Just guessing, but the fans might not start running that early with better heat dissipation.
But that should not be case for idle, so lower fan speeds (or no fan) seems logical
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poole–Frenkel_effect
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/effect-of-temperature-o...
The effect is so pronounced that a watercooled computer running under full load will typically use less power than an identical aircooled computer, because the lowered silicon current leakage more than makes up for the power consumption of the pump and additional fans.