Threadripper 3990X CPU Cooling Comparison – Taming the Beast

1. Introduction - Taming the 64-core Beast2. Test Samples - IceGiant, Noctua, be quiet!, Corsair3. Testing on the 3990X - Our Approach4. Test Procedures5. PBO-1000 Testing - CPU Temperatures and Power6. PBO-1000 Testing - VRM Temperatures7. PBO-1000 Testing - Clock Speeds and Cooling Dynamics8. Manual OC Testing - CPU Temperatures9. Manual OC Testing - CPU Power and VRM Temperatures10. Noise Testing11. What's Going On With be quiet! and Cooler Master?12. Closing Thoughts - Cooling Threadripper 3990X is Tough!13. View All Pages

We measure noise output 50cm away from the tempered glass side panel. Only the CPU cooler's fans are spinning. The ambient noise level is 38 dBA.

be quiet! has the quietest cooler, which comes as little surprise given the unit’s excellent low-RPM Silent Wings fans. Of course, the trade-off comes via reduced cooling performance but that may be a compromise that some users are happy with (without delving into temperature-normalised cooling results on the higher performance competitors).

Noctua’s single-fan U14S TR4-SP3 comes in a close second with a noise output that I would be perfectly happy to sit next to all day long. The single 1500 RPM A15 PWM fan is superb and Noctua’s heatsink design is well optimised to take advantage of its slow, low-noise operation.

The IceGiant and Noctua coolers are roughly tied for noise output when running in dual fan mode, albeit with the former using reduced fan speeds. This is an interesting result as their CPU thermal performance, cooling capacity, and associated VRM temperatures were also closely matched.

As we have already pointed out, the IceGiant cooler is evidently optimised for high-speed, high-pressure fans by means of a dense fin array. The same point is not true for the Noctua heatsink. That, perhaps, means that the ProSiphon Elite is being somewhat disproportionately hamstrung by the reduced fan speed. Conversely, the 2200 RPM operating mode can also be seen as blasting its way to the top of our charts. It depends on your individual preference and perspective.

The noisiest unit is the IceGiant cooler with its pair of 2200 RPM fans running at full speed. As this unit is the 2019 prototype, the fan choice is not necessarily representative of the 2020 edition. With that said, IceGiant has made it perfectly clear that they are gunning for high performance operation and the website highlights potentially using 2500 RPM fans, albeit of a quality and design that we do not yet know about.

Not all that much quieter than the IceGiant is the Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT at full 2000 RPM fan speed. I would not want to sit next to either of the loudest coolers running at full steam for my entire workday. With this said, I also would not care how loud they are when running an overnight batch of compute work with nobody else in the office. Again, noise output is subjective as to whether you care, how much you care, and how much you are willing to compromise.

If you want to hear the noise pitch of each cooler, make sure you check out our video content.

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