Help needed with fan case upgrade for better cooling and quieter gaming

[kecskeimavevo]

Hey guys!

 

I have a PC which I have upgraded a couple of times, and now I'm trying to make it more quieter.

 

My case is a Cooler Master Enforcer, mobo is an Asus B450-F gaming with an AMD 3700x. CPU cooler is a Dark Rock Prod 4. My GPU is an ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming.

 

For the case there was one Cooler Master MegaFlow 200mm included in the front and I bought one more for the top of the case.
(pcpartpicker list later with the exact pieces I have)

 

The front and top fans are pulling air inside, the back fan is pushing out air as well.

My problem is with cooling the case properly but quietly. At night even if I only do casual stuff (browsing or YT) the case fans spin up and they're quite loud (I mostly have time to do stuff/play at night, but I don't want to wake my wife and child with doing it too loud...).

 

Just for trying out, I disconnected my front and top fans: It was way better in terms of noise, but obviously it was way hotter (pic later).

While I'm gaming the back fan is pushing out hot air. I can feel it pretty much...

I was thinking on ditching the big fans and get smaller, quieter ones (maybe some silent wings, or a noctua case fam). I'm even thinking on repasting the gpu for better cooling.

Pictures with the temps and the PC itself (I know, dusty as hell, I'll give it a clean when i have the time for it): https://imgur.com/a/d5Ly68i

 

PCPartPicker list with all relevant parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dgGrbh

 

What would guys try? Is the push/pull config good enough? Maybe getting an AIO might help? The dark rock pro 4 is a chunky boy, maybe it restricts air flow?

 

Thanks in advance!

[jaslion]

Make a fan profile in the bios that locks the fans at a lower rpm. These older 200mm led fans from cooler master are known to be a lot louder than their non led counterparts.

 

Either way if the lower rpm doesn't satisfy you getting some new silent 200mm fans fixes that issue.

 

Noctua's A20 and cooler masters mf200r are good options here. I also recommend you replace the old 120mm fan in the back with a arctic p12 (or p14 if 140mm fits). Cheap fan with noctua performance and quietness.

[BetteBalterZen]

If you want a truly silent build, here are some tips: 

Undervolt your CPU - less power = less heat = lower fan RPM
Undervolt your GPU - less power = less heat = lower fan RPM
Use an overpowered PSU - small load = lower fan RPM, to 0RPM 

I have undervolted both my CPU and GPU, and use a overpowered 1200W PSU < fan never turns on

My build is very silent, it's awesome. Same noise-level at idle as when I'm gaming.

[leclod]

4 hours ago, kecskeimavevo said:

My case is a Cooler Master Enforcer, mobo is an Asus B450-F gaming with an AMD 3700x. CPU cooler is a Dark Rock Prod 4. My GPU is an ASUS GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming.

 

For the case there was one Cooler Master MegaFlow 200mm included in the front and I bought one more for the top of the case.
(pcpartpicker list later with the exact pieces I have)

 

The front and top fans are pulling air inside, the back fan is pushing out air as well.

My problem is with cooling the case properly but quietly. At night even if I only do casual stuff (browsing or YT) the case fans spin up and they're quite loud (I mostly have time to do stuff/play at night, but I don't want to wake my wife and child with doing it too loud...).

 

Just for trying out, I disconnected my front and top fans: It was way better in terms of noise, but obviously it was way hotter (pic later).

While I'm gaming the back fan is pushing out hot air. I can feel it pretty much...

I was thinking on ditching the big fans and get smaller, quieter ones (maybe some silent wings, or a noctua case fam). I'm even thinking on repasting the gpu for better cooling.

Pictures with the temps and the PC itself (I know, dusty as hell, I'll give it a clean when i have the time for it): https://imgur.com/a/d5Ly68i

 

PCPartPicker list with all relevant parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dgGrbh

 

What would guys try? Is the push/pull config good enough? Maybe getting an AIO might help? The dark rock pro 4 is a chunky boy, maybe it restricts air flow?

