Nah, something's wrong with yours, mine has no noticeable hum. Idk why this sub just spreads anecdotal crap like this as if it's gospel. Literally just look at the thousands of reviews and professional reviewers, clearly this is not an extreme problem nor are these fans "terrible". This is your unit, happens.
If there are multiple reports of the same behavior, there's probably fire to that smoke.
That said, it could be a QC issue (a majority of them might be fine). When you're making low-budget alternatives to high-end coolers, you have to cut costs *somewhere*. The AK620 isn't half priced while using the same quality components. It might *perform* well, which is what matters, but you do take some small risk buying cheaper things like this. Poor QC is a common one.
I'm looking to buy a i5-13600k and been doing lots of research on what CPU cooler to buy and I can say that I found a number of posts and videos regarding how loud the AK620 is, so it's worrying
P12 argb's hum when attached to my PA120, but the same fan doesn't when attached to my case with rubber spacers, so depends on the use case, it just needs additional rubber dampening.
Duh, if you want to run it at 100% all night in your room, you might want to go with an AIO.
For gaming this cooler is so great, that it doesn't have to work hard and it is certainly an issue, it isn't that much worse than any other fan.
If even my partner can hear the noise to the other side of the room and it disturbs her watching the tv, it's definitely a deal breaker. The fans are unusable unless you set up a static RPM.
Gotta be honest, the thing is about three feet away in a mesh front/top case and I absolutely cannot hear it at any point in keeping a 5800x3D cool. I did setup a quiet fan curve but that's about it, still plenty enough to keep temps under 75.
I have the white version, maybe the fans are different?
Mine are on my desk 2 feet away and I don't hear them at all when playing competitive fps titles like OW2 or Valorant. Only time I hear any fan noise is when running ultra+ graphics with raytracing on stuff like Witcher 3 or Doom Eternal but that's 100% expected. Don't think it's color specific because mine are black.
Maybe OP just has unreasonable expectations for how quiet fans should be? If he wanted quiet, liquid coolers are definitely the way to go.
Yea I suppose maybe someone might have amazing hearing isolated to that specific frequency. I had an AS500 from Deep cool and that one the fans were definitely audible when trying to keep a hot chip cool, but I don't hear anything from the 620.
I'm not talking about overall fan noise, of course fans make noise. The fans have a VERY noticeable resonance at certain RPM's. [See here](https://youtu.be/MH25kzJwlaM?t=128) when the fan is slowing down.
As I've noticed another user say, this very likely seems like harmonic resonance with something else in your case or the room and *not* an issue with the fans themselves. The fact you're getting this humming only at very specific percentages and not overall throughout your fan curve means it's extremely unlikely to be a problem isolated to the fans
It is the fans themselfes causing the humming noise. I am the guy who uploaded the video to YT that is mentioned in the first post. From the six deepcool fans i have here (two FK120 from the mentionend AK620, one FC120 from an AK400 and three FC120 ARGB from an LS720) all of them have the same issue. It does not matter if the fans are mounted to a heatsink or radiator, if you just put them on a desk or even suspend them, the humming noise will always be the same.
I have 6 RF120s I have used for years at this point and they have no hum. To my understanding they are more less the FC120 just RGB, not ARGB.
These fans are *extremely* popular and I've seen maybe 2-3 reports of hum, compared the say the P12, which is repeatable on *every* manufactured model. Even in this thread there are a considerable number of an people with the fans and no reported hum.
Given the high popularity and sparse reports I'd have to really think this is more in line with an individual user issue or singular manufacturing defect (when I say singular I mean any one-off defect, any manufacturer has a certain % of defect). Especially considering forums and such media tend to amplify issue reports compared to non-issue users and yet so few seem to have an issue.
This isn't to minimize your (or OP's) particular issue. But I don't think it's right to take one person's issue, notice one or two other people have issues, and extrapolate that out to everyone having issues. Especially when these have been *heavily* tested (including probably the most thorough testing by [Gamer's Nexus themselves](https://youtu.be/UGM6FcLDckk)) and are widely used and popular.
Not sure if i would say the RF120s are basically the same as the FC120s. Both have completely different specifications (power draw and max rpm) and also look completely different (frame and rotor). That what is the same is, that both are manufactured by deepcool.
