Question In need of new liquid cooler good and quiet

[Nick C.]

Hello,
As the title says I am looking for a new Liquid Cooler, that's both good in cooling the CPU and not being noisy. I was looking at Lian Li, Cooler Master and NZXT, since I do have an NZXT Case H710. But I am not sure which cooler is the best in terms of cooling and not being a jet engine at the same time. I usually also game on my Pc, that is fairly important to say I would guess. I doesn't have to be neither of those 3 brands, I just stated what I was looking at.

I have an i9-9900K, Aorus z390 Elite and 3080 Strix.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Aeacus]

For H710, 360mm rad is tops.

I, personally, do not like AIOs (can explain further why, with my 2nd reply, if you're interested), but to answer your question, here's further reading,
article: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-aio-coolers

Pick the one you like the most. All of them listed there are great when it comes to AIOs.
E.g Silverstone IceMyst 360 has some unique features, including fill port.

 

[Nick C.]

For H710, 360mm rad is tops.

I, personally, do not like AIOs (can explain further why, with my 2nd reply, if you're interested), but to answer your question, here's further reading,
article: https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-aio-coolers

Pick the one you like the most. All of them listed there are great when it comes to AIOs.
E.g Silverstone IceMyst 360 has some unique features, including fill port.

Thank you for the response. If you could let me know why you don't like Aios that would be great!
I currently have an Cooler Master with NZXT swapped fans but they are too loud, I am looking to change it, including the new pump cause this is 4 years old by now.

Thank for the article! Do you know anything about the sound though? I hope none is REALLY loud.

Thanks!

 

[Aeacus]

If you could let me know why you don't like Aios that would be great!

As far as AIOs vs air coolers go, you won't gain any cooling performance if you go with AIO over air cooler since both are cooled by ambient air.
For equal cooling performance between AIOs and air coolers, rad needs to be 240mm or 280mm. Smaller rads: 120mm and 140mm are almost always outperformed by mid-sized air coolers. Single slot rads are good in mini-ITX builds where you don't have enough CPU cooler clearance to install mid-sized CPU air cooler.

Here are the positive sides of both (air and AIO) CPU cooling methods;

Pros of air coolers:
less cost
less maintenance
less noise
far longer longevity
no leakage risks
doesn't take up case fan slots
additional cooling for the RAM
CPU cools down faster after heavy heat output

Pros of AIOs:
no RAM clearance issues*
no CPU clearance issues
CPU takes longer time to heat up during heavy heat output (about 30 mins)
* on some cases, top mounted rad can give RAM clearance issues

While how the CPU cooler looks inside the PC depends on a person. Some people prefer to see small AIO pump in the middle of their MoBo with tubing going to the rad while others prefer to see big heatsink with fans in the middle of their MoBo.

Main difference between AIO and air cooler is that with AIO, you'll get more noise at a higher cost while cooling performance remains the same.
Here's also one good article for you to read where former king of air coolers (Noctua NH-D15) was put against 5x high-end AIOs, including former king of AIOs (NZXT x61 Kraken),
link: http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15-versus-closed-loop-liquid-coolers/1

Personally, i'd go with air coolers every day of the week. With same cooling performance, the pros of air coolers outweigh the pros of AIOs considerably. While, for me, the 3 main pros would be:
1. Less noise.
Since i like my PC to be quiet, i can't stand the loud noise AIO makes. Also, when air gets trapped inside the AIO (some AIOs are more prone to this than others), there's additional noise coming from inside the pump.
2. Longevity.
Cheaper AIOs usually last 2-3 years and high-end ones 4-5 years before you need to replace it. While with air coolers, their life expectancy is basically unlimited. Only thing that can go bad on an air cooler is the fan on it. If the fan dies, your CPU still has cooling in form of a big heatsink. Also, new 120mm or 140mm fan doesn't cost much and it's easy to replace one. While with AIOs, the main thing that usually goes bad is the pump itself. And when that happens, your CPU has no cooling whatsoever. Since you can't replace pump on an AIO, you need to buy whole new AIO to replace the old one out.
3. No leakage risks.
Since there's liquid circling inside the AIO, there is always a risk that your AIO can leak. While it's rare, it has happened. It's well known fact that liquids and electronics don't mix.

