How quite are the water pumps? Kraken/CORSAIR/Thermaltake

Z

Zer0Cool

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
375
Good Day,

I just finished putting together a new build and I feel a little disappointment with my liquid cooling system: Thermaltake Floe Triple Riing RGB 360 TT

I have an open case which sits on my desk Thermaltake P3 and the pump is the loudest component in my PC when GPU is idle. The pump is making a low frequency noise that can be seen in this vid here:
I cant even hear the 3 radiator fans as much as I can hear the pump.

Do most pumps make this much noise? My temps are around 30c-60c idle/load 8700k stock/turbo boost 3.7ghz - 4.6ghz

I really like the RGB fans on the Thermaltake, but im considering trying out the: NZXT Kraken X72 or the CORSAIR HYDRO H150i PRO RGB. Both have the RGB option that I like + 360 mm length. Or I can try exchanging the Thermaltake, since I recently got it from Amazon. But I think Kraken/Hydro have lower rps on he pumps making them more quiter. I can always try and purchase the Thermaltake fans separate.

Please advise.
 
all pumps make some noise and with no fans spinning will always be the loudest component. can you not lower the rpm on the pump? I have three asetek based aios of different generations, I can hear all of them.
 
Yes I can lower the rpm's but even at 60% I can still distinctly hear it. Dont know if I should exchange or try something else.
 
youll need to do some googling to try and find db or rpm specs or even contact manufacturers. but anything moving is gonna make some noise.
 
The Asetek pump in my old Corsair H110 was always somewhat noisy. The NZXT kraken x62 I'm using now is quieter by comparison though it uses the same Asetek pump, if not a newer revision. The one on my GPU is noisy as all hell, though.

If you don't have any mechanical drives, chances are you're going to hear the pumps on most AIOs if you sit near your case. Personally I've learned to tune out the light buzzing noise the two in my PC emit or I'd go insane.
 
I have had an H55, H105, and a Fractal S24. At full speed the pumps are all loud. I've found that adjusting the pump RPM is nothing like a fan. Fans will slowly get quieter as you lower the speed. With pumps it seems like there is no difference until you hit a certain speed and then it just becomes a lot quieter. I would keep adjusting the speed lower, I think the H105 had to be run at around 40% to be quiet.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I got all 3 Kraken/CORSAIR/Thermaltake arriving in 2 days, doing a PC build for my brother as well. I will be able to compare the 3 models 1st hand & return what I dont want.
 
So in case anyone wanted to know, I fond Corsair to have the lowest noise ratio. Kraken was also fairly quite but on full speed you can tell the difference. Kraken and Corsair you can tweak the pump speeds via win software, where with thermaltake you can only do it in bios. I decided to keep the corsair :)
 
yes it does make gurgling sound from 60% pump speed. but that natural because there are fan in it....
 
Thanks for the information. I'm looking to buy an H55 to cool a graphics card in the near future. I had an H60 in the past and never really noticed much noise due to the other case fans drowning it out. I believe I controlled it with one of the motherboard headers in BIOS.
 
I went with the Corsair 150i myself since it had some of the lowest noise according to the [H] review, plus it did some decent cooling. (Would rather have lower noise as long as it cools everything okay)
 
I have a Corsair H110i and also a Cryorig A80. There is some noise with any of them, but it's not annoying IMO. I also have a bunch of fans, so this may help mute the sound.

At idle, I never notice anything. At full speed the Corsair is fine, though I wear headphones while gaming. The Cryorig makes a really loud buzzing sound at full speed but, again, I'm using headphones so it's not a problem.
 
I have installed my H150i and it's keeping the CPU in the mid-30's range temperature wise. While other AIO may cool better, I can barely hear it except when under load, and it' s not that loud even then. Had the H100i, and it is a lot quieter than that was. (At least to me ;))
 
The post is a bit old, but for who is searching for answers (I was searching about the new H60 2018), in my opinion sealed water coolers are not supposed to have noisy pumps. I have been testing them for a while. As a reference, when I check the pump noise, I do outside the case with my backup PSU (Corsair AX-750W, which does not run the fan unless I go above a certain wattage). Everything turned off in my room, including my rig. My room has a thick curtain (I improvised it with dampening material) and is dead silent at night. So I get a pretty good reading if they are silent or noisy.


Pump tests made at night, everything turned off, including my rig, window and curtain closed, door closed.

1 - Both the H55 and H75 (Corsair) have silent Asetek pumps (3.000rpm - some motherboards read the signal as 1500rpm). Not the silent of them all, but I can’t hear it when installed in my rig, unless I get close, which is never the case. My computer case sits half a meter from me. So in real usage scenario they are silent.