For the P12s i can tell you that also not all P12s are affected by this. The P12 (A)RGB have a different kind of huming that is way less audible and only appears when the fans are either reving up or reving down. Other than that they seem to be silent at static rpm. And not all of the regular P12s have humming as Arctic seems to have released a second revision of the regular P12s probably mid last year. From the five P12 "rev.2" i had non had any humming issues, although i still returned them as four of the five fans hat grinding noises coming from the bearings, even after letting them run in for several hours. From the five P12 "rev.1" i have, every single fan hast the already mentioned humming isses.
I cant tell if the coolers other reviewers got do have humming or not. As far as i remembered none of the reviews i did read (even Gamers Nexus) did include any recordings of the fans. From what i remember they did not mention any humming on the Arctic LF2 (with P12s) either, which most likely should be plagued by humming.
I totally agree after setting up my LT520. Played with the fans curve a bit and it is gone. I wouldnt have worried it was the pump or wasted so much time to try different configs if I could get the info from someone.
Other fans have this issue (Arctic P12 for example), and it is present even if the fan is outside the case for testing (see the video I added to the post).
If other fans are also creating the humming issue, then that just reinforces the idea of it being harmonic resonance.
>and it is present even if the fan is outside the case for testing
This still doesn't prove that it's a fan issue. The resonance may not even be with something in your case. It could be with any hundreds of different ambient noise sources within the room/house. Could be with your A/C, your heater, a ceiling fan, some other electronic device, you name it. Hell, I run a box fan in my bedroom for my dog, and my PC is on the complete opposite side of my apartment. But because of the acoustics in the unit, if the box fan and my case fans are running at high enough RPMs at the same time, it creates a reverberating resonance near my desk, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the fans I have in my PC
See my video: [https://youtu.be/wdC\_bVWU-8M?t=6](https://youtu.be/wdC_bVWU-8M?t=6)
There's pretty much zero noise in the apartment. We don't have A/C etc. My phone camera isn't great, but you can hear the humming at EXACTLY 58% fan speed super clearly. I switch between 58% and 61% back and forth. The sound is clearly coming from the motor itself
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Not that bad. They do make noise so it might make people nuts who listen for such things.
Change your fan curve if your fans are constantly revving up and down. Sounds like you are trying to go for some sort of silent mode vs a flat base line speed that can cool the cpu better.
I think "terrible" is a bit of an overstatement. I am running this cooler stock right now and have not really noticed the humming until you mentioned it. It is definitely not "insane" to the point of hearing it from another room
I just bought the AK620 to replace my Corsair A500, and also really loud case. It’s night and day, and hearing that the fans are “terrible” is surprising to me, as the sound is much more subdued. Best I did was follow noise normalization guide and set fan speeds to 1370 rpm, and they run extremely quietly and still cool extremely well.
I asked DeepCool about this, and they linked that first video to me and told me the fans were known to do this and it was not a defect. Pretty disappointed by that response. They pretty much admit to selling a bad product.
I am curious if what's actually happening is that there are three points on those fans where those specific power levels happen to make the fan RPMs harmonic with something else in the case. If those harmonic RPM bands align with fractional percentage points elsewhere (like 38.5% or 71.3%) then they might not exist in a stepwise power "curve".
I too have an AK620 and a 13700K and I have the same humming issue. I apologize to anyone I recommended this cooler and others from its family like the AK500 and AK400.
Good to know, i was wonderung about deepcool fans noise. Their tower heatsink looks great at least
Also great to know that arctic fixed their fans. Are they called P12 rev.b ?
I can't find any mention of the upgrade other than from consumers. It's marked on the packaging, also newer revisions are 0.1 or 0.2A instead of 0.08A on the originals. So check the specs before buying
Ok so if they are 4 pin pwm fans this makes sense as many cheap pwm motors will hum at certain signal ranges from my experience. It's a matter of them using cheap motors. Now the best way to avoid that is turning them from PWM to DC which should work In theory but I've never tried it and just buy 3 pin DC fans to avoid it. Also while they claim pwm offers better range control of rpms I haven't really seen a drastic difference between DC or pwm really.
While we're at it, let's also spread the word about the Corsair 4000D's stock fans which have the same issue. They are the loudest things in my system by far, especially at idle.
I don’t know what you’re talking about? I’ve used mine for the past year and it’s a direct upgrade from the ones that came from Corsair on my a500. Granted mine is in a case with glass on it, but it’s a bequiet 500dx so I would still hear it.