Do you know anything about the sound though? I hope none is REALLY loud.

In that article and if you click on the name of the AIO, it opens the in-depth review of said AIO.
E.g Silverstone IceMyst 360 review: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cooling/silverstone-icemyst-360-and-240mm-aio-review

And from the review, you can look how loud the AIO is.

Btw, "really loud" is subjective. Some people doesn't stand when fans make as little as 20 dB(A), while others can life fine when fan makes 40 dB(A).
But in the fan world, anything below 20 dB(A) is considered as silent. 20 - 30 dB(A) is audible, 30 - 40 dB(A) is loud and anything over 40 dB(A) is very loud.

Edit:
Regarding air coolers, i'd suggest Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, since it's the value king,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hY...sassin-120-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-d3

Just look what 120 SE costs and look what any AIO costs.

Review 1 (TH): https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se

Review 2 (GamersNexus):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm4hyIHe1PM

 

[Nick C.]

Thank you this response. It has helped me by a ton. For most of the years now, past 6-7 I have always gone with AIO since I found it, better looking. But recently, my temps have gone up and I can only assume it's either pump or fans. I replaced the fans, buy they are now too loud.

Sadly there's no Thermalright in my country, but I will see what I can get. What do you think of Lian Li AIOs? Are they good? Are they noisy?
Also I know Noise is subjective. It says my fans go to 35db, but for my prefference, that's is too loud. Especially, since I was never used to a loud Pc.

Anyhow I will look into everything you've said and see what I will get.

Thank you once again!

 

[emitfudd]

One other con of an air cooler is that it dumps all the heat from the CPU into your case before it is exhausted. That heats up everything else in your case. I personally use an AIO because I can't stand the look of an air cooler. Also had bad experience with having to move a fan to the other side of the cooler due to RAM clearance issues.

I saw your other post about the noisy fans. If you have overall adequate cooling due to case size, design and fan placement, your AIO fans shouldn't ramp up to the point of being "loud". You want to set a fan curve that keeps them spinning all the time and ramp up as higher CPU temps are reached. For example I have mine set to spin at a minimum of 30% all the time. The curve is gradually increased to run the fans at 100% at 80C. In every game I have played with the exception of Horizon Forbidden West my CPU temp has never gone above 71C which keeps my fans pretty quiet. HFW is a pain. It has been ramping my temps up to as high as 85C so I am hearing some fan noise more than I wish to. My AIO fans are top mounted as exhaust by the way. I replaced my AIO fans with Noctua fans.

As stated by others, make sure your AIO pump is running at 100% all the time.

You can also mount the AIO as intake at the front of the case for cooler CPU temps but that will again dump heat into the case. And of course your case has to have the option to mount an AIO as intake.

 

[Zerk2012]

One other con of an air cooler is that it dumps all the heat from the CPU into your case before it is exhausted

Thats not really true. A tower style air cooler is very close to the back case fan so the heat pretty much just goes right out the back

 

[Nick C.]

One other con of an air cooler is that it dumps all the heat from the CPU into your case before it is exhausted. That heats up everything else in your case. I personally use an AIO because I can't stand the look of an air cooler. Also had bad experience with having to move a fan to the other side of the cooler due to RAM clearance issues.

I saw your other post about the noisy fans. If you have overall adequate cooling due to case size, design and fan placement, your AIO fans shouldn't ramp up to the point of being "loud". You want to set a fan curve that keeps them spinning all the time and ramp up as higher CPU temps are reached. For example I have mine set to spin at a minimum of 30% all the time. The curve is gradually increased to run the fans at 100% at 80C. In every game I have played with the exception of Horizon Forbidden West my CPU temp has never gone above 71C which keeps my fans pretty quiet. HFW is a pain. It has been ramping my temps up to as high as 85C so I am hearing some fan noise more than I wish to. My AIO fans are top mounted as exhaust by the way. I replaced my AIO fans with Noctua fans.

