AIO cooler noise

[Mickkey]

Hey guys, quick update:

PC arrived after a few weeks.
Didn't realise this case didn't have caddies for 3.5inch HDD's, but after a bit of confusion realised where to screw the hard drive in, so all good there.
It runs brilliantly obviously, have yet to have a single problem with anything hanging/crashing or any issues etc. Admittedly it doesn't boot to desktop quite as fast as i was expecting, at around 10 seconds to get to the login screen (which i know is fast, but not as fast as i would've thought for the setup we went for).
The one problem I have (which i'm in contact with PCSpecialist about) is that as soon as the CPU gets to around 10-20% or above, i can hear a low, 'pulsating' hum that is quite loud. It's not just 'fan noise', it's something else. At PCSpecialist suggestion I manually halted each fan carefully with a cloth whilst it was running to pin the cause and it's atleast been confirmed that it's to do with the AIO for the CPU, but that's it so far.
Anyway, thanks again for all the help everyone. Hopefully once my issue is sorted the machine will last for a long, happy time!

All the best,

Mike

 

[RichLan564]

Its probably the AIO pump, you need to play with the settings in iCUE, i have mine set to quiet, it runs a tiny bit hotter but keeps the pump noise down.

Also check that the pump speed is set against coolant temperature, not CPU temperature, this will cause it to ramp up and down frequently

 

[Steveyg]

Yeah this can happen for the first couple days in an AIO while all the air in it settles in my experience. If it's still there by Monday I'd look into more

 

[Mickkey]

Hey guys, month later, the pump started making some weird alarm/whining sounds at certain speeds (literally anything except balanced) so PCSpecialist agreed to a swap for another of the same. Weird noise has stopped however i still have that oscilating hum that i described above. @RichLan564 if i set it to quiet, balanced, or extreme, once the fans settle at a consistent speed (after they ramp up or down depending on the speed i set), the hum will start. The hum is non-existent when the fans change speeds, but once they settle, the hum starts. PCSpecialist say it's basically just the noise of the machine and it's within acceptable levels, but let alone it being louder than expected in 'normal' settings, i don't think i'd be able to deal with this hum for the next 5+ years. I can hear it through my headphones, during games, and it's driving me mad. Any suggestions would be amazing.
Cheers.

 

[Mickkey]

Could you try recording it, upload to oneDrive, GoogleDrive, YouTube, wherever, and then link to it here so we can hear it? Thanks

It's difficult to say without hearing it as one person's loud annoying hum is another's background noise.

Yeah i get what you mean, i'll certainly get a clip up unto a sharing platform for you when i get a chance. Annoyingly it's quite a low pitch reverberation so it doesn't pick up too well on recordings.

Out of interest (as it's my first AIO build) are they naturally just louder than fully air cooled systems?

 

[Mickkey]

Not in general, no...I mean, the fans are closer to the outside that an air cooler but then usually the fans are designed to be quieter. My last system had the AMD stock air cooler and I had to ramp my fans down to minimum most of the time as it had a habit of ramping up and down every few seconds....the PC I had before that had a cheap Coolermaster cooler and it was really quiet.

In my current system, I have a H150i cooler so it has 3 smaller fans but it doesn't strike me as being particularly loud....I'm about 2 feet from my PC with music on quietly (speakers are behind the case) and I can't hear the fans...I do notice when the room is quiet but I am convinced most of the fan noise is from the PCS exhaust fan I have.

Ah ok, interesting to know.

So i've found the clip i sent to PCSpecialist once the pump started making really weird noises, (ignore the squeaky sounds, that's the pump) but you can hear the 'hum' that i'm referencing *very* clearly at:
6-8 seconds
16-20 seconds
25-27 seconds

20230516_183055 (1)

Watch "20230516_183055 (1)" on Streamable.

streamable.com

Let me know if that link doesn't work!

