Deepcool AK620 Fan Noise

hint: This recording is not meant to be an accurate loudness measurement but rather a recording of the different noises a fan produces throughout the whole rpm range

This cooler was supplied to me by Deepcool as a review unit.

If it wasnt for the humming that appears at different fan speeds this would be the perfect cooler as it rivals the Noctua NH-D15(s) at a way lower price. If you dont mind the humming then the AK620 is incredible value for money

Update: There are people reporting that their FK120 fans dont have any humming, so i dont think there is a 100% chance that FK120 fans do have humming, but there is a possility that they will have humming.

[awedbystander]

This is the exact same sound my AK620 fans are making. Straight out of the box.

[NuttyTY]

Swapped out to Noctua A12s, my ears finally aren’t bleeding no more

[adamsmith]

My ak620 developed this noise after about 2 months. Has the same exact sound. When i got a new case, the sound became even more noticeable

[Exalerion]

I'm getting a very annoying humming sound and intense vibrations at a very specific RPM range, starting around 57% until 63%. It's not just sound but the whole fan casings and tower start vibrating intensely (I noticed when touching them, some kind of resonance or turbulence). I found these fans to become quite loud rather quickly too above 60%.
Thinking about swapping the stock fans out for NB eLoop B12-P fans, or maybe something else? There's 30mm of spacing for fan thickness, so even Phanteks T30s could fit, except I think the rubber pads are not included in the 30mm thickness...

[CamperDale]

Recently used the ak620 on a build. I cannot get used to the humming sound, after a while I actually started getting a headache while doing homework. I ordered a DH15, I hope it doesn’t have the same problem.

[joseoncrack]

I installed an AK620 and got exactly the same annoying whine at some specific RPM ranges, even relatively low ones. Cooler perfomance is great, but this whine is unacceptable.
I guess you can 'work around' it by setting the fans at a constant RPM that doesn't exhibit this whine, or set curves that avoid the problematic RPM ranges. Very annoying.
As to the noise at 100% RPM, I find those fans surprisingly noisy. But under about 70% they are reasonably silent, except for the whine that appears at some RPMs of course.

I ordered Noctua fans to replace them. Sure the overall cost is then not so nice, but it works very well.

[paulrobdi]

I have this exact same problem with the fan on my AK500S Digital. I just ordered a be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM to replace the stock fan. I hope that tames it somewhat!

[Nadroj]

I thought I didn't put the thing in right XD (my first build) thank you so much for showing me I'm not crazy

[orbedus]

I have the exact same issue on my new build :(

The temps are fine, but the noise, oh the noise.
I have annoying motor noise at certain RPM, namely:
820 (~38%)
900 (~42%)
970 (~46%)
1100 (~52%)
1230 (~60%)
1400 (~70%)

I used Fan Control to test this, and also to circumvent the fans to stay on those annoying RPM by making curves on quiet RPMs (for me good levels are at ~750/34%, ~1300/64%), ymmv.
I wish I knew this before because I would have gotten literally any other cooler.

[pkplayz]

I am getting that noise where it sounds like dry corns poping up in a popcorn maker! Should I be worried? While it's on normal speed.

[ThermalLeft]

Recently, I got 3 samples of FK120s and sent some feedbacks to the distributor of Deepcool in my region.

I thought that the very high peak in range of 230~250Hz comes from the resonant vibration of the inner structure(bearing, shaft, housing, etc) and some peaks of 890~900Hz and 1235~1245Hz come from the vibration of the end of blades. Deepcool quoted that they can resolve the high frequency resonance soon, but they are still struggling to find solutions to remove 230~250Hz resonance.


I hope they fix these matters as soon as possible. That resonant noise is the worst among the fans I have, next to the EVGA CLC stock fan and TR TL-B12S. Even much worse than Arctic P series!

[PlushDez]

Same problem with my lt720, at first I tought it was some car outside. Sound is unbearable with 3 of them making different humm, I just turn off one of them (loudest one) completly while waiting for different fans. Visually loudest one rotatest slightly different, it looks like they vibrate and more they vibrate more humm they produce. Aio is ok btw.

[virtual]

I've purchased a DeepCool AK500 (which comes with the same fan as yours on the AK620), and i replaced it by a Noctua NF A12X25, because the default one makes a humming noise everytime it ramps up, and it's very annoying sadly

[drisssamlali]

after using this cooler for 4 weeks i say yes the humming is bad but cooling is nice and i got same sound in my fans i did tweak my fan curve and i avoid it i spotted the sound start at 58% speed and that's it (i wish i bought drp4 instead)

[dv]

I have replaced my AK620 with a Noctua D15 due to the whining noise. The performance is nearly identical on my 5900X but the D15 is much quieter.

[GamerDeity]

bought an ak620 in late October. resonance became an issue about a month ago so after removing every fan in the system I found the culprit and removed it leaving the cooler with one fan. now this past weekend I thought I heard the same annoying sound again so I immediately tested the second fan... yup it developed the same issue. now I understand why it was on sale lol

[Barktooth]

Recently bought the AK620 and the noise is still there, completely unchanged from when this video was published. The fan whine is extremely annoying in an otherwise silent PC. At first, I thought it was a noise coming from my GPU. Using an actual fan curve with these is simply not feasible, unless you want a headache. Spent hours toying with the fan curves, but the only option to not hear the constant whining of the fans speeding up and down is to have flat curves. Locked one fan to 50%, the other to 40%. Either way, I just ordered 2x Arctic P12s to try and see how they'll sound with an actual curve with the AK620. They're cheap enough so it's worth a shot. I'm using an undervolted 13600K, so they should be able to cool it enough without going full blast. Hell, I'd take a constant ambient fan noise over this whine. Lasted about 2 weeks before I said "ENOUGH". The cooler itself seems to be quite good, but the fans that come with it are truly atrocious.

Can't stress enough how annoying the sound is.

[PikkaKok]

Same exact problem with my cooler. Even tried with one of the fans separated from the cooler to make sure that it's not because the other fan is blowing the other one. Was making the same sound even when separated.

[ysatxes]

The performance of this cooler is excellent but something is wrong with this fans. I just replaced them for endorfy fluctus 120 and the difference is like night and day. This whinning noise is gone without loosing the performance, simple as that. No need to change the whole cooler as some people did.

[romefox]

Interesting, I get the same humming noise when the fans ramp up.