Quitest CPU Air Cooler (for my build)

[sally_91]

Hey guys,

I've been waiting for November to come around so I can take advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.

I'm definitely getting a Fractal case and I've settled on the Define Mini C.
It's got a 170mm height limit. If I get a CPU cooler that's like 168mm, do you guys think it will get in the way of my RAM and/or top PCI-e slot? How would I go about determining that?

Also, are all the Define Series cases equally silent?

I'd like to get the most silent CPU air cooler that's under $100. I read that out of these 4: Noctua NH-D15, Noctua NH-D14, Dark Rock Pro 3, Cryorig R1.

DRP3 is the best cooler of all 4, but is also slightly louder than the others
D15 is the second best cooler, being slightly quieter than the DRP3 but being louder than the other two
R1 is the third best cooler, is quieter than all but the D14
D14 is the quietest and smallest, at the tradeoff of being 3-5C behind the other coolers in cooling potential

But then there's this chart:

It says that the Thermalright True Spirit 140 comes out on top.
I also hear good praise for other lesser known coolers such as the Scythe FUMA.

I went on PCPartPicker and looked through their CPU cooler database. I organized the list by "Noise Level" and compared the ones that actually had a score. Out of the many dozens, I found one that had the lowest noise level and was also still being sold: The "Enermax - ETS-T40F-RF 65.6 CFM CPU Cooler" with a noise level of 10.0 - 19.0 dbA.

How accurate is PCPartPicker when it comes to those kind of numbers?

 

[Karadjgne]

Fanless gpu would be extremely hard to do. Not only must you add a heatsink to the actual gpu, but also the vram/VRM's. Normal vram/VRM's heatsinks are rather small and attached with thermal tape, but rely on the gpu heatsink fan or other mounted fan (nzxt G10) to provide a breeze. Without that breeze, you'd need much larger heatsinks and keeping them attached by thermal tape would be problematic.

 

[sally_91]

Guys, I've been using my on board graphics. I don't really game on this PC. I bought it to use as a DAW. Hence why I want absolute silence.

I'm comparing the pros and cons of using a fanless CPU cooler/fanless PSU/upgrading the stock case fans AND going through with my diabolical plan (the blanket thing).

I looked at like 14 fanless cpu coolers. I came across the "Zalman FX70" and according to Overclock.co.uk, it is
140 x 158 x 110 mm (W x H x D)
The Fractal Define Mini C's max cpu cooler height is 170. How can I tell if its width and depth won't cover the ram/pci-e slot?

Also, I filled out Outer Vision's Power Supply Calculator. These are my results:
Load Wattage: 187 W
Recommended UPS rating: 500 VA
Recommended PSU Wattage: 237 W
Recommended Power Supply: EVGA 450 B1, 80+ BRONZE 450W

If going fanless, does the recommended PSU wattage change?

 

[madmatt30]

What actual components are you going to be running ??
All well & good looking at fanless coolers but you still need case airflow to dissipate heat from around them,also unless you go with an expensive semi-fanless psu thats going to be the thing you hear most of all over the cpu cooler.

If youre going with the mini c still then the solid side panel & tempered glass models are quieter than the one with the standard plexi-plastic side

 

[sally_91]

What actual components are you going to be running ??
All well & good looking at fanless coolers but you still need case airflow to dissipate heat from around them,also unless you go with an expensive semi-fanless psu thats going to be the thing you hear most of all over the cpu cooler.

If youre going with the mini c still then the solid side panel & tempered glass models are quieter than the one with the standard plexi-plastic side

This is my parts list
I already bought the Mini C with no side window at a deducted price last week.

 

[madmatt30]

What actual components are you going to be running ??
All well & good looking at fanless coolers but you still need case airflow to dissipate heat from around them,also unless you go with an expensive semi-fanless psu thats going to be the thing you hear most of all over the cpu cooler.

If youre going with the mini c still then the solid side panel & tempered glass models are quieter than the one with the standard plexi-plastic side

This is my parts list
I already bought the Mini C with no side window at a deducted price last week.

Then you are honestly overthinking things.

Run the case fans at low rpm,any half decent 120mm tower cooler will be completely inaudible in that case.

this seasonic gold semi fanless psu is $68 & it will run fanless with your component list literally 100% of the time.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/DPCwrH/seasonic-power-supply-ssr550rm

coolers? no need to spend anywhere near $100

Just buy the h7 & run it at 800-1000rpm ,it will cool a 3570 easily at that speed & you will not hear it at all.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/93Crxr/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

 

[sally_91]

What actual components are you going to be running ??
All well & good looking at fanless coolers but you still need case airflow to dissipate heat from around them,also unless you go with an expensive semi-fanless psu thats going to be the thing you hear most of all over the cpu cooler.

