Kraken x73 aio 360 fan noise and control vs 2016 thermaltake Riing 360, etc

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markm75

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Sep 12, 2008
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I have an older 2016 thermaltake 360 aio that was starting to make grinding sounds at least on one fan. Its out of warranty and they dont make replacement 5 pin fans to connect to the controller any more, so i opted to test out the kraken x73 360 with the 10900k at 5.1ghz (delidded).

With my old TT, the fans were mostly quiet but only reached around 1500rpm and for the blender test i did reached 89 to 91C depending on room temp (74 to 77), if i hadnt delidded an easy 95 or 96C.

So i installled the kraken, i noted that the offset screws didnt tighten snug to the board, maybe this is by design? My first run without the nzxt software running temps shot to 100C.
I installed the software, and it works better, but sounds like a freight train at nearly 2000 rpm. I tried playing with the curves in the software, this didnt help. The temps were better, around 86C vs the 89 ot 91 (so maybe 5c better but so loud)

I was puzzled that i needed the software running for the temps to be in control. Also wondering if i missed a step in connecting everything. I had the 3 way wire connected to the fans and that into the fan plug on the motherboard. I have the usb into the usb port but there is an extra connector leftover with no purpose (rgb control i think only).
I also just went with the TIM that came on the block, i didnt use artic silver 5 or mx4 (i think mx4 is supposed to be better than as5, but not sure on the installed stuff)

So my questions were: is the bracket supposed to be sort of loose after installing the offset screws, is this typical for this unit to be this noisy (extra rpms i guess), or do most change out the fans with something quiter, if so which. And any way to not have to rely on the software (i wonder if it works through multiple windows profiles).

Thanks in advance
 
I use hwinfo to check the pump speed. I can see the pump speed. I can see cpu package, for instance hwinfo shows 50 (one core at 50 rest 39), but cam software says 39 for the cpu temp.

I click custom to change the curves for fan speeds, when i slide it up to 100 even at the current temp nothing changes. As the cpu gets hot it cranks up to 2000 rpm however, its like the software has no effect. The fans are all going into triple header thing and that into the motherboard fan port (not to the block).
edit: i think only the z73 cam software works to control fan speeds.
 
Ive no experience with aios only custom loops but i always make sure i do a second mount to be certain im making good solid contact and getting the kind of tim spread i want before calling it a day. On that note it may be wise to double check your mount and spread for peace of mind.
Hopefully someone with more experience with your set up will swing by with advice.
GL!
 
hititnquitit said:
Ive no experience with aios only custom loops but i always make sure i do a second mount to be certain im making good solid contact and getting the kind of tim spread i want before calling it a day. On that note it may be wise to double check your mount and spread for peace of mind.
Hopefully someone with more experience with your set up will swing by with advice.
GL!
Click to expand...
I was able to adjust the bios to limit it to 80% or around 1600rpm, still much noisier than the old thermaltake however but about 2C cooler with this limitation in place, less noisy than 100% 2000 rpm though, i guess maybe i should look for a 3 fan lower db option and swap the fans out. But given at a similar rpm its cooling about 2C more so, i'd say the mount is ok

Not sure which alternative fans would match performance though (and lower db, i think these krakens are 36dba)
 
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Older models the fans connected the the Kraken unit and were controlled with CAM. In the new model that isn't the case. You connect the fans to your MB and have to use your MB's fan control or some other compatible software while also having to use CAM to control the pump.

You can avoid all this kind of stuff by getting an AIO where the fans and pump use standard 4-pin motherboard headers.
 
Dermen said:
Older models the fans connected the the Kraken unit and were controlled with CAM. In the new model that isn't the case. You connect the fans to your MB and have to use your MB's fan control or some other compatible software while also having to use CAM to control the pump.

You can avoid all this kind of stuff by getting an AIO where the fans and pump use standard 4-pin motherboard headers.
Click to expand...
Avoid which, you mean not being able to set the curves in the OS or something else?

I had assumed the x73 had the ability since it was newer but only the z73 has that.

