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Determining If I Need To Change Case Fans

Arcanyx
By Arcanyx
in Cooling
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Hi, so recently the rear-panel (air-outtake) case fan in my Sharkoon VG4-W case died out and I replaced it with a Cooler Master MasterFan Pro 120mm RGB. I do some audio recordings on a Blue Yeti and recently realised that the mic has been picking up the noise coming from the case fan - I'm usually on headphones the moment I get to my desk so I didn't actually pick this up until re-watching my recordings (mic is even set to cardioid, faced away from the source of the sound) . Lately I've realised the noise is definitely noticeable even when the computer is just turned on, which wasn't the case with the previous generic Sharkoon case fan.

 

My goal would be to try and minimise the sound to the point where my streams/recordings won't be able to pick it up on the mic.

 

A few of my questions:

1. Is there a difference between connecting a case fan to a molex connector or the motherboard 4-pin connector? The CM case fan is currently on a molex connection, and I don't have a fan controller at this time. I am on an Asus H110M-D motherboard.

2. The MasterFan Pro has a sound rating of between 6 and 20 dBA; most other recommended 'silent' fans are advertised to be around that range as well. Am I missing something here?

 

Here are some of my options at the moment at my local stores:
Noctua NF-F12 PWM - https://www.lazada.com.my/products/noctua-nf-f12-pwm-premium-optimised-fan-120mm-i629086-s718785.html
Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 3000 PWM - https://www.lazada.com.my/products/noctua-nf-f12-industrialppc-3000-pwm-high-grade-pc-chassis-fan-i629776-s719525.html

Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 - https://www.lazada.com.my/products/be-quiet-silent-wings-3-120mm-chassis-fan-i100553093-s100790226.html

 

Thoughts and advice are appreciated. Thanks!

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1. No fan speed control on molex, but have speed control when directly connected to PWM fan header

 

2. these ratings dont mean much, just tune fan speeds manually. Without fan speed control all the fans you listed are loud, especially the 3000rpm Noctua

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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7 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

1. No fan speed control on molex, but have speed control when directly connected to PWM fan header

 

2. these ratings dont mean much, just tune fan speeds manually. Without fan speed control all the fans you listed are loud, especially the 3000rpm Noctua

Thanks for the reply!

What would your suggestion be? As long as I can reduce the noise I would definitely be keen to invest in the components/changes.

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4 hours ago, Arcanyx said:

Thanks for the reply!

What would your suggestion be? As long as I can reduce the noise I would definitely be keen to invest in the components/changes.

use splitters to connect all fans to either two of the 4pin fan headers. If you have 3pin fans and 4pin fans at the same time, then 3pin fans connect to one header, the rest goes to the other header.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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9 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

use splitters to connect all fans to either two of the 4pin fan headers. If you have 3pin fans and 4pin fans at the same time, then 3pin fans connect to one header, the rest goes to the other header.

Thanks for the tip.

 

Would something like this suffice?
 

https://www.lazada.com.my/products/4-pin-pwm-fan-cable-1-to-3-ways-splitter-black-sleeved-extension-cable-i104229289-s105388482.html?

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4 minutes ago, Arcanyx said:

Thanks for the tip.

 

Would something like this suffice?
 

https://www.lazada.com.my/products/4-pin-pwm-fan-cable-1-to-3-ways-splitter-black-sleeved-extension-cable-i104229289-s105388482.html?

yes, make sure the sum of current ratings of fans plugged into 1 header on the board don't exceed 1A in total

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

yes, make sure the sum of current ratings of fans plugged into 1 header on the board don't exceed 1A in total

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate the help! I'll update once the cable arrives and report back my findings.

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