Looking for Quiet CPU Cooler and Case Fans

ruppcarson · Mar 25, 2016

Currently I am looking to build a new PC for streaming/recording and editing games. I use the sensitive Blue Yeti microphone and worry that it will pick up the PC if I get too loud of a CPU cooler or case fans. I plan on overclocking my processor as far as up to 4.6GHz if possible. My current build is:

CPU: i7-6700k 4.0GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard: MSI Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM EDITION ATX LGA1151
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400
Storage: Samsung 850 Evo-Series 500GB & Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit

utgotye · Mar 25, 2016

With a Define R4, I wouldn't be overly worried about noise but you can pickup some Noctua or Fractal Venturi fans if you want quality yet quiet that can move a lot of air or push it at good pressures.

Paradox2018 · Mar 25, 2016

The Hyper 212 evo is supposed to be a super quiet and efficient air cooler. If you want super quiet you could water cool your cpu. As for case fans, Noctua makes some pretty quiet fans. I hear corsair also makes some nice ones aswell.

Bearmann · Mar 25, 2016

I would go with a Noctua NH-D15 (or second choiceNH-U14S) along with some Noctua NF-A14 PWM case fans (or the 3 pin version, NF-A14 FLX if your motherboard headers are 3 pin).
http://noctua.at/en/products/fan

Here are some additional heatsink choices:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1462-page6.html

JackNaylorPE · Mar 25, 2016

First the build:

1. The Gigabyte card comes in at about 40 dbA ... the MSI is significantly quieter (half sound pressure level) at 37 dbA.

2. Id swap the Barracuda out for Seagate SSHD which is 50% faster in gaming.\
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx001

Now your question

3. The best way to address the sound issue is to move to a case which has industry leading fans. The Phanteks fans perform 3C better thermally while spinning 300 rpm slower the the previous king of the hill, Noctua. the Phantsks fans also top silentpcreviews noise / performance charts:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

Phanteks makes the same fan with various different frames to allow for different mountings hence the different suffixes.

As you can see, the Fractal R4 is well reviewed with scores of 98-99-97-98-98
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4844/fractal_design_define_r4_black_pearl_mid_tower_chassis_review/index9.html

But the Enthoo Pro, which took home "Case of the Year" honors from Computex in 2014, comes in with even better scores of 98-99-100-98-99 and it has better fans. As for coolers, remember....

1. No CLC cooler ever made outperforms the better, similarly priced air coolers.
2. A great budget cooler line the Hyper 212 is not the same thing as a great cooler.

But w/o knowing ya budget, it's hard to make a good recommendation:

$30 - Hyper 212
$50 - One of the Scythe coolers in this price range (5-7C better than 212)
$70 - Phanteks PH-TC14-PE (note color optional - 7-10C better than 212)
$90 - Noctua NH-D15 or Cryorig R1 910-12C better than 212)
$140 - Swiftech H22-X or H240-X (12-15C better than 212)

With a goal of 4.6 Ghz. you wanna be in the $70 category or better.

Dark Lord of Tech · Mar 25, 2016

Enthoo Pro , I replaced the fans in mine , had a strange humming tone to them.

Midnight822 · Mar 25, 2016

I've actually got a fairly similar build to yours and just got all my parts in this week, will be building this weekend. I probably won't install the liquid cooler until next week after I get a little more homework in on the topic. But I'd be up for sharing specs with you as I do research and hopefully do some testing going along.

For liquid cooler, so far I've picked up the Corsair h100i v2. To combat the sound issues, I'm considering doing push/pull configuration with 2 SP120 performance on the bottom for quality looks and Noctua's on top which are covered from view. While double the fans, from what I've read it'll allow lower RPMs to be run overall meaning a quiet setup. I'm a bit concerned about creating a large negative pressure system inside the case with this setup though. My case has 2 140mms intake on the front, and 1 140mm exhaust in the back. This would add 4 120mms either way. I had planned on making them exhaust, but I don't know if the front fans are going to have to go overboard to neutralize the pressure, which would defeat the purpose of the extra fans.

