Fan recommendation

[GeorgeKellow]

Hi All 

 

I am looking for fan recommendations 

 

I run a Fractal Design S2 Meshify, 3700x and a h100i v2 with a GTX 1080ti 

 

I only have the stock case fans and they are noisy af. 

 

Any recommendations? (UK and no set budget) 

 

RGB or not not bothered 

 

Thanks 

George 

[Constantin]

15 minutes ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Hi All 

 

I am looking for fan recommendations 

 

I run a Fractal Design S2 Meshify, 3700x and a h100i v2 with a GTX 1080ti 

 

I only have the stock case fans and they are noisy af. 

 

Any recommendations? (UK and no set budget) 

 

RGB or not not bothered 

 

Thanks 

George 

Corsair ML PRO

[Srnewbee]

33 minutes ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Hi All 

 

I am looking for fan recommendations 

 

I run a Fractal Design S2 Meshify, 3700x and a h100i v2 with a GTX 1080ti 

 

I only have the stock case fans and they are noisy af. 

 

Any recommendations? (UK and no set budget) 

 

RGB or not not bothered 

 

Thanks 

George 

noctua nuff said. But... I hate the h100i v2. sell it and get a noctua d15.

[GeorgeKellow]

8 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

noctua nuff said. But... I hate the h100i v2. sell it and get a noctua d15.

Any reason why you hate it? 

[TwilightRavens]

Noctua’s, that’s all I run anymore. Cools my 3900X hooked up to my h100i v2.

 

Some people just don’t like AIO coolers, or are afraid they’ll leak. The new asatek (I probably spelled it wrong) pumps are fine though.

[OfficialTechSpace]

The way I see it, if you want good quality quiet fans, you have three brand options (Noctua, Corsair & be quiet!). The Noctua's fans basically outperform every other fan in noise:static-pressure comparisons, but it really comes down to your personal preference which you would prefer.

 

Here's my PWM fan rankings list that I made not too long ago:

 

Noctua (Non-RGB):

1) Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fans (120mm with default Noctua color scheme) **2nd Quietest fan**

2) Noctua NF-A14 PWM (140mm with default Noctua color scheme) **1st Best Balance**

3) Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap (120mm in chromax black color scheme) **Best runner-up**

4) Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap (140mm in chromax black color scheme) **1st Best Balance (same fan, different color scheme)**

 

Corsair (RGB)

1) Corsair LL120 RGB LED (120mm) **2nd Best Balanced RGB fan**

2) Corsair LL140 RGB LED (140mm) **1st Best Balanced RGB fan**

 

be quiet! (Non-RGB)

1) be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM (both 120mm & 140mm available) **1st Quietest fan overall**

2) be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed (both 120mm & 140mm available) **1st Highest CFM Quiet fan**

[Srnewbee]

19 hours ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Any reason why you hate it? 

I had it and it made whining noise at the pump. It was also leaking a bit as well. Weird thing is that the coolant was very evaporative  so it only left a greyish residue. Also, the ICUE software was pretty bad. The stocks fans were really bad too. I never wanna touch AIO anymore. I learned my lesson. 

[Jeppes]

Arctic p12 pwm-pst 5-pack. Anything else is horribly over-priced in comparison.

[Fatih19]

20 hours ago, GeorgeKellow said:

Any reason why you hate it? 

Not the original commenter, but my 2 cents is air cooler lasts longer because they're generally more versatile, not many point of failure.

[Srnewbee]

4 minutes ago, Fatih19 said:

Not the original commenter, but my 2 cents is air cooler lasts longer because they're generally more versatile, not many point of failure.

agreed. AIOs in general are gimmicks. 240mm AIOs on full fan speed is similar to d15 but at much louder decibel. In addition, if you do 8hour testing, 240mm AIOs temp continues to go up since water has hard time letting go of heat. Air coolers are far superior to AIOs IMO.

[Jeppes]

3 hours ago, Srnewbee said:

agreed. AIOs in general are gimmicks. 240mm AIOs on full fan speed is similar to d15 but at much louder decibel. In addition, if you do 8hour testing, 240mm AIOs temp continues to go up since water has hard time letting go of heat. Air coolers are far superior to AIOs IMO.

Depends. At least on Gamers Nexus new tests the aios outperform air-coolers quite easily with 200W loads. With lower loads the difference is much smaller and it makes pretty much no sense to get an aio. Although Arctic liquid freezer ii 240 is cheaper than those highest end air-coolers.

[Srnewbee]

On 4/27/2020 at 2:59 AM, Jeppes said:

Depends. At least on Gamers Nexus new tests the aios outperform air-coolers quite easily with 200W loads. With lower loads the difference is much smaller and it makes pretty much no sense to get an aio. Although Arctic liquid freezer ii 240 is cheaper than those highest end air-coolers.

link please. I know for a fact that no AIO 240mm can *significantly* beat d15. Perhaps in a sub 30 minutes test, they may pull ahead by 2 Celsius at max.  However, in an 8 hour test, the D15 kills any AIO 240mm that is configured in any standard 3 fan combinations. AIOs 240mm or smaller are for 1) aesthetics, 2) a scam designed for gamers who aren't able to differentiate between a real water cooling setup and AIOs or 3) gamers duped by fake reviews that's been sponsored by AIO manufacturers and their OEM partners. If you want a 240mm AIO to perform comparably to d15, then you have to put up with additional noise. 

 

Aside from aesthetic reasons, 240mm and their smaller models should not exist.

1) too many points of failures (pump failure, leakage)

2) it is loud (requires fan to run louder to keep up with D15)

3) unreliable software control

 

I know there are many AIO fanboys on here but open your eyes! You've been swindled! Like these "benchmarks" from sponsored sites show you temps after 10~15 minutes. They are basically sell outs.   