If youre going with the mini c still then the solid side panel & tempered glass models are quieter than the one with the standard plexi-plastic side

This is my parts list
I already bought the Mini C with no side window at a deducted price last week.

Then you are honestly overthinking things.

Run the case fans at low rpm,any half decent 120mm tower cooler will be completely inaudible in that case.

this seasonic gold semi fanless psu is $68 & it will run fanless with your component list literally 100% of the time.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/DPCwrH/seasonic-power-supply-ssr550rm

coolers? no need to spend anywhere near $100

Just buy the h7 & run it at 800-1000rpm ,it will cool a 3570 easily at that speed & you will not hear it at all.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/93Crxr/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

Thanks for spotting that semi fanless PSU. I just got done reading up on the fanless type. It's not as I had imagined. Right now I'm running a 700W PSU. How would the sea sonic compare? How do you arrive at a wattage after using one of those PSU Calculators? Is there a formula to follow?

I used PCPartPicker's organization tool to find the highest rated PSUs in between 550-700.
I found this EVGA on the upper levels and also the sea sonic you mentioned. The EVGA has ECO mode. Is that the same thing as "Smart & Silent Fan Control (S2FC)"? Besides one being modular and the other being semi, and a 100W difference, how do they stack up?

I've been eyeing that H7 all week. I just wanted to see what my options were. It's smaller and cheaper than the Mugen 5.

::EDIT::
Dang, have you seen the reviews for the Sea Sonic on newegg?
Every page has an RMA complaint.

 

[madmatt30]

I take little notice of reviews simply because people only generally leave one if they're unhappy.

That said the seasonic is an old 2012 unit & probably isnt THE best recommendation , its still good though.

The evga GQ is a good unit , you honestly don't even need close to that wattage though

You're not running a GPU??

Your build is sub 200w max draw (& by quite a margin)

Go for the focus plus gold

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bkp323/seasonic-focus-plus-gold-550w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-550fx

& here's why

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=529

& the h7 is absolutely fine

I ran a 3570 on a $12 gammaxx 300 with fan set to 900rpm (the lowest it would go) - under prime testing it still didn't go over 60c & was completely inaudible.

On a $12 cooler !! The h7 is infinitely better & infinitely quieter.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ppl who do reviews on newegg and Amazon etc are self-centered. No other word for it. They buy something and almost immediately post if something is either wrong or great shipping. Blah. What you don't ever see is someone reposting that they bought a good psu 5 years ago, abused it badly, and it's still working great.

Take that Seasonic. Generally, Seasonic is an industry leader in quality psus manufacturing. They are pretty much the bar you gotta beat and few do. That said, they make 10million psus a year, world wide. With a 0.1% failure rate, that's still 10,000 bad units. It's goin to happen. And it's generally a failure of a capacitor (one of over a billion made each year) more than shoddy workmanship. (these aren't exact numbers, just made to make the point, but they are close enough to reality).

Chances someone posts they got a bad unit? 95% probability. Chances someone posts they got a great unit 5 years later? 0.01%. And that's just that 1 unit. Seasonic is OEM and responsible for closer to 100 different models, vendors, series etc.

 

[jankerson]

Yeah, I just retired my old Seasonic M12II 620W. 😀

Used to for over 7 years 24/7/365 and the 1st 3 years it was beat on pretty good under heavy use 24/7/365 running F&H GPU.

So I figure over 2 years past the warranty I got my money out of it.

And it's still good so I put it back in the box and will use it as a test unit or backup.

 

[Karadjgne]

Still using a Seasonic M12-II 520w on a 3570k OC 4.3GHz and gtx660ti @124% OC. It runs 24/7/365. Been shut down may a dozen times in the last 5 years for cleaning etc.

 

[jankerson]

Still using a Seasonic M12-II 520w on a 3570k OC 4.3GHz and gtx660ti @124% OC. It runs 24/7/365. Been shut down may a dozen times in the last 5 years for cleaning etc.

Solid model.

Still running the rare M12II 650W in a 3rd gen i5 machine, the one that is Haswell Certified and has DC-DC.

Only 4 years old so it still has a lot of life in it.

Replaced the M12II 620W with a Seasonic G-550W. Not much difference in output on the 12V between them.

576W for the M12II 620W and 540W for the G-550W.

 

[sally_91]

Can someone tell me how to correctly measure my motherboard? I'd like to check for RAM and PCI clearance.

This is the motherboard

 

[madmatt30]

Dead centre of CPU socket outwards.

Tell you straight away the h7 will have NO clearance issues on that board.

It requires 62mm to top edge of pci express slot & 49mm to edge of closest ram slot

You have more than that for sure