Corsair H105 - will changing the fans make it quieter?

[husseinHr]

It's quite loud at 37dbA and I want to make it as quiet as possible. Can I simply exchange the fans or something? I'm not sure - first time going with water. Any advice?

I'm not 100% finalized on the CPU cooler, so if you know one that's better for me (at £100 max), great!

 

[zo0lykas]

why just don't take zalman reserator max 3 with single fan ? I have it before on 220W CPU, don't have any problems with temperature and noise, trust me.

 

[husseinHr]

why just don't take zalman reserator max 3 with single fan ? I have it before on 220W CPU, don't have any problems with temperature and noise, trust me.

Some people saying bad things about it on Amazon... Guru3D rating is low too. I'll look into it a bit more, but I do find it ugly for my planned build. Thanks anyway.

 

[Caring1]

It's quite loud at 37dbA and I want to make it as quiet as possible. Can I simply exchange the fans or something? I'm not sure - first time going with water. Any advice?

I'm not 100% finalized on the CPU cooler, so if you know one that's better for me (at £100 max), great!

I'm not sure on the pricing, it depends on where you are located, but this had a favorable review on here: http://www.swiftech.com/H220-X.aspx
The H240-X is slightly larger and uses two 14cm fans.

 

[Kaynar]

While you can change the stock fans with any 120mm fans on the H105, the stock fans are PWM and easily controlled from your BIOS or with motherboard software in windows. I currently have them spinning on 35% and they are dead silent but at 40% it is barely audible and at 50% it starts to be clearly disturbing (if u want a dead silent pc). That said, at 35% fan speed my overclocked 4930k doesn't go over 60c when the room temperature is quite high (near 30c).

 

[husseinHr]

I'm not sure on the pricing, it depends on where you are located, but this had a favorable review on here: http://www.swiftech.com/H220-X.aspx
The H240-X is slightly larger and uses two 14cm fans.

I haven't found

While you can change the stock fans with any 120mm fans on the H105, the stock fans are PWM and easily controlled from your BIOS or with motherboard software in windows. I currently have them spinning on 35% and they are dead silent but at 40% it is barely audible and at 50% it starts to be clearly disturbing (if u want a dead silent pc). That said, at 35% fan speed my overclocked 4930k doesn't go over 60c when the room temperature is quite high (near 30c).

Ah. I see. I get replacement fans I will make sure they're PWMs I won't bother changing them for now; I have more important stuff to spend £25 on. Thanks!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Try some ekwb vardar F3 or F4s. I use the F4s with my H105 and they work great

 

[husseinHr]

Try some ekwb vardar F3 or F4s. I use the F4s with my H105 and they work great

Thanks for the tip! I'll check those out.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

They are as close as you will come to the old Gentle Typhoons which are no longer in production. They were literally the best when it came to noise/performance

Reviews quote them to be rougly around the same performance. These Vardar fans almost look the same as the GTs and perform roughly around the same. They are barely audible under the 1500rpm mark but above that is when the noise really starts to ramp up.

I currently have mine running about 1650rpm, the noise profile is acceptable. You can hear a little 'woosh' from the fans as its moving the air but its not too intrusive.

Cooler Master Silencio fans are also said to be pretty good when it comes to watercooling. Though be weary of Cooler Master as I have read about a lot of their standard case fans failing. which means there might be some possible build quality or reliability issues somewhere down the road. Ive only heard good things about the Silencio's so far though.

 

[husseinHr]

They are as close as you will come to the old Gentle Typhoons which are no longer in production. They were literally the best when it came to noise/performance

Reviews quote them to be rougly around the same performance. These Vardar fans almost look the same as the GTs and perform roughly around the same. They are barely audible under the 1500rpm mark but above that is when the noise really starts to ramp up.

I currently have mine running about 1650rpm, the noise profile is acceptable. You can hear a little 'woosh' from the fans as its moving the air but its not too intrusive.

Cooler Master Silencio fans are also said to be pretty good when it comes to watercooling. Though be weary of Cooler Master as I have read about a lot of their standard case fans failing. which means there might be some possible build quality or reliability issues somewhere down the road. Ive only heard good things about the Silencio's so far though.

Wow. Lots of useful info. Thanks a ton

I will be using either of those. when i get home I'll add them to the PC part list

 

[LightningJR]

Of course if you change the fans to quieter ones you will have a quieter AIO watercooler. I stand by the Scythe GTs but they're expensive, idk what they use for bearings but it must be 50% magic.

I have noticed that AIO watercoolers tend to only do well in reviews because they have high air flow fans which are louder. The Noctua NH-D15 gets amazing temps at a much lower noise level. Here's the review. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Noctua/NH-D15/



EDIT: GTs are no longer in production???

 

[husseinHr]

Of course if you change the fans to quieter ones you will have a quieter AIO watercooler. I stand by the Scythe GTs but they're expensive, idk what they use for bearings but it must be 50% magic.

I have noticed that AIO watercoolers tend to only do well in reviews because they have high air flow fans which are louder. The Noctua NH-D15 gets amazing temps at a much lower noise level. Here's the review. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Noctua/NH-D15/



EDIT: GTs are no longer in production???

I have have heard of the Scythe fans. 50% magic sounds good to me haha. I do like Noctua coolers but they are ugly. I'll see. depends on the case.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

GTs are no longer in production???

