any way to quiet down my processor fan?

  • Thread starter Thread starter a27thletter
  • Start date Start date
A

a27thletter

New member
my matsonic mother board came with a stock cpu fan that is constantly running and is quite loud. I recently transfered my entire computer set up to one of those cool little antek cube cases and the power supply fan is pretty much silent on it, as well as the little system blower that came with it, so now i want to find a way to make my cpu fan quiet because if i could then my whole system would be silent. would any of you recomment removing that stock fan and just putting another external fan in there pointing to the heat sink on the processor? i looked in my bios but couldnt find a way to adjust the fan speed.
 
a27thletter said:
would any of you recomment removing that stock fan and just putting another external fan in there pointing to the heat sink on the processor?
Click to expand...
Don't even think about it. That's a surefire way of frying your CPU.

Instead take a look at the Zalman CPU fans. They are huge, but are very quiet. Also take a look at companies such as Thermaltake. In any case, check the clearaces inside the cube, to make sure they'll fit.
 
noisewreck said:
Don't even think about it. That's a surefire way of frying your CPU.

Instead take a look at the Zalman CPU fans. They are huge, but are very quiet. Also take a look at companies such as Thermaltake. In any case, check the clearaces inside the cube, to make sure they'll fit.
Click to expand...

Depending on the CPU, you MIGHT be able to get away with a fanless heat sink and a case fan with a higher CFM rating.

What's the CPU? I'm guessing VIA, but what specific CPU?
 
i believe frozencpu.com sells a few silent replacement fants
 
from my motherboard booklet>>>"this motherboard has an onboard amd athlon xp/athlon/duron processor"
 
You need more info. Go to "My Computer" and right click on the screen - check for system properties.
 
zalman makes good fans.. but, they dont fit every motherboard.. dont listen to these guys, do NOT get a fanless heatsink for your processor, especially in a small form case.. this IS a good way to melt your transistors and burn out your cpu.. if you want complete silence, and the PC doesnt move often, and you arent affraid to do some stuff to it, look at the ThermalTake Bigwater SE kit.. its a complete watercool kit.. it brings the temps down a hair (not a lot) and is almost silent.. you'll just hear a littl ebit of "dripping" ..

fans will most likely always be noisy, i have an all brass zalman fan.. unfortunately, its about 2lbs and i had to make some modifications for it to fit on my motherboard.. but, it is nice and quiet :)
 
smileypaul said:
zalman makes good fans.. but, they dont fit every motherboard.. dont listen to these guys, do NOT get a fanless heatsink for your processor, especially in a small form case.. this IS a good way to melt your transistors and burn out your cpu..
Click to expand...

Depends on the CPU. The manufacturer mentioned does make a lot of boards with VIA CPUs. Some motherboards with VIA CPUs are actually designed for fanless operation in tiny cases (Mini-ITX form factor). That's why I asked what CPU was involved.

But yes, given that now we know that we're talking about an AMD chip, a fanless CPU would be a bad idea. :D


smileypaul said:
if you want complete silence, and the PC doesnt move often, and you arent affraid to do some stuff to it, look at the ThermalTake Bigwater SE kit.. its a complete watercool kit.. it brings the temps down a hair (not a lot) and is almost silent.. you'll just hear a littl ebit of "dripping" ..
Click to expand...

Water coolers rock, but you have to be careful installing it. A leak can seriously wreck things. :D
 
Just download Speedfan:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

It will allow you to adjust everything on your SMBUS. Read the faq and make sure you DL a profile from you mainboard

t brings the temps down a hair (not a lot) and is almost silent.. you'll just hear a littl ebit of "dripping" ..
Click to expand...

Uh no and no. Water cooling is not silent, it is quieter but the pump and the water circulating does make noise (sounds like a little fridge). And it does drop the temperature ALOT, I run a P4 Prescott 3.4 (a very hot and power hungry chip) with my orginal huge ass copper heat sink and 80mm fan, it would idle at ~55 Deg and at full load it would sometimes hit 70. With my waterchill rig my idle is about 40 and at full load it never goes past 48 so it dropped the operating temp down almost 15 deg at idle and the difference between idle and full load went down by more than half so that is HUGE change

If you want quiet, newer chips dont need as much cooling and there are several good passive heatsinks out there, but keep in mind they are very large. My northbridge fan is the most noticable on my box but with speedfan I can comforably run it down to 20% and you cant hear it at that level
 
Last edited:
"And it does drop the temperature ALOT, I run a P4 Prescott 3.4 "

how about no, no and no? the amount of cooling provided varies per setup.. and not every chip runs close to 70 under load.. clearly you know that prescotts always ran very very hot... not every machine will get the same results as ou, especially with a weak system.. if you're not over clocking, the only two advantages to liquid cooling is a quieter pc (much quieter in some cases) and a cooler chipset ..
 
altitude909 said:
Uh no and no. Water cooling is not silent, it is quieter but the pump and the water circulating does make noise (sounds like a little fridge).
Click to expand...

