First Watercooling Loop

Fans

Fans are a very personal issue, not just because everyone’s sound level tolerance is difference, but everyone’s sound pitch preference is different.

Radiators now come in sizes designed for many different sizes of fan. So often the choice of case or fan will determine many other factors. The most common choice is the 120mm fan. There are more choices of fan including the water coolers favorite – the Nidec/Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-15. The Gentle Typhoon has one of the best “noise to airflow through a radiator” ratios across any other fans. The AP-15 version is a great blend between performance and noise as it runs at 1850rpm. If you are sensitive to noise then you’ll be wanting to run between 300-1200rpm instead. Once below 800RPM the noise becomes dominated by bearing/motor noise rather than “air” noise and many fans start to sound very similar.

If you have the money it’s never a bad idea to audition fans so that you can tell what noise is ok for you.

Also bear in mind PWM fans can be automatically controlled via the motherboard in ways that might require a more expensive controller like an Aquaero otherwise. You may also need to buy or make fan splitters.