 

[Mickkey]

Oh yeah...that pump was definitely faulty...I've never heard noises like that outside of my fridge/freezer (sometimes sounds like it is being hurt in some way as it makes appalling noises..works fine though)

The other noise: I would say the noise itself is probably normal...however, the volume does seem to be quite loud. Listening to my system and I can hear the same sort of noises, but it's only noticeable when the room is quiet..if I have headphones on and something playing, I can't hear it, even when the system really ramps up when I'm gaming (I run in high refresh 4k so the fans ramp up a lot).

If I had to guess (and it's only a guess mind you), then my money would be either on the front case fans (my experience of the Fractal fans is they are great fans but not the quitest but then the fans in your case are better than the ones I had as my case was the original Focus) or the exhaust fan (that appears to be an addition PCS make as it doesn't ship with one) as that is possibly one of the generic PCS fans. You could try unplugging the exhaust fan and see if it improves things.

Yeah

So i've confirmed it's the CPU fans, at PCSpecialists's recommendation i ran the machine with it open, and gently/carefully slowed the two fans down with a cloth and the noise went both times. All other fans made no difference to the noise.

I was very much hoping that when i replaced it (due to the pump issue) the fan noise would be fixed as well, but clearly not. It just seems wild that an entire model of fans (specially not low spec ones) would have this issue?

 

[Mickkey]

So, contrary to what I posted previous, my fans are not smaller but are in fact the same size (for some reason my brain cannot accept that a 240mm cooler has 2x120mm fans and not 2x140mm...it's basic maths but my brain can't handle it ) and, as far as I can tell, are the exact same fans as the rpm, noise etc is listed as identical on the Corsair website. So, the only thing I can maybe think of is the case is amplifying it somehow....I am not massively knowledgable of the Focus 2 to know.

Oh ok interesting to know. Would you know of any kind of modifications (that don't hurt the health of the PC) i can make to the case to stop it or is that a no-go?

 

[SimonPeters116]

So, the only thing I can maybe think of is the case is amplifying it somehow....I am not massively knowledgable of the Focus 2 to know.

IF your case is standing on a hard surface, you could try putting thin soft rubber mat under its feet ???

Just had another thought. I was watching a Utube video from one of the on-line reviewer sites, probably Jay2c. He was unboxing AIOs from a top end maker. All of the fans in the boxs had 1 rubber damping piece missing. The little rubber tube for the mounting screw to go through, with a mushroomed end. If the same thing has occurred with your fans, vibration from the fans could be carried to the radiator and then to your case chassis? The only way to find out would be to remove the fans and check using the Mk1 Eyeball, as far as I know.

 

[Mickkey]

IF your case is standing on a hard surface, you could try putting thin soft rubber mat under its feet ???

Just had another thought. I was watching a Utube video from one of the on-line reviewer sites, probably Jay2c. He was unboxing AIOs from a top end maker. All of the fans in the boxs had 1 rubber damping piece missing. The little rubber tube for the mounting screw to go through, with a mushroomed end. If the same thing has occurred with your fans, vibration from the fans could be carried to the radiator and then to your case chassis? The only way to find out would be to remove the fans and check using the Mk1 Eyeball, as far as I know.

Hey Simon, i've had it on both the carpet and on the little desk stand type thing under my desk, no change to noise.

I'm sorry i don't understand what you mean regarding a rubber damping piece?

 

[TonyCarter]

I'm sorry i don't understand what you mean regarding a rubber damping piece?

There are 2 main methods of dampening vibrations from fans (or from their interaction with hard surfaces they're mounted to):

1) Rubber mounts that come fitted to the fan to stop it vibrating against whatever it's mounted to (the brown corner pieces below)

​

2) Rubber connectors - which sop any vibration passing along the metal screws that are normally supplied (by replacing them with silicone connectors)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-AK-MX003-anti-vibration-fan-mounts/dp/B003N7YZLC

 

[Mickkey]

Ah ok gotcha, well the fans i have did have a little rubbery corner bit for each mounting screw (not my photo but it's the exact same model). I assume that's 'correct'.

