Silent case for a hot & noisy setup (5900x and 3080)

[rwm24]

My current build isn't even a year old and the thermals and noise bug me.

NZXT H511 Case (same as H510 but with different usb ports?)
CORSAIR HYDRO H115I RGB PRO XT AIO
5900X
3080 Founders Edition

Spoiler: Photo of open case

I replaced the fans that came with the case. Rear exhaust is now a "be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm" and the top exhaust is a "be quiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm".

The GPU quickly reaches 70 degrees and the computer is loud, even with closed back headphones on. Often the fans ramp up when I'm working and barely using the system (2 x Visual Studio Code, 5 Firefox tabs, Spotify) the CPU usage is only ~10%

What are my best options for replacing the case? Noise is the biggest thing for me, but I also don't want to ruin the hardware.

Current contendors:
- Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian...ied-aluminium-full-tower-white-ca-77l-ll.html) - Might still be noisy?

- be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev.2 (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-q...ming-case-black-tempered-glass-ca-12d-bq.html) - Too focused on noise and thermals will be awful?

- Corsair 5000D (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...-mid-tower-white-cc-9011209-ww-ca-25z-cs.html) - Balance between noise and thermals?

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[rwm24]

I'm leaning towards Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL with lots of 140mm fans at lower RPM, as they should produce less noise?

 

[MikeTimbers]

Remember that cases are silent.

I would advise a case where the AIO can go on the roof exhausting all the heat from the CPU. Second, good inwards airflow. I would look for a case with a mesh front to maximise inwards air.

Personally I would look at the Phanteks P500A which gives loads of options and space.

 

[newuser]

I bought an Asus Helios because I liked the light up glass front but had to take the front out after I bought a 3090FE and ran into heat/ noise issues. Now it's the same config as a P500A which is what I wish I'd bought in the first place.

Got 3 140s in the front and one in the back and a 360 AIO for the cpu in the roof, fans are set to top out at about 1100 according to GPU temp. GPU sits at about 50% fan speed while gaming and a bit more while rendering. Not silent, but bearable considering what's in there.

Have a look at a recent Gamer's Nexus case review and it'll have the data for other cases they've done in there as well including at least two of the ones you've listed. Their reviews are pretty comprehensive.

 

[EsaT]

You simply need more airflow through the case to evacuate that heat output.
And that H511 for example has really only one working exhaust fan:
Top fan is simply seriously strangled by that absolutely scrappy holeplate.
Any such stamped meshes with hole here and there are simply horrible for airflow (per noise) needing high RPMs and lots of pressure to push air through...
Or more fans compared to not restricted fans.
Especially that top fan position would need cutting that crap away.
Also removing PCIe bracket covers could increase airflow little assuming front fans can push air in.

Front is little better, but also that position needs fan capable to both airflow and pressure simultaneously.
Meaning that mid portion of P-Q curve fan makers/branders never tell:
https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress....w-specs-are-poor-measures-of-fan-performance/


Unfortunately proper cut open holes with finger guards are nowadays rarity even in rear where look wouldn't matter.
Especially that Lian Li has horrible design with like 2/3rds of the fan's area blocked.
So airflow isn't going to be good per fan/their speed.

You really want to be able to have fans at lowest possible speeds to minimize noise.


Corsair Obsidian 750D would be one option for case with intake airflow capacity.
You could add add 120mm fan into 5.25" bays.
There used to be devices for that before cases were dumbed down to disposable unupgradable designs.
Now you might have to get 3x5.25" bay holder for fan 3D printed.

