Noisey Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 - Damaged, or Operator Error?

[Arcendus]

Hello all - I just built my first PC, but I'm having some trouble with the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 liquid cooler. The trouble is that it produces a maddening vibration/resonance kind of sound, and no amount of screw-tightening (or loosening, for that matter) or "apply pressure to this spot to see if the noise stops" has made a difference. Because of the way this item was shipped via Amazon (like this), I suspect it may be damaged, but I have yet to receive a response from the manufacturer.

 

Here's a video demonstrating the sound, but please note that the noise is very deep/bassy, so it might not produce well depending on your listening device. Here is a photo showing the internals.

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

It sounds like what happens when you pluck two strings that are slightly out of tune with each other. Perhaps 2 of your fans are spinning at nearly identical RPM, and so you get that oscillating amplitude as the sound from each fan alternates constructive and destructive interference. What does it sound like with just one fan running? Just two? Can you make the fans spin at different RPMs?

[Applefreak]

I cannot make out any specific noise in the video other than the fans. At full speed fans can sometimes create such noise. Do you have that issue at lower fan speeds as well or just at full speed?

Try each fan at full speed while the others are disconnected. Also make sure other case fans are disconnected as well. Some boards will ramp up system fans as well. 

If you only experience this issue at max rpm, I'd ignore it for now and later replace those fans with a higher tier one from Noctua (NF-A12 or NF-F12) or Silverstone (AP-Series). 

To check if the noise is generated by the pump, disconnect all the fans. 

 

One more thing to check, your case I believe is made from aluminium. Make sure none of the fan cables touch the side panel and are tightly mounted against the motherboard tray. Aluminium side panels tend to amplify vibrations from fans and hard drives up to the point where it drives you completely mad.

[For Science!]

Is this at 1000 rpm? I remember Ali from OptimumTech noting Arctic fans having a bad hum at that speed.