Do I NEED water cooling?

[Shuvi McTupya]

I just picked up a PC and it has a cooler master water cooled fan running pipes to the CPU (AMD FX-8370 @ 4Ghz) and the thing is noisy as hell!

Not only can i hear the fan there is also a 'resonance' if that is the right word, which i assume is caused by the fan.

The guy i bought it from said that these CPU's really should have water cooling so i thought i would ask here..will i get away with ripping that thing out and slapping a nice quite fan directly onto the CPU?

And if so, will something like this work or do i need something better?



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/90mm-3Pin-CPU-Cooler-He...

[Monty Python]

The FX-8370 has a TDP of 125W, whereas that fan you link to is only rated to 100W, so it might run a bit warm. I'm guessing from the price that you're not looking to spend much?

This should help:

https://www.quietpc.com/amx-coolers

Edited by Monty Python on Tuesday 28th January 21:35

[Shuvi McTupya]

Thanks I was not aware of the power ratings! )and yes i am always looking to not spend money unless i have too, it isnt exactly a high end PC.

Hopefully this will be up to the job and a fair bit cheaper than the ones on that page!



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162144510663

[maxdb]

I run a 9600k at 5ghz on air and it's not massively loud and temps are reasonable for what it is. A lot of the enclosed water cooling kits such as the Corsair Hydro series come with fans so there's no real escape from them unless you have some really low speed and powered CPU.

[Shuvi McTupya]

I am fairly sure this PC i have bought is 'new old' stock (it should be at the price i paid for it) The cooling system is a cooler master system, probably the noisiest they do as i cant see them getting much repeat business if they all sound like this.

Its like having an old fridge in my room.

[The_Jackal]

BeQuiet really are fantastic coolers and not the most expensive either.
I've had mine ten years and it is as quiet as a whisper. They even replaced the rubber band attachment thingies for free when they perished. I just messaged them on Facebook, sent a photo and they sent me a new set from Germany for free.
Buy cheap and you risk destroying your CPU.

[anonymous-user]

The_Jackal said:

BeQuiet really are fantastic coolers
Buy cheap and you risk destroying your CPU.

What nonsense.

A - there are great cheap and quiet fans out there.
B - his processor, as do most, have thermal protection. They either slow, or shut down when they reach a certain temperature.

I don't mean to be rude but I really tire of this "buy cheap at your peril" rubbish.

[anonymous-user]

To the OP

CPUs are designed for air/ heat pipe cooling .

You only NEED water cooling ( with an external radiator ) when you overclock and reach the point when your system starts crashing / locking up. Even then, in my experience, the gains are not worth the hassle other than proving to yourself how far you can go.

I had a fully water cooled system (cpu, GPU, chipset) . It was fun doing it , and I used big fans on the double radiator which made it quiet, but one the novelty of overclocking passed, it was just a pain to work on, and decent air coolers with big fans and well managed cases fans runs just as quiet, not overclocked.

My i7 with gtx970 ( by no means cutting edge ) is whisper quiet. Two big case fans running slow, and a big CPU fan on heat pipes.

[hutchst]

Resonance often comes from more than one fan running at different speeds. Is there any way to control the fan speeds to adjust the resonance? Even just speeding up/slowing down one fan can make a difference. It can also cause the case to vibrate, adding to the noise.

[ozzuk]

I have the artic cooler - its extremely quiet, great unit.

[Type R Tom]

Do you know if it's the pump that is making the noise or the fans? I would assume the AIO would have 1 or 2 120mm fans which could be replaced with something quieter. That might solve the issue, an AIO shouldn't be that loud.

[Dromedary66]

The_Jackal said:

BeQuiet really are fantastic coolers and not the most expensive either.

Conversely I bought one of their water cooled loops and it was no quieter than a fan and also the bearing went after 1 year. Absolute garbage and it looks like they have stopped selling that trash now.

Replaced it with a Noctua NH-D15 air cooled heatsink which is better (needs a large case though)

[ruggedscotty]

hutchst said:

Resonance often comes from more than one fan running at different speeds. Is there any way to control the fan speeds to adjust the resonance? Even just speeding up/slowing down one fan can make a difference. It can also cause the case to vibrate, adding to the noise.

baloney... if there is resonance from two fans then adjusting them wont remove that as you will still get speed differences and that will give you the noise you are talking about. to get rid then you need to have some sort of frequency lock on the motors and have them locked together. then again air flow and loading on the impeller will change the rotational speeds and thus 'resonance'

[130R]

See: https://noctua.at/en/cpu/AMD_FX-8370

[Shuvi McTupya]

Resonance probably isnt the right word.

