Which rad and fan combo is the quietest?

[Proctie]

Hi guys,

I'm building my first ever custom loop for myself (not my first build). I'm in the planning stage and I'm housing it all in a Fractal Design Define Mini C TG.

 

The goal here is to make it as quiet as possible cooling the CPU and a single GPU. (7700K & GTX1060).

 

Since I'm going for ultimate silence, how many and what radiators would you recommend and also which fans? What I'm thinking is either 2x 240 rads with Noctua NF-F12 fans or 1x 240 rad in the top and a 360 in front (removing the drive cage). And then having the fans spin at the lowest setting possible (300 RPM). 

 

The EK configuratior says my system has an estimated heat load of 215W (300W when overclocked). So in theory, a single 240 and a 120 rad would be enough for 215W of cooling, but I'm thinking that if I want to go for ultimate silence, more radiator space in combination with lower fan speeds will be the way to go, right?

 

[ImNotThere]

a near silent build would be achieved by as many radiators as possible and make sure they have a large amount of fins per inch, also a thick radiator will be some what "quieter" as far as fans go, people praise noctua a lot so go with them i guess

[Proctie]

56 minutes ago, ImNotThere said:

a near silent build would be achieved by as many radiators as possible and make sure they have a large amount of fins per inch, also a thick radiator will be some what "quieter" as far as fans go, people praise noctua a lot so go with them i guess

Right, but thicker radiators does also need higher RPM don't they? I'm curious as to if it's more silent to run 300rpm with a 28mm slim rad or 600-1000rpm with a thicker rad (35-45mm).. 

[Leonard]

You would be better off with a 360mm and a 240mm with high density fins. The NF-F12 is a good choice as it has a high static pressure and air flow where by you can set the fans at say 50%-60% which should be fine once you have a moderate to low ambient temperature. 

[For Science!]

1 hour ago, Heinz said:

Right, but thicker radiators does also need higher RPM don't they? I'm curious as to if it's more silent to run 300rpm with a 28mm slim rad or 600-1000rpm with a thicker rad (35-45mm).. 

Theoretically, lots of thick radiators with a low fpi and good static pressure fans are the way to go for silence. However since you limited by the case, I would go for a medium FPI. You will probably have to fans going about 800 rpm, but it should still be silent.

[Proctie]

5 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Theoretically, lots of thick radiators with a low fpi and good static pressure fans are the way to go for silence. However since you limited by the case, I would go for a medium FPI. You will probably have to fans going about 800 rpm, but it should still be silent.

Alright. Hmm, so if I take the EK series as an example, the SE and PE are 28mm and 38mm in thickness, the SE is 22FPI and the PE is 19FPI. Would it be better to do a push/pull with the SE at low RPM or push with the PE at medium rpm? In regards to noise.

[For Science!]

1 minute ago, Heinz said:

Alright. Hmm, so if I take the EK series as an example, the SE and PE are 28mm and 38mm in thickness, the SE is 22FPI and the PE is 19FPI. Would it be better to do a push/pull with the SE at low RPM or push with the PE at medium rpm? In regards to noise.

Slightly loaded question because you need to consider another factor - performance. Obviously in terms of noise, the best way to run a system is to let it cook itself and have no fans whatsoever.

 

Obviously that is stupid and I wouldn't do it. Since the SE radiators are supposedly a bit pants, I would opt for the PE and do push if it fits in the case. As I mentioned in your previous thread, SE push/pull is going to be not possible. Also in reality thicker radiator always beats out push/pull.

 

TLDR: To keep the same temperature of your system the push/pull system with a thin radiator is probably going to be louder than the thicker one with one fan, especially considering the SE rads are not so great supposedly.

[Proctie]

1 minute ago, For Science! said:

Slightly loaded question because you need to consider another factor - performance. Obviously in terms of noise, the best way to run a system is to let it cook itself and have no fans whatsoever.

 

Obviously that is stupid and I wouldn't do it. Since the SE radiators are supposedly a bit pants, I would opt for the PE and do push if it fits in the case. As I mentioned in your previous thread, SE push/pull is going to be not possible. Also in reality thicker radiator always beats out push/pull.

 

TLDR: To keep the same temperature of your system the push/pull system with a thin radiator is probably going to be louder than the thicker one with one fan, especially considering the SE rads are not so great supposedly.

Yeah I've read your posts on my other thread and it makes sense. Having a little hard time catching up haha, but yeah I get what you're saying.
Also thanks for all the feedback, very much appreciate it.

I'm having the case delivered today and I've got some old parts laying around, I'll try to test fit some stuff and see what's possible. But yeah I know it's not possible to do push/pull with 3 fans on each side, but it may be possible with 2 fans on one of the sides (middle fan will be gone to make room for the GPU). But not sure if that's stupid lol, just a thought though.

 

Looks like if I want to go slim in the front, I'd have to go for the HWLabs nemesis 360 GTS. They also have an X-Flow version which isn't as good as the regular GTS but they both outperform the SE 360 by far...