Creating a Quieter Rig.

King Damager · 31 Oct 2011 at 15:58

Ok, so in the interest of making my build quieter and quieter, I've been looking into doing a revamp of my rig in places to minimise noise. I'm wanting something with reasonable cooling performance when gaming, but otherwise something that just sits quietly in the corner whilst I'm working.

Temps don't actually bother me too much so long as they're not excessive.

Current noise creating items:
3x140mm Xigmatek Crystal Fans
1 120mm Enermax T.B. Silence
Corsair A70 with 2 140(?) mm Corsair Fans (with resistor)
nVidia 480
Corsair HX650W

So I'm thinking to slowly upgrade down the following path:
HX650W - Stays in - had no issues with it so far.

A70 Out. H80 In. Either buy a second T.B. Silence, or 2 120mm Gentle Typhoons. Thoughts? Quietness is key, but I'd like load temps on my i5 2500k to stay under 60C (stock). I've heard rumours of the H series being quite loud? Is this due to the Corsair fans (can be changed as above), or is it a pump issue?

3x140 Xigmateks Out. Not sure what to put in yet? Don't particularly mind about colours/LED's, as I'll be modding them myself to meet said needs....

480 Will go once I feel it is outdated enough to warrant a replacement/I can get a decent replacement for its 2nd hand price +£100. But I figure I'll replace it with a Twin Frozr GPU.

kd

DTWD · 31 Oct 2011 at 16:13

I got an Antec 920 and I have to say it's pretty silent. Barely makes a noise even when your hitting your CPU with IBT.

But surely the 480 is going to be the biggest noise maker you have? When that's run up regardless of the rest of your setup your still talking a lot of noise, so much so that I doubt any of your other components are going to make any difference to the sound level.

King Damager · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:58

DTWD said:
I got an Antec 920 and I have to say it's pretty silent. Barely makes a noise even when your hitting your CPU with IBT.

But surely the 480 is going to be the biggest noise maker you have? When that's run up regardless of the rest of your setup your still talking a lot of noise, so much so that I doubt any of your other components are going to make any difference to the sound level.

Yeah, I know the 480 is the biggest problem. I'm considering an aftermarket cooler for it, and as said at some point swapping out for one with a better cooler

kd

Tealc · 31 Oct 2011 at 19:40

I hear the Hydro series are loud too, especially the Performance ones with their dual 2500 rpm fans. Personally I think the A70 would be competent enough with decent fans strapped to it. You may have to compromise a degree or two over a performance selection but that's the trade off with quiet computing.

The 480 is a bad choice for quiet computing as it's the hottest card around. A bit late to be aftermarket cooling a 480 now though, unless you are willing to take a chance on your chosen solution fitting your next card, which it probably will. I dont know what it's idle noise is like though so it may be perfectly fine in that state. Maybe a lower idle fan speed fan curve could help. I've had a couple of cards now that wouldn't spin less than 1500rpm even though temps were in the sub 50 range. With a BIOS tweak maybe they could have gone lower.

Clear LED fans are the noisiest but they do look super awesome with loads of LEDs shining through them. Ive never tried one myself with anything more than 4 LEDs though. Bet it'd look great though.

TFC · 31 Oct 2011 at 21:16

I have an H80 with 2x Typhoons.... Silent

King Damager · 31 Oct 2011 at 23:25

Tealc said:
I hear the Hydro series are loud too, especially the Performance ones with their dual 2500 rpm fans. Personally I think the A70 would be competent enough with decent fans strapped to it. You may have to compromise a degree or two over a performance selection but that's the trade off with quiet computing.

The 480 is a bad choice for quiet computing as it's the hottest card around. A bit late to be aftermarket cooling a 480 now though, unless you are willing to take a chance on your chosen solution fitting your next card, which it probably will. I dont know what it's idle noise is like though so it may be perfectly fine in that state. Maybe a lower idle fan speed fan curve could help. I've had a couple of cards now that wouldn't spin less than 1500rpm even though temps were in the sub 50 range. With a BIOS tweak maybe they could have gone lower.

Clear LED fans are the noisiest but they do look super awesome with loads of LEDs shining through them. Ive never tried one myself with anything more than 4 LEDs though. Bet it'd look great though.

Yeah, I'm still working on the Fan concept. Might try abusing my TB Silence, but the Enermax carved into the edges might cause issues. Might instead buy a few Noctua/Typhoons or the such like and spray them white as it's quite a 'reflective' colour

Nice to know that you don't have issues with yours TFC :s

I figured it would be the Corsair Fans causing the issue rather than anything else, on the H80, but will have to see...

kd

Helios1234 · 1 Nov 2011 at 05:43

Get a silver arrow and then replace the case 140mm fans with thermalright x-silent 140s. Job done.

Hotwired · 1 Nov 2011 at 06:11

Whenever I hear the word silent associated with a gaming grade computer I think cynical thoughts.

Forget silent, no one has silent.

Impossible to reproduce the sound exactly but this is mine from on top of the case without any adjusting of sound. The beeping is the camera autofocus because I didn't set it to manual.

Making noise in there is:

4 x 120mm fans (on ~1100rpm)
1 x 200mm fan (on low)
1 x 80mm fan (1500rpm)
H50 pump (default 12v 1300rpm)
HX650
6950 HIS with the enormous 6970 IceQ cooler
1 x 7200rpm HDD
2 x 5900rpm HDD

Still pretty quiet.

