Noise reduction from fans

stevetuk · 30 Aug 2013 at 07:52

Not sure if this is the right subforum - hope it is.

I run a rig with a 3930K OC to 4.5GHz, and as I prefer air cooling the setup includes a Silver Arrow SB-E along with three GT1850 exhaust fans, and two BitFenix Spectre PRO PWM intake fans.

Noise levels were fine in my old place. I've just moved to a new house and put the PC in a small bedroom upstairs (box room, now a 'study'). The room has laminate flooring and the noise is really, really bad. I was thinking 'great, laminate floors = less dust' but the downside is the noise. Is there any solution for reducing this?

Insomniak · 30 Aug 2013 at 17:48

Get some rubber feet for your case + maybe try a fan controller.

Peperami · 30 Aug 2013 at 17:52

Insomniak said:
Get some rubber feet for your case + maybe try a fan controller.

+1

I got the SCYTHE Fan controller, bloody brilliant!

stevetuk · 31 Aug 2013 at 10:15

Been looking at the Lamptron FC touch controller - any good? Does it hook up to the mobo and then control the individual fans from there or do the fans get plugged into the controller directly? Is it easy to fit?

Tealc · 31 Aug 2013 at 11:20

That fan controller looks after its own fans. There is no motherboard interaction with that model. It is easy to fit as it just pops into a spare drive bay.

For motherboard auto control you want to control your fans by PWM. You will have several PWM signals to use eg CPU, GPU and maybe even another motherboard header.

Uncle Petey · 31 Aug 2013 at 14:10

It's the Spectres. They're noisy fans and don't have particularly good airflow either.
When I had them, the best thing I could do was cut out the intake grills on the case which helped a bit.

Best replacing them with something quieter, like more GT's

stevetuk · 2 Sep 2013 at 20:49

Ah, will try and replace them with some more GTs. When I was checking out config for fans I was told Spectres would be better than GTs for intake - will try and give GTs a go.
The case is a Corsair 800D so I'm not sure how I'd get rubber feet that would fit. The feet are in a sort of bar from left to right rather than on individual legs. Any ideas about that?

Otherwise, the Lamptron FC Touch is on my 'to get' list: so I'll be removing the PWM connectors which I hooked up to the mobo from the fans, and will hook the fans up to the controller instead, if I read that right.