 

Thanks in advance!

You should have such an Asus app available to manage your fans. Mine is included in AI Suite 3.

 

The top intake fan isn't optimal, probably you could do without (Or have a try to reverse it, which makes some sense, heat rises ?)

 

The bigger the fan the more silent it runs, as a rule. If you have room for 20cm fans, 20cm fans it is.

 

 

 

[kecskeimavevo]

2 hours ago, jaslion said:

Make a fan profile in the bios that locks the fans at a lower rpm. These older 200mm led fans from cooler master are known to be a lot louder than their non led counterparts.

 

Either way if the lower rpm doesn't satisfy you getting some new silent 200mm fans fixes that issue.

 

Noctua's A20 and cooler masters mf200r are good options here. I also recommend you replace the old 120mm fan in the back with a arctic p12 (or p14 if 140mm fits). Cheap fan with noctua performance and quietness.

Even on the lowest rpm (dc fans) they are audible pretty much.

I've set up the fan curve in the bios so the rpm tries to stay at the minimum.
I'll take a look at those fans you mentioned!

 

1 hour ago, BetteBalterZen said:

If you want a truly silent build, here are some tips: 

Undervolt your CPU - less power = less heat = lower fan RPM
Undervolt your GPU - less power = less heat = lower fan RPM
Use an overpowered PSU - small load = lower fan RPM, to 0RPM 

I have undervolted both my CPU and GPU, and use a overpowered 1200W PSU < fan never turns on

My build is very silent, it's awesome. Same noise-level at idle as when I'm gaming.

I have never gave this a try, I might do so tho! I'm curious the fps loss if I undervolt the CPU and GPU. I don't think i'll get a new PSU tho, maybe at a later time

 

1 hour ago, leclod said:

You should have such an Asus app available to manage your fans. Mine is included in AI Suite 3.

 

The top intake fan isn't optimal, probably you could do without (Or have a try to reverse it, which makes some sens, heat rises ?)

 

The bigger the fan the more silent it runs, as a rule. If you have room for 20cm fans, 20cm fans it is.

I was not aware of this, I'll try after work. Reversing the top fan will be fun not much place to split it out then back in

 

 

Thank you guys for your answers, I'll do some testing in the coming days with your advices!

[BetteBalterZen]

5 minutes ago, kecskeimavevo said:

I have never gave this a try, I might do so tho! I'm curious the fps loss if I undervolt the CPU and GPU. I don't think i'll get a new PSU tho, maybe at a later time

I have lost around 5% performance on my 3090 from stock with my current undervolt, but my undervolt makes my GPU run very cool and with no noise. 
My 8700K still runs at stock speed, the 4.3GHz on all cores, but with 0.095mV less. (using -Offset)

A good undervolt on both GPU and CPU can lower watt usage so much that the fan RPM on the PSU slows down aswell, so maybe with the right undervolt, you don't even "need" a new PSU to have a silent build.

[kecskeimavevo]

1 hour ago, BetteBalterZen said:

I have lost around 5% performance on my 3090 from stock with my current undervolt, but my undervolt makes my GPU run very cool and with no noise. 
My 8700K still runs at stock speed, the 4.3GHz on all cores, but with 0.095mV less. (using -Offset)

A good undervolt on both GPU and CPU can lower watt usage so much that the fan RPM on the PSU slows down aswell, so maybe with the right undervolt, you don't even "need" a new PSU to have a silent build.

That sounds promising! 

What do you guys think about the case itself? It's a quite old model.
Maybe the drive cage block some airflow?

[BetteBalterZen]

7 minutes ago, kecskeimavevo said:

That sounds promising! 

What do you guys think about the case itself? It's a quite old model.
Maybe the drive cage block some airflow?

