80°C. This all depends on the fans used and what the component's overheat tresholds are.

Agreed, I've already got all fans controlled this way, idle/desktop it's almost inaudible. With GPU load/during gaming it's not though because of the GPU fan. I guess I could/should just test an RX 5700 XT with an aftermarket cooler to see the impact it'll have on the rest of the system.