Cooling Performance vs Acoustics: What's More Important?

[neogunhero]

When it comes to your gaming rig, what is more important to you, cooling performance or acoustics?

Personally, I have never been bothered by my PC being noisy unless if it starts to sound like a jet engine firing up. I tend to push my fans harder and faster than normal, all fans in my rig hit 100% when temps get around 65c. I typically have headphones on, so I never hear my PC, but if I do have them off, there is usually a fan or AC running in my home that drowns out the noise coming from my PC.

 

[Lutfij]

Both.

 

[neogunhero]

Both.

I guess you could technically achieve both, but if you had to prioritize one over the other, loud fans with good cooling performance or quieter fans with lesser cooling performance, which would you choose?

 

[Zed Clampet]

I guess you could technically achieve both, but if you had to prioritize one over the other, loud fans with good cooling performance or quieter fans with lesser cooling performance, which would you choose?

I take it you mean that the quieter fans won't sufficiently cool the PC in all situations, in which case I'm definitely taking the louder fans.

 

[Charagma]

Acoustics definitely.

I need silence in my work area. Any fan noise will disruptive. Can test my problem if you want. Put a song on your phone with the volume about halfway. Now start up the hairdryer and try to hear your music.

 

[Pifanjr]

When I got our new, second-hand PC the previous owner said he optimised it to run silently. Which it indeed did very well, but I undid all of his work anyway because I care more about performance than I do about a slightly noisy fan. I'm pretty sure they're still less noisy than the spinning HDDs used to be..

 

[Charagma]

When I got our new, second-hand PC the previous owner said he optimised it to run silently. Which it indeed did very well, but I undid all of his work anyway because I care more about performance than I do about a slightly noisy fan. I'm pretty sure they're still less noisy than the spinning HDDs used to be..

Do not bash the old HDD's . Sometimes it was our only sign that the thing is still working or doing something.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Do not bash the old HDD's . Sometimes it was our only sign that the thing is still working or doing something.

I could write a little program that plays a Milli Vanilli song every time your CPU hits 30 percent usage!

 

[Charagma]

I could write a little program that plays a Milli Vanilli song every time your CPU hits 30 percent usage!

LMAO, yeah can actually hear that in my head. "Blame it on the rain"? Worst ever was when your HDD started sounding like a Stiffy drive reading. Think that is why we never worried about Fan noise. Everything else was louder than the fans anyway.

 

[Frindis]

I'm using mesh for better airflow, but you hear a bit more, so I tend to use closed headphones with active noise control (ANC) if I want a little more quiet.

 

[Lutfij]

I guess you could technically achieve both, but if you had to prioritize one over the other, loud fans with good cooling performance or quieter fans with lesser cooling performance, which would you choose?

In all honesty, if two options are all I have to pick, I'd pick neither. LOL. I've tried passively cooling platforms but that resulted in high temps. I've also tried running fans at full blast since that era of fans weren't voltage controlled, merely molex powered(this is back in the 2000's) and I said goodbye to my eardrums. I kissed said eardrums when I managed to get a hold of a fan controller and later 3pin fans and subsequently PWM fans.

I've worked with Scythe GT AP-15's, Noiseblocker M12-P's, Noctua NF-P12(the original fans from 2008~2009), Swiftech Helix's and now Thermaltake ToughFan 12 Turbo's on a Coolermaster ML240L V2. I set the fan's RPM to a point where I'm not sacrificing thermals for a silent operation.

You need to also understand that acoustics and design are subjective. I've found and seen people who are oblivious to the ticking of the fan's motor, while seeing another end of the spectrum who need to eliminate said ticking of the fan's motor. So like everything in life, your mileage can and will vary with regards to external factors.

 

[Zuruchon]

In my situation, both of them are important to me. I want my fan to perform optimally, so it should be fast to do its work effectively. The noise is not really a problem for me. But my wife sometimes complains that the children are distracted because of the noise. So I would have to stop playing because of the children.

I wouldn't trade off effectiveness for discomfort caused by noise, but I would be happy to have a good option with less noise, at least for the family.

 

[Colif]

I use bigger fans but slower... get same cooling
140mm fans don't need to run fast to push out plenty of air. I run mine at about 500 it seems... I hadn't looked for a while.

CPU fan speed is an average as there is a 140 and 120 in it. GPU cooling fans are 120mm but run at their slowest speeds.


I was only one so far to go for quiet... I have had loud fans... I run 3x180mm fans in a system and it was only in the last year I thought to run them slower.

I seemingly ran an experiment in my last PC to find the best fans. It wasn't intentional. I can tell you some to avoid lol.

Ever since I have wanted quiet. I replaced the intake fans in my case to three Bequiet fans because they were making a noise. I want my fans to be quiet... (no pun intended).

If Noctua made white fans (they have no plans to do so) I would have bought them. Instead, I got next best. I can't hear my fans, though I can hear the PC. Not sure what source of noise is, its more electrical.

while seeing another end of the spectrum who need to eliminate said ticking of the fan's motor.

sounds like me, it can be a curse. I went through too many fans last build. Started with 2nd best this time... if they fail. I just accept noctua fans. They were what I ended up with in last PC.

 

[neogunhero]

So like everything in life, your mileage can and will vary with regards to external factors.

This is really the main point, environmental and other factors vary from set up to set up. If my set up was in an enclosed bedroom or similar where ambient noise would be lesser than out in my living room, I would perhaps focus more on the noise. Also, if I didn't always use closed back headphones, I would notice it more.

Another major thing as Frindis stated, using a mesh case could have an effect on noise as well. My front panel is all mesh with two intake fans, and the metal side panel has an open mesh on it as well. My case is old and not built with acoustics in mind as well, but none of this bothers me due to how my set up is configured.

If I had to choose one, it would always be cooling performance at the cost of louder fans mainly because I think I will always use headphones whenever I game, it would be hard for me to switch to using a speaker system.

 

[Colif]

Another major thing as Frindis stated, using a mesh case could have an effect on noise as well. My front panel is all mesh with two intake fans, and the metal side panel has an open mesh on it as well. My case is old and not built with acoustics in mind as well, but none of this bothers me due to how my set up is configured.

Steve sort of answers that here, both can be as silent as each other if you mess with fan curves. My case is almost all mesh and its not loud. Mine has mesh under the Glass area, and also a mesh cutout in backplate (behind motherboard) ... if anyone hear noise here, its me... 11 fans in PC.

The only time I hear my fans is when I run them fast. Below a certain speed I can't hear any of them and PC is not running warm at all.