I need to quieten my PC under load

[Relentless81]

Hi,

My PC is going in the main bedroom and I game at night when the Mrs will be trying to sleep, because of this I need to make every effort to quieten it down.

Current relevant specs -

Fractal Design Meshify C
Be Quiet Dark Rock 4 CPU cooler
Vega 56 Pulse
2 x Arctic P series 140mm intakes
1 x Arctic P series 120mm exhaust

I've messed with fan settings via the BIOS and got them silent at idle, unfortunately the system is too loud under load.

The noise comes from the GPU which I cant do much about at the moment and also the case fans which are extremely loud at full pelt, I'm not looking at defying science I get that you need to make noise to push air but I am looking for fans and maybe even a white midi ATX case that will make a difference to the amount of noise if anyone can suggest anything? I've noticed Be Quiet are bringing out a white 500 Series case but until reviews drop I'm not sure how quiet it is and with a sealed front its going to be worse for temps than my current PC

Another thing I am considering is slower spinning fans which would be unfortunate but might be worth it?

Any recommendations on fans or anything else I can consider?

Thanks

 

[Funky-Melon]

Put as much as possible under water. Not going to be cheap, but will be significantly quieter.

I have Corsair ML fans, they're very quiet under load and shift a fair amount of air.

I would have thought given fans are pretty much a constant noise under load that they would be fairly easy to sleep through, it's the intermittent clicking of mouse/keyboard that would annoy me

 

[Quartz]

Read this:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/project-silence-that-d-pc.18851216/

 

[Meddling-Monk]

Strangely, I was about to post something similar but to ask about whether anyone thinks they can do more to silence my system further.

But back to your case and silencing options.

1. Is it going to be under the desk or on the desk? Typically being under the desk, you can then add sound dampening on the insides of the desk to help mask and reduce any outward fans sound further. Although I think this is often the last step to go about silencing a system after the rest has been done.
2. Have you tried undervolting your GPU and reducing clocks a tiny bit to see if that'll lower the temps enough where if you reduce the stock cooler fan down to 45% and it'll still be in safe thermal limits?
3. Similarly, have you tried doing this for your CPU as well?
4. Fans, the more you have the less you need them at higher speeds (ie you can run them at much lower speeds), or at least I think that's the theory. Certainly appears to be close enough to that idea in my case. I've got a whole bunch of Noctua's running with LNA (Low Noise Adaptors) running and at usually 50% only (Stupid BIOS won't let me set it lower unfortunately) and it's barely audible at night unless I put my head down to listen for the fans airflow. When gaming, it's the GPU fan that's the worst offender and that's sort of manageable now with fans at 45%.
5. Not sure about your case, but in my own PC cases' case, it had badly designed Honey Comb grills on the fan locations, which caused a further ruckuss when the fans were on, so I cut them out and put some plastic over the remaining sharp edges to smooth out the air turbulance and to also get a bit more airflow now there's no obstruction. Even with the Noctua's they were very easily audible whilst those Comb grills were still there, so that could be a possible thing to look at for your case if you want to reduce further unwanted noise.
6. Side Panels. Side Panels can create some resonance from the vibrations from the main case itself vibrating from the moving fans. I've had my case side panels edges taped up with some duct tape to help reduce vibration and resonance that way.

Personally, I'd recommend grabbing some Noctua's, but I'm probably biased now I'm using only Noctua fans in my main rig.

Grab as many fans as you can and set them at the lowest setting you can barely hear them without compromising on performance.

For a quick comparison:

Corsair Obsidian 650D (So you know it's a crap case for airflow and fan placement).
Asus Rampage IV Extreme (Original, back from 2012).
i7 4930k at 4.3Ghz (set to offset -0.02v, 1.28v at load, 0.87v idle).
64GB Corsair (Dominator and Vengeance) DDR3 1600Mhz RAM
Powercolor Red Devil RX580 8GB (another bad item, as there's no aftermarket cooling kit for this non reference PCB design... ), undervolted to 1.09v GPU, Silent BIOS setting at 1355 Core and 2000 Mem with fans at 0RPM at 50C when cooling down, and when heating up towards 60C. Then it ramps up towards 45% Maximum at full tilt.
Noctua U12A for CPU, fans set to 50% at 60C raising to 60% at 70C, and full speed at 75C+ (as per BIOS settings)
Noctua A12x25 at back for Exhaust
Noctua A12x25 in 5.25" bay for Intake. Both these last two fans are on the CPU Optional Header so are slaved to the same settings as the CPU fans.
Noctua A20 in front 200mm fan slot for Intake at 60%.
Noctua A14 in between 200mm fan and the GPU at 60% (this really sets airflow going in the PCI slot region)
Noctua A12x25 in the PCI slots in Exhaust at 50%.
A4 Pad of 150 odd leaves on top of the top exhaust vent to reduce further noise.
Side Panel edges have added tape on to help reduce vibration resonance.
Currently sits under an open desk, so there's no extra muffling of noise that is eminated.

