Silent fan advice

[robalexhall]

The case intake filter needs doing at lest monthly, I live in a c19th dusty house. But the psu fan just spins up so infrequently... Either not at all, or only a few mins each hour with the most demanding games. It must be spinning like 5% the time vs the case fan so there's the math.

The case I have (330r) is midway in a aggravation, the psu filter is magnetic - have to tilt the case at a slight angle to remove but beats having to pull the whole thing out.

I would recommend the case except I think corsair obsoleted it?

 

[Shingyboy]

Wow! A newer member with low post count who knows something! I'd love to discuss this over a pint or three.

Indeed, while a good case is important, the sound signature and level of components including fans makes the most difference. Grills are also a contributing factor.

I'm using an Evolv ATX and like it a lot. I am experimenting with spacing the front out 6-10mm to improve intake airflow area in hopes it will lower temps, and it does help, but not as much as I had hoped. Basically it shows the stock venting is not as bad as it looks. I am getting 3-6c better temps with the spacing.

Enthoo Pro & Enthoo Luxe cases are good. If silence is really important, the Define R5 is probably a little better, but it's fans would need to be changed.

I look at little things, like being able to clean filters without moving case from where it lives ( usually with it's back toward a wall .. and often under a desk). Bpth Enthoo Pro and Enthoo Luxe have 2x bottom filters, but taping them together with a few mm between them makes them into a single filter that slides out the front , same as Define R5. Evolv requires moving case out to pull filter out the back.

That is only a short list of cases I know are very good at reasonable prices. There are more I can suggest, like Define R4, Arc Midi, Enthoo Primo (much bigger), etc.

Like you my experiences with CLCs have not been good. Between marginal quality, loud fans and not uncommon pump failures making it necessary to have a backup cooler handy I avoid them like the plague I believe they are.

Good air cooling systems for CPU are common, and there are some quiet GPUs too, just not as well designed. While tower CPU coolers draw cool air from front and expel heated air back toward rear vent, I know of no quiet GPU coolers using this simple concept of intake and exhaust separation. Instead they all dump their heated exhaust every direct into all areas of case. But we can overcome most of these problems with cases that have venting over their entire back area, like one listed.

I can't remember how many posts you need before you can setup your 'trust' (1st button, bottom right) and be able to send me private messages.

I have lurked on places like reddit and just read up on what other people discuss about PCs, but reddit is an American website and after years and years I decided it would be nice if I could talk to people from the UK so that whenever I want to buy something at least they could recommend prices from stores that would be convenient for me to buy from. So yeah I have a low post count and I still need to learn but I have been trying to research some stuff by myself for a while

I think I have already setup a trust page, still unsure on how to use it though.

So thinking about it more and more, considering I use headphones and such I am not sure if silence is really a factor that is super important anymore.
Which means I think whilst the Fractal Design R5 or S are good cases perhaps neither of them are really needed for me unless they are just outright better to build in then other cases.

I did say that I have a Thermalright Silver Arrow, although I can not remember where I plugged each fan into, would it be important for me to plug them both into PWM headers? I have a ASUS GTX 970 and a Superflower leadex 550w platinum which both I believe have fanless operation when they temperature is low.

So I think for the most parts those components would be okay it is just the fans on the new case that I am going to buy which I am concerned about in terms of noise.

The 500R collects a lot of dust for me which is really quite annoying considering my friend who has a R4 tells me he barely cleans his case because the dust prevention is so good.

So thinking long and hard about it I think a case solely designed for silence is not really needed but rather dust prevention and just good features such as good cable grommet positions and tool less hard drive mounts etc.

Of course I think aesthetics will matter as well, which I think I am going to say for me is more important now.

Onto another thing that I must ask about is negative vs positive air pressure.
How do I achieve either and what are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

The one thing I think I read about is that negative air pressure is better for dust prevention? not sure if that is even right though.

 

[BluD]

Positive is better for dust prevention, you should have more fans pulling air in than out. I dunno the science behind it, i guess it would help the fact that any gaps and vents that arent dust filtered will have air pushing out of them rather than sucking air into them there fore all the air getting into the case is going through filters. Im sure theres more behind it than that though.

 

[Aberfala]

Positive is better for dust prevention, you should have more fans pulling air in than out. I dunno the science behind it, i guess it would help the fact that any gaps and vents that arent dust filtered will have air pushing out of them rather than sucking air into them there fore all the air getting into the case is going through filters. Im sure theres more behind it than that though.

That's the essence of it and it really does make a difference to dust accumulation.

 

[robalexhall]

Is this the real reason to have separate airflow for the PSU, so its not an extra exhaust fan?

From what I read it makes little difference to temps and like previous poster has said accessing the filters is a pain on most cases.

 

[Shingyboy]

I could not help myself and I went ahead and just bought the Phanteks Evolv ATX Glass edition.

 

[doyll]

I could not help myself and I went ahead and just bought the Phanteks Evolv ATX Glass edition.