I've noticed quite a few builds have the pipes from the CPU into the radiator going 'across' itself as such, like in the 2nd photo below, whereas my build (how PCSpecialist had it setup) has them going to the right (like in the third photo, but without the triple fan on top of course).

In my head there's no difference, but could this be causing a problem? Everything online says this build, these fans etc should be really quiet but i'm not experiencing that at all.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah ok gotcha, well the fans i have did have a little rubbery corner bit for each mounting screw (not my photo but it's the exact same model). I assume that's 'correct'.

I've noticed quite a few builds have the pipes from the CPU into the radiator going 'across' itself as such, like in the 2nd photo below, whereas my build (how PCSpecialist had it setup) has them going to the right (like in the third photo, but without the triple fan on top of course).

In my head there's no difference, but could this be causing a problem? Everything online says this build, these fans etc should be really quiet but i'm not experiencing that at all.

Make sure the fans are properly screwed in, and try to isolate which particular fan is making the noise

 

[TonyCarter]

BTW, are you using iCUE to control the fans/pump?

If so, have you customised/changed the fan profiles at all? I ask this because the QUIET mode on iCUE was anything but 'quiet' and the BALANCED mode gave a much better OOTB experience. I've since put custom profiles on anyway as I got fed up of the constant ramp-up-ramp-down yoyo effect I was getting (probably not helped by a toasty 5800X in a small case.

 

[Mickkey]

Make sure the fans are properly screwed in, and try to isolate which particular fan is making the noise

Have done, on the original build i loosened and re-tightened the screws (no effect to noise during testing) and on the new one they sent me that i put in, same issue. Plus confirmed it's 'both' as such, as when halting the operation of either individual fan, the noise stops.

 

[Mickkey]

BTW, are you using iCUE to control the fans/pump?

If so, have you customised/changed the fan profiles at all? I ask this because the QUIET mode on iCUE was anything but 'quiet' and the BALANCED mode gave a much better OOTB experience. I've since put custom profiles on anyway as I got fed up of the constant ramp-up-ramp-down yoyo effect I was getting (probably not helped by a toasty 5800X in a small case.

Yep, i've fiddled quite extensively with the iCUE settings, not sure if i said above but the noises happens at any speeds (quiet, balanced and extreme), once the fans 'settle' into their normal RPM at the time, when they're ramping up or down (depending on the setting i select) the noise *immediately* stops as they change RPM.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yep, i've fiddled quite extensively with the iCUE settings, not sure if i said above but the noises happens at any speeds (quiet, balanced and extreme), once the fans 'settle' into their normal RPM at the time, when they're ramping up or down (depending on the setting i select) the noise *immediately* stops as they change RPM.

They shouldn't be ramping up and down at all under normal load.

Can you post your full specs from the order page?

 

[Mickkey]

They shouldn't be ramping up and down at all under normal load.

Can you post your full specs from the order page?

To clarify it ramps up and down when i manually change the speed in iCUE, so if it's on quiet and the fans are chilling around 1000rpm (arbitrary figure), if i then select balanced they then move up to 1400rpm or whatever (again arbitrary), it's during that change of speed that there is no reverberation, but once they 'finish' changing their speed and they settle at the 'new' balanced speed for example, the noise starts.

Build below:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS 2 RGB GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700K (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

 

[TonyCarter]

I've got the older version (non-Capellix) version of that H100i, and whilst I wouldn't call it silent - as I can hear it over my completely silent Mac Studio - it's quiet enough to easily tune out...and is instantly drowned out once my 5-bay HDD Thunderbolt enclosure fans kick in.

 

[B4zookaw]

Is there a dust filter on the top of case (assuming you have aio top mounted)? Im wondering if fans are just resonating with radiator, and removing filter might alter that in any way? If you remove fans from radiator and run the aio does the noise remain?