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Fan noise reduction

nboy22

nboy22

Diamond Member
I have 5 case fans, 4 80's and one 120 mm. I need to reduce the noise on these somehow. I'm not quite sure, but I have had multiple suggestions that I've read at various places on the web. Some say, cut out the complete hole for the fan, which I've already done and put grills over them. Another suggestion was to go to a hobby store and pick up some stuff called green slime or something. Obviously it is a lubricant, but can anyone confirm that this works in quieting? Does anyone have any suggestions for me so that I can muffle the sounds without decreasing airflow by much?. I know a fan controller is one idea which I'm considering, but are there any alternatives?
 
and don't btoher trying with muffling or foams ...totally useless considering the amount of holes a case has. dansdata.com has a thing on it. and i've learned from personal experience, waste of money. unless you come up with elaborate case with baffled mufflers sticking out all over and all that insanity, silence the source, trying to muffle is way harder
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and don't btoher trying with muffling or foams ...totally useless considering the amount of holes a case has. dansdata.com has a thing on it. and i've learned from personal experience, waste of money. unless you come up with elaborate case with baffled mufflers sticking out all over and all that insanity, silence the source, trying to muffle is way harder
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They beg to differ.
 
Yeah I was just looking at those Acusticases.. gonna see how much they are.. I'm worried about sound and airflow at the same time, because I want both performance in both categories
 
Originally posted by: nboy22
Yeah I was just looking at those Acusticases.. gonna see how much they are.. I'm worried about sound and airflow at the same time, because I want both performance in both categories
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I have one. The price is ridiculous for what you get, basically a modified Antec 3700. It doesn't have the drive door, which is good, the hard drive cage is oriented the right way, to help with airflow, and it includes all the acoustic padding and blocks for the inside of the case. But it's $200.... And it's really not SILENT because it still has fans. I'm going to be getting a Zalman Reserator in pursuit of silence.

I recommend you consider the Zalman Reserator. It can silently (no fans, noiseless pump) cool your CPU and video card. Coupled with a fanless northbridge, and either a fanless or water cooled power supply, and you have a computer that is almost absolutely silent. And the Reserator isn't too much more expensive than an Acousticase. Of course, if you really want to go all out, like me, you can get the Acousticase PLUS the Zalman Reserator. But it's an expensive proposition.
 
mm.. well I wasn't about to go pay like 200 dollars for a case. Is there any other alternatives that are around 140 dollars at max?

I was looking at the Antec Sonata.. but then I got to worrying, if I did buy that case, I'm afraid that I wouldn't have good airflow with just two fans. My pc gets hot pretty fast, usually it's 80-90 here in Idaho and it's really dry, my pc is in my upstairs, it doesn't get decently cold till the night where I can open my window, I have no A/C or anything 🙁
 
The Antec 3700 BQE is superior in every way to the Sonata. And 2 fans are fine. They're 120mm fans.

If I were you I'd go for a 3700 BQE (or the new smaller 2650 BQE) and a Zalman Reserator. That will be the best way to get silence, and you won't need to worry about fans at all.
 
I just bought a vantec aeroflow with the tmd fan, it spins at almost 6000 rpms and is 38 db.. so I don't think that'll be that loud inside the case. The main reason my pc is so loud right now is because of all the case fans I have right now to maintain all my airflow.
 
Originally posted by: nboy22
I just bought a vantec aeroflow with the tmd fan, it spins at almost 6000 rpms and is 38 db.. so I don't think that'll be that loud inside the case. The main reason my pc is so loud right now is because of all the case fans I have right now to maintain all my airflow.
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38dB is REALLY loud. The fans in my case are all rated under 20dB. That's like 3x quieter....

If you can, I would return that HSF and get one that's actually quiet. 6000 rpms is ridiculous. The only thing that should be going that fast in your case is your hard drives. The Zalman 7000 Cu would be a much better choice on a budget, or if you want top performance plus top quietness, go for an Thermalright heatsink w/ a 92mm Acoustifan.

