X570 owners - how loud/annoying is the chipset fan?

TheRandomGuy7 · 19 Jul 2021 at 22:21

Just wondering how loud the little fan is on X570 boards. I have a generally quiet build and would be very annoyed if the fan makes a loud high-pitch sound which is often seen with tiny sized fans.

I've heard on some of the boards the fan stays idle most of the time - but I'm guessing not all boards enjoy that feature?

Anyone have experience with the X570 Tomahawk in particular?

Alex h · 19 Jul 2021 at 23:39

Tomahawk is silent on my daughters board and i have a gigabyte elite which is also quiet

ik9000 · 20 Jul 2021 at 00:35

Not too bad on MSI ACE, and it is barely audible but I can tell when it starts up (when my CPU fans are in silent running mode) - which is more than I'd like since I installed a 2nd NVMe into the chipset lanes (as opposed to the CPU lanes). It also seems to get heat from the VRMs going up the heatpipe to the chipset, instead of the other way around.

Get the Gigabyte Aorus MAster, it's the one board EKWB have released a chipset cooler monoblock for. It's also IMO the best spec'd X570 board there is.

TheRandomGuy7 · 20 Jul 2021 at 02:19

Thanks for the input, seems like a non-issue then. I also realised you can just unplug the chipset fan and the temps probably wouldn't get too bad even if you did that.

ik9000 said:
Get the Gigabyte Aorus MAster, it's the one board EKWB have released a chipset cooler monoblock for. It's also IMO the best spec'd X570 board there is.

The Master is a gorgeous board and would probably be my choice if money had no value... but it's literally twice the price I'll be paying for the Tomahawk (I'm eyeing up the B-stock here on OCUK for £150). I think at that price the Tomahawk seems to be a no-brainer - the main thing for me is VRMs and from what I gather they will absolutely match the far more expensive boards.

VaderDSL · 20 Jul 2021 at 03:00

The x570S are coming out I believe, just an x570 but they have passively cooled chipsets.

TheRandomGuy7 · 20 Jul 2021 at 03:10

VaderDSL said:
The x570S are coming out I believe, just an x570 but they have passively cooled chipsets.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I had no idea.

It seems from a quick research that they should start hitting the shelves.. any day now! So I'll definitely wait a few weeks longer because either way the prices on the old X570s will come down some more.

TheRandomGuy7 · 20 Jul 2021 at 03:23

Well... X570S Tomahawk is coming out very soon and it fixes both of my 2 worries about the regular X570.

Passively cooled chipset so no fan (with potentially the same or even better temps), and they've sorted out the silly fan header placement (possibly also added more headers).

Looks like the perfect board for me now lol. Will be my first ever component bought at launch, hopefully they keep the price around £200.

subbytna · 20 Jul 2021 at 10:06

Gigabyte x570 Elite, no noise off it that I can hear

OverDrive · 20 Jul 2021 at 10:44

I have a Gigabyte X570 Ultra. I only ever hear the chipset fan spool up on POST, it’s never come on in use though. I just have a single MVMe SSD using the CPU PCIe lanes.

PeegeeTips · 20 Jul 2021 at 13:13

Tomahawk - never hear it. as it doesn't come on.

I imagine it would come on if I had a PCIe 4.0 4x expansion card pulling data through the chipset at full chat...

ik9000 · 20 Jul 2021 at 13:17

they only cool the chipset so if you're not loading those lanes it won't need to come on. Mine never came on until I popped in a 2nd nvme that used them

Orcvader · 20 Jul 2021 at 13:33

I don't think I've ever seen the fan turn on during use on my Tomahawk, it only briefly spins during boot. I'm only using a single PCIe 3.0 NVMe drive though and even then it goes directly to the CPU so for my use, the chipset doesn't do much.

TheRandomGuy7 · 20 Jul 2021 at 14:03

Thanks for the input all. It seems the fan is no issue on boards like the Tomahawk, and the chipset only gets hot enough to need it if using both PCI4 M.2 lanes and/or heavy overclocking?