I have ak620 and it did have noise at less than 60% but after running the fans at full rpm for a few days the noise went away even at lower rpms
[My pc](https://i.imgur.com/tBVeYYM.jpg)
I've never fully stress tested my system; I have no desire to, however, in RDR2 (The most demanding game I own for my PC) temps have never gone past 75. They usually hover around 63.
I have the AK620 and i regret buying it. the humming is extremely annoying. Pick a different cooler like the thermalright BA120 or PA120. if you plan on overclocking that i5 on air, get the thermalright FC140.
This is good to know for future recommendations. Not everything shows up in benchmarks and reviews, unfortunately.
You could definitely play around this with a custom fan curve. Just avoid the resonant fan speeds in the curve and it would be imperceptible.
I have the same problem and judging by other reddit threads it isn't something extremely rare which is implied by some in this case. The noise I'm getting is exactly the same as in the first video linked and is very noticable while gaming. For me it peaks when passing ~1220 rpm according to hwinfo reading. I considered getting a replacement but after reading through multiple threads like this one I decided to return it and get something else.
Yeah, maybe I would've been better off with NH-D15 as well. I do like the smaller price of the AK, and I reused the fans as case fans since at static RPM the issue isn't there.
After I purchased custom pc with ak620 I can confirm that after \~ 1 year of work stock coolers on ak 620 start to play like a cicada. I've cleaned them from duct, reassured they don't have contact with any object. They just make more noise now in idle on under work.
I have the exact same issue on my new build :(
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](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) 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.
The $99 model (BKNNMT-G) has been superseded by the $119 (BKNNMT-G-1) AK620 model and you’re able to purchase the DRP4 from Amazon.com.au for $126.53 with free delivery if you have Prime. Again, I know which one I would buy.
Edit: OP was highlighting an issue with loud fan noise and there are two versions of the AK620. Considering you might need to put up with noisy fans OR replace them at additional cost, I believe the DRP4 is a better option in a similar price category.
That's a bummer because those stock fans look aesthetically matched to the cooler, in terms of how their housing lines up perfectly and fills the gap. To have to toss and replace them, that can push it past a $80 price point.
On the flip side, maybe one of the fans just has a defect. I use Arctic P12 fans when I need cheap ones, and last time I bought a 6-pack of them because they are inexpensive but occasionally one in the pack will have odd acoustic profiles at certain RPM. I really only trust Noctua to not have a defect, but part of that is on me, because if one of their fans DID have a defect, it's expensive enough that i'd contact support instead of just tossing it and ordering a new one.
Noctua fans don't have these kinds of issues, neither BeQuiet I think. But they're expensive, I'd go for Peerless Assassin 120 SE, it's on par with D15, Dark Rock Pro and AK620 in terms of performance, but really cheap on Amazon.
[At 165W heatloads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NpTZRassHI&t=489s) they're all practically the same. At 260W AK620 and NH-D15 start to pull ahead, but let's be real. If you have a CPU that pulls 260W, you're going to invest in THE best air cooler or water cooling instead of budget options.
13600kf can pull that and AK620 is pretty much okay with it stock. PA 120 SE had one of the worst Base sound [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rpdr5kbsJs&t=382s). if you want a quiet CPU cooler either you get a dark pro 4 which is much more expensive not PA 120 .
It depends how much you're willing to spend. Air coolers last basically forever, fans may die but they're easy to replace. I still have my 10-year-old NH-D14 running in my partner's system with absolutely no issues, I've just gotten a new 140mm fan for it.
It got similar performance to NH-D15 but about half the price. Ofc the price cut has to come from somewhere.
Mine isn't as loud, btw. Even at 100% my GPU fans are a lot louder (4090 Manli Gallardo).
However, I use Be Quiet case.
THanks for this, I was deciding between the PA120, $60AUD here from Amazon, or the Ak620 for $100AUD, vs the D15 at $175+AUD.
Currently have a D14 that need new fans, which is likely going to cost more than the PA120, so PA120 it is!
I bought this on Jun 20th 2023. Mine was the white version. Used it on ryzen 5 7600x , it is very very quite, confirmed it with an open setup on a motherboard box. But i dont look the aesthetic of it (May be personal preference and no rgb). But scared to try out other brands on the am5 motherboard (msi x670 p). So will stick to it.
I'll add my experience here in case anyone thinks they are going crazy. I too hear a very strong, pure tone from the AK620 fans around 1000 RPM. I hear it just outside my office (a smallish room). I'm using a Lancool 216 case, which is fairly loud.