Unless you have some CRAZY case fans, your new HSF is louder than then.
 
actually, it's quieter than my 80 mm fans around my case.. so and plus, I'm on a tighter budget so I can't afford to go out and buy a 200 dollar water cooling system just yet. I'm just looking for a decent case that will be much quieter than the one I have now, yet provide good airflow. My processor seems to get really hot, and I need a cool case like all the time because of the fact that I have a board with the faulty capacitors. 🙁
 
That's ok. While silencing does like to eat up hundreds of dollars ($500 of mine so far...) it doesn't necessarily require a lot of money.

First off, what case do you have now?

Second, I'm telling you, that HSF is too loud.

Third, why do you think your CPU is too hot? Are you getting lock ups?
 
I'm not getting lockups, but I did used to have 60 C temps, which was taking the temps all over my case and I believe it was ending up doing the damage to my capacitors. I have an enermax case, this is the pic of the inside of it -> HERE
 
I'm very concerned about that little fan on the lower left of the case. He seems like a screamer.

Can't you RMA your board for one with good capacitors? Silencing is basically trading temperatures for noise. You don't see to be able to afford higher temperatures, or your motherboard may crap out...

I can't really tell you to rip stuff out and get quieter stuff, because that may make your case hotter, and blow your motherboard up.
 
I'd go along with that fan controller idea - now that the cables are all neat and tidy, no need for so much airflow 🙂. I'm personally looking at the superflower one, but there's a thread here on it. Tom's Hardware have a review on them too (pay more attention to the individual details than the ratings Tom's Hardware gives - don't know what they're thinking with some of them).
 
Nebor: the small fan is kinda loud.. As for the RMA on the mobo, do you think they'd let me do it with a 2 year old board?? Or maybe I'll check, I might've gotten a 2-3 year warranty on it. I'm still thinking about getting a decently quiet case, but is there no good solutions with decent airflow?
 
Degrador: Maybe I'll get a fan controller first, then check out the case section if I want to go further
 
Originally posted by: Nebor
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and don't btoher trying with muffling or foams ...totally useless considering the amount of holes a case has. dansdata.com has a thing on it. and i've learned from personal experience, waste of money. unless you come up with elaborate case with baffled mufflers sticking out all over and all that insanity, silence the source, trying to muffle is way harder
Click to expand...

They beg to differ.
Click to expand...


well of course they do, they are selling their stuff😉 but unless you go hardcore, putting a sheet or two inside a case isn't enough. i've tried using 1" and 1/2" skinned accoustic foam inc ases before. just made for sh*tty cooling and not much reduction. if you go hardcore and do a total seal/baffles/mufflers whatever..maybe. but thats more worth then its worth
 
Originally posted by: oldfart
Why 5 case fans? Seems pretty excessive. What are you trying to cool?
Click to expand...

i have 5. its not that many really, on many dragon type cases its like 2 front, 2 rear, one side. front intakes, one or two cooling hd's, rear exhausts, side intake over vid card. lower rpm on em and its fine. and if you have summer heat wave...fan controller lets you turn it into a wind tunnel🙂 or.. if you go the filter route, you get adequate cooling, since filters inevitably cut down drastically on airflow
 
Originally posted by: oldfart
I have 1. I'm cooling a P4 2.6 @ 3.3 GHz.
Click to expand...

Yeah, these guys just don't get it. One case fan is more than enough for most PCs.

The thing about Acousticfoam isn't so much that it absorbs sound as that it absorbs vibration. My case is very "dead" with the foam installed. It doubled the weight of my side panels, and they don't make a ring or shallow noise when you knock on them. That way any vibrations that do travel to my case through fans or the motherboard doesn't rattle my case.
 
I cant see how 5 - 7 case fans could be quiet. I have (1) L1A and use Speedfan to automatically vary the RPM based on temp. The single L1A is a bit loud @ full rpm. I run it @ 65% rpm @ low load/temp. It goes to 100% when @ full load. If someone is looking to build a quiet system, dont put in a ton of fans, They are not needed. If I can cool a P4 @ 3.3 GHz with (1) L1A, I cant see why so many case fans are needed for any normal system. The PS fan also removes heat from the system. My system is as quiet as my neighbors Dell.
 
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