Noctua NHD-15 Fans on an H110?

[swiftleeo]

Okay so here is the deal: I already ordered both an NHD-15 setup and an H110, so it's not really about how much it is going to cost. I didn't mean to order them both, but it wound up happening. Anyways, someone else on the forum gave me an idea on another thread that I started that I feel would be better served by making a more specific thread so that it will help others that have this same situation.

So when I asked about the H110 vs. the NHD-15, everyone said the NHD-15 because of the low noise and it's similar performance to the H110. However, what kind of performance would I be looking at with an H110 equipped with the Noctua fans that come with the NHD-15 model? Would it out perform the NHD-15 w/ heatsink and the Corsair H110 without Noctua fans, or should I just return one of them?

I'm looking for temps mainly, as I want my system to be as cool as possible so that I can get maximum longevity out of my CPU and in case I want to overclock the i7 4790k I'll be getting on Thursday.

 

[swiftleeo]

Also, what about using a push pull configuration as well?

 

[dottorrent]

I'm sorry, but what was the point in buying both for the Noctua fans? You could easily get some NF-A14 Fans and stick them on the H110 if you wanted to.

Anyway, both perform very similarly.

 

[swiftleeo]

I'm sorry, but what was the point in buying both for the Noctua fans? You could easily get some NF-A14 Fans and stick them on the H110 if you wanted to.

Anyway, both perform very similarly.

I didn't originally buy them to do this. I originally bought the H110 because I thought that the cooling performance would be better. Then I found out that it was much louder versus the NHD-15. So I ordered the NHD-15 and planned to return the H110 (they will both arrive on the same day). However, since I do have them both coming, I'm wondering whether it is worth keeping the NHD-15 for the fans and using them on the H110, or whether it would be better to just use one or the other.

So since they are both already coming, I began to wonder (with the help of someone else on the forum) whether or not it would provide better cooling for me to use a mix of the fans and the h110, or if the difference would be so minimal that it wouldn't be worth it.

I mean at this point, if I'm going to use the Noctua fans at all it may be better to just keep the heatsink and everything because by the time I return it and buy two of the same fans minus the heat sink, I would only gain around 5 dollars of a difference and a huge loss of time.

However, if the temps would be any better in a push-pull configuration (which would mean I have to buy two more fans), then I may buy them as well... I really just want the best setup I can get without going to custom water cooling.

 

[maddogfargo]

Be sure to set the fans to PWM and adjust the starting and target ramp-up speeds properly. They should not be running at full speed all the time.

The H110 fans are slightly louder than the Noctua and will also be closer to the outside of the case. But the temps will be 2-3c lower.

I have my H110 tweaked nicely with the fans mounted on the outside in PULL and they never go over 1150-1200RPM at full load. Max is 1500RPM, but they never get anywhere near that. This is on an FX 6350 @ 4.8375GHz. It maxes out at 48-50c under full load for an hour. I can barely hear the fans on my sofa (Livingroom media PC) with the room completely silent.

The problem I ran into with my H110 is one of the fans had a bad bearing and made an intermittent buzzing/rattling sound. Corsair replaced the fan and it is fine now.

*IF* you swap the fans out, both Noctua and Phanteks make some great, quiet 140mm PWM fans. Just a shame NoiseBlocker e-Loops are only available in 120mm or I'd say get those instead.

 

[swiftleeo]

Be sure to set the fans to PWM and adjust the starting and target ramp-up speeds properly.

The H110 fans are slightly louder than the Noctua and will also be closer to the outside of the case. But the temps will be 2-3c lower.

I have my H110 tweaked nicely with the fans mounted on the outside in PULL and they never go over 1150-1200RPM at full load. This is on an FX 6350 @ 4.8375GHz. It maxes out at 50-52c under full load for an hour. I can barely hear the fans on my sofa (Livingroom media PC) with the room completely silent.

The problem I ran into with my H110 is one of the fans had a bad bearing and made an intermittent buzzing/rattling sound. Corsair replaced the fan and it is fine now.

So you're saying that the Corsair fans will keep temps lower than the Noctua fans? You're also saying you've mounted the Corsair fans on the outside of your case as opposed to the inside correct?