CM 120 Elite, layout change. Thoughts?

[Stylis10]

Hi,

I currently have my main PC on my desk and it is set up inside a CM 120 Elite case.
It currently sounds like a mini hoover is sat on my desk the sound is incredibly loud!

I have done a quick mock up on paint showing the original layout from the side view and my proposed layout. Can anyone tell me if this might reduce the noise in the case at all having a direct flow.
there is graphics card on the other side of the case, but i dont think me not putting that in in the picture should be a problem, the PSU will exhaust the hot air on the opposite side of graphics card.



Also, I'm going to be buying a new CPU Cooler and I would like to get two new 120mm silent case fans, the one at the front needs to be a slim one due to the way i shall be modding the case to raise that fan.

Any recommendations for any of the hardware I need is greatly appreciated

[kalniel]

Could you show the direction of airflow including from PSU fan?

[Stylis10]

Could you show the direction of airflow including from PSU fan?

I added arrows to the image sorry they are quite poor (was using tablet), will do a better image when I am back at pc.

[kalniel]

Thanks. At a first glance, it looks like the revised layout will have worse airflow (in terms of the fans etc.), so I would work on tweaking the original one. Do you need a second 120mm fan behind the HDD cage? Can you use a CPU cooler that works inline with the front-back airflow? Do you need the side 80mm cooler and if so, can you replace this with a slower 120mm one?

[Stylis10]

Oh really? I thought creating more room from the front intake fan to the cpu cooler would get better air flow, also the movement of the psu means i can have a better cpu cooler, otherwise i am limited to low profile coolers.

As for having a second fan behind the HDD cage, i dont need it there i just thought it helped to get air to my cpu.

[kalniel]

HDD cages don't impact airflow much unless they are crammed full of hard drives and cables In your revised layout the front airflow is being sucked through the PSU rather than making it through to your CPU.

Maybe if you invert the PSU so that it's sucking in air from under the case it would improve things for layout 2.

[Stylis10]

Aah I see. Yes, currently the hdd cage is filled with 2 HDDs and a huge bunch of cables...canle management is poor and this case doesnt have a lot of room. But I'm sure i can sort out the cables.

So do i just need to get silent fans and a quiet low profile cpu cooler to reduce the insane amount of noise?

[kalniel]

So do i just need to get silent fans and a quiet low profile cpu cooler to reduce the insane amount of noise?

Depends where the noise is coming from. My wife had a shoebox computer and it got noisy under gaming loads as well, but that was due to two things 1) dust clogging up the CPU HSF - I mean really clogging up - it was like a layer of cloth on top of the heat sink fins that really affected the cooling. 2) PSU loading - she had a very powerful graphics card that pushed the PSU quite hard. Airflow wasn't much of a problem, but just sheer load on the PSU meant it spun up.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I would try and pinpoint what is making the hoover sound. Maybe speed fan if you're using motherboard headers; stop/slow each fan and find out what the problem is. Maybe unplug if you're not. I suspect the antagonist may be your cooler. In quite a few instances you can slow down your fans and although you gain a few CM it can be much quieter.

For me the best cooling would be the second one without the side coolling fan.

[DanceswithUnix]

From the hassle I have had with Silverstone cases I am not a fan of inverting that PSU, it will fight the CPU fan for air so both will suffer.

I would look at low profile CPU heatsinks. Wonder if you could fit a water cooling radiator where the hard drive cage goes?

Have seen in the past people have put a hole in the side of similar cases (Shuttles usually) to allow air in to the intake for the graphics card.

[Stylis10]

Depends where the noise is coming from. My wife had a shoebox computer and it got noisy under gaming loads as well, but that was due to two things 1) dust clogging up the CPU HSF - I mean really clogging up - it was like a layer of cloth on top of the heat sink fins that really affected the cooling. 2) PSU loading - she had a very powerful graphics card that pushed the PSU quite hard. Airflow wasn't much of a problem, but just sheer load on the PSU meant it spun up.

I currently have a GTX 460 SC and an i5 2550K (I only mention these 2 as i assume they consume the most power and the optical drive and HDD arent the heavy power consumers), My PSU is a 520W Antec Gamer. So I thought that I had sufficient power to handle all of the components.
As for the dust, yes there has been a bit of a build up since the last time I cleaned out the case (6 months ago). Im planning on cutting away all the grills on the case and replacing it with a fine mesh that will then be backed with thin dust proof cloth.

I would try and pinpoint what is making the hoover sound. Maybe speed fan if you're using motherboard headers; stop/slow each fan and find out what the problem is. Maybe unplug if you're not. I suspect the antagonist may be your cooler. In quite a few instances you can slow down your fans and although you gain a few CM it can be much quieter.

For me the best cooling would be the second one without the side coolling fan.

None of the fans are connected to the motherboard (except CPU obviously)

From the hassle I have had with Silverstone cases I am not a fan of inverting that PSU, it will fight the CPU fan for air so both will suffer.

I would look at low profile CPU heatsinks. Wonder if you could fit a water cooling radiator where the hard drive cage goes?

Have seen in the past people have put a hole in the side of similar cases (Shuttles usually) to allow air in to the intake for the graphics card.

I dont quite have the budget for a watercooling yet, although many people have put AIO watercoolers where the front 120mm fan is and just removed the HDD case.
If I could get a good AIO watercooler with a quite fan, im assuming that would reduce the noise a fair amount, but I have a budget of about £50 for all of this, so i dont think its viable

[Stylis10]

Also, just to mention, everything in my system runs at stock, there isnt really a need for me to OC, I dont know how to do it, my Motherboard doesn't support it and again just no need, My main goal here is to reduce that noise.

Also thank you all for your hep so far

[kalniel]

From the hassle I have had with Silverstone cases I am not a fan of inverting that PSU, it will fight the CPU fan for air so both will suffer.

In layout 2 it's fighting for air if you *don't* invert it. By inverting it you allow it to take air from outide the case (and expel it outside too) - it effectively becomes a separate system which can't interfere with the rest. But if it's noisy then being near the front may not be a good move.

[Stylis10]

Okay, so i just spent the last 40 odd mins attempting to better manage my cables, there are zip ties all of the place keeping the flow of air from the front case fan to the cpu as clutter free as possible, the hdd cage is as clear as it can be and I removed the fan behind the HDD cage.

I can still hear a fan inside and i definitely know its the CPU fan and not the PSU fan or the front fan (held my ear close to the psu and front fan to hear the sounds they make and as i move away they are drowned out by a different sounding fan that doesn't sound like either of then...the only other fan spinning at speed the CPU).

My current idle cpu temp has just dropped by 7C (in the last 20 mins the PC has been on) without the second 120mm fan and he cables cleared out the way.

The noise is lower,but i still definitely need to change the CPU fan.

[Stylis10]

In layout 2 it's fighting for air if you *don't* invert it. By inverting it you allow it to take air from outide the case (and expel it outside too) - it effectively becomes a separate system which can't interfere with the rest. But if it's noisy then being near the front may not be a good move.

In the second layout, inverting the PSU wouldnt be a problem a all, i would just need to make a grill at the bottom of the case to allow air intake. Would this make a better solution?

[kalniel]

Well sounds like you should get a better CPU HSF anyway, so maybe get the best one you can for the current layout first and see if that helps.