You are beyond help now.
I'm sure you will be happy with it. Look forward to your thoughts during the build and when you use it

 

[Shingyboy]

You are beyond help now.
I'm sure you will be happy with it. Look forward to your thoughts during the build and when you use it

Well the build itself looks very neat, I am quite happy with it, just need to find a decent LED strip to bling it out a bit.

There were some parts that gave me a bit of a headache, mainly due to my lazyness with not remounting my CPU heatsink and leaving it on. Cable management in some parts was a bit of a pain to complete but in the end looks so good.

I need to ask how I should setup my fans and where I should put plug them into.

I have what I think is the PWM fan hub connected to CPU Fan, had a label on it saying to connect it to that, all the fans were already pre-connected to that hub, then I have my Thermalright Silverarrow fans connected to sysfan2.

Are there any settings in the bios I should be looking at and what I should be trying to change to get it as quiet as I possibly can?

 

[doyll]

Well the build itself looks very neat, I am quite happy with it, just need to find a decent LED strip to bling it out a bit.

There were some parts that gave me a bit of a headache, mainly due to my lazyness with not remounting my CPU heatsink and leaving it on. Cable management in some parts was a bit of a pain to complete but in the end looks so good.

I need to ask how I should setup my fans and where I should put plug them into.

I have what I think is the PWM fan hub connected to CPU Fan, had a label on it saying to connect it to that, all the fans were already pre-connected to that hub, then I have my Thermalright Silverarrow fans connected to sysfan2.

Are there any settings in the bios I should be looking at and what I should be trying to change to get it as quiet as I possibly can?

Sounds like a good setup. First off is fan rpm cycling dependent on load/heat? If they are things are hooked up correctly. Not sure about Z77 UD5H, but I use EasyTune on my older Gigabytes. Much easier than hassling with having to boot into bios to adjust fan rpm to heat curve. It's a small program and can be turned of, even uninstalled after setting things up

CPU fan headers should do it pretty well. Only possible problem is if GPU load needs more airflow when CPU is not working / needing airflow and fans are not spinning up. Might need to do some digging to figure out best way to cycle some case intake fans with GPU fans. Might be able to use a motherboard header, might need to use GPU fan header. Assuming it is PWM there are GPU fan header to normal fan PWM adapters available. but then we run into the problem that case fans are variable voltage, so might need to change one to PWM or get a second PWM controlled variable voltage fan hub .. Actually best would be to see if Tealc (member here) is still making his wonderful PWM controlled variabe voltage adapter/controllers for this kind of thing. Then you could just plug it to GPU or CPU, use PSU power and plug one or two of the case fans into it flow air for CPU or GPU whichever needs most flow.

 

[Shingyboy]

Sounds like a good setup. First off is fan rpm cycling dependent on load/heat? If they are things are hooked up correctly. Not sure about Z77 UD5H, but I use EasyTune on my older Gigabytes. Much easier than hassling with having to boot into bios to adjust fan rpm to heat curve. It's a small program and can be turned of, even uninstalled after setting things up

CPU fan headers should do it pretty well. Only possible problem is if GPU load needs more airflow when CPU is not working / needing airflow and fans are not spinning up. Might need to do some digging to figure out best way to cycle some case intake fans with GPU fans. Might be able to use a motherboard header, might need to use GPU fan header. Assuming it is PWM there are GPU fan header to normal fan PWM adapters available. but then we run into the problem that case fans are variable voltage, so might need to change one to PWM or get a second PWM controlled variable voltage fan hub .. Actually best would be to see if Tealc (member here) is still making his wonderful PWM controlled variabe voltage adapter/controllers for this kind of thing. Then you could just plug it to GPU or CPU, use PSU power and plug one or two of the case fans into it flow air for CPU or GPU whichever needs most flow.

You know I can't tell if it is cycling depending on heat how can I tell?

When I was in the BIOS the CPU Fan header was hovering around 1100 RPM and the SYSFAN2 was around 720 RPM roughly. I think it must be but I am not sure.

Is it wise to attempt to put my cpu fans into the pwm fanhub?

How do I get this easytune software?

 

[doyll]

You know I can't tell if it is cycling depending on heat how can I tell?

When I was in the BIOS the CPU Fan header was hovering around 1100 RPM and the SYSFAN2 was around 720 RPM roughly. I think it must be but I am not sure.

Is it wise to attempt to put my cpu fans into the pwm fanhub?

How do I get this easytune software?

Almost spit coffee all over myself!

Simples. if you can hear fans changing speed they are most likely doing it

Monitor your system and fan speeds with something like Open Hardware Monitor. It's a nice simple free bit of software that works quite well. I'm using it on all of my systems except my 6700k. Not on 6700k because they haven't updated it to 6700k!

Beta works fine
http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

 

[Shingyboy]

Almost spit coffee all over myself!

