Fan Speed/ Noise

[cerozero]

Hey, this is my first time posting here, so sorry if I posted in the wrong place but i have an annoying problem.
My fan is extremly loud most likely because it is running very fast but i can't tell what its rpm is because every program i've tried won't tell me its RPM. I have tried Speedfan, CPU-z, and Everst but none of them tell me my rpm. Any solutions? My friend gave me the computer saying it runs well but is extremely loud. The fan speed sometimes calms down and runs nice and smoothly without making any noise but most of the time it doesn't. It is so loud. I have cleaned the dust out many times and i just installed windows 7 but even before that it was loud. Its temperature is usually 44 degrees but the fan speeds up like crazy. Any ideas on how to slow it down? And if not, do you think if i bought a silent fan, it would make a difference?

Windows 7
Dimension 9150
Pentium D 830
3GB of ram
Nidec Fan(not sure exactly what kind) 120 mm ( i think)

 

[Toxxyc]

Yeah a silent fan would probably do the trick. Get an aftermarket cooler that will fit in the case, like the Zalman CNPS95000 or the Gigabyte G-Power 2.

 

[das_stig]

Yeh, spend a few extra ££ and get a good 3rd party, normally come with thermal paste applied or in a tube that should get the temps down even more, resulting in fan spinning even slower = quiet.

 

[cerozero]

I was thinking about getting a Noctua fan/heatsink, the reviews of it are great. I know that the Noctua NH-D14 works for my socket type but how do I know if I will be able to mount it to my motherboard without it touching other harware parts, for example the graphics card? Sorry i'm really knew to this hardware stuff. Also what do you guys think about the Noctua NH-D14?

 

[cerozero]

Hey guys its me again, and i realized that my fan speed tends to go up as my processor voltage increases. My processor voltage output is 1.29V when it is doing nothing, but sometimes it shoots up to 1.42V doing nothing and the fan speeds up. Also i heard somewhere that Pentium D has really bad voltage output to the fan which makes it speed up? Any ideas on how I could maybe control it? And do new fans come with fan control?

 

[Toxxyc]

You can get a fan with speed control like the Antec TriCool series fans. They come with a 3-stage speed setting and in sizes from 80mm and up (92mm included). They are relatively cheap, and VERY nice to have (I have two of them in my case, they're really not bad at all). They come with a wired remote slide switch that allows for fan speeds of 1500RPM (quiet computing), 2000RPM (meh? noise levels) and 2600RPM (blow-vac style wind movement at higher noise levels). Even at max RPM though the fan is rated at 30dB (without obstructions, obviously), so it's still not all that noisy as it may seem. In a closed case it's quite quiet.

 

[cerozero]

Okay thank you I will check it out. And I think I found out why its so loud, I was talking about it with a friend and he said Pentium D's are known for using to much power and somehow that its causing the fan to spin like crazy. And sure enough i found a whole article on it. So basically I have to get a new fan and if that doesn't work, maybe upgrade to a pentium d 900.

 

[cerozero]

Best answer selected by cerozero.