Currently the NAS fan and HD's are louder than my setup on load. This affords me enough airflow cooling to leave the GPU fan to max out at 45% (where the fan noise is a low dronning noise and low enough in volume as not to cause discomfort or people to notice it). So you may want to see if there's anything you can do with what you have right now first.

 

[Relentless81]

@Funky-Melon you mean a custom loop? Too much effort and maintenance one of the reasons my pc is going in the main bedroom is because our second child is coming I need simplicity

@Quartz I did read your thread a little while back it was interesting but doesn't apply to this scenario because I'm having a whole fitted wardrobe removed and a custom desk installed inside it

@Meddling-Monk appreciate the detailed reply

1 it's going to be on the desk
2 yes it's undervolted
3 CPU has a dark rock 4 it's quiet as a mouse and case fans run of system temp so that is the only thing that doesn't need changing
4 and 5 case can take 2 140 intakes and one 120 exhaust, you can fit more in the roof but I prefer front to back positive pressure, there is no dust in my system at all and cooling performance is good it's just loud, ive also had additional exhausts in the roof in the past and found they increased CPU temps.

I've noctua in the past and they were ok, I can't remember how loud they were I might change to all be quiet fans or maybe all noctua fans whichever is quieter

Your pc sounds ghetto, I like that but unfortunately my wife wouldn't approve and trying to make a pc fit into a bedroom "decor" is challenging!

I think I'm going to have to sacrifice performance for silence? As in lower spinning fans, just need to decide which fans, if that doesn't work enough then I'll have to change the case too

 

[EsaT]

The noise comes from the GPU...

Another thing I am considering is slower spinning fans

No point in changing case fans if it's GPU which is the culprit.
Only options are:
Undervolting GPU for hoping its fan runs slower.
Getting better cooler for it.
Case which doesn't leak all noise out unmuffled.

 

[PiKe]

Can you not put it in the room next door and just run hdmi through the wall?

 

[Relentless81]

The GPU is undervolted, it's loud but not as loud as case fans. Can't put the pc in room next door they are my kids rooms

 

[LuckyBenski]

Why hasn't anyone asked what your temperatures are? We all have a choice to make, and that is where on the continuum between loud and hot we are prepared to exist.

If your GPU maxes out at 73°C, see how quiet it is if you let it get to 77.

 

[Meddling-Monk]

I thought I asked and gave my own exmaple temps already, but clearly I haven't now reading over my mass of text reply. Agree, should have been brought up, but given Relentless81's responses already I'm thinking it's something they've already considered about already.

Anyway, back to your situation.

A quick cursory search of the fans you are using appear to show not that major a difference from standard fans given. So I would definitely say that swapping those fans out should yield a noticable performance/sound difference and might be enough to lower GPU fan further to see if that'll be enough for the job as is.

I haven't purchased any Be Quiet stuff (yet), otherwise I'd tell you which you'd more likely prefer, as I was hoping to grab enough (of the fans) to do a swap with this main rig setup to see what I hear to be better (which is more silent whilst keeping the same current cooling). Then once the comparison is over, swap out to another rig with the older standard stuff in there (The H100i went back to this other machine, with fans now with Inline resistors on to reduce the noise, but it's still noticable. More than a NAS with HD and swapped out fan). But the only thing I'd say regarding grabbing Noctua's, is to grab the A12x25's, they are the most costly, and only 120mm, so be aware of that, but personal preference for them is because you can feel the air being pulled/pushed approximately 5-6" away from the fan blades when run at 50%. So that's a fair amount of air being thrown around, that's also not really hampered by grills/meshes, etc as well.

Oh, and whilst I can't confirm it yet, as I don't have any, I remember reading about the PWM Silent Wings having trouble and causing clicking noises and some with whine when under certain conditions (speeds set to them via PWM) so that's why I jumped to Noctua. Something about the PWM circuit being badly done on the fans. So ask around on that front if that's been fixed or if there's alternatives.

And yes, this main rig is now very ghetto modded, but thankfully it's under a desk (open unfortunately), so looking for ways to silence the sound coming from the back of the case ), and it's the black version with a Window, so the ghetto mods don't stand out that much.

I don't envy your position right now. And grats on the upcoming extra.

:: edit ::

Darn it, forgot the temps again:

H100i version (still un-ghetto'd and extra fans):
CPU: 65C, 71C with AVX Prime95
GPU: 83-85C (Needs 50% Fan minimum at full load after underclock and undervolt), 90C+ VRM
Room Temp: 25C
Sound: Terrible, NAS was more quiet than this.

H100i version (before everything)
CPU: 68C+, 74C with AVX Prime95
GPU: 85-90C+ (Tried to slow fan to 50%, but no dice; was breaking thermal limit too easily, this was what set me down to extra cooling and silence, this was back in Sep last year roughly)
Room Temp: 25C
Sound: Not bad, similar to above, but no airflow nearly.