Oh yes! I seriously don't understand how undervolting isn't more popular than it is. It's so underrated :))) 

Yes, an old case with drive cages infront of intake fans obviously hurt airflow, and would make a standard fan curve for all fans go faster. 
You can always run a few static stresstests (ones that don't stop), lets temps heat up, pull off the side panels and see how much temps drops. 
This will give a clear indication on how bad the current airflow is. 

But no matter what you do with the case - undervolting WILL help

[leclod]

2 hours ago, kecskeimavevo said:

Even on the lowest rpm (dc fans) they are audible pretty much.

I've set up the fan curve in the bios so the rpm tries to stay at the minimum.
I'll take a look at those fans you mentioned!

 

I have never gave this a try, I might do so tho! I'm curious the fps loss if I undervolt the CPU and GPU. I don't think i'll get a new PSU tho, maybe at a later time

I don't see how undervolting will help if the lowest rpm is too loud.

 

What is your lowest rpm ? it should be around 600 or less.

Did you set your fans as DC fans in the bios ?

 

2 hours ago, kecskeimavevo said:

Reversing the top fan will be fun not much place to split it out then back in

First just try for noise and perf with unpluging the top fan (If you want ).

 

Edit : I just checked the CoolerMaster website, your fans should be alright

Included Cooling Devices - Front

1x 200mm Red LED Fan, 1000 RPM, 19 dBA

Included Cooling Devices - Rear

1x 120mm Black Fan, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA

[BetteBalterZen]

13 minutes ago, leclod said:

I don't see how undervolting will help you if the lowest rpm is too loud.

Oops, that's my bad. Somehow I totally missed that. Good call from you leclod, thank you. 

Though I would still say my comment is valid, because GPU fans can get very noisy and also the CPU fans

[Jeppes]

Swap the case to some decent airflow-model. Lian Li Lancool 215/II mesh/205 mesh etc, those mentioned just have enough fans on stock config to provide good enough temps so it makes them easy to recommend without extra considerations. Then lower the fan speeds on idle temps.

 

You can also do the deshraud mod to fix gpu noise as the stock fans are pure garbage in comparison to decent 120x25mm fans.

[kecskeimavevo]

7 hours ago, leclod said:

I don't see how undervolting will help if the lowest rpm is too loud.

 

What is your lowest rpm ? it should be around 600 or less.

Did you set your fans as DC fans in the bios ?

 

First just try for noise and perf with unpluging the top fan (If you want ).

 

Edit : I just checked the CoolerMaster website, your fans should be alright

Included Cooling Devices - Front

1x 200mm Red LED Fan, 1000 RPM, 19 dBA

Included Cooling Devices - Rear

1x 120mm Black Fan, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA

I flipped the top fan direction (forgot to unplug it for a test) and set up some undervolting for the gpu.The noise is already better!
Tomorrow I'll check on a new exhaust fan.
Should I get PWM fans as case fans too? They can go on lower rpm, so they must be quieter, right?

 

@BetteBalterZen Tomorrow I'll try to undervolting the CPU too (GPU is -10°C with undervolt + flipped top fan), I messed up something with the offset and somehow it didn't come to effect...

Currently while gaming the GPU temp is 53-55°C, CPU is ~60°C. In idle the values are 35-40°C for GPU and 55-60°C for CPU. So I'll work on the CPU fan curve and undervolt a bit more.

I gave a try to the AI Suite's Dual Intelligent Processors and after a restart the fan curves weren't identifiable by the BIOS, so maybe I'm due a BIOS update too.
 

4 hours ago, Jeppes said:

Swap the case to some decent airflow-model. Lian Li Lancool 215/II mesh/205 mesh etc, those mentioned just have enough fans on stock config to provide good enough temps so it makes them easy to recommend without extra considerations. Then lower the fan speeds on idle temps.

 

You can also do the deshraud mod to fix gpu noise as the stock fans are pure garbage in comparison to decent 120x25mm fans.