[SOLVED] Is there supposed to be pump noise on Arctic Liquid Freezer II?

[aplenite]

Hi guys,
I'm having a bit of noise on my Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 ARGB.
Lots of people say the pump is dead silent, others say it makes noise and you should accept it.

Is there anyone with a similar AIO? Does the pump make noise?
I mean not some loud noise but if you take off the side panel and the PC is idle, do you hear any noise?

Here's the kind of noise I get:
https://voca.ro/1vPbfnNZWpOt

Thanks!

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Here's the kind of noise I get:
https://voca.ro/1vPbfnNZWpOt

i hear absolutely nothing through your audio link.

most AIO pumps make a very quiet hum sound, almost inaudible.
even a single fan running at low RPMs should usually mask this sound.

Does the pump make noise?

what exactly makes you think it would be the pump making this noise?
have you stopped ALL fans simultaneously and disconnected any hard disks to rule them out?

rest your fingers on the housing and see if you can feel a strong vibration or intermittent hitching that corresponds with whatever sound you hear.

 

[CountMike]

Hi guys,
I'm having a bit of noise on my Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 ARGB.
Lots of people say the pump is dead silent, others say it makes noise and you should accept it.

Is there anyone with a similar AIO? Does the pump make noise?
I mean not some loud noise but if you take off the side panel and the PC is idle, do you hear any noise?

Here's the kind of noise I get:
https://voca.ro/1vPbfnNZWpOt

Thanks!

I had Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 and now 360 and both pumps are quiet as a mouse, even the small fan is not heard.

 

[aplenite]

i hear absolutely nothing through your audio link.

hey, thanks for your reply!
I prepared two new recordings.
This is how it sounded straight out of the box after I installed it:
https://vocaroo.com/155ZtZ1RDc7x

It has this background noise, but most annoyingly the crackling sound that you can hear. You can tell it apart from the background noise the pump makes.
I stopped all the case fans through bios and only left my CPU fans at 10%, they're completely silent.
There's also a tiny fan at the pump, but I stopped it with my finger.
So I'm 100% certain it's the pump.

After I spent more and more time trying to figure this out, I connected the fans and pump separately through a splitter. Initially, they're both connected with one 4-pin connector.
What's interesting is that I've been able to get rid of the crackling noise by setting the pump speed to 50-70%. When it gets below that the sound appears again.
So now I got this:
It's without the crackling now, but audible enough. All fans I have are so quiet, so I can hear it:
https://vocaroo.com/12bVuRBwEOsU

The recordings sound boosted though.

Checked with fingers, no vibrations at all.

 

[aplenite]

I had Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 and now 360 and both pumps are quiet as a mouse, even the small fan is not heard.

thanks mate! Do you mean they're quite when the case is with the front panel and you're just not paying attention, or are they quiet even if you take off the panel and try to hear closely?

I had this type of cracking initially but then managed to get rid of it.
https://vocaroo.com/155ZtZ1RDc7x

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

prepared two new recordings

first sounds like a bit of electrostatic crackle.
second just sounds like a steady blowing, almost like a hair dryer when i turn my volume all the way up.

never heard any pumps making noise like these.

 

[dudio]

I may be wrong, as I have no experience with an AIO, but my understanding is you don't want to run the pump itself at low rpm's..and going below 50% is probably putting the impellar at it's cut-off threshold. It's okay to tweak the rad fan speeds, but have the pump run at or near 100 %

 

[CountMike]

thanks mate! Do you mean they're quite when the case is with the front panel and you're just not paying attention, or are they quiet even if you take off the panel and try to hear closely?

I had this type of cracking initially but then managed to get rid of it.
https://vocaroo.com/155ZtZ1RDc7x

Even with side panel off and close to pump I can't hear it over other fans, if your is making noise, there's something wrong with it.

 

[CountMike]

I may be wrong, as I have no experience with an AIO, but my understanding is you don't want to run the pump itself at low rpm's..and going below 50% is probably putting the impellar at it's cut-off threshold. It's okay to tweak the rad fan speeds, but have the pump run at or near 100 %

That's not possible with these Arctic coolers, pump is not adjustable. it always runs at full speed.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

not possible with these Arctic coolers, pump is not adjustable

if it's connected to a regular fan header and the DC % or the PWM ratio is lowered then it will not be running at it's 100% potential.

i would guess this is the situation since OP states,

I've been able to get rid of the crackling noise by setting the pump speed to 50-70%

 

[CountMike]

if it's connected to a regular fan header and the DC % or the PWM ratio is lowered then it will not be running at it's 100% potential.

i would guess this is the situation since OP states,

Pump is connected on same cable with fans and goes to CPU_Fan header, there's no RPM sensor on the pump motor.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I've been able to get rid of the crackling noise by setting the pump speed to 50-70%

@CountMike has claimed that this is impossible with this particular cooler.

so could you please explain to the forum what steps you have taken to lower the pump's speed and how you are monitoring the actual %?

 

[CountMike]

@CountMike has claimed that this is impossible with this particular cooler.

so could you please explain to the forum what steps you have taken to lower the pump's speed and how you are monitoring the actual %?

Nothing to explain. Most simple AIO coolers are supposed to run pump at full speed all the time. All AIO_Pump headers on MBs are made with no speed control although some also have W_PUMP header that is speed adjustable and provides twice the power and are meant for custom coolers as they have higher powered pumps to compensate for different cooler combinations and number/sizes of radiators and eventual combinations of cooling CPUs and GPUs in same circuit.
In case of those Arctic coolers, pump is not adjustable for speed and has no RPM sensor so even if you disconnect it from OEM harness and attempt to regulate/lower voltage it couldn't be stable or speed up when needed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQRwn-lecnk

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Nothing to explain.

your explanation includes PUMP/AIO headers that are designed to run @ 100% at all times.

but your previous argument states that even when inserted into the CPU_FAN, which will have a high variant of temperature to speed ratio, will still operate at 100%.

so your statements / arguments are factoring different factors you cannot explain.