Simples. if you can hear fans changing speed they are most likely doing it

Monitor your system and fan speeds with something like Open Hardware Monitor. It's a nice simple free bit of software that works quite well. I'm using it on all of my systems except my 6700k. Not on 6700k because they haven't updated it to 6700k!

Beta works fine
http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

Installed EasyTune6 and set it to 15% at 20C, can't even hear my case anymore, not sure if that is too low though, what do you think?

So I put both the CPU and SYS Fan at 10% at 35C, I don't see any difference in temps on idle. seems to ramp up very quickly during gaming though I am guessing that is to be expected.

Is there any other programs out there that have more in depth fan profiles so it is just not 10% or 100% straight up like EasyTune6? Like more of a gradual increase depending on the temperature?

 

[C64]

So I am planning to buy a new case pretty soon, either the Phanteks Evolv or the Fractal Design R5.

I am wondering if it is worth buying fans to replace those ones with the specific mindset of keeping them as silent as possible but not having really bad airflow.

At the moment I have a Thermalright silver arrow CPU heatsink and the fans on those are actually pretty quiet.

thermalright ty series fans are legit I'd stick with those or silverstone air perpetrators

 

[doyll]

Installed EasyTune6 and set it to 15% at 20C, can't even hear my case anymore, not sure if that is too low though, what do you think?

So I put both the CPU and SYS Fan at 10% at 35C, I don't see any difference in temps on idle. seems to ramp up very quickly during gaming though I am guessing that is to be expected.

Is there any other programs out there that have more in depth fan profiles so it is just not 10% or 100% straight up like EasyTune6? Like more of a gradual increase depending on the temperature?

Depends on what your temps are. You seem to have figured that out.

Wha is peak set at? Maybe increase temp at 100% so fans do not spin up as soon. Mine is about 30%@35c and 100%@75c Only time I hear fans is full load.

Do keep in mind this is only fans on header you are setting speed for. GPU is not controlled with ET6.

Yes, SpeedFan does more. I don't use it because it's more than i need. It usually allows GPU fan control too.

 

[Telecaster]

I would love a proper mobo fan controller rather than the dirt-poor effort they usually give you, that is the only reason I end up with Speedfan most times I rebuild a system.

 

[Shingyboy]

Depends on what your temps are. You seem to have figured that out.

Wha is peak set at? Maybe increase temp at 100% so fans do not spin up as soon. Mine is about 30%@35c and 100%@75c Only time I hear fans is full load.

Do keep in mind this is only fans on header you are setting speed for. GPU is not controlled with ET6.

Yes, SpeedFan does more. I don't use it because it's more than i need. It usually allows GPU fan control too.

I might give that a go, what fans do you use just out of interest? 35% is like pretty loud in my opinion but obviously our fans are different.

How is your Evolv at keeping out the dust? it has only been like 2 days but I already see dust settling in side the case, the dust filter seems to not really have much dust in it as well, not sure what I could have done wrong there unless my components were still just too dusty from my other case and it blew all over the place when it started running.

 

[Aberfala]

I might give that a go, what fans do you use just out of interest? 35% is like pretty loud in my opinion but obviously our fans are different.

How is your Evolv at keeping out the dust? it has only been like 2 days but I already see dust settling in side the case, the dust filter seems to not really have much dust in it as well, not sure what I could have done wrong there unless my components were still just too dusty from my other case and it blew all over the place when it started running.

Did you make sure to set it up with more intake than exhaust fans for positive pressure ?

If not then that's the problem, the Evolv has lots of small holes around the case so these will suck dust in unless you have positive air pressure. I had the Pro M which is basically the same case apart from the nice Evolv finish and that got very dusty very quickly.

 

[Shingyboy]

Did you make sure to set it up with more intake than exhaust fans for positive pressure ?

If not then that's the problem, the Evolv has lots of small holes around the case so these will suck dust in unless you have positive air pressure. I had the Pro M which is basically the same case apart from the nice Evolv finish and that got very dusty very quickly.

Hmm I am not sure right now I have the stock fan configuration with 2 at the front and one in the back. Is it because of my thermalright silver arrow fans? both of them are going towards the one exhaust in the back of the case.

 

[doyll]

Try unplugging the rear exhaust fan after you clean the dust out and see if that helps keep the dust out.

Or try using some smoke to see if back vented area around PCIe slots is drawing air in or pushing air out. Incense stick cigarette smoke, even a candle or lighter flame should move toward or away from case panel depending on which what air is flowing

 

[Shingyboy]

Try unplugging the rear exhaust fan after you clean the dust out and see if that helps keep the dust out.

Or try using some smoke to see if back vented area around PCIe slots is drawing air in or pushing air out. Incense stick cigarette smoke, even a candle or lighter flame should move toward or away from case panel depending on which what air is flowing

I shall give that a go, assuming unplugging the fan does work what should I do? just leave it unplugged forever? Should I take off one of the fans on the Silver Arrow?

Or perhaps should I just buy some fans and mount them at the top to intake air?