Yeah, They went out of production just over a year ago after the partnership between Scythe and Nidec Servo came to an end.

and since the motor in the GTs are patented to Nidec, Scythe cant really continue to release GTs as i dont think they ever managed to or even attempted to work out another deal to carry on using the tech.

Nobody even knew the partnership had ended until the fans started becoming hard and harder to find.

Im lucky i got 4 or 5 in a box somewhere.

 

[T.R.]

I do like Noctua coolers but they are ugly.

I would like to suggest Noctua’s industrialPPC.



Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 2000 rpm
• Airflow: 121.8 m³/h
• Static pressure: 3.94 mm H2O
• Noise level: 29.7 dB(A)

Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 3000 rpm
• Airflow: 186.7 m³/h
• Static pressure: 7.63 mm H2O
• Noise level: 43.5 dB(A)

They have a better performance than EK-Vardar.

 

[LightningJR]

Yeah, They went out of production just over a year ago after the partnership between Scythe and Nidec Servo came to an end.

and since the motor in the GTs are patented to Nidec, Scythe cant really continue to release GTs as i dont think they ever managed to or even attempted to work out another deal to carry on using the tech.

Nobody even knew the partnership had ended until the fans started becoming hard and harder to find.

Im lucky i got 4 or 5 in a box somewhere.

That's too bad, the quality and performance of the GTs are legend. I have 3 1850rpm GTs in my machine, amazing fans.

 

[LightningJR]

I would like to suggest Noctua’s industrialPPC.

View attachment 66128

Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 2000 rpm
• Airflow: 121.8 m³/h
• Static pressure: 3.94 mm H2O
• Noise level: 29.7 dB(A)

Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 3000 rpm
• Airflow: 186.7 m³/h
• Static pressure: 7.63 mm H2O
• Noise level: 43.5 dB(A)

They have a better performance than EK-Vardar.

Don't trust the numbers... trust real tests.

<-- Skip to 4:40 for noise tests

 

[Kaynar]

The thing is, the stock fans on the corsair H105 are good. If you run them at low rpm they are silent and the produce good results. The difference between 1000rpm and maximum rpm on those fans (2000rpm i think) will make ur cpu only 2 degrees cooler under full load, so it's just not worth having them much over 1000rpm (which is dead silent). Spending £30 on other fans to gain 2c when the system is just cool enough is just not worth it unless u are a perfectionist. We are only talking about one or two degrees gain here, nothing more.

Also, the preapplied thermal paste on the H105 is EXCELLENT. You don't need to spend for anything else. It is only 1 or 2 degrees worse than the IC Diamond and Coolaboratory pastes that I had and could compare over a year, mostly due to the fact that it is perfectly preapplied on the heatsink.

Concerning air vs watercooling mentioned above, the only advantage of buying an AIO watercooler is that you attach the radiator on a fan exhaust and dump the heat outside the case. In a well-ventilated case, a high end air cooler will perform very similarly to a solid AIO solution.

 

[T.R.]

Don't trust the numbers... trust real tests.

<-- Skip to 4:40 for noise tests

The actual noise level is dependent on the distance between the fan.

 

[LightningJR]

The actual noise level is dependent on the distance between the fan.

of course, but as long as every test done is at the same distance we still get an accurate idea of which fan is louder.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I just want to point out anything I test that comes in below 45 dBA will be nearly silent after being installed in a proper chassis. ANything below 40 dBA will be over shadowed by GPU / PSU / HDDs etc.


Keep in mind I test at 30 CM distance on an open test bench with a passive GPU and the PSU fan being stopped so only the cooler is making noise.

By default at 50% fan speeds the Corsair H105 will be audible but that is all. On the Corsair cooler 50% PWM = 1500 RPM. Stay below 1500 RPM and the cooler will be very quiet. There is no real reason to change the fans.

 

[T.R.]

of course, but as long as every test done is at the same distance we still get an accurate idea of which fan is louder.

Yes, but my suggestion does not mean that they are quieter than that.

EK Water Blocks EK-Furious Vardar FF5-120

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 3000 rpm
• Airflow: 181 m³/h
• Static pressure: 5.81 mm H2O
• Noise level: 42 dB(A)

 

[LightningJR]

Yes, but my suggestion does not mean that they are quieter than that.

EK Water Blocks EK-Furious Vardar FF5-120

• Dimensions: 120 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm
• Rotational speed: 3000 rpm
• Airflow: 181 m³/h
• Static pressure: 5.81 mm H2O
• Noise level: 42 dB(A)

I am not sure I understand your grammar. Do you mean the Noctua has batter airflow/static pressure? If so you might be right but I was basing the fan choice on the noise level since the OP wanted something more silent.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

You want silent fans? keep them under 1500 RPM

Its not rocket science really.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/H80iGT/7.html

Fan speed / noise level the no matter the brand it remains similar except for a few outliers. stay sub 1500 RPM and you have quiet to silent computing with 120mm and 140mm fans. Anything sub 45 dBA in my chart will be quiet.

 

[T.R.]

I am not sure I understand your grammar. Do you mean the Noctua has batter airflow/static pressure? If so you might be right but I was basing the fan choice on the noise level since the OP wanted something more silent.

Correctly, I think that they are quieter than the stock fan at the same rotational speed.

 

[husseinHr]

Well this was interesting! I've actually seen a fan on PCPartPicker that looks okay:

Akasa's Apache Black 6.9 - 16.1 dbA: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/akasa-case-fan-akfn058

IDK what static levels and stuff are the best, but the noise levels are very attractive here, maxing out at 16.1! What d'ya guys think?