 

[CountMike]

your explanation includes PUMP/AIO headers that are designed to run @ 100% at all times.

but your previous argument states that even when inserted into the CPU_FAN, which will have a high variant of temperature to speed ratio, will still operate at 100%.

so your statements / arguments are factoring different factors you cannot explain.

Did you watch that teardown video ? Simply explained that radiator fans are 4pin (PWM), with such fans/motors voltage is constant and only frequency and length of impulses to 4th pin regulate speed. Accurate RPM feedback from a motor is required for that and in case of this pump motor is non existent. It always gets 12 from header and harness from pins 1 (negative) and pin 2 (12vdc).

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Did you watch that teardown video ?

if you cannot explain the factors of an argument without help from youtube you shouldn't be implementing those arguments.

but no, i do not watch youtube videos.

 

[CountMike]

if you cannot explain the factors of an argument without help from youtube you shouldn't be implementing those arguments.

but no, i do not watch youtube videos.

Noooo I don't just watch "youtube videos" I just linked this one for an in depth explanation of how it works. It's not my fault if you can't understand it and have little knowledge of how that type of motors work and their control.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

not my fault if you can't understand it and have little knowledge of how that type of motors work

i do understand how PWM and DC functions work with a motherboard header.

but if you have some in-depth explanation of how this particular motor works regardless of it's header's control
then you should explain it yourself and not just link to some generic youtube video.

like, why wouldn't this particular motor take instructions from the PWM
but instead reads a steady power profile from a certain pin...

 

[CountMike]

i do understand how PWM and DC functions work with a motherboard header.

but if you have some in-depth explanation of how this particular motor works regardless of it's header's control
then you should explain it yourself and not just link to some generic youtube video.

like, why wouldn't this particular motor take instructions from the PWM
but instead reads a steady power profile from a certain pin...

"Why wouldn't this particular motor take instructions from the PWM
but instead reads a steady power profile from a certain pin... "

Because it's motor doesn't have a PWM control circuit at all and not even RPM feedback to enable any control over it. Of that circuit depends how a PWM motor work and some can't even be controlled with voltage adjustments.
Those are very simple things and you don't have to be an engineer (like me although long retired) to know.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

that circuit depends how a PWM motor work and some can't even be controlled with voltage adjustments.
Those are very simple things and you don't have to be an engineer (like me although long retired) to know.

you still don't explain how a device would determine the difference so we'll just assume that you, as some sort of engineer, doesn't understand the physics of it.

 

[CountMike]

you still don't explain how a device would determine the difference so we'll just assume that you, as some sort of engineer, doesn't understand the physics of it.

There's no complicated physics in this case. There is a motor with 2 wires that works at 12VDC, give it those 12V and it turns at speed it was made for. In theory you can give it less voltage and it will work at lower speed because of less power and impeller's resistance will slow it down. ater temperature will change water density and resistance and PMs are not going to stay same. Without RPM feedback controller would not be able to regulate voltage to keep it at certain RPM so it would be quite erratic.

 

[aplenite]

@CountMike has claimed that this is impossible with this particular cooler.

so could you please explain to the forum what steps you have taken to lower the pump's speed and how you are monitoring the actual %?

@JohnBonhamsGhost @CountMike

hey guys, sorry for the late reply!
I am 100% sure I'm able to control it at least partially, I think they added it in revision 2 or something.

What I did is I disconnected all 3 fans from the only fan cable and put it into "CPU_PUMP".
Then I connected the radiator fans with splitters and put them into "CPU_FAN".

When I control the pump through bios (that's the only place I can do it from though) I can hear different sounds depending on the PWM percentage (and it's not the little fan on the pump, I stopped it with my finger). If I keep it lower than 50-60% it has an audible buzzing sound as I recorded earlier (https://vocaroo.com/155ZtZ1RDc7x).
After setting the pump to 65% the noise went away completely. I still hear a light background sound the pump makes, but nothing like these weird buzzing sounds now. I can even record a proof video if you wish

During my testing, I understood that this buzzing also happened regularly when the pump was changing its PWM. Probably this has something to do with my motherboard, maybe it just doesn't work well with "automated" pumps.

 

[aplenite]

Btw, what I also found out is the sound I was complaining about was not only the sound of the pump but also the noise from my GPU.
What's weird is that only appeared on 40%+ load. And I'm 100000% certain it's not the fans.
From what I've read looks like it's a coil whine :\

And what I'm also thinking now is that part of the noise could be coil vine from the motherboard too! It's just because my new cooling fans and case fans are so quiet, I can hear it all now 😦

 

[CountMike]

Btw, what I also found out is the sound I was complaining about was not only the sound of the pump but also the noise from my GPU.
What's weird is that only appeared on 40%+ load. And I'm 100000% certain it's not the fans.
From what I've read looks like it's a coil whine :\

And what I'm also thinking now is that part of the noise could be coil vine from the motherboard too! It's just because my new cooling fans and case fans are so quiet, I can hear it all now 😦

I tried to amplify that sound but not getting anything definitive. Coil whine is usually high pitched sound and comes and goes with load, motors and fans much deeper sound and change with RPM.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I understood that this buzzing also happened regularly when the pump was changing its PWM

the pump should not be altering it's speed during use, it should remain @ 100% at all times.
if this sound is only discernible during these changes that could be your problem with excess noise.