 

[Drumroll]

Corsair is a good case. Not a Corsair fanboy, but the side 3 fans using the side cover, at low speed will help a lot the NVME/Chipset and create a small barrier between the motherboard and the exhaust of your GPU.
The Corsair AIO should be fine on the top. If was an Arctic, would likely require the fans to be mounted outside the case.
The only downside to the Corsair, despite the many pros, is the lack of bottom intakes. That would be night and day for the GPU.
I'm loving the Fractal Torrent. But for AIO, not practical. Replaced my Arctic Freezer 360 for the Dark Rock Pro 4, and my CPU (3900x, PBO on), maxing out at 72C. 4.3 all core, without any adjustments. Same performance as when on open loop or the AIO, but slightly cooler.
I have my fans at 45% and the only fan I can hear, about 3 or 4 feet away, and paying attention to it, otherwise unnoticeable, is the GPU one.
Bigger fans are the way to go if you need airflow and silence.
Owned few O11s, including the Air and the XL.
The XL is your best bet. Top AIO exhaust, side and bottom as intake and you're good to go. The regular O11 and the Air don't have much clearance for the bottom intake fans.
Rear exhaust not really needed. Would just add noise. The only issue with the O11 would be the need for some pretty decent fans, not as the Torrent that already includes some very good fans.
If going down that route, the Arctic P12 are good fans, only issue is the noise profile, depending on how sensitive you're to it. At 40% they're virtually silent. Some units are until 45%. At 50 up to 60%, the noise is more perceptible than at 65%, where the noise will be mostly from the air it is moving.
About fans ramping up, the first thing you need to do is set your fan profiles properly on the BIOS.
Fans ramping up and down are noticeably noisier and more irritant than at a constant speed.
Sure.you need to adjust to your taste, but as a start point, first try at which speed you're happy with the noise and the air you can notice being moved by the fan.
Take notes.
My starting point usually is:
Up to 50 or 60 Celsius, 40%
Up to 65 Celsius, 50 or 55%.
Over 75 Celsius, 70%.
This is for case fans. If it was for CPU Cooler or even AIO, I would only change the 70% by 100%.
For case fans, unless filters are very restrictive or fans are bad, not much gain going over 70%. Gains are minimal but noise raises exponentially.
My starting point is 50 or 60 Celsius because setting it too low, any spike, which are pretty common on Ryzen CPUs, would trigger the second speed to kick in, hence the ramping up and down.

 

[Quartz]

My current build isn't even a year old and the thermals and noise bug me.

Change the airflow direction so that the front AIO fans blow out rather than blow in, the back fan blows in, and the top fan blows down.

 

[rwm24]

Thank you for all the helpful responses.

I think the issue is the AIO not getting enough air and the CPU being rather hot. Hwinfo shows the "Core Temperatures" at ~55 degrees and according to iCue the pump fan is running at 2900 RPM to achieve that. The GPU fan sits ~40% and if I manually reduce that to 30%, which is the lowest it'll go there is no audible difference.

 

[alec]

You have a good setup there.
Keep the case, reduce noise at source.

Three sources: CPU cooler, GPU cooler, and case fans

CPU cooler

I think the issue is the AIO not getting enough air and the CPU being rather hot

The issue is 5900X gives wild temp spikes and is bad at settling to idle when some backround apps like iCUE are running. It is a common behaviour with Zen3 CPUs.
It doesn't actually need much cooling power, running fans at 1000 or at 1900 would make very little difference to temperatures.
Make a custom less agressive fan curve on CPU cooler, make them spin almost silent until CPU is above 70-75C. No risk.

GPU cooler
Main source of noise and heat. Wouldn't mess with its fan curve, it knows what its doing. Rather reduce the power.
3080 has lots of room to undervolt. Reducing consumption by 50-80-100W is within reach, and will result in cooler and quieter GPU (without losing perf).

Case fans
These only need to be audible in case of prolonged GPU load.
Tie both exhaust fans to system temp sensor with a custom curve.
System temp will shoot up when GPU is active, so at temperature that is reached after 20-30min gpu load, they should be audible but not annoying.
Let system temp go up to 43-45C before going full blast on case fans.

 

[rwm24]

I think a custom fan curve in iCue was all I needed. This is how I have it set now:



I played Far Cry 6 for ~10 minutes and the CPU fluctuated between 70 and 75 degrees (35% fan speed on the graph) and it was quiet enough for me.

Fan #1 and Fan #2 went up to about 868 RPM:



I was already under volting the GPU and that was ~70 degrees too, fan at about 40%.

Thanks for your help alec and Drumroll.

 

[malccy]

I've been having similar issues for a while and didn't know until your post rwm24 that I could set a custom curve on my Corsair aio so thank you so much for showing those screenshots.