A lot of that is usually the result of transmission from the pump into the case through direct acoustic transmission via bolts, etc., making the entire case (and possibly the table/desk below it) act a bit like the sound board in a piano. Some folks have suggested using a porous rubber (e.g. by cutting up an old, thick mouse pad) as an isolator. Do not use hard rubber (e.g. grommets), as that will do next to nothing for you.

Another cause is too much back pressure, often caused by having sharp 90-degree bends in the pump design, couplers along the tube, etc. Avoid sharp bends at all costs.

If installed properly, a good water cooling system should be very nearly silent.
 
I use a "Zalman CNPS7000-CU" and it is allmost totally Silent and it is a Heavey Duty Cooler.....

You can Pick them up for about $30 and will Install In Most Motherboards and CPU Configurations....

I have a P-4 Northwood 2.6ghz with a 800mhz FSB but I have it Overclocked to 3.2ghz and the Zalman Keeps it below 40c on a Load and at about 30c on Idle which is way cooler than most NON-Overclocked CPU"s and I can not hear it over my PSU or other Fans which makes it perfect for Silent High performance Systems (even though yours isn"t a High performance System)...

cheers
 
If installed properly, a good water cooling system should be very nearly silent.
Click to expand...

And your basing this on what? Experience? Hearsay? Just curious.

ppl dont water cool systems for the sound level, they cool it because water conducts heat 20 times faster than air. The rad still uses a very large fan (albeit it does run v slow) but all the sound that comes from the rig comes via impeller in the pump, the water being forced through the piping, plus the 120mm fan. No case noise, no vibration. This is maybe less than a quarter of the noise of my orginal fan but nearly silent? no way

the amount of cooling provided varies per setup
Click to expand...

Uh, the amount of cooling is the amount of heat the rig can remove, it does not change from setup to setup. Tempertures are always relative in a system and do not represent real temperture numbers

especially with a weak system
Click to expand...

Y would anyone install a $300+ water cooling rig and spend the HOURS required to drill the case, test the system, and maintain it(the water needs to be changed every3 months) where they could get the comparable results with a vapor or passive heat sink for a low power chip?

and a cooler chipset
Click to expand...

Water cooling rigs do nothing to cool the chipset, only the CPU, unless you buy a separate water block which can run up to $100. In fact they will generally increase chipset temperatures since there is no longer a big fan on the CPU to circulate the air
 
altitude909 said:
And your basing this on what? Experience? Hearsay? Just curious.
Click to expand...

Basing it on my quad G5. The hard drive makes more noise. That constitutes "virtually silent" in my mind. No, it isn't silent, but it's darn close.


altitude909 said:
ppl dont water cool systems for the sound level, they cool it because water conducts heat 20 times faster than air. The rad still uses a very large fan (albeit it does run v slow) but all the sound that comes from the rig comes via impeller in the pump, the water being forced through the piping, plus the 120mm fan. No case noise, no vibration. This is maybe less than a quarter of the noise of my orginal fan but nearly silent? no way
Click to expand...

The pump does make a slight hum, and that's where a lot of the noise comes from. If it isn't isolated thoroughly, the whole case will hum.


altitude909 said:
Y would anyone install a $300+ water cooling rig and spend the HOURS required to drill the case, test the system, and maintain it(the water needs to be changed every3 months) where they could get the comparable results with a vapor or passive heat sink for a low power chip?
Click to expand...

The water does not need to be changed every three months if the system is designed correctly. The PowerMac water cooled system discourages users from ever attempting to do so. You do, however, have to use something other than pure water.


altitude909 said:
Water cooling rigs do nothing to cool the chipset, only the CPU, unless you buy a separate water block which can run up to $100. In fact they will generally increase chipset temperatures since there is no longer a big fan on the CPU to circulate the air
Click to expand...

I think it is assumed that if you are doing water cooling for noise, you either water cool everything (at additional expense) or nothing.
 
AFAIK, G5s are heat pipe cooled which is considerably different from the traditional Block-> Res -> Pump -> Rad system which is what u see in PCs. I use distilled water with a algaecide but glycol would destroy and commerically available pump in days
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top