As stated by others, make sure your AIO pump is running at 100% all the time.

You can also mount the AIO as intake at the front of the case for cooler CPU temps but that will again dump heat into the case. And of course your case has to have the option to mount an AIO as intake.

I guess I would have to tinker away with the fans themselves. I was thinking of getting Noctua fans myself, are they quiet? Also what CPU and AIO do you have?

 

[emitfudd]

I guess I would have to tinker away with the fans themselves. I was thinking of getting Noctua fans myself, are they quiet? Also what CPU and AIO do you have?

You really won't need to replace the fans if you get a good quality AIO. I replaced mine because one of them started making a clicking sound. My Noctua fans are pretty quiet even at higher speeds. It is more of a hum created by the 3 fans spinning together. Not like a single fan spinning at max speed. I hate that sound. My fans are also mounted above the radiator right under the mesh top so if they were mounted traditionally under the radiator it would be even quieter. I mounted them this way due to the design of my case.

I have a 5900X and the AIO is a Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm. It is from 2019 and I don't think it is available any longer. If I were to replace it I would go with the Lian Li listed as the top pick in the link Aeacus posted.

 

[Nick C.]

You really won't need to replace the fans if you get a good quality AIO. I replaced mine because one of them started making a clicking sound. My Noctua fans are pretty quiet even at higher speeds. It is more of a hum created by the 3 fans spinning together. Not like a single fan spinning at max speed. I hate that sound. My fans are also mounted above the radiator right under the mesh top so if they were mounted traditionally under the radiator it would be even quieter. I mounted them this way due to the design of my case.

I have a 5900X and the AIO is a Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm. It is from 2019 and I don't think it is available any longer. If I were to replace it I would go with the Lian Li listed as the top pick in the link Aeacus posted.

That's fair. However my Cooler Master ML240P Mirage was from 2020 and the fans also started making clicking sounds, but recently they didn't even spin above 1000 rpm, which made my temps run high at high intensity moments. So I changed them with my NZXT fans from my Old Kraken x63 that I didn't use anymore cause pump is broken. Anyway, the curve actually fixed it, I edited it in a way that my fans don't spin as much if the temps aren't high, plus I set the pump to full speed always (I hope that doesn't affect anything in the bad way).

And thanks, I will definitely keep in mind everything you have said. You have been a lot of help!

 

[Aeacus]

One other con of an air cooler is that it dumps all the heat from the CPU into your case before it is exhausted.

As Zerk2012 already stated, tower-type air coolers act as an exhaust. So, very little of the CPU's heat actually remains inside the PC. Heck, GPU is the one that actually heats up the PC case internals the most (unless it's a blower-type GPU, which are rare nowadays).

Also, if you mount the rad at the front, the AIO will heat up PC's internals. And that far more than tower-type CPU cooler. So, your point of CPU air cooler heating up PC internals, compared to AIO, isn't true.

Sadly there's no Thermalright in my country, but I will see what I can get.

For other options regarding air coolers, here's a bit further reading,
article: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-coolers,4181.html#section-best-air-coolers

Others not listed there, but still solid, are:
* Noctua NH-D15 / NH-D15S
* Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 / Pro 4
* Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo (this one is mid-sized CPU cooler)

I'm personally running Arctic Freezer i32 with 2x Corsair ML120 Pro red LED fans in push-pull conf. Freezer i32 is quite old now. But since i have Core i5, it is good enough for my chip.

plus I set the pump to full speed always (I hope that doesn't affect anything in the bad way).

With AIO, the idea IS to run the pump at 100% at all times. This way, heat is transferred away from the CPU as fast as possible, to the rad. Also, it keeps the liquid temp lower. But if you were to run the pump at e.g 50%, the liquid in it will get hotter and CPU can hit thermal throttle, since not enough heat is transferred away from it fast enough.