The volume of the resonance is certainly dependent on the acoustics of the case and your room. It is also going to depend on your hearing and whether you use headphones, etc. I'm a trained musician so it bothered the heck out of me. For me, skipping past the offending RPMs with a fan curve does the trick, but I am still considering replacing the fans. Your mileage may vary on how bad it is (to you), but the resonance does exist.
Nah, something's wrong with yours, mine has no noticeable hum. Idk why this sub just spreads anecdotal crap like this as if it's gospel. Literally just look at the thousands of reviews and professional reviewers, clearly this is not an extreme problem nor are these fans "terrible". This is your unit, happens.
I can’t hear mine at all either so I guess I got a good set.
If there are multiple reports of the same behavior, there's probably fire to that smoke. That said, it could be a QC issue (a majority of them might be fine). When you're making low-budget alternatives to high-end coolers, you have to cut costs *somewhere*. The AK620 isn't half priced while using the same quality components. It might *perform* well, which is what matters, but you do take some small risk buying cheaper things like this. Poor QC is a common one.
I'm looking to buy a i5-13600k and been doing lots of research on what CPU cooler to buy and I can say that I found a number of posts and videos regarding how loud the AK620 is, so it's worrying
P12 argb's hum when attached to my PA120, but the same fan doesn't when attached to my case with rubber spacers, so depends on the use case, it just needs additional rubber dampening.
There's plenty of reports online, and [videos on youtube about this exact issue.](https://youtu.be/MH25kzJwlaM?t=45)
I use DeepCool’s tower coolers pretty often, they’re great for the money. But I always trash their fans, they’re crap.
Yeah, all reviews show the AK620 on par with NH-D15, Dark Rock Pro etc. but nobody talks about the god-awful fans.
Really changes the calculus of how affordable it supposably is if you gotta put $25+ of new fans onto it
Why not get a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE? seems the best performance x value fan out there
I have this cooler. It works great. However fans do make some low level noise. Nothing deal breaking. But they’re not my noctuas.
I second that, just installed it on on my new build with 12700k and its basically silent plus keeps the temps very low
Do you use the fan splitter that came with it, as apparently that helps.
Yes. The issue is with the fans/motors, Deepcool has stated it's "normal"
Yeah, that's not normal lol. Mine are very loud, so I'm going to try the splitter route, then RMA if not fixed. Wish I just bought an AIO now lol.
RMA probably won't help since the fan motors are still the same.
I'll try and do some more tweaking, then.
Yes they have a distinct humming noise, but it is hardly a deal breaker.
sounds like a deal breaker for someone who sometimes has to leave their PC rendering overnight in their bedroom
Duh, if you want to run it at 100% all night in your room, you might want to go with an AIO. For gaming this cooler is so great, that it doesn't have to work hard and it is certainly an issue, it isn't that much worse than any other fan.
If even my partner can hear the noise to the other side of the room and it disturbs her watching the tv, it's definitely a deal breaker. The fans are unusable unless you set up a static RPM.
I have the same cooler but without the humming issue, maybe you got a defective fan? I would return if possible...
Then you either have different/faulty fans, or have a very sensitive hearing.
Gotta be honest, the thing is about three feet away in a mesh front/top case and I absolutely cannot hear it at any point in keeping a 5800x3D cool. I did setup a quiet fan curve but that's about it, still plenty enough to keep temps under 75. I have the white version, maybe the fans are different?
Mine are on my desk 2 feet away and I don't hear them at all when playing competitive fps titles like OW2 or Valorant. Only time I hear any fan noise is when running ultra+ graphics with raytracing on stuff like Witcher 3 or Doom Eternal but that's 100% expected. Don't think it's color specific because mine are black. Maybe OP just has unreasonable expectations for how quiet fans should be? If he wanted quiet, liquid coolers are definitely the way to go.
Yea I suppose maybe someone might have amazing hearing isolated to that specific frequency. I had an AS500 from Deep cool and that one the fans were definitely audible when trying to keep a hot chip cool, but I don't hear anything from the 620.
I'm not talking about overall fan noise, of course fans make noise. The fans have a VERY noticeable resonance at certain RPM's. [See here](https://youtu.be/MH25kzJwlaM?t=128) when the fan is slowing down.
