First AIO - Is this normal?

[TheLUCKYfighter]

I've just build my new gaming PC and for the first time ever, I am using an AIO. In this new build, I discovered a new type of sound I have never heard before coming from a PC. It sounds a bit like someone mowing their lawn 5 houses in the distance, or someone trimming the hedge at that same distance. The sound gets louder when under load, and less loud when idle. First, I though it were my fans. But after disabling all of them and still hearing the sound coming from the middle of my PC, I am pretty sure it's the pump. 

 

The AIO I bought is the Fractal Design Celsius+ S24. Both fans as well as the pump are connected to a small included fan hub (PWM) and that hub is connected to the PUMP header on the MOBO. So it's logical that when the load increases, both my fans AND my pump start increasing their speed. Now I have two questions: 

 

1) Is this sound normal? It's quite annoying at times but maybe I just have to get used to it.

2) Is there any way I could reduce or fix this sound? 

 

I tried capturing it with my phone, but couldn't manage to get a good representable recording. It always sounded way too loud or too quiet. Around my PC is about 38dB of noise when idle (all parts included) and around 50dB when idle. 

[Orange1]

You can get better air cooling then any AIO. The AIO just adds another layer of failure to destroy your pc. If I were you I'd get great air cooling and ditch the AIO.

 

As far as your questions, cheap AIO's could have been mishandled and damaged causing the sound.

 

 

[AlwaysFSX]

20 minutes ago, Orange1 said:

You can get better air cooling then any AIO. The AIO just adds another layer of failure to destroy your pc. If I were you I'd get great air cooling and ditch the AIO.

 

As far as your questions, cheap AIO's could have been mishandled and damaged causing the sound.

 

 

That isn't a cheap or bad AIO, nor will they destroy your computer, failure rates are extremely low.

[Votivee]

How is the radiator mounted? Are the hoses at the top or the bottom?

 

 

[narrdarr]

30 minutes ago, TheLUCKYfighter said:

I've just build my new gaming PC and for the first time ever, I am using an AIO. In this new build, I discovered a new type of sound I have never heard before coming from a PC. It sounds a bit like someone mowing their lawn 5 houses in the distance, or someone trimming the hedge at that same distance. The sound gets louder when under load, and less loud when idle. First, I though it were my fans. But after disabling all of them and still hearing the sound coming from the middle of my PC, I am pretty sure it's the pump. 

 

The AIO I bought is the Fractal Design Celsius+ S24. Both fans as well as the pump are connected to a small included fan hub (PWM) and that hub is connected to the PUMP header on the MOBO. So it's logical that when the load increases, both my fans AND my pump start increasing their speed. Now I have two questions: 

 

1) Is this sound normal? It's quite annoying at times but maybe I just have to get used to it.

2) Is there any way I could reduce or fix this sound? 

 

I tried capturing it with my phone, but couldn't manage to get a good representable recording. It always sounded way too loud or too quiet. Around my PC is about 38dB of noise when idle (all parts included) and around 50dB when idle. 

its not uncommon for this to happen with a new aio.

i would change to have your pump on a motherboard heard and set it to static speed somewhere between 70-100%.

the best way to have have your aio mounted is at the top. if not front is ok as part of the pump is higher than the block. preference would be to have the tubes coming from the bottom. if you cant its ok. 

 

the aio probably just has a bit of air in the loop. once it settles to the highest poin the noise should go away. this may take a couple weeks. if you have to you can run the pump at a slower speed to reduce the noise, but try to turn it up even few days.

 

 

33 minutes ago, Orange1 said:

You can get better air cooling then any AIO. The AIO just adds another layer of failure to destroy your pc. If I were you I'd get great air cooling and ditch the AIO.

 

As far as your questions, cheap AIO's could have been mishandled and damaged causing the sound.

 

 

this isn't about aio v air.

get on topic.

 

 

 

[I have an a10]

Air cooling is better but for your problem try changing the position of your aio or just get an stock cooler

[TheLUCKYfighter]

 

 

6 hours ago, Votivee said:

How is the radiator mounted? Are the hoses at the top or the bottom?

 

 

It's mounted as an exhaust on the top, so should follow all those guidelines. 

 

6 hours ago, narrdarr said:

its not uncommon for this to happen with a new aio.

i would change to have your pump on a motherboard heard and set it to static speed somewhere between 70-100%.

the best way to have have your aio mounted is at the top. if not front is ok as part of the pump is higher than the block. preference would be to have the tubes coming from the bottom. if you cant its ok. 

 

the aio probably just has a bit of air in the loop. once it settles to the highest poin the noise should go away. this may take a couple weeks. if you have to you can run the pump at a slower speed to reduce the noise, but try to turn it up even few days.

 

 

this isn't about aio v air.

get on topic.

 

 

 

Does air cause this kind of sound, of is this just the normal sound of an AIO? Thing is that it actually could even be a defect, my unit came without pre-applied thermal paste (even tho it should come with it as advertised) and was missing 4 pair of screws and those little round things to put between ur screws and the surface. Makes me cautious that here isn't some kind of defect with this unit. However, temps seem to be fine. 

[narrdarr]

9/10 it's just air

 

 

I wouldn't worry about a defect. Those that you describe come later on done the line the process of making the unit. 

Plus you have plenty of time to do a return if you don't like it. Just give it time see if it goes away. 

[Orange1]

18 hours ago, narrdarr said:

 aio

 

19 hours ago, Orange1 said:

As far as your questions, cheap AIO's could have been mishandled and damaged causing the sound.

Guess you missed that part.

 

It can happen that new products come damaged, not just cheap but expensive products to. That is why need to check for damage, wouldnt take much to damage any AIO, whether it be shipping or something else. A chance could also be its an exchanged item thats been repackaged to make it look new and you received it.

[TheLUCKYfighter]

I've done some more research and did a bit of fiddling with the settings and seems like it was the PWM control that caused the noise. The way the manual tells you to set this AIO up is to connect both fans and the pump to a PWM control hub and connect that one to a single header on the MOBO. This means that both fans and the pump will variate in their speed constantly. 

 

I now connected both fans to a PWM control hub connecting to my CPU header and connected my pump seperatly to my PUMP header. The CPU header still uses PWM to variate the fan's speed depending on the CPU temperature. The PUMP header now runs at a constant rate. This DRASTICALLY decreased it's noise levels, no matter if it was 100% of lower. 

 

So a good piece of advice to any other newbies with similar issues in the future