Noctua version (ghetto'd):
CPU: 64C, 72C with AVX Prime95
GPU: 82C (Reduced fan from 50% to 45% and system fans from 10% more in some fans, raising temps by 1C on GPU in total), 87C VRM
Room Temp: 25C
Sound: Excellent, NAS is noticably more loud (so much so I'm thinking of moving the sucker, since it's loud as heck when it spins up and fan starts spinning). Sound is a small wind rush that's barely louder than when the system is off. With a minor drone that doesn't disturb anyone when the GPU is on.

 

[Meddling-Monk]

Something else to consider if you haven't done so already: Reapplying thermal paste to the GPU.

Even if it's stock from Manufacturer, I'd give it a fresh go around and see if that'll help. If you're lucky, bad contact might be the cause of higher temps than normal and the new application may allow you to reduce fan speeds further to reduce the GPU fan from waking anyone in the room sleeping.

Quick reference: (Just did this just now actually)
RX580 was averaging 82C at 45% Fan Speed, but was noticable but not that terrible. (Was stock, never did anything with it until now. Thanks by the by as I was looking to make this even quieter. )
After new application applied, 72C at 45% Fan Speed (79C VRM), allowing me to go full crazy with reduction of fan speed all the way down to 35% constant when it needs to be on. Now it maxes out at 83C (and 88C VRM) at 35% Fan Speed that is much less noticable than before. Again 25C ambient, although my case does have plenty of airflow now. It's not silent, but it's quiet enough that you won't be thinking that you need to silence the GPU specifically. (Although in my case I got lucky, because the Powercolor Red Devils were notorious for not having got paste on properly, yours will vary of course)

But to fans for your case: Looking around, it appears that the rivalling "silent" fans you'll be after are indeed the Silent Wings 3 and the Noctua A12x25. With the Noctua beating the SW3 if there is any obstacle of any kind in use (so actually in use in a case, and no open bench) and remaining more silent. Although there isn't actually a 140mm version of the new fans yet (I think). So if you do go with Noctua, you'll may need to grab 3 for the front if you cool your PSU/HDD/SSD as well with the current fans. And the A12x25 is currently the most expensive 120mm fan to purchase (but "oh so worth it" I feel. ) so might sting your pocket a bit.

 

[Relentless81]

The GPU is only a couple of months old, I think it's just not the most silent GPU out there as it's only 2 fan. I'm going to concentrate on the case fans first but the A12's are out, I don't want that colour in my PC been there and drove me nuts.

I'm tempted by the phanteks, on paper they are lesser spec but I've used them before and they are the least obtrusive in terms of sound bug the SW3 have much better specs

 

[Andygully]

I had a air cooler on my cpu with my 56 and they just seemed to circulate the hot air heating them both up causing the fans to spin faster. I replaced the air cooler with an aio and now my temps for both are way down which means less noise. Im using the phanteks p350x case which isnt the biggest case.

 

[Relentless81]

I had a air cooler on my cpu with my 56 and they just seemed to circulate the hot air heating them both up causing the fans to spin faster. I replaced the air cooler with an aio and now my temps for both are way down which means less noise. Im using the phanteks p350x case which isnt the biggest case.

I can see that with a GPU as it just dumps air all over the place, I had an aio on my 290X and it did the job perfectly it was quieter and cooler but that's because the OEM cooler was so bad. The cpu is just pushing air toward the rear exhaust

I'm not a fan of aio's really, had a couple in the past and found them noisy and I'm not a huge fan of the risk

 

[bledd]

Surely keyboard/mouse will be too noisy when gaming if you're in the same room.

Impossible task my friend

 

[LuckyBenski]

Surely keyboard/mouse will be too noisy when gaming if you're in the same room.

Impossible task my friend

And the swearing/rage quits.

 

[Relentless81]

Keyboard is membrane, can't stand mechs anyway and the mouse is a mionix Naos and it's very quiet

 

[Meddling-Monk]

The GPU can be brand new, but the factory application of the thermal paste may be a bad one if you're unlucky, and in that case, a new application could yield some better results to allow you to further reduce fan speeds and noise.

As for the case fans, whilst I have never owned a Phanteks before, my own thought on the matter is that there's a possibility that whilst it has the ability to be silent enough for your ears, if it's not giving the rest of your system the required airflow to keep them quiet as well, would the fan really be serving its purpose at that point (to provide enough airflow for everything else)? Now again, I can't tell as I've never owned one before, and of course, I don't have your setup (case, etc) to be able to tell whether it can provide enough airflow, so it might end up being one of those moments where you just need to take a punt and hope for the best (cough up for some, fine tune them in system and hope that they do enough, and possibly paying for replacements after if they don't do the job).

 

[Relentless81]

Yeah I don't mind doing that, I think part and parcel of find fans that don't annoy fussy people like me is trying them

I have used them before but it was 4 years ago and on an aio so I can't remember I just remember being happy with them i don't remember why I sold them might have been bundled with the aio when I sold that