Noise reduction - Advice wanted!

[Samadhi]

Greetings oh wise Hexus members!

(Originally posted this in the MESH forum, thought I'd repost here to get a bigger audience.)

Well, just received a new machine, and it's a beast: MESH Elite2 GTX, X6800 Core 2 Extreme and 2 x nVidia 7950 GX2 (Quad SLI FTW!). However my wife is not happy - it's significantly louder than our old one. /sigh

I was actually fairly happy with the level of fan noise given the hardware inside the box. I mean, this thing is hardcore. However I have to concede it is a pretty loud, constant hum. Seven fans will do that (not counting the PSU). I'm sure she'll get used to it, but I'm hoping there are some things I can do to reduce the noise, especially when idling. (The machine is in our open-plan downstairs area, and is on all day.)

So, strategy 1: Q-Fan 2. I've enabled this in the bios for PWN connected fans, and both the front and rear chassis fan appear to be connected to the motherboard. (ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe) However it hasn't made a blind bit of difference. Haven't really played with the settings (and there are loads), anyone out there managed to get this working? Is there OS level settings / software required? If I can reduce the idle-state noise level I will be a hero, and can go back to gaming in peace.

Strategy 2: Software utilities. I've installed nTune 5, which is ostensibly for overclocking the nVidia cards, but does allow fan control. (2 x 7950 GX2's means 4 fans.) However the cards are already running pretty hot - 72C - and adjusting the fan speed through this utility didn't seem to affect noise level at all. Anything else I could try? Any other bits of software that may help?

Strategy 3: Liquid cooling. Not something I've installed before, but the kits don't look too expensive and the chassis has the holes next to the PSU to run pipes out to an external radiator, if required. Anyone set this up on a MESH Elite2 box? I'm a bit nervous about the graphics cards, are there specific kits for the 7950 GX2's yet? Any recommended brands?

Any other strategies I can look at? (Packing the machine in pillows has been considered, rejected as a fire hazard.)

Thanks all!

[chuckskull]

Waterooling will work, but it aint cheap, and you'll need a serious setup to cool that lot. Another option is better fans and a box of http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=378737

[Nox]

Cheapest option is to buy her an ipod.

Nox

[tinners]

Cheapest option is to buy her an ipod.

Nox

Wouldnt recommend watercooling a new Mesh PC as I'm pretty sure it will invalidate your warranty.

The new kits are pretty easy to install though, but not sure about your graphics card waterblock setup though.

Did find one here (search on Cool-Matic 7950GX2) off the back of this article.

You can try replacing your fans with quieter ones (see http://www.quietpc.com ) but if its the gfx making the noise then you need to look at cooling options for that and I'm not sure what aftermarket coolers are available for the GTX being 2 cards in one

[Samadhi]

Thanks all! Glad to see I've found the humour thread.

Looking at watercooling, and yes it's not too cheap. Blocks are now available for the 7950 GX2 cards, but upwards of £90 per card means a full system is going to cost the same as a new PC. iPod definitely cheaper. Might go for it a next year, when the lure of overclocking gets me... (Will check warranty situation.)

So insulation and quiet fans FTW!

Thanks again. I'll report back on any success / failure / divorce.

[frazered]

speed fan will help you control the speed of your fans

the real difference will be with replacing the source of the noise, i.e. the fans that are in situ, the cpu cooler, psu? (sounds like you have a beasty loud one?) and the gfx fans...

I am guessing the cpu cooler is probably the main spurce of noise followed by the psu... I also guess you don't want to invalodate the warranty - this make is mighty hard!

i have just installed an acoustipack for my antec sonata case - made a good diferrence noise wise, you may also want to suspend or insulate your hdd's this could help...

recommend you visit

http://www.silentpcreview.com

[amjedm]

recommend you visit

http://www.silentpcreview.com

very good site that

[Samadhi]

Hiya,

Thought I'd give an update on this in case anyone else is in the same boat.

Last night I adjusted the Q-Fan settings and voila! Success!


So I can now set both the CPU and case fan to only kick in at certain temperatures. In fact, it offers an initial 25% load at one threshold, followed by 100% at another. Very flexible. Combining this with Asus Probe II (brilliant bit of monitoring software) has allowed me to identify the CPU fan as the main noise culprit. (As someone mentioned.) That thing sounds like a jet engine when it gets going. When it's off the machine is quiet as a mouse, so CPU and the 4 GPU fans are already pretty quiet.

A quick note on monitoring software: I now use Asus Probe II to monitor CPU and chipset temps, as well as CPU and case fan speeds. It also offers various voltage monitors, but those don't mean much to me. I'm also using Everest software to monitor the temperature of all four GPUs as well as the two hard drives.

Just got a call from the wife: Q-Fan is causing some annoying behaviour. The CPU fan keeps kicking in for second, then cutting out. Makes it sound like the machine is revving it's jet engine. So I've talked her through disabling the Q-Fan function, will tweak settings to tonight to try and avoid this. (Obviously as the CPU crosses a threshold the fan kicks in, and the CPU immediately falls below said threshold - stopping the fan. Hmmm.)

The answer may well be the a quieter CPU fan. I've been looking at www.quietpc.com and it looks like there's a nice new Zalman CPU fan (CNPS 9700) that runs very quiet. I'll have a look at http://www.silentpcreview.com as well. I'll update again if I go down this route.

Thanks all!

[Skillian]

Just wanted to add another recommendation for the freeware program Speedfan.

Does a great job of automatically controlling the fans based on temps, very customisable and as long as I've used it has never caused any fans to "rev up" or kick in momentarily.