Downside of running pump 100% at all times is, that you'll burn through the pump's lifespan faster.

I was thinking of getting Noctua fans myself, are they quiet?

Noctua fans are solid. Given that you don't go with airflow fans and are actually picking the ones that have good static pressure.

As of being quiet, well, if you run e.g 120mm fan at 800 RPM, it is quieter than same fan at max RPM of 1500.

To get the best possible airflow with the least amount of noise, install as many fans in your case as possible. Preferably 140mm rather than 120mm since 140mm fan moves more air and does that more quietly than it's (same spec) 120mm counterpart.

While installing 5x to 7x fans in your PC may look like that you'd get extremely loud noise out of your PC, it's actually vice-versa. The trick is that the more fans you have inside the case, the less each fan has to work to maintain the airflow and the less noise fans produce.

And that is also a main reason why i have 7x high-end case fans in my Skylake and Haswell builds (Corsair ML Pro LED and NZXT AER140 RGB). Mostly 140mm but few 120mm as well. Full specs with pics in my sig. Since i have that many case fans, i can keep all of my case fans spinning between 800 - 1100 RPM and thanks to this, my PCs are very quiet while still having proper airflow inside my full-tower ATX cases.

 

[Nick C.]

As Zerk2012 already stated, tower-type air coolers act as an exhaust. So, very little of the CPU's heat actually remains inside the PC. Heck, GPU is the one that actually heats up the PC case internals the most (unless it's a blower-type GPU, which are rare nowadays).

Also, if you mount the rad at the front, the AIO will heat up PC's internals. And that far more than tower-type CPU cooler. So, your point of CPU air cooler heating up PC internals, compared to AIO, isn't true.


For other options regarding air coolers, here's a bit further reading,
article: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-coolers,4181.html#section-best-air-coolers

Others not listed there, but still solid, are:
* Noctua NH-D15 / NH-D15S
* Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 / Pro 4
* Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo (this one is mid-sized CPU cooler)

I'm personally running Arctic Freezer i32 with 2x Corsair ML120 Pro red LED fans in push-pull conf. Freezer i32 is quite old now. But since i have Core i5, it is good enough for my chip.


With AIO, the idea IS to run the pump at 100% at all times. This way, heat is transferred away from the CPU as fast as possible, to the rad. Also, it keeps the liquid temp lower. But if you were to run the pump at e.g 50%, the liquid in it will get hotter and CPU can hit thermal throttle, since not enough heat is transferred away from it fast enough.

Downside of running pump 100% at all times is, that you'll burn through the pump's lifespan faster.


Noctua fans are solid. Given that you don't go with airflow fans and are actually picking the ones that have good static pressure.

As of being quiet, well, if you run e.g 120mm fan at 800 RPM, it is quieter than same fan at max RPM of 1500.

To get the best possible airflow with the least amount of noise, install as many fans in your case as possible. Preferably 140mm rather than 120mm since 140mm fan moves more air and does that more quietly than it's (same spec) 120mm counterpart.

While installing 5x to 7x fans in your PC may look like that you'd get extremely loud noise out of your PC, it's actually vice-versa. The trick is that the more fans you have inside the case, the less each fan has to work to maintain the airflow and the less noise fans produce.

And that is also a main reason why i have 7x high-end case fans in my Skylake and Haswell builds (Corsair ML Pro LED and NZXT AER140 RGB). Mostly 140mm but few 120mm as well. Full specs with pics in my sig. Since i have that many case fans, i can keep all of my case fans spinning between 800 - 1100 RPM and thanks to this, my PCs are very quiet while still having proper airflow inside my full-tower ATX cases.