 

*I define significantly as a delta of 5 degrees Celsius or more.

[Boomwebsearch]

19 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

1) too many points of failures (pump failure, leakage)

2) it is loud (requires fan to run louder to keep up with D15)

3) unreliable software control

 

I know there are many AIO fanboys on here but open your eyes! You've been swindled! Like these "benchmarks" from sponsored sites show you temps after 10~15 minutes. They are basically sell outs. 

 

If you are having to put in and remove CPUs frequently, an AIO would be ideal since custom water-cooling solutions would be more difficult to take apart and put back together and air coolers are more bulky and difficult to remove. With an AIO cooler, you can just unscrew the water block from the motherboard, swap the CPU and put on thermal paste, and screw back the water block (the radiator being screwed into the case is an advantage over air coolers when it comes to this). Depends on the air cooler model and the AIO model you are trying to compare, although newer AIOs are being manufactured with better pump designs and to be less likely to leak. Some users prefer the AIOs for aesthetics, and about the software controls available and noise levels that should not be said as a general statement since it depends on the model (there are some good AIOs that exist, not all of them are bad).

[SolarNova]

Can recommend the Noctua NF-A12x25.

 

Expensive but is pritty much the best noise:performance fan out there.

 

I run 8 of them myself.

[WoodenMarker]

Temps? What rpm are the fans running at? Are you sure that the case fans are too noisy as opposed to anything else in the system?

[Algebruh]

Corsair LL  are one of the worst performing fans. 

If you want RGB fans, get Corsair ML pro RGB instead. 

If you don't care about RGB, get Noctua A12x25 for 120mm and A14 for 140mm(or wait for A14x25, I find A14 louder than A12x25)

 

ML120 pro RGB review by Techpowerup

 

 

[Srnewbee]

21 hours ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

If you are having to put in and remove CPUs frequently, an AIO would be ideal since custom water-cooling solutions would be more difficult to take apart and put back together and air coolers are more bulky and difficult to remove. With an AIO cooler, you can just unscrew the water block from the motherboard, swap the CPU and put on thermal paste, and screw back the water block (the radiator being screwed into the case is an advantage over air coolers when it comes to this). Depends on the air cooler model and the AIO model you are trying to compare, although newer AIOs are being manufactured with better pump designs and to be less likely to leak. Some users prefer the AIOs for aesthetics, and about the software controls available and noise levels that should not be said as a general statement since it depends on the model (there are some good AIOs that exist, not all of them are bad).

1) How many people swap CPUs that often?

2) You are presupposing that the case is large. When you are doing a mitx build with an AIO, it can be a real pain since tubes do not bend that well

3) I mean 99% of all AIOs are either from Coolit or asetek. Everything is just cosmetic differences...that is why they all perform very similarly.... In fact, I could start a company right now if I sign their OEM agreement.

4) Corsair is arguable the biggest company with the largest budget and most people on here use Corsair since Linus parades around with their products. I have many Corsair products btw and their iCUE software is just soooo bad.

 

AIO is like an unwanted child and your SJW mentality is blinding you from admitting that sub 240mm AIOs are utter garbage.

[Boomwebsearch]

4 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

1) How many people swap CPUs that often?

 

Also, when you are transporting around the system, having an AIO liquid cooler would mean that you would not need as much packing foam to support the heatsink since it does not add significant weight attached to the motherboard since the majority of the weight (radiator and fans) are mounted onto the case. Some users don't want the heat from the CPU to end up directly in the case again (less cool air for other components), instead, AIOs have radiators with fans that can push the heat out of the case instead of directly having it thrown into the case.

 

7 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

2) You are presupposing that the case is large. When you are doing a mitx build with an AIO, it can be a real pain since tubes do not bend that well

 

There are many builds in smaller form factor cases such as for a compact HTPC builds where AIOs are used, AIOs with good flexible tubing should allow for the tubes to bend and be able to fit in smaller form factor cases.

 

10 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

3) I mean 99% of all AIOs are either from Coolit or asetek. Everything is just cosmetic differences...that is why they all perform very similarly.... In fact, I could start a company right now if I sign their OEM agreement.

4) Corsair is arguable the biggest company with the largest budget and most people on here use Corsair since Linus parades around with their products. I have many Corsair products btw and their iCUE software is just soooo bad.

 

Corsair makes pretty good products, I don't really consider it a bad thing to purchase components from larger well-known brands, they can usually put more money towards better R&D for their products as an possible advantage even. There are many budget-friendly AIOs that still deliver good cooling performance.

 

13 minutes ago, Srnewbee said:

AIO is like an unwanted child and your SJW mentality is blinding you from admitting that sub 240mm AIOs are utter garbage.

 

Generally, the larger the radiator, the better cooling performance you will get. If your case supports 280mm or 360mm radiators, then I would install those, although if your case only supports a 240mm or 120mm radiator, there are other options available for an AIO (although, you may not see as significant difference in temps as compared to an regular air cooler).

 

120mm AIOs should only be used when your case does not support anything larger and you want some of the benefits of an AIO over standard air coolers (not necessarily for the temps):    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3P2rxr/cooler-master-masterliquid-ml120l-rgb-667-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-mlw-d12m-a20pc-r1

 

240mm AIO (if case supports larger, then get the largest supported by the case for best results):    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/c4MTwP/arctic-liquid-freezer-ii-240-563-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-acfre00046a

 

280mm AIO (if case supports larger, then get the largest supported by the case for best results):    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/d2fmP6/evga-clc-280-1135-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-400-hy-cl28-v1

 

360mm AIO (this would be most optimal to use if your case has support for it):    https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hymxFT/deepcool-captain-360ex-white-rgb-2296-cfm-liquid-cpu-cooler-captain-360ex-white-rgb