Now I'm aware of X570S it's definitely silly to pull the trigger now, I'll wait a month or so and if there's heavy price drops on the X570 Tomahawk or Aorus I'll snatch one up. Otherwise if the new boards are priced nicely then I'll just get an X570S from any brand - they all seem to tick all the boxes.

Orcvader · 20 Jul 2021 at 14:35

It's only the second M.2 slot that goes via the chipset. If you're only using one then it will be CPU controlled so it won't matter much if it's PCIe 3 or 4.

CPU overclocking won't affect the chipset either for the Tomahawk as the MOSFETs and chipset do not share the same cooling. The ACE board mentioned before does have a heatpipe connecting the two but it's really not needed.

EsaT · 20 Jul 2021 at 14:39

TheRandomGuy7 said:
Thanks for the input all. It seems the fan is no issue on boards like the Tomahawk, and the chipset only gets hot enough to need it if using both PCI4 M.2 lanes and/or heavy overclocking?

Fan become problem only because of badly designed boards from arse of marketroids.
Gigabyte Aorus Elite and MSI Tomahawk have actual good size heatsink farther from graphics card capable to actually dissipating some heat without direct airflow.
Again Asus has tiny pipsqueek heatsink under big plastic marketing excrements and can't cool much without fan running.

And single NVMe doesn't really make overall much difference to chipset's power draw:
https://hexus.net/tech/news/mainboard/132515-der8auer-examines-amd-x570-chipset-power-consumption/
So badly done cooler struggles to work without fan even without any load of chipset, while good cooler design doesn't come instantly dependant on fan.

Destination · 20 Jul 2021 at 14:41

PeegeeTips said:
Tomahawk - never hear it. as it doesn't come on.

I imagine it would come on if I had a PCIe 4.0 4x expansion card pulling data through the chipset at full chat...

I've nvme slotws filled, again never hear the fan, it turns at startup, then stops, never comes back on
even in these 30 degree days

ik9000 · 20 Jul 2021 at 14:53

Destination said:
I've nvme slotws filled, again never hear the fan, it turns at startup, then stops, never comes back on
even in these 30 degree days

lucky you! I think mine gets heat from the VRMs travelling back to the chipset and causing it to tip over the 50C threshold for its fan turning on. So annoying! And all the reviews were "oh it's got a heatpipe that's a good thing..." RUBBISH!

TheRandomGuy7 · 20 Jul 2021 at 15:17

ik9000 said:
lucky you! I think mine gets heat from the VRMs travelling back to the chipset and causing it to tip over the 50C threshold for its fan turning on. So annoying! And all the reviews were "oh it's got a heatpipe that's a good thing..." RUBBISH!

If you had to buy an X570 board in 1-2 months when the new models are available: would you pay more for the fanless X570S Tomahawk vs the regular X570? How much more would you pay for X570S, just £10 extra or up to a solid £40 more?

VaderDSL · 20 Jul 2021 at 15:24

TheRandomGuy7 said:
If you had to buy an X570 board in 1-2 months when the new models are available: would you pay more for the fanless X570S Tomahawk vs the regular X570? How much more would you pay for X570S, just £10 extra or up to a solid £40 more?

if all they did is change the chipset solely to eliminate the fan, then I wouldn’t be happy paying above what the original x570 cost. However if they updated IO, so as you mentioned better fan control/headers, better IO, maybe better built in WiFi 6 if it came with built in WiFi, or better Ethernet if it came with Realtek and they upgraded to better intel version or better audio codecs etc. I might be tempted to pay a bit more.

I probably wouldnt go above £50 of most/all IO were changed and only those. It would need a heck of an upgrade to convince me to go higher.

MissChief · 20 Jul 2021 at 15:25

X570 Tomahawk here. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it. My GPU is vertically mounted in an O-11 Dynamic so even if it did come on I don’t think I’d ever notice.