To be honest, after 4 years of using this same air cooling, and since I do plan on changing it anyway cause I was planning an upgrade later in the year or early next, keeping it 100% all the time up until it dies it's actually what I will do haha. Okay thank you a lot! I will see what I can do and if I could upgrade the fans to bigger ones, cause I think I have 120mm right now, they came stock with the case though. Do you think NZXT fans are good? Noctua is far better, but much harder to get by in my country.

 

[emitfudd]

I get the point about the air cooler exhausting out the rear fan. Saying my statement isn't true isn't true. If the CPU air cooler fans are going full blast due to a high load on the CPU and the rear exhaust fan is small or low rpm or both it won't keep up with exhausting ALL the heat. There will be some amount of heat buildup inside the case that doesn't happen with an AIO directly exhausting the hot air outside the case. Just my 2 cents. No disrespect.

 

[Aeacus]

Do you think NZXT fans are good?

NZXT AER140 RGB fans that i have, are for sure. Very hight CFM (91.19) for 140mm fans. Hence why i bought them, alongside NZXT HUE+. Not as good on static pressure (1.52 mmH2O), but still decent enough. But as of today, those fans are EOL.

Current NZXT lineup offers e.g: F140 RGB Duo, with 84.75 CFM and 2.72 mmH2O, specs: https://nzxt.com/product/f140-rgb-duo
And other two 140mm RGB fans from NZXT also offer high airflow and good static pressure,
F140 RGB Core: https://nzxt.com/product/f140-core-rgb
F140 RGB: https://nzxt.com/product/f140-rgb

I get the point about the air cooler exhausting out the rear fan. Saying my statement isn't true isn't true. If the CPU air cooler fans are going full blast due to a high load on the CPU and the rear exhaust fan is small or low rpm or both it won't keep up with exhausting ALL the heat.

Looks like you are trying to find excuses to validate your initial argument.

At first, you said that CPU air cooler dumps all of it's heat into the PC case, without considering any other case fans PCs have.
It was then pointed out, that tower-type air coolers (which is most used type), act as an exhaust, pushing most of the air out of the back.

Now you came up with extreme example where rear exhaust fan is smaller or lower RPM than CPU cooler.
Most fans on tower-type CPU coolers are 120mm. Some do have 135mm or 140mm fans. Rear exhaust can be either 120mm or 140mm. It is rare to see bigger fan on CPU cooler than on rear exhaust. Most of the times, rear exhaust fan is same size as the fan on CPU cooler. Sometimes (e.g like in my builds), rear exhaust fan is actually bigger than the fans on CPU cooler. So, even when my 140mm rear exhaust fan spins ~1000 RPM and CPU cooler 120mm fan spins at ~1200 RPM, the rear exhaust still can get rid of all the hot air, since it is bigger with more airflow. Thus, it doesn't need to spin at the same RPM as CPU cooler fans.

And here's another thing i'd point out: did you ever consider top exhaust fans? The ones just above CPU cooler? That exhaust the air out of the PC case? Whereby there are usually 2x fans at the top, sometimes 3x fans? You do realize that top exhaust fans also contribute on getting the heat out, right?
Even when there are no rear exhaust fans, the two or three at the top are enough to get the heat out + CPU cooler fans that already push most of the heat out of the back. So, in some sense, rear exhaust fan isn't even needed for tower-type air coolers.

There will be some amount of heat buildup inside the case

This would only apply when there's positive pressure inside the PC case. But have you considered neutral or negative pressure?

Most PC cases today are already geared towards negative pressure. E.g 2x front intake fans, 1x rear exhaust, 2x - 3x top exhausts. When mounting all the fan mounts, you'd end up with 2x intake and 3x - 4x exhaust fans. And if you count 1x - 2x fans on tower-type air cooler as well, then it totals at 4x - 6x exhaust fans. That results into negative pressure. And in negative pressure system (which my PCs are also running at), there can not be any heat buildup inside the PC case.

 

[emitfudd]

I'm not trying to start an argument. I was thinking of a case I had that only had a 90mm exhaust fan. Not everybody has nice large well cooled cases. You win. I'm done.