Main things:

The case (significantly louder with the door or sides open)
Low rpm fans (120mm fans claiming to be quiet at 1500rpm+ are bull**** and don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise)
A GPU which was more expensive and larger than usual but worth it for the quieter cooler

Regarding fans. What is wrong with the Xigmateks?

I'm not running fans which are actually 1100rpm, they're speed controlled through my BIOS.

I'm thinking a 140mm fan where a 140mm fan can fit is going to be quieter at moving X amount of air than any 120mm fan you put in.

Randomface74 · 1 Nov 2011 at 07:46

Case fans shouldn't be making any noise. If they are then they're running too fast. In which case you get some resistors to reduce the speed.

Your graphics card is probably the loudest thing in your system. So you should replace that, and that alone, first.
Nvidia - 570 Phantom
ATi - 6950 IceQ

Then you'll be able to determine if your CPU cooler is too loud or not - and replace that later if necessary.

Leeroy123 · 1 Nov 2011 at 09:01

King Damager said:
Yeah, I know the 480 is the biggest problem. I'm considering an aftermarket cooler for it, and as said at some point swapping out for one with a better cooler

kd

Ive got 2 icy vision rev 2 aftermarket coolers coming for my gpus today from ocuk, the h80 is silent for me with the 2 gentle typhoon 1850's mate. Ill let you know if the icy visions help, my graphics card above 50 fan speed sounds ridiculous.

Hotwired · 1 Nov 2011 at 09:09

Leeroy123 said:
Ive got 2 icy vision rev 2 aftermarket coolers coming for my gpus today from ocuk, the h80 is silent for me with the 2 gentle typhoon 1850's mate. Ill let you know if the icy visions help, my graphics card above 50 fan speed sounds ridiculous.

I've just sold four 1450rpm Gentle Typhoons which I didn't regard as quiet and the chap I sold them to has recently posted that they are definitely not silent as well.

Are you running them at 1850rpm?

Tealc · 1 Nov 2011 at 10:27

It's just not possible for an H80 to be silent as the pump must spin at a fair rate. I have heard the GTs are regarded as quiet fans but also have heard that they do produce similar noise to every other fan, just that it's pitch is less annoying.

I've had loads of fans, cheap and expensive and all of them make noise that you can hear at a normal distance when they spin above 700rpm. I bought a Akasa Apache based on so many people saying they were silent. They are not. Very noisy above 1000rpm, just like everything else.

Getting your fans down in speed is the only way for quiet computing, replacing small heatsinks with big ones, remove obstructions (cables and grilles) and avoid top mounted fans if you sit above the case.

King Damager · 1 Nov 2011 at 10:28

Helios1234 said:
Get a silver arrow and then replace the case 140mm fans with thermalright x-silent 140s. Job done.

Don't really want a silver arrow. I've considered for the price I'm spending Phanteks/DH-14, but don't really want to put something so massive into the case. Why I'm thinking of a internal watercool loop.

Hotwired said:
Whenever I hear the word silent associated with a gaming grade computer I think cynical thoughts.

Forget silent, no one has silent.

Impossible to reproduce the sound exactly but this is mine from on top of the case without any adjusting of sound. The beeping is the camera autofocus because I didn't set it to manual.
Making noise in there is:
4 x 120mm fans (on ~1100rpm)
1 x 200mm fan (on low)
1 x 80mm fan (1500rpm)
H50 pump (default 12v 1300rpm)
HX650
6950 HIS with the enormous 6970 IceQ cooler
1 x 7200rpm HDD
2 x 5900rpm HDD
Still pretty quiet.

Main things:

The case (significantly louder with the door or sides open)
Low rpm fans (120mm fans claiming to be quiet at 1500rpm+ are bull**** and don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise)
A GPU which was more expensive and larger than usual but worth it for the quieter cooler

Regarding fans. What is wrong with the Xigmateks?

I'm not running fans which are actually 1100rpm, they're speed controlled through my BIOS.

I'm thinking a 140mm fan where a 140mm fan can fit is going to be quieter at moving X amount of air than any 120mm fan you put in.

The Xigmateks to be honest are probably fine, however, their LED's (or lack of light from the LED's) have been bugging me for a while, and this gives me an excuse to scratch the upgrade itch xD

To put it into perspective I can't even hear your video because of my fan noise, and my speakers aren't particularly quiet xD

I've currently got my phone sitting next to me with a rudimentary sound meter on it. It's registering about 45dB. If I actually rest it on top of the case it registers about 78.

I know the 480 is one of the biggest problems, because if I manually set the fans to about 50%+ in MSI the dB measure next to me goes up to about 50. Top of the case it hits about 81. Might not sound like much of an increase, but it's like a bloody quiet hair drier!

Ergo, silent probably wasn't quite the right word.. but anything to make it quieter xD

Leeroy123 said:
Ive got 2 icy vision rev 2 aftermarket coolers coming for my gpus today from ocuk, the h80 is silent for me with the 2 gentle typhoon 1850's mate. Ill let you know if the icy visions help, my graphics card above 50 fan speed sounds ridiculous.

Would be great to see what you think of the aftermarket coolers.

kd