Changing and adding case fans? With picture and full description

turbopixel

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SPECS

Case: Antec P280
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme6
PSU: Super Flower Leadex Gold 650 W
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230v3
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4
RAM: 16 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600 CL9
Drives: 2*SSD, 2*HD, 1*BD Burner


MY GOAL

The system should be more quiet while on low load action, like reading in web
browser and when no music or other sound is playing. I am thinking of replacing
outer case fans for less noise and adding internal case fans for helping to
cool hd drives, gpu and psu a little, while beeing silent. On low load situation
currently only the case fans are a little too loud to me. The whole system is
still almost silent, but that is something which can be done better. I am
concentrating to case fans now.

These are the alternatives I thought about, just some ideas:

be quiet! Silent Wings 2 PWM 120mm
1500 rpm, 85.8 m³/h, 1.63mm H₂O, 15.7 dBA, 4-14v, 2.4 W, 4-pin
I don't know if I can use the vibration absorber or whats called.
http://geizhals.de/be-quiet-silent-wings-2-120mm-bl062-a745182.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-1
800 rpm, 57.3 m³/h, 0.58mm H₂O, 7.8 dBA, 3.9-13.8V, 0.33 W, 3-pin
Is this strong enough? I think only the cpu side is needed to be cooled.
http://geizhals.de/noiseblocker-nb-eloop-b12-1-itr-b12-1-a820044.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

What do you think would be the best for my case? I just don't know.


DESCRIPTION

1) Case fans
The 3 case fans are taking the warm air from cpu out. They are controlled by
case and have two speed modes: fast and slow. I use them generally on slow mode,
because its not that loud and the performance is enough even if I benchmark at
hot summer days. The manual says:

120 mm TwoCool specification
120 * 120 * 25 mm
12v DC
Low setting: 900 rpm, 0.18 A, 0.84 m³/min (30.1 cfm), 0.49 mm-H²O, 16.9 dBA, 2.2 W
High setting: 1500 rpm, 0.30 A, 1.43 m³/min (51.2 cfm), 1.21 mm-H²O, 27.9 dBA, 3.6 W

2) CPU cooler
The big tower could do the work without the installed fan I think. The fan on
the right side takes the air and pressures through the cooler to the other side,
which will be handled by case fan afterwards. The setting is set on bios to low
speed, which is around 600-700 rpm. This is the default for me and it is enough
in all cases. Its already almost inaudible. Only if I change to next step up to
over 1000 rpm or more (I did not any note on that), it gets audible noise. I
just don't need that setting. I think, I can leave this as it is.

3) GPU
The graphics card have its own solution. The surroundings does not heat it up.
The fans are set to off, if on low load. At high load or if it is hot inside,
the fans are starting to spin. It works great. I do not overclock and on high
load it does not exceed 71° (if I'm not mistaken). Currently on low load (while
writing this) it is 40° hot and fans are stopped.

4) PSU
Like the GPU, this unit have its own solution and there is nothing surrounding
which would heat it up. The unit is very silent on low load operation and at
high load, I don't know. This is absolutely no issue, no heat and no noise
issue.

5) Additional Case fans
This is one place where I could put two additional case fans to support gpu,
psu and the hard drives. The cables on are not in the way, just a little. The
hard drives are not used much. Most of the time the ssds on top are used (os is
installed on ssd). I think the temperature of the hd and ssd is no issue here.
 

WYNIR0

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Aug 20, 2015
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Looking at the manual, the supplied fans look to be nice and quiet at the low setting, however I'm not sure what airflow they produce. I'd look to replace the existing fans with Corsair AF series fans and also add at least one further intake fan in the front of the case.

I see no problem with your current cooler or its fan.
 

turbopixel

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May 18, 2015
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There is no real problem. Temperatures are ok, even without intake fan for the case. I just want replace the top and back fans for even more quiet operation on low load. Thats all. They aren't loud, but I want optimize it and would pay premium price for fans. I don't know what type of fan I should take. Should I replacing the existing case fans with something controlled by mainboard? Do I need PWM then? After reading some pages, these are the most interesting to me:

2*Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-1 for top fans, they can be slower
1*Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-2 for back output fan, this can be stronger
1*Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B12-2 for intake and after the area of hard discs

If I can control them with my mainboard, can I set them to lower speed?
Like my cpu cooler fan. I can set it to different modes from mainbaord.
 

WYNIR0

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The PWM fans should be automatically controlled by the motherboard. There's usually further control options in BIOS or you can use a utility such as Speedfan to set your own fan curve,

I don't have any experience of the fans you list, but from the webpage they seem ok to me.
 

turbopixel

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After carefully reading comparisons nd reviews of the famous noiseblocker fans (the ones I listed) are one of the most quiet fans and the chatacteristics of the minimal sound it generates is mich better than most others. The PWM versions are a little behind than the fixes 3-pin versions. So I took the fixed 800 rpm and 1300 rpm versions. Now its too late, I already prdered today.

My mainboard is able to set a custom fan Curve. But which fans do support this?
 

WYNIR0

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I believe that 3 pin fans can also vary fan speed, but the PWM fans are more accurate. I may be wrong as I only tend to use PWM