Some help with new fans

[playdo]

I have a 4 yr old PC, and it has always been too noisy. I'm looking for a fix. I'm no expert with computers so I may have overlooked things here.

My setup is:

- CM 690 - Cooler Master
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=2908

- Coolermaster 460W Dual 12V Rail Power Supply

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 CPU
http://ark.intel.com/products/33924...cessor-Q9550-(12M-Cache-2_83-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB)

- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/discontinued-products/cpu/266/freezer-7-pro.html

- Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Motherboard
http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2743&dl=#ov

- nVidia 8800GT 1GB Super PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2255

I bought the PC overclocked (from 2.83 to 3.2), but the OS has been changed since. By looking at a CPU-Z test, I'm not sure if it is still overclocked?

I use the PC for 3d graphics, so it gets put under load when rendering. I think that there is 1 fan in and 1 fan out on the side, and 1 fan out on the back. I'm not sure if this is setup correctly?

I've attached a screenshot of the CPU-Z test and also one of the fan speeds, when idle and when rendering (the room temperature was probably 15-20 degrees C).

I'd be very grateful if someone who knows what they are doing would look through this info to see if anything is out of place, and recommend a solution.

Thanks

 

[Tealc]

Get a better CPU cooler. That CPU fan speed would be pretty loud. The graphics card may also be loud at 54% duty cycle with just a small fan on board. Even a passive card these days would outperform that one.

The other fan speeds aren't too bad but I notice they didn't vary between idle and load so may be louder than they need to be when the PC is not loaded.

 

[playdo]

Cheers Tealc. Someone told me to test each fan/component by unplugging them individually and then starting the PC.

Is it ok to do this with the CPU cooler and graphics card? I don't want to cause any damage, so is there anything I should be aware of when doing it?

 

[playdo]

Bump

 

[Tealc]

The other way to do it is to stop each fan when the system is up and running. This might be tricky if you have a lot of fans.

A few secons of no fan movement shouldn't be a big problem for any component but don't go crazy with the CPU and GPU fans as those things get hot, especially if you have stock cooling solutions on them.

Looking at your readouts I'd say your CPU cooler is struggling and makes a lot of the noise.

Your GPU cooler is just a 70/80mm fan and probably has to spin fairly fast to keep things cool. 54% is a pretty meaningless metric when you don't know the maximum rpm. Look in the Nvidia control panel (or whatever it's called) to determine it's speed. It seems to be pretty high at 61 degrees at idle, but I've no idea if this is normal or if it's because of dual screens or something.


If you think you have one fan overpowering everything else, and it's usually CPU or GPU fans, then you'll not need to stop just that item and listen for the difference.

 

[playdo]

I've tested the fans.

Firstly, I couldn't find the GPU fan. There was the heatsink attached to a fan, and a fan attached to the underside of the CPU (which I presume is the CPU fan). The CPU is located directly above the GPU.

I could not see the GPU fan speed in the Nvidia control panel. I am running dual monitors.

After disconnecting all of the fans, the two that were the biggest culprits are: the fan on the lower/side of the case, and the fan on the bottom of the case. These two fans also seem to be the only fans pulling air into the PC.

System fans:

- Air in: lower/side fan, bottom fan
- Air out: upper/side fan, rear fan

Of the two problem fans, one is a Cooler Master, the other an EZ Cool. The fan enclosures are 120mm in width. The two non-offending fans are also a Cooler Master and an EZ Cool. I gave the fans a good wipe clean too.

I've previously reinstalled the fans and I'm unsure if I put them in the wrong way around. Does that in/out setup look correct?

Does it look like new fans are needed or is there another problem?