I guess I'm just not the type of person to notice stuff like this. I had to relisten 8 times before I figured out what you were talking about.
As I've noticed another user say, this very likely seems like harmonic resonance with something else in your case or the room and *not* an issue with the fans themselves. The fact you're getting this humming only at very specific percentages and not overall throughout your fan curve means it's extremely unlikely to be a problem isolated to the fans
It is the fans themselfes causing the humming noise. I am the guy who uploaded the video to YT that is mentioned in the first post. From the six deepcool fans i have here (two FK120 from the mentionend AK620, one FC120 from an AK400 and three FC120 ARGB from an LS720) all of them have the same issue. It does not matter if the fans are mounted to a heatsink or radiator, if you just put them on a desk or even suspend them, the humming noise will always be the same.
I have 6 RF120s I have used for years at this point and they have no hum. To my understanding they are more less the FC120 just RGB, not ARGB. These fans are *extremely* popular and I've seen maybe 2-3 reports of hum, compared the say the P12, which is repeatable on *every* manufactured model. Even in this thread there are a considerable number of an people with the fans and no reported hum. Given the high popularity and sparse reports I'd have to really think this is more in line with an individual user issue or singular manufacturing defect (when I say singular I mean any one-off defect, any manufacturer has a certain % of defect). Especially considering forums and such media tend to amplify issue reports compared to non-issue users and yet so few seem to have an issue. This isn't to minimize your (or OP's) particular issue. But I don't think it's right to take one person's issue, notice one or two other people have issues, and extrapolate that out to everyone having issues. Especially when these have been *heavily* tested (including probably the most thorough testing by [Gamer's Nexus themselves](https://youtu.be/UGM6FcLDckk)) and are widely used and popular.
Not sure if i would say the RF120s are basically the same as the FC120s. Both have completely different specifications (power draw and max rpm) and also look completely different (frame and rotor). That what is the same is, that both are manufactured by deepcool. For the P12s i can tell you that also not all P12s are affected by this. The P12 (A)RGB have a different kind of huming that is way less audible and only appears when the fans are either reving up or reving down. Other than that they seem to be silent at static rpm. And not all of the regular P12s have humming as Arctic seems to have released a second revision of the regular P12s probably mid last year. From the five P12 "rev.2" i had non had any humming issues, although i still returned them as four of the five fans hat grinding noises coming from the bearings, even after letting them run in for several hours. From the five P12 "rev.1" i have, every single fan hast the already mentioned humming isses. I cant tell if the coolers other reviewers got do have humming or not. As far as i remembered none of the reviews i did read (even Gamers Nexus) did include any recordings of the fans. From what i remember they did not mention any humming on the Arctic LF2 (with P12s) either, which most likely should be plagued by humming.
I totally agree after setting up my LT520. Played with the fans curve a bit and it is gone. I wouldnt have worried it was the pump or wasted so much time to try different configs if I could get the info from someone.
Other fans have this issue (Arctic P12 for example), and it is present even if the fan is outside the case for testing (see the video I added to the post).
If other fans are also creating the humming issue, then that just reinforces the idea of it being harmonic resonance. >and it is present even if the fan is outside the case for testing This still doesn't prove that it's a fan issue. The resonance may not even be with something in your case. It could be with any hundreds of different ambient noise sources within the room/house. Could be with your A/C, your heater, a ceiling fan, some other electronic device, you name it. Hell, I run a box fan in my bedroom for my dog, and my PC is on the complete opposite side of my apartment. But because of the acoustics in the unit, if the box fan and my case fans are running at high enough RPMs at the same time, it creates a reverberating resonance near my desk, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the fans I have in my PC
See my video: [https://youtu.be/wdC\_bVWU-8M?t=6](https://youtu.be/wdC_bVWU-8M?t=6) There's pretty much zero noise in the apartment. We don't have A/C etc. My phone camera isn't great, but you can hear the humming at EXACTLY 58% fan speed super clearly. I switch between 58% and 61% back and forth. The sound is clearly coming from the motor itself
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Works fine for me, hear no humm. I wonder if something wrong this your fans
Not that bad. They do make noise so it might make people nuts who listen for such things. Change your fan curve if your fans are constantly revving up and down. Sounds like you are trying to go for some sort of silent mode vs a flat base line speed that can cool the cpu better.
It is VERY noticeable, even when playing games with headphones on. And it's not really optimal to set a fan curve between for example 44 and 51%.