It is just not a constant tone, it sort of pulses like a fast heart beat, whir whir whir rather than wwwhhhhiiirrrr

Also, there is no separate case fan on machine, i have the two fans on my GPU and then just the cooler master jobby which seems to act as a case fan and CPU cooler.

This is before i installed the GPU.


I will install the arctic fan when it arrives and see if i still need a case fan.

I also have a 650watt power supply which i thought i would need to fit, but it seems to be ok with the 500 watt so far.

[Type R Tom]

Yep that's an AIO, the water is pumped around the closed loop to the radiator and cooled by the fans. See if you can unplug the fan header from the mother board and see if the noise stops, just be careful not to unplug the pump. If you aren't overclocking you won't need 2 fans so try running just the outside one and remove/unplug the middle one.

You could also adjust the fan curve in the BIOS to slow the fans right down.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Strangely nothing i do in the BIOS seems to have any affect on the noise/speed of the fan!

Adjusting this to silent or turbo did nothing:


And turning this down to 50% also did nothing!



The CPU and chassis speed options at the top only have an 'ignore' option..I dont know what that does..

Edited by Shuvi McTupya on Wednesday 29th January 13:15

[snuffy]

Shuvi McTupya said:

Resonance probably isnt the right word.

It is just not a constant tone, it sort of pulses like a fast heart beat, whir whir whir rather than wwwhhhhiiirrrr

I know exactly the sound you mean as mine has done that in the past. I have water cooling pretty much the same as you (but a Corsair i80), but the idea is the same (i.e. water pipes from the CPU to the radiator with 2 fans like you have).

The pumps can die slowly, so the thing to do is stop all the fans you have (so the 2 on the CPU radiator, and the GPU ones - just stick your finger on the top of them) and see if the noise stops. You should also be able to find a power connector going to the pump. Unplug that and see if the noise changes.

You could also give the water tubes a gentle tap or squeeze. You can get air locks in the them (so I've read) and than can cause noise problems. So a squeeze of the pipes might sort it.

This is pretty much what you have:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-Nepton120XL...

it looks like it's now discontinued so it's most likely quite old. So my guess is the pump is slowing turning its toes up.

[Mr_Yogi]

Just a word of warning, keep an eye on the CPU temperatures (use CoreTemp or similar) if you fiddle with the AIO. Under load your CPU will use a lot of power, and produce a lot of heat. As was mentioned in the 2nd post it's got a TDP of 125 Watts! For comparison, the top end desktop Intel i7 of the same time was 77 Watts. These do need decent coolers (and a chassis with good airflow) to keep them quiet, or you will have to put up with the noise.

[Shuvi McTupya]

snuffy said:

I know exactly the sound you mean as mine has done that in the past. I have water cooling pretty much the same as you (but a Corsair i80), but the idea is the same (i.e. water pipes from the CPU to the radiator with 2 fans like you have).

The pumps can die slowly, so the thing to do is stop all the fans you have (so the 2 on the CPU radiator, and the GPU ones - just stick your finger on the top of them) and see if the noise stops. You should also be able to find a power connector going to the pump. Unplug that and see if the noise changes.

You could also give the water tubes a gentle tap or squeeze. You can get air locks in the them (so I've read) and than can cause noise problems. So a squeeze of the pipes might sort it.

This is pretty much what you have:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-Nepton120XL...

it looks like it's now discontinued so it's most likely quite old. So my guess is the pump is slowing turning its toes up.

The machine has never been used until now , i think it has been sitting around in a warehouse. The guy i bought it from picked up half a dozen of them.

Is it likely the pump would be on its way out through age even if it hasn't been in use?

I have the machine open now, the pipes are pretty rigid plastic and you cant really squeeze them.

I can only reach one of the fans on the cpu/chassis/cooler fan with my finger to stop it, it has a bit of oomph to it..if i do stop it, the wind noise seem to increase a bit if anything with the other fan blowing onto its stopped blades.

Observations:

When i laid the machine down on its side, I heard what sounds like the cooling liquid 'gurgle' a little bit, so there may be some air in the system,not sure if there should be or not!.
Having moved the machine about a bit, the whir whir whir subsided for a bit but is now back.

GPU fans are easily stopped but made no difference to the overall volume.