I recently bought an Intel i7-14700KF that came with a Cooler Master Elite Liquid 240 CPU AIO. It works and I can see the pump and fan RPM readings in BIOS and Windows, but the fans suddenly ramp up and become extremely loud—almost like a PS4 Pro, but louder. My room is fairly warm, so I assumed a liquid cooler was necessary for this processor. Temperatures are around 35°C during normal use. Is there a way to reduce the noise, or should I change the cooler or its fans?
2 Answers
Try changing the fan curve and increasing the temperature hysteresis or ramp-up delay in BIOS. That lets the cooler absorb short temperature spikes before the fans react, which can prevent the annoying repeated bursts of noise. Since your reported temperatures are low, there’s plenty of room to make the curve less aggressive.
A liquid cooler isn’t strictly required for the 14700KF. If the temperatures are only around 35°C, the cooler is doing its job; the main issue is probably the stock fans ramping up too aggressively. You could replace them with quieter fans from a reputable brand, or adjust the fan curve so they don’t immediately jump to maximum speed.
I assumed an AIO was basically mandatory because of how much power the i7 and i9 processors can use, but it sounds like a good air cooler can work too.
If the fans still surge after adjusting the curve, check whether they’re connected to the correct motherboard header and whether the header is configured for PWM or DC mode correctly.