Bearmann · Mar 25, 2016

The Noctua Redux, Phanteks, Scythe Gentle Typhoon, and Antec True Quiet are also good choices for case fans.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 25, 2016

I have had over 100 of them so far (16 in one rig that runs dead silent) ... one made a noise when installed horizontally so I called to ship it back for a replacement .... they said don't bother and sent two replacements. The noisy one is now in another box where vertically it doesn't make any noise.

Since none reviewers (overclockersclub, silentpcreview, hightechlegion) have encountered this noise, seems you got at least one that was bad. Yours were installed vertically but if you move one and install horizontally, you should call and ask for a set or the rubber anti-vibration pads ... these come preinstalled on all the boxed fans you but but for whatever reason are not on the pre-installed case fans.

http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/cooling/heatsinks/37419-phanteks-f140?showall=&start=3

This would be expected given the specs, but what is not expected is how quietly they manage to do this. First off, there is no discernible mechanical noise from either iteration of the fan. The bearing is dead silent, and there is no ticking, buzz or hum often associated with PWM present in the 140XP. The other factor is the actual pitch of the fan, which is lower than most 140mm fans we have encountered. There is no whine or high pitches of any kind. This makes the 140SP and XP far less intrusive even at higher speeds. At lower speeds, the air movement is substantial, but even in the front intake position there is no real discernible noise until ~850rpm, and they never become distracting when pushed beyond that.

So if you still have them ... id call and have them replaced.

ruppcarson · Mar 25, 2016

JackNaylorPE :

The only reason I had the Gigabyte card was for the overclock it had. I didn't realize it came a little louder than the MSI. I'll probably switch back to the MSI 980 Ti 6GB.

JackNaylorPE :

I'm not too worried about that as my budget is getting a bit tight (sorry for not previously mentioning) and I am going to place all of the important programs and games on the SSD.

JackNaylorPE :

From the reviews I've read, the R4 puts a lot of work into noise reduction in their cases and actually is better when it comes to the noise levels. The Enthoo Pro has more space and a little better functionality. I think I'm going to stick with the R4 because it is quieter and I can deal with the lesser amount of space.

JackNaylorPE :

Which of the coolers from the $90-$140 range would you personally recommend? Also, are the liquid coolers custom loops where I would have to change the solution every X months or are they good to leave as they are for long periods of time? I would prefer to not have the upkeep if possible.

Paperdoc · Mar 25, 2016

Bearman hinted at something IMPORTANT when you choose your fans. They MUST match the fan ports on your mobo or you won't get proper automatic speed control and cooling. Your mobo has only 4-pin CPU_FAN and SYS_FAN ports, so you MUST by 4-pin (PWM Type) fans, not 3-pin.

ruppcarson · Mar 25, 2016

Paperdoc :

Could you recommend any good, quiet 140mm PWM fans? The ones I was looking at were actually 3-pin :/
Thanks for pointing this out to me Paperdoc and Bearmann

synphul · Mar 25, 2016

The noctuas are good coolers but like the nh-d15 for instance only supports ram up to 32mm tall. The ripjaws v is 42mm tall so you'd have to either raise the front fan or remove it and use the cooler with a single fan only. I use the dark rock pro 3 and I'm pretty happy with it, it's a good cooler and whisper quiet even under full load with the cpu oc'd. It would be a close fit but it will fit over ram 44mm tall so will fit without having to adjust the front fan up. The front fan on the dark pro 3 is smaller, 120mm vs 140mm so gives additional clearance. Just something to consider, it's in the same price range.

It shows out of stock with ncixus at the moment but may be back in stock soon. The site says available in 5-10 days. Nothing against the noctua coolers, they're definitely great. Just something to consider when it comes to larger air coolers that extend over top of the ram which is common. Still worth it in my opinion for the quiet operation to find a solid larger air cooler. Other things like the gpu fan are far more likely to be heard over a quality air cooler.

