[SOLVED] Loud noise

Nitroe

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May 8, 2020
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I've had this noise for a while now and I tested all my fans so it's not coming from them. I believe it's coming from my AIO, this started happening after I changed the thermal paste on my CPU. Any ideas how to resolve this? I just put my PC on an angle but I'm not sure if it's air bubbles that is making this noise.

NOISE
 
Solution

Never heard of that brand. And after looking it up, it's two main selling points are: RGB fans and cheap price.

These two are very common at current date, and it's easy way to sell inferior products to people, since many think: "it has RGB, so it is good and it is cheap, so, it is great". Well, no. If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. That AIO costs 5500 Indian Rupees which = ~60 EUR. For 60 EUR, you won't be getting any proper AIO. Proper AIOs start from 100 EUR and up.

With this, i think your AIO pump has developed a fault and it wouldn't be that surprising for such a cheap product. Luckily for you, it comes 2 years of warranty and you can RMA it for replacement.

For good AIOs, look towards Arctic Cooling...

Aeacus

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That's case vibration noise. So, check over all screws that hold fans in place. Might also want to check side panel screws.

Oh, it also sounds like there's a cable (or similar) at the way of fan blade and fan hits it.

Best location method: open up case side panel and put your ear next to it, to locate where it comes from.

Oh, AIO air bubble noise is similar but to my ear, still distinctly different;
at 2:33 in this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV1BT5nMkhg
 

Aeacus

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The sound fluctuates based on what I'm doing on my PC which is weird.

Watched the 2nd vid and i can't shake the feeling that the noise i hear, is not bubbles in an AIO, but instead, fan blades are hitting something or your TG side panel resonates and creates vibration noise.

The noise is way too consistent for it to be bubbles. For bubbles, there would be more randomness and noise wouldn't intensify when there's higher load on PC.

One possibility is, that it's the AIO pump itself.
What's the AIO make and model and how old it is?
 

Aeacus

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Never heard of that brand. And after looking it up, it's two main selling points are: RGB fans and cheap price.

These two are very common at current date, and it's easy way to sell inferior products to people, since many think: "it has RGB, so it is good and it is cheap, so, it is great". Well, no. If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys. That AIO costs 5500 Indian Rupees which = ~60 EUR. For 60 EUR, you won't be getting any proper AIO. Proper AIOs start from 100 EUR and up.

With this, i think your AIO pump has developed a fault and it wouldn't be that surprising for such a cheap product. Luckily for you, it comes 2 years of warranty and you can RMA it for replacement.

For good AIOs, look towards Arctic Cooling, Corsair and NZXT,
further reading: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-coolers,4181-2.html

---

Though, i wouldn't be using an AIO at all.
Why?

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 king of air coolers (Noctua NH-D15) was put against 5x high-end AIOs, including 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.
 
Solution

Nitroe

Reputable
May 8, 2020
21
1
4,515
My PC is a pre-built and I have used air coolers in the past and I do prefer them. That being said I feel like I have very little space for a air cooler, I'd like to get a Noctua cooler soon just in case my pump does eventually fail. Which one would you recommend that'd fit? I have a 3900x so I'd like to get something beefy like the NH-D15 but I doubt it'd fit.

EDIT: I'm going to upgrade my AIO to the NH-D15S in a few months, thank you for all your help Aeacus!
 
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Aeacus

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Which one would you recommend that'd fit?

1st, you need to look up your PC case CPU clearance limit. Without that, it's complete guesswork (albeit, you can measure it yourself, but it's very tedious and next to impossible to get accurate result).

Once you have the clearance, then look what CPU coolers fit. Though, it isn't unheard of, that people have changed PC cases as well, just to encompass better/bigger CPU cooler.


A good choice. Though, do note that it's 160mm tall (with fan installed),
specs: https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15s/specification
 

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