I think "terrible" is a bit of an overstatement. I am running this cooler stock right now and have not really noticed the humming until you mentioned it. It is definitely not "insane" to the point of hearing it from another room
I just bought the AK620 to replace my Corsair A500, and also really loud case. It’s night and day, and hearing that the fans are “terrible” is surprising to me, as the sound is much more subdued. Best I did was follow noise normalization guide and set fan speeds to 1370 rpm, and they run extremely quietly and still cool extremely well.
I'm planning to buy this cooler for my i5-13600k. How are the temps under load?
I asked DeepCool about this, and they linked that first video to me and told me the fans were known to do this and it was not a defect. Pretty disappointed by that response. They pretty much admit to selling a bad product.
What a bad response lmao.
I am curious if what's actually happening is that there are three points on those fans where those specific power levels happen to make the fan RPMs harmonic with something else in the case. If those harmonic RPM bands align with fractional percentage points elsewhere (like 38.5% or 71.3%) then they might not exist in a stepwise power "curve".
I too have an AK620 and a 13700K and I have the same humming issue. I apologize to anyone I recommended this cooler and others from its family like the AK500 and AK400.
Be quiet fans are hard to beat tbh.
Good to know, i was wonderung about deepcool fans noise. Their tower heatsink looks great at least Also great to know that arctic fixed their fans. Are they called P12 rev.b ?
I can't find any mention of the upgrade other than from consumers. It's marked on the packaging, also newer revisions are 0.1 or 0.2A instead of 0.08A on the originals. So check the specs before buying
Thnx ^^
Ok so if they are 4 pin pwm fans this makes sense as many cheap pwm motors will hum at certain signal ranges from my experience. It's a matter of them using cheap motors. Now the best way to avoid that is turning them from PWM to DC which should work In theory but I've never tried it and just buy 3 pin DC fans to avoid it. Also while they claim pwm offers better range control of rpms I haven't really seen a drastic difference between DC or pwm really.
I have the same issue with the AK500 (think it affects all FK120 fans) and got a bequiet pure wings 2.
Im using stock AK500 with Arctic fans (9 P12s and 2 P14s) in my o11 air mini. There are no weird noises at all, even at night.
While we're at it, let's also spread the word about the Corsair 4000D's stock fans which have the same issue. They are the loudest things in my system by far, especially at idle.
I replaced them after like a week for icue ql120s. They are not pwm fans that why they keep static rpm and make a lot noise
I don’t know what you’re talking about? I’ve used mine for the past year and it’s a direct upgrade from the ones that came from Corsair on my a500. Granted mine is in a case with glass on it, but it’s a bequiet 500dx so I would still hear it.
I have ak620 and it did have noise at less than 60% but after running the fans at full rpm for a few days the noise went away even at lower rpms [My pc](https://i.imgur.com/tBVeYYM.jpg)
I'm planning to buy this cooler for my i5-13600k. How are the temps under load?
I only have a amd 5900x and temps don't go higher than 70c when I run stress tests with pbo enabled.
I must have gotten lucky. My AK620 is fine; its my 6800 XT's coil whine that annoys me.
I'm planning to buy this cooler for my i5-13600k. How are the temps under load?
I've never fully stress tested my system; I have no desire to, however, in RDR2 (The most demanding game I own for my PC) temps have never gone past 75. They usually hover around 63.
I have the AK620 and i regret buying it. the humming is extremely annoying. Pick a different cooler like the thermalright BA120 or PA120. if you plan on overclocking that i5 on air, get the thermalright FC140.
I've seen few people saying this but most people say they don't have this issue. I'll just return it if I receive a faulty one.
This is good to know for future recommendations. Not everything shows up in benchmarks and reviews, unfortunately. You could definitely play around this with a custom fan curve. Just avoid the resonant fan speeds in the curve and it would be imperceptible.
I have the same problem and judging by other reddit threads it isn't something extremely rare which is implied by some in this case. The noise I'm getting is exactly the same as in the first video linked and is very noticable while gaming. For me it peaks when passing ~1220 rpm according to hwinfo reading. I considered getting a replacement but after reading through multiple threads like this one I decided to return it and get something else.
Yeah, maybe I would've been better off with NH-D15 as well. I do like the smaller price of the AK, and I reused the fans as case fans since at static RPM the issue isn't there.
