Help Silent My PC
 

I have the following components in a MicroATX Antec Three Hundred Case. Been trying to find the components that's causing alot of Fan noise. It's pretty loud even when the case is inside a cabinet of my computer desk.

I have the following "moving" components:

- 2 140mm Antec TriCool Fan with 3 speed control. (Both adjusted to Low for dual exhaust)
- 2 120mm CoolerMaster (http://products.ncix.com/detail/cool...n-a4-42176.htm), used as front intake
- CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Heatsink, using a 120MM Coolermaster fan that came with it as an exhaust
- MSI ATI RADEON 7790 (stock fan)
- OCZ 500W OCZ500SXS PSU

What kind of noise are you hearing? Vibrations? Wind noise?

Not sure about the 140mm Antecs, I'm guessing 700rpm should be pretty quite on those. The Coolermaster R4s are LOUD, look into getting something better. Noctua, BeQuiet, and Scythe are my main choices there. NF-S12, Gentle Typhoon 1450, etc. Something under 1500rpm is good, plugged to a voltage-control motherboard pin, even better.

Are you overclocking? The Hyper 212 is pretty good, like with the case fans shove one from a better brand on there. Noctua NF-F12s are what I have on my radiator right now.

Not much to do with the PSU. The other thing might be vibrations from your hard drive(s), you can look into either suspending them (mod involving elastic harness), or you can put some vibration dampening on your case. Otherwise, new case?

The good fans tend to be pricey btw, I've probably spent more on fans over the years than what I spent on my Fractal R4 case.

Edit: Oh, and if you have any pictures of your case and interior, please post them. Thanks!

When I want to find out which fan is noisy, I stop each fan, one at a time by placing my finger on the fan hub. When the noise goes away, the fan I have my finger on is the noisy one.

LuHua,

I'm getting Wind Noise. I don't think my hard drives are loud, as the wind noise is drowning out everything (if there's any HD noise at all).

Yes I am overclocking.

It looks like I'm gonna need to invest in better fans. Those Noctua's are pretty pricey.

Undervolt your fans?. That's what I did and it was peace quiet, then it gets too hot in the summer or when I play games, so I reverted everything back to normal.

If it's just wind noise (hissing, whooshing sound), or turbulence, I'm betting on it being the coolermaster fans. Try slowing them down or turning them off as Euro mentioned. If that quiets the whole thing down then maybe look into the new fans.

I've had pretty good experiences with the (slightly) cheaper Scythes as well, such as the slip streams, also Gelid, Cougar, and a few others aren't bad for the price. When you get into the higher ranges like the Gentle Typhoons, which are a well-known radiator/heatsink fan, or the Noctuas you kind of starting paying for the brand as well, but the quality is definitely there. See how much you're willing to dish out, read a few reviews, then decide.

Just unplugged the two CoolerMaster front intake fans, so much quieter now, but still not ideal yet. I'm looking at replacing the front intakes and the heatsink fan with the Scythe Gentle Typhoons, will it work?

look into noctua fans, then see if the fans are directly in behind anything, if the fan are directly in front of the harddrive cages it will create more turbulence and make more noise.

and what kind of case do you have? silent or quite cases also helps

I pull air in from behind the case.
There are those honeycomb fan grill which creates a bunch of wind noise. Most likely from turbulence.
I notice if you move the fan just a few mm away from the grill, the noise is gone.

So I use a longer screw and place some nuts as spacers to create a gap between the grill and the fan.

Now there's no wind noise!

My front intakes are blowing directly towards the HD cage.

Antec Three Hundred

I have the honeycomb fan grill at the front.

ah the three hundred isn't really a quiet case so that's pretty normal.

honestly if you want to make it quiet 1st step fans, then if you like you can spend a little more to get a better case for the job.

my computer is so quiet I can't hear it when it's on.

after you do your fans,

Newegg.ca - SilverStone Silent Foam SF01, Sound Dampening Acoustic EP0M Foam Material, Black, 21"x15", 4mm thick, 2 pcs

do acoustic foam, best thing ive done after fans.

How do I install the Noctua NF-F12 fan to the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus Heatsink?

The existing stock CPU Fan has a bracket that attaches onto the Heatsink, but the Noctua doesn't.

so you want 2 fans on that heatsink?

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/uplo...ery/full/1.jpg

fans on both sides instead of one?

they should have retaining brackets on each side if not sap straps.

I have the Noctua D14 and a lot of noise comes from it, because of all the air hitting the metal fins. So you may have a similar problem with your 212.

Are the brackets black plastic? If so they have screws under the rubber cushions, so you just carefully take those pieces off and unscrew the bracket from the fan. The brackets are supposed to be transferred to the new fan, and you might have to take the rubber corners off the NF-F12 for it to fit.