Closed Loop AIO Liquid Coolers: 14-way Mega Roundup Review
by E. Fylladitakis on February 12, 2014 7:00 AM ESTTesting Results, Maximum Fan Speed (12V)
The above charts depict exactly why a user needs to be more than just a little careful when selecting a cooler. Even though they appear similar and some of them even nearly identical, the performance of each and every AIO cooler that we have tested varies greatly. For instance, Cooler Master obviously sought to provide the best heavy-load performance possible and they did manage to reach the top of our charts; however, the noise of the fans that Cooler Master supplied at maximum speed is intolerable for daily use by any standards.
To give you a rough estimate, 56 dB(A) represents about the same level of sound as a typical box fan the same distance. The Nepton 280L is closely followed by the NZXT Kraken X60 and then the Corsair H110, both of which share about the same size and design but not nearly the same noise levels. The NZXT Kraken X60 is over 5 dB(A) quieter than the Nepton 280L, a very perceptible difference, while the Corsair H110 generates only 41.3 dB(A), which is equivalent to a soft humming noise and fairly comfortable for daily use.
Naturally, the performance decreases as we move to AIO coolers with smaller radiators, with the Corsair H100i leading the coolers using 120mm fans but its stock fans run at 2600 RPM, generating high noise levels. The Enermax Liqtech 120X and Silverstone Tundra TD03 and their beefy radiators deliver great thermal performance when compared to other single-fan AIO coolers, although Enermax proved that they could offer roughly the same performance with just one fan and much lower noise levels, making Silverstone's choice to include two fans appear somewhat redundant.
Under a low thermal load however, the charts shift greatly. As the thermal load is much lower, the low temperature dissipation efficiency of the cooler now matters a lot more than its maximum thermal load capacity. Corsair's H100i offers the best thermal performance, outperforming coolers with significantly larger radiators, including Corsair's own H110, closely followed by another 240mm long cooler, the Silverstone Tundra TD02. The gap between the budget-level and high-performance products now closes, with the Corsair H75 being the most notable example, as it manages to outperform its own larger version, the H105. Apparently, bigger is not always better and the lower flow resistance of the single fan radiator gives the Corsair H75 a faster energy transfer rate at lower temperature deltas.
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lwatcdr - Thursday, February 13, 2014 - link
And maybe the CoolerMaster Evo 212Streetwind - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
Excuse me for pointing this out, but are the noise levels given here not a little bit bogus? On your "Testing Methology" page, you qualify 50-54 dB(A) as "Extremely loud (level equivalent to a ≈1500W vacuum cleaner)". Then on the next page in your 12V results, you state: "To give you a rough estimate, 56 dB(A) represents about the same level of sound as a typical box fan the same distance."Are you honestly trying to imply that a CPU fan is capable of producing a typical noise scenario that is twice as intense as a 1500W vacuum cleaner at full bore? I think that either the table under "Testing Methodology" is wrong, or you performed your tests in a way that generates results which have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the scale presented in the table. In both cases, said table is in dire need of a revision.
The article is very nice and no doubt took a lot of work, but with the noise levels looking as arbitrary as they do, it's very difficult to glean much value from it other than a rough order of absolute cooling performance. There's no noise floor given either, and no qualifying comparison to an air cooling solution.
E.Fyll - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
That is my error. The original sentence was something along the lines of "To give you a rough estimate, 56 dB(A) represents about the same level of sound as a small vacuum cleaner over the same distance". I was then told that vacuum cleaners in the US are generally larger and much louder than their counterparts here and that the comment was edited, but I foolishly did not check the article. 56dB(A) is definitely loud, as much as two of the loudest 140 mm fans, although not as loud as a vacuum cleaner; at least not the kind of vacuum cleaners most readers here are used to. :) More like to the noise of a small hair dryer, I suppose.LancerVI - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
Thanks for the explanation. When I heard "as loud as a vacuum cleaner" I was taken aback. Our vacuums are LOUD! My custom WC loop is loud, but it's no where near vacuum cleaner loud.Impulses - Thursday, February 13, 2014 - link
Now I'm intrigued by these stealthy Euro vacuum cleaners... :p3DoubleD - Thursday, February 13, 2014 - link
Me too... please review!svandamme - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
take it from me , they suckConnoisseur - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
It would be great to see a quiet system builder's guide with different components and form factors. My holy grail has always been a mid-upper range miniITX gaming system that's virtually silent 90% of the time. Something with a core i5 or i7 CPU and R9 270x or GTX 760 stuffed into a small case with quiet operation. Probably doesn't exist yet but one can always hope :)w1z4rd - Monday, February 17, 2014 - link
I'm running a 4770k on an Asus Maximus VI Impact with a Corsair h100i and an EVGA GTX770 in a Corsair 250D that's sitting on my desktop. Unless I'm gaming I can't hear the thing. I don't hear it when gaming either, actually, as I have a headset on.Navvie - Wednesday, February 12, 2014 - link
Ever think about asking Mike Chin at SPCR to do some noise testing for you?