2 - Maelstrom 120 and 240T (DeepCool) have dead silent pumps (2200/2400rpm). I tested three of them (one of them was RMAd due to be ¾ filled with fluid). You have to come real close to hear the pump running.

3 - Corsair H60 (SKU CW-9060007-WW) have a dead silent pump from CoolIT (2200rpm - some motherboards read the signal doubled to 4400rpm / a Corsair engineer affirms is runs at 2200rpm). The silent of them all, you have to come between centimeters to it to hear something.

4 - MasterLiquid 240 (Cooler Master) came with a noisy pump (2700rpm). A clearly loud buzzing noise. I opened an RMA and they sent me a 2500rpm pump that is silent, but I can’t make any judgment because the pump is supposed to run at 3000rpm by factory standards and the increase in speed could make it noisy. I opened another RMA (too low rpm) and, after a lot of arguing, they will refund me. So it is inconclusive, but I would not be surprised if a perfect running pump could be noisy. The Pro series has fewer decibels as specs, and then they might use some padding. But I never tested one to tell (and never will – they gave me a lot of trouble to get a refund).

5 - Corsair H45 has a noisy pump (4400rpm). Perhaps the worse of them, with a loud buzzing noise, although the unit performs like a 240mm radiator (really powerful for a 120mm unit). Opened an RMA and they sent me another noisy unit, saying it was OK. So I assume it is that way. I tried to open another RMA and they closed the ticket. I contacted Corsair Global and they opened it again and sent me the H55, but the unit was only two thirds filled of fluid and they refunded me.

So these sealed units, to my knowledge, have a very poor quality control. My advice is to never install the unit right the way. Test the pump first outside the case. Get a cable extension and plug the pump into any SYS_FAN running at 12V (max speed). Or you can test with a backup PSU (if you know how to do it, but you won’t be able to check the RPM with HWmonitor or any other app).

A - See if the pump is running by the specs (check on the internet the speed it is supposed to have) and if it is making a buzzing pump noise. It is easy to recognize that it is the motor / coil noise.

B - In general they will make a gurgling / washing noise at the start, because some air could be on the pump (they all might come with some air). But if the noise continues or takes a lot of time to go away (for the air to be settled at the radiator), test the pump and the radiator at different positions. If the washing noise is recurrent when the position is changed, it might have not enough fluid. Shake the radiator and see if you hear fluid hitting the walls. By the sound you can have an idea how much fluid is missing. But like I said, in general they appear to come with some air. Just see if you feel uncomfortable to keep the unit.

C - And test the fan (s), see if they match the specs. My last Maelstrom 240T came with one of the fans off-center and not working properly. But my advice is, if the pump has a good reading and is silent, and the radiator is fully filled, do not return the unit just because of the fans, because you can get another one with a worse pump, like happened to my MasterLiquid 240. You can replace the fans, especially because most of them are crap anyway. But if the RMA sends you a worse pump than the one before, you might not be able to replace if it is under specs (usually +- 10%). I rather keep a good pump, like my first Maelstrom 120 (red fan, no led) that has a 2200rpm pump by specs and I got one going above 2400rpm.

And Maelstrom has a valve in the radiator to replace the fluid (voids the warranty if you rip the seal). Since they asked me to break the unit and send photos (instead of shipping it to them), I opened it, and it is pretty easy. The unit was lacking 10ml of fluid (these units have very little fluid) and doing a lot of squishing noises. I filled it with a syringe and the noise stooped completely, no matter the position of the pump or radiator. I filled with the fluid of the unit I broke, because the one they gave me from the RMA came with the pump too low. I chose in between the two, kept the better unit, the better fans and broke the worse unit and fans.

So whenever these units arrive with a noisy pump or lacking fluid and making squishing noises, which seems to be frequent by my experience (sick of doing these RMAs), I just open an RMA right the way. They can’t sell pumps thinking we are using it for fish tanks. Many of us have silent rigs and like silent hardware. Don’t get stuck with a crappy defective / ill designed pump. Some of them have padding and some of them are made to be silent. If you expect silence, ask for it. Or else get a refund.

My 2 cents. Don't take it as gospel, it is just my experience. I'm not a vendor, I never worked for these companies and I am just a cooling enthusiast seeing people lost out there.
 
Last edited:
My Asus Ryujin is dead silent. My Corsair H100 is loud as shit. I bought a Cooler Master Evo 212 to replace it however.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top