At this point using the bios, i limited things, the noise is more in check but its still louder. I guess i could look into alternative fans to replace the ones that come with it, but they might be less efficient and effective.
 
You can install MSI Dragon Untitly for fan control, it will give you 4 points you can adjust. You should be able to have the fans run around 500-600 rpm at idle temps, you will have to play with the fan speed control to figure out what % that speed would be. Then set that % for anything under 45C as the first point. Then figure out what temp you never want to hit, say 100C and set 100% at that temp on the last point. Use the middle 2 points to create a curved line between the points. You will probably want to tweak the points after seeing how it reacts to your usage. Also make sure your pump speed is either max all the time or on a similar curve if CAM allows you to set that up (I've never used it so I don't know what it lets you do).


I try to avoid anything that uses non-standard stuff. Like 5 pin fans, or coolers that are controlled only by the Manufacturers software. Manufacturers can just stop supporting stuff like Thermaltake and 5 pin fans. NZXT could come out with a new line of AIOs and drop support for the X73 in the next version of CAM or drop CAM for something new. If you stick with standardized 3/4pin fans/pumps/aios you don't have to worry about it because 3/4pin connector has been around forever and is not likely to go away for a very long time and will always be able to be controlled by a decent motherboard either through BIOS or numerous fan control software. Unfortunately there are only a few AIOs that do this, and they don't have RGB so they aren't as popular. I think a lot the proprietary stuff was added around the time RGB was added to everything.
 
Dermen said:
You can install MSI Dragon Untitly for fan control, it will give you 4 points you can adjust. You should be able to have the fans run around 500-600 rpm at idle temps, you will have to play with the fan speed control to figure out what % that speed would be. Then set that % for anything under 45C as the first point. Then figure out what temp you never want to hit, say 100C and set 100% at that temp on the last point. Use the middle 2 points to create a curved line between the points. You will probably want to tweak the points after seeing how it reacts to your usage. Also make sure your pump speed is either max all the time or on a similar curve if CAM allows you to set that up (I've never used it so I don't know what it lets you do).


I try to avoid anything that uses non-standard stuff. Like 5 pin fans, or coolers that are controlled only by the Manufacturers software. Manufacturers can just stop supporting stuff like Thermaltake and 5 pin fans. NZXT could come out with a new line of AIOs and drop support for the X73 in the next version of CAM or drop CAM for something new. If you stick with standardized 3/4pin fans/pumps/aios you don't have to worry about it because 3/4pin connector has been around forever and is not likely to go away for a very long time and will always be able to be controlled by a decent motherboard either through BIOS or numerous fan control software. Unfortunately there are only a few AIOs that do this, and they don't have RGB so they aren't as popular. I think a lot the proprietary stuff was added around the time RGB was added to everything.
Click to expand...
I dont know why but the dragon software didnt give me motherboard options like the fan curves, only saw game related things. So i uninstalled it.

I think as of now i have it at one point at 70C, i forget, 60%, then at 84C i have it at 80%, i dont have anything after as i was just matching thermaltake rpm's, but i probably will put a 100% at 90c.

The x73 is 3 pin on the fans, so i guess thats good enough pin wise and better than the weird 5 pin on fhe thermaltake
 
One reason I prefer 280mm radiators over 360mm is because of the larger fans. Larger fans tend to make less noise vs similar airflows.

A 360mm radiator only has about ~10% more surface area than 280mm. So it's not like the radiator itself is THAT much bigger. In other words, you're not getting that much gains by going slightly "bigger". Of course, the old adage of not all radiators are made the same applies.
 
You should be able to set a 4 point fan curve directly in the BIOS as well if you wanted to. Also since they are 3-pin fans make sure they are set to DC mode and not PWM. According to MSI the CPU_FAN1 and PUMP_FAN1 are default PWM and all the SYS_FAN are default DC.

EDIT: According to NZXT they should be 4-pin PWM fans, so make sure they are set to PWM mode in the BIOS.
 
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