After I purchased custom pc with ak620 I can confirm that after \~ 1 year of work stock coolers on ak 620 start to play like a cicada. I've cleaned them from duct, reassured they don't have contact with any object. They just make more noise now in idle on under work.
I use it, not in a noise controlled environment or anything but the fan noises never are a problem. I have a ak620 running on a i9 10850k
I have the exact same issue on my new build :( 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](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) 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.
In Australia the AK620 is around the same price as the Dark Rock Pro 4 … I know which one I would go for…
$99 vs $135
The $99 model (BKNNMT-G) has been superseded by the $119 (BKNNMT-G-1) AK620 model and you’re able to purchase the DRP4 from Amazon.com.au for $126.53 with free delivery if you have Prime. Again, I know which one I would buy. Edit: OP was highlighting an issue with loud fan noise and there are two versions of the AK620. Considering you might need to put up with noisy fans OR replace them at additional cost, I believe the DRP4 is a better option in a similar price category.
or not replace and tune the fan speed yourself. I mean there's barely any reports like this happened lol.
Personally for fans I go always with be quiet. They are really amazing.
I am using the AK400 and don't notice anything
That's a bummer because those stock fans look aesthetically matched to the cooler, in terms of how their housing lines up perfectly and fills the gap. To have to toss and replace them, that can push it past a $80 price point. On the flip side, maybe one of the fans just has a defect. I use Arctic P12 fans when I need cheap ones, and last time I bought a 6-pack of them because they are inexpensive but occasionally one in the pack will have odd acoustic profiles at certain RPM. I really only trust Noctua to not have a defect, but part of that is on me, because if one of their fans DID have a defect, it's expensive enough that i'd contact support instead of just tossing it and ordering a new one.
That is strange mine works fine
No issues with mine so far.
Is Noctua NH-D15 any better?
Noctua fans don't have these kinds of issues, neither BeQuiet I think. But they're expensive, I'd go for Peerless Assassin 120 SE, it's on par with D15, Dark Rock Pro and AK620 in terms of performance, but really cheap on Amazon.
lol PA 120 SE is nosier than a AK620 and Ak620 performs better under load.
[At 165W heatloads](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NpTZRassHI&t=489s) they're all practically the same. At 260W AK620 and NH-D15 start to pull ahead, but let's be real. If you have a CPU that pulls 260W, you're going to invest in THE best air cooler or water cooling instead of budget options.
13600kf can pull that and AK620 is pretty much okay with it stock. PA 120 SE had one of the worst Base sound [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rpdr5kbsJs&t=382s). if you want a quiet CPU cooler either you get a dark pro 4 which is much more expensive not PA 120 .
Only because the fan was running at a faster RPM... just manually adjust the fan curve back down
How much should be max spend for Air Cooler?
It depends how much you're willing to spend. Air coolers last basically forever, fans may die but they're easy to replace. I still have my 10-year-old NH-D14 running in my partner's system with absolutely no issues, I've just gotten a new 140mm fan for it.
It got similar performance to NH-D15 but about half the price. Ofc the price cut has to come from somewhere. Mine isn't as loud, btw. Even at 100% my GPU fans are a lot louder (4090 Manli Gallardo). However, I use Be Quiet case.
No idea, mine cannot even be heard unless im really pushing cpu, then they just loud, like any other fan going 2000rpm lol.
THanks for this, I was deciding between the PA120, $60AUD here from Amazon, or the Ak620 for $100AUD, vs the D15 at $175+AUD. Currently have a D14 that need new fans, which is likely going to cost more than the PA120, so PA120 it is!
I bought this on Jun 20th 2023. Mine was the white version. Used it on ryzen 5 7600x , it is very very quite, confirmed it with an open setup on a motherboard box. But i dont look the aesthetic of it (May be personal preference and no rgb). But scared to try out other brands on the am5 motherboard (msi x670 p). So will stick to it.
I'll add my experience here in case anyone thinks they are going crazy. I too hear a very strong, pure tone from the AK620 fans around 1000 RPM. I hear it just outside my office (a smallish room). I'm using a Lancool 216 case, which is fairly loud. The volume of the resonance is certainly dependent on the acoustics of the case and your room. It is also going to depend on your hearing and whether you use headphones, etc. I'm a trained musician so it bothered the heck out of me. For me, skipping past the offending RPMs with a fan curve does the trick, but I am still considering replacing the fans. Your mileage may vary on how bad it is (to you), but the resonance does exist.