Quieter???

[Cuda]

Those that use 120 fans on your radiators:

Do you run them at full speed? I just got my wc up last night and this 120 Pabst is as loud as my sf-II! It just has a lower pitch. Do everybody turn them down or something? I was going for cooler and QUIETER.

Temps are nice tho. Running prime at 209*12 w/1.95Vcore load temp is 41ºC.

[Pyros]

I think there is a common misconcepting that water cooling is quieter than air cooling. The reality is that water cooling CAN be quieter and still give you great temps but it depends on how quiet you want it to be. You have to find you own preferable balance between lower temps/noise level.

BTW, I am currently running a external setup with 2 120mm Delta fans and it is no louder than my slk-800 w/ a 50cfm 80mm fan. Of course I also removed 2 of my case fans when I went to water and helped decrease my noise level as well. And temps are much better so thans a good trade off for me.
Try using 2 120mm fans that are a lower cfm in a push/pull config and maybe you can keep the lower temps and still decrease your noise level.

[Cuda]

Sounds like sound advice Pyros. Thanks. Are those Deltas quieter than the Pabst fans?

[humdinger]

Some papst fans are louder than others; you can always make them run at 7v and yours should be silent then. Also check other things like mounting them with dampers (so the case won't vibrate) and make sure there are no obstructions (causes wind 'noise')

[Pyros]

Im really not sure of the db level of these fans. They cane out a intel server and I could never find any specs on them. The heater core there currently mounted to is very thin so there is very little air restriction. Im working on a internal setup using a Dtek pro core using the push pull method. I'll know how loud they are for sure then. ;)

And like humdinger said some Papst fans are louder than others. You can have 5 different 120mm fans that push the same cfm and have them all at different db levels. Variable such as blade pitch and rpm play a important roll in this.

Is your heater core mounted in the front of your case? If so is it pulling air into the case or exausting it out? I would think it would be quieter pulling air into the case if its mounted in the front.
(I see you have a chieftec case so Im assuming its the Dragon case when I speak of your core mounting)

[Voodoo Rufus]

I personally don't mind a bit of noise telling me that my machine is on.

I use a single Panaflo 120mm L1A at full voltage inside the case. At 10V it's nearly inaudible outside the case. The noise level will depend where you live. When I'm at home, the noise can be irritating because the ambient noise is so low (gotta love the boonies). Here at school, I can hardly hear my machine over the cars outside.

High pitch noises are the ones that irritate me the most, like motors from fans or hard drives. Airflow and low frequency noises are much less obtrusive.

[Cuda]

It is a chieftech case but not a Dragon. The radiator and fan are outside of the case about 2 feet away. Imagine a desk turned in to face a corner. The radiator/fan is in the corner under the desk. The rig is at my feet to the right, under the desk. If I go with two fans and mod them to 7 volts it should be quieter right?

[wannaoc]

Well my watercooling setup is pretty much silent but I agree they CAN be loud like my last one was. :D I run 4 120mm ( 2 AOC aluminum and 2 Kingwin) all at 7V on a big single pass radiator. It runs about the same temps as my smaller chevette one did with two of the same type 120mm fans at 12V and I added 2 more blocks to this setup.

In order to keep it quiet there are two things you need to consider. How much space you can use for the core and how big of an o/c you want. I had to drop my o/c a little in order to run my temps where I like them but like I said its dead quiet. Its quiet enough I can hear my hard drive click over my setup and it takes up all the space I have in my case. Its a huge Inwin Q500 full tower and has alot of room so plan on getting a nice big case if you want pretty good cooling. Good luck!

[Cuda]

Thanks, I'm looking for a much larger case for the next rig.

[eXCeSS]

my fan is rheoed on a nexus nxp-201 unit