How to silence my cpu fan??

[ajay_vishvanathan]

my rig.. (as in the Sig.) is too noisy.. I can hear the fan making an irritating buzzing sound like a bee.. The sound can be heard two rooms apart and still clearly audible till the balcony of my apartment situated on a busy main road.. What should i do? Aftermarket coolers are pricey and the cpu warranty will expire.. Help!!

 

[HugoStiglitz]

ARE YOU 100% sure its your CPU FAN?
at minimum you will have a PSU fan and GPU fan in there as well.

your CPU fan speed is based on your CPU temperature.

Are you overclocking?

ensure you have things like SMARTFAN enabled in your motherboards BIOS.

Have you tried removing and applying new thermal paste & cleaning your fan.

Have you got a few 120mm case fans in the case to help air flow and removal of hot air

failing that an aftermarket cooler is going to be the solution.
generally the bigger the fan, the less RPM (noise) will be required to cool your CPU.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

as said above, there are more fans than just the CPU fan. It could be something like a cable clipping on the edge of a fan. Open it up and check ALL the fans, PSU, CPU, GPU, Chassis.

 

[yasir siddiqui]

go to bios and check fan speed, if fan speed is fast then select "normal speed" otherwise you have to purchase another lose fan from your nearest computer shop.

 

[Engima]

I have a suspicion it could be the PSU fan working hard. I have a 965BE and it only becomes noticeable when I put it under load otherwise it blends in with the noise from the case fan, all of which is not noticeable.

 

[geofelt]

It sounds to me like the cpu fan cable is touching the fan blades as it spind. Check first for that.
Possibly, the cooler fan is defective. Make certain that it is the cpu cooler fan that is making the noise. See if stopping it momentarily with your finger stops the noise.

I don't know if the cooler is covered under your warranty.

A good aftermarket cooler is not expensive. A cm hyper212 or xigmatek gaia have slow turning 120mm fans, and cost about $30 in the us.

Possibly, the noise comes from elsewhere. To help localize the sound, make a tube out of a paper or cardboard and put one end near a fan, and the other to your ear.
You should be able to pinpoint the origin of the sound.

The cpu cooler fan spins up to manage heat. In the bios, you may be able to alter the fan speed profile. Possibly set it to a constant speed acceptable to you, and just let the cpu heat up under load. That is what I do, since it seems less annoying to have a constant drone. If the cpu gets too hot, it will downclock itself for it's own preservation.
Also, something like a zalman fanmate will slow the fan down with a knob.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

thanks for the suggestions.. i changed the Thermal paste.. and the fan is a bit more silent.. its noise when its around 4.5k rpm.. higher or lower.. its not noisy.. the cpu fan i mean.. and the following picture would help you determine the airflow.. :S

the back..

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/backvig.jpg/

the front

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/80/frontjr.jpg/

the closed side

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/closedmc.jpg/

the open side..

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/openre.jpg/

the gpu.. (no space for airflow.. so opened the available covers. e.g. cd and floppy from front and broke open all the PCI pin covers from back..)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/gpuo.jpg/

only fans.. (i got three fans.. one cpu (blowing out) another is the SMPS blowing out and the third one is the case fan also blowing out..)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/onlyfans.jpg/

so practically there is no air in fan.. btw i live in India.. pretty warm country.. the state of
Andhra Pradesh and city of Hyderabad.. helps you to know the current weather (temperature) of the city..

 

[geofelt]

You have an unfortunate case which is not designed for the good cooling needed with a hot graphics card.
Can you change it ?
In the mean time, I suggest you leave the side covers off.
That will assure plenty of cooler air getting into the case.

Do not count on the power supply to do any cooling. That fan is there only to protect the power supply.

You might also experiment with changing the direction of the cpu cooler fan, so that it sucks air in through the bottom of the cooler, and sends it up toward the exit fan at the rear of the case.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

You have an unfortunate case which is not designed for the good cooling needed with a hot graphics card.
Can you change it ?
In the mean time, I suggest you leave the side covers off.
That will assure plenty of cooler air getting into the case.

Do not count on the power supply to do any cooling. That fan is there only to protect the power supply.

