Would a Noctua fan be powerful enough to work with the Corsair H60?

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Elf_Knight

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Nov 9, 2013
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So I got the Corsair H60 to cool my graphics card but it wasn't compatible. I still wanted to use it since it was expensive so I put it on my CPU. However the fan is really loud and I have no determined that it is indeed the fan from the CPU cooler. I was thinking of swapping the fan with a replacement fan. Apparently the Noctua fans are really powerful and quiet. Are there any better fans out there? It needs to be 120mm fan. I might also replace the stock case fans if this proves a success.

Many thanks in advance!
 
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synphul
Noctua do make quality fans. How much of a difference it will make though I'm not sure, while their fans are quiet it's not just a matter of fan noise. It's wind noise hitting an obstruction (in this case the radiator fins). Even if the fan were silent x amount of air moving through the radiator is going to creat x amount of noise and there's no getting around it.

If you turn the airflow (fanspeed) down, you'll have slower air and less noise. It also means less air and less cooling. Turn the airflow up and you'll have more airflow and better cooling but more noise. The single radiator is going to pretty much be limited to what it is. There's only so much surface area for heat to dissipate from and the only way to overcome a particular...
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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Noctua do make quality fans. How much of a difference it will make though I'm not sure, while their fans are quiet it's not just a matter of fan noise. It's wind noise hitting an obstruction (in this case the radiator fins). Even if the fan were silent x amount of air moving through the radiator is going to creat x amount of noise and there's no getting around it.

If you turn the airflow (fanspeed) down, you'll have slower air and less noise. It also means less air and less cooling. Turn the airflow up and you'll have more airflow and better cooling but more noise. The single radiator is going to pretty much be limited to what it is. There's only so much surface area for heat to dissipate from and the only way to overcome a particular size of surface area is to increase airflow.

In other words while a noctua fan may technically be nicer than the fan you're using don't expect to move 90cfm of air through a radiator and have it nice and silent. There's no magic pill with this setup.

Case fans on the other hand it makes a bit more difference because it's more open air in nature. Then it comes down to the sound of the fan, the airflow it provides and even the 'tone' or sound quality of the fan. That's one area where noctua tends to be preferred. Sound has two properties that affect what we hear, noise pressure (decibels or dba) and tone or pitch.

25dba of low frequency sound like bass is far less 'piercing' than say 25dba of high frequency like a whistle. Think of sirens on emergency vehicles, the high pitched sounds 'carry' further and grab our attention more than medium tones. The sound 'louder' even at the same dba. When it comes to case fans, from brand to brand and model to model some fans have a pleasing tone while others sound a bit more 'whiny' or have an irritating hum. That part of the noise is a bit subjective though since everyone's hearing is a little different and some people have sensitivity to particular pitches that others don't.
 
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Elf_Knight

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Nov 9, 2013
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That is really interesting and I did not know that. So should just accept the fact that the cooler will be noisy during use? When I have headphones on or speakers during gaming it is fine because I don't notice it. However when I try to watch videos on YouTube for example or listen to music, etc, it gets annoying. What fan speed is safe to set it at so that it is slightly quieter but not so low that it will not work? Also what software do I use to configure the fan speed? Many thanks!
 
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