Noise of water cooling vs air cooling?

[Gdourado]

Hello, how are you?

I know that water cooling can give better cooling performance against air cooling, especially if the water setup is a full custom loop.

But what about noise?

For CPU cooling only, there are air coolers that can be pretty quiet, even quieter than an AIO water cooler.

How about a custom loop?

Also, if you add a GPU block and also cool the GPU on the loop, will the overall system noise be that much lower against an air cooled CPU and GPU?

My main question, is water cooling the right way if the goal is not cooling performance but a quiet system?

Also, would achieve a quieter system on water mean a big big investment in a cooling loop?

Cheers!

[Godlygamer23]

The blocks don't make noise - the pumps do. If you have water cooling, you have to listen to the pump, fans, and potentially even liquid flowing through the tubes.

[Guest MinimalEffort]

Watercooling is quieter, but it depends on a number of factors. The benefit to a custom loop is that you can have lots of radspace and run the fans really slow to achieve the same results as on a system with fewer rads but faster fans, with the only difference being a reduction in noise. That said, it is possible to have a very quiet air cooler. For example if you take an NH-D15 and run the fans at a low RPM it can also be whisper quiet. 

 

GPUI running on air can be pretty loud, so having many rads in a liquid setup can help you redice noise in that regard.

[harbo99]

Hello, how are you?

I know that water cooling can give better cooling performance against air cooling, especially if the water setup is a full custom loop.

But what about noise?

For CPU cooling only, there are air coolers that can be pretty quiet, even quieter than an AIO water cooler.

How about a custom loop?

Also, if you add a GPU block and also cool the GPU on the loop, will the overall system noise be that much lower against an air cooled CPU and GPU?

My main question, is water cooling the right way if the goal is not cooling performance but a quiet system?

Also, would achieve a quieter system on water mean a big big investment in a cooling loop?

Cheers!

water cooling will usually be louder because the pump makes noise + the fans you have to cool the pump, where a air cooled would just have the fans.

 

You should properly get something like a noctua fan if you want a quit system

[Guest MinimalEffort]

water cooling will usually be louder because the pump makes noise + the fans you have to cool the pump, where a air cooled would just have the fans.

 

You should properly get something like a noctua fan if you want a quit system

 

If the pump and fans run slowly enough, it can be quieter than an air cooled system

[harbo99]

If the pump and fans run slowly enough, it can be quieter than an air cooled system

true, but it all depends, i think a noctua exclusive fan-setup would be quiter than pretty much every liquid cooling, however if you just use regular fans liquid will be just as quiet 

[Guest MinimalEffort]

true, but it all depends, i think a noctua exclusive fan-setup would be quiter than pretty much every liquid cooling, however if you just use regular fans liquid will be just as quiet 

 

Dont forget that you can use Noctua fans in a liquid cooled system as well

 

That way it would be quieter than an air cooled rig.

[airdeano]

water cooling offer more surface area to dissipate heat that an HSF system. more

surface allow to run the fans at ridiculously low fan speeds to achieve lower thermal

control with less noise. in most builds sub 1000rpm and lower temps over air coolers.

but it also introduces more moving parts, more points of failure, too.