You might also experiment with changing the direction of the cpu cooler fan, so that it sucks air in through the bottom of the cooler, and sends it up toward the exit fan at the rear of the case.

ok.. will try that and revert..

 

[lp231]

4.5k rpm is way too loud. Looks like Cool n Quiet isn't enable in the bios so CPU fan is running at full speed. Update bios if you have to to get some silence out of it.
You can install a program call speedfan and manually adjust the CPU fan speed then check out the difference.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

4.5k rpm is way too loud. Looks like Cool n Quiet isn't enable in the bios so CPU fan is running at full speed. Update bios if you have to to get some silence out of it.
You can install a program call speedfan and manually adjust the CPU fan speed then check out the difference.

cool n quiet is enabled in BIOS..

btw geofelt.. im facing severe problem with dust settling on in my pc..
i mean if i open up the covers as you suggested.. the dust level near my home is very high.. i live on a busy main road-cum-national highway.. so lots of trucks and buses and cars that pollute a lot (people here don't care nature ) so.. got any suggestion for that bro?

 

[w0osh]

yours is a stock fan ?

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

yes.. mine is a stock fan..

did as above mentioned.. removed the covers.. changed position.. idles around 36 to 40.. playing rage.. goes till 58.. rage minimised.. its around 51.. man.. its still a lot of heat there..

but i observed that decrease in ambient temperature helped the heatsink fan control the cpu temperature.. (thats when i use AC at night) but AC is too expensive.. consumes a lot of power..

thinking of installing a desert cooler in my room.. what'dya say??

 

[geofelt]

cool n quiet is enabled in BIOS..

btw geofelt.. im facing severe problem with dust settling on in my pc..
i mean if i open up the covers as you suggested.. the dust level near my home is very high.. i live on a busy main road-cum-national highway.. so lots of trucks and buses and cars that pollute a lot (people here don't care nature ) so.. got any suggestion for that bro?

Several Antec low priced cases include intake air filters.
For example, the Antec 2000 sells here for $45:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

Several Antec low priced cases include intake air filters.
For example, the Antec 2000 sells here for $45:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074

changing the case.. only solution??

 

[lp231]

I doubt it's the case, because I build a system for my mom using that exact same case. It has a 120mm intake, 90mm exhaust, 8600GT, the CPU fan ran at round 900-1000 rpm and the thing is quiet.

 

[geofelt]

To keep out dust, you want a case with washable intake air filters.

To keep down noise, the cpu cooler fan must run slower. 4500rpm will be noisy. 1000rpm will be quiet.
You can slow the cpu cooler fan down, or replace it, but then, you may not get enough cooling.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

To keep down noise, the cpu cooler fan must run slower. 4500rpm will be noisy. 1000rpm will be quiet.
You can slow the cpu cooler fan down, or replace it, but then, you may not get enough cooling.

i know that.. but i am not risking a cpu burnout..

 

[eric418]

To maintain high rpm (assuming you have no plan to replace your fan) but hoping to reduce the noise, you may consider adding some Grease Lubricant... it's a very effective solution...

Mobil Premium Multi-Service Grease XHP (1.5ml)
Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Lubricant (2m)

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

To maintain high rpm (assuming you have no plan to replace your fan) but hoping to reduce the noise, you may consider adding some Grease Lubricant... it's a very effective solution...

Mobil Premium Multi-Service Grease XHP (1.5ml)
Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Lubricant (2m)

uh.. but grease and electronics?? is it a good combo??

 

[eric418]

You need to make sure buying the one that is designed for fan bearing and engines...

e.g. those Mobil/***/ESSO products are actually for industry use as well.

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

You need to make sure buying the one that is designed for fan bearing and engines...

e.g. those Mobil/***/ESSO products are actually for industry use as well.

can you pls. expand it??

 

[eric418]

You may be interested to check out, see if it helps...

Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Lubricant (2m) or Fan Lubricants

 

[ajay_vishvanathan]

You may be interested to check out, see if it helps...

Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease Lubricant (2m) or Fan Lubricants

thanks.. but i already screwed my pc enough.. maybe i gotta install a desert cooler or some water-less cooler tower in my house.. howz that idea?

 

[eric418]

You may even consider those decent fanless cooler, it's complete silent and no power consumption.. But you need to buy a decent one with sufficient capability.