Cooling a new build?

[AleXileD]

Dear fellow forum users,

 

*** GPU water VS AIR cooling ***

 

With the launch of the the new Ryzen CPUs and hopefully reduced GPU prices in the coming weeks

I am preparing to replace my old Gaming PC:

- Intel I5-3570K (custom water cooling loop)

- Gigabyte HD7970 GHz (standard Gigabyte cooler)

- 8GB of Corsair DDR3 ram

 

And I am looking at stepping into Ultrawide (3440x1440) gaming with:

- AMD Ryzen 3700x or 3800x

- Nvidia RTX2080(Ti)

 

The goal of this build is to create a capable and QUIET! gaming PC

 

When trying to select my parts I come to CPU cooling and there are many great videos and articles comparing water (AIO) and air cooling for CPUs like the video Linus made recently.

HOWEVER for a gaming PC (my current one and I suspect new ones as well) The loudest part under gaming load will almost always be the GPU.

 

Now for the big question.

If we disregard price and only look to noise levels under load.

What setup would be quieter? 

System A: Big CPU Aircooler + GPU with aftermarket design from MSI, Asus, ...

System B: Custom water cooling loop for both CPU and GPU?

 

Best regards,

Alex

 

[ShadySocks]

Watercooling can have minimally better performance for a much higher price. You should only really go for it because it looks cool.

[Senzelian]

You're basically asking whether a Porsche 911 or a Toyota Prius is faster...

Of course, a custom loop with multiple radiators is going to be quieter, as long as you use high-quality fans and minimize vibrations of the pump.

[AleXileD]

2 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

You're basically asking whether a Porsche 911 or a Toyota Prius is faster...

Of course, a custom loop with multiple radiators is going to be quieter.

Even with the most high end water cooling you still have a pump and fans on your radiators.

Most newer GPU cooler designs limits the RPM of the fans to reduce noise so I don't think the answer is as easy as you make it out to be.

[Senzelian]

10 minutes ago, AleXileD said:

Even with the most high end water cooling you still have a pump and fans on your radiators.

Most newer GPU cooler designs limits the RPM of the fans to reduce noise so I don't think the answer is as easy as you make it out to be.

No, it's definitely that easy.

Those tiny 80 or 90mm GPU fans are simply not designed to stay quiet under load.

And should I remind you, that you mentioned that money doesn't matter? So, of course, two 360mm radiators with quiet Noctua fans and a low RPM D5 pump are going to be a lot quieter than even a high-end GPU could ever be. There is simply much more surface area. I ran a simple 360mm slim radiator with Thermaltake Riing fans and even that was quieter than the ACX 3.0 cooler I have on my GTX 1080.

[brob]

48 minutes ago, AleXileD said:

Even with the most high end water cooling you still have a pump and fans on your radiators.

Most newer GPU cooler designs limits the RPM of the fans to reduce noise so I don't think the answer is as easy as you make it out to be.

 

One can integrate temperature sensors in a custom loop to minimize pump and fan speeds.