Bearmann · Mar 25, 2016

I only use the middle fan on my D15. I re-purposed the 2nd fan to be an exhaust fan on my R5. I moved the rear Fractal fan to the front so that now I have two. It's plenty of cooling for me (the second fan accounts for about 3-4 degrees on the heatsink as I remember), but if it's not, you could reclaim the second fan and move it up a bit for your RAM, or add add a 120mm fan to use on the front of the cooler. The Noctua U14S would be another option which wouldn't interfere with the RAM.

Dark Lord of Tech · Mar 25, 2016

CRYORIG R1 Universal

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG R1 Universal 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $89.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-01 21:02 EST-0500

CRYORIG R1 Universal CPU Cooler[/b]

Unmatched Compatibility
Zero RAM Interference

Focusing on providing the widest range of compatibility, the R1 utilizes an asymmetric slanted heatpipe layout to move the front heatsink fin stack further away from the RAM zone. Also, fitted with a 13mm thin XT140 the CRYORIG R1 offers optimal compatibility for RAM with tall heat spreaders on both Intel (115X/1366/775) and AMD platforms.

http://www.cryorig.com/r1-universal.php
Home page for all the specs and info ^

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7039/cryorig-r1-universal-cpu-cooler-review/index7.html
Tweaktown Review

ruppcarson · Mar 25, 2016

My biggest worry about the CPU cooler is that it won't be able to keep it at a safe temp. Just wanting to double check and make sure that it will be able to handle the overclock. Tweaktown showed the overclock for them getting the temperatures getting to the lower 70s for an overclocked 4770k, but I didn't see it list how far they overclocked it. Also, it showed the fan getting up to about 50dbs on the overclocked load and 30dbs for stock. At that sound level I think it would be better to get a liquid cooler as many of them can be found around 30dbs, but cool much better.

synphul · Mar 25, 2016

I think the r1 should work well, similar to the nh-d14/d-15 and dark rock pro 3. Some of those specs have to be taken with real use in mind. For instance I'd read that the dark rock pro 3 could be a little loud at full speed. It confused me because mine was anything but loud. I finally set the fans to run full speed and then I did in fact hear them.

Setting them back to the way they were controlled in the bios, I finally managed to get it to kick up to full speed by running p95 with my 4690k oc'd to 4.6ghz, turning every other case fan off and only then did the cooler ramp up. Basically it took an oc'd cpu under a stress test and the case airflow to be stagnant for that to happen. Real world use? I never hear it because of case airflow and the fact the cooler doesn't have to run full out to keep it cool.

Similar results I'm sure would apply to coolers like the cryorig r1. Does it seem 'loud' at full speed? Perhaps. Will it ever actually ramp up to full speed or need to in order to keep the cpu cool? Probably not, which means it purrs along while doing a great job cooling. Though it does use different fans and according to techspot's testing, there was a max db output difference of 11dba between the dark rock pro 3 and cryorig r1. Only a 5dba difference between them at 7.5v which is likely more realistic when the cpu is under load provided it's fan controlled in the bios using a fan/temp curve.

Here are the overclock settings techspot uses, it's a bit hard to locate but there's a text link from the article SR-71 Blackbird linked to you.
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/5781/tweaktown-cpu-cooler-testing-and-methodology/index3.html

The overclock the 4770k to 4.5ghz using a multiplier of 45 with a ring bus multiplier of x39 and 1.14v vcore.

ruppcarson · Mar 25, 2016

synphul :

Thank you for your help. Speaking of the d-15, it looks like it's specs perform better than the r1 all the way around at a slightly cheaper price. I'm thinking it may be worth it to just replace my current memory with the 31mm tall Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400. It would be a tight fit, but it should work just fine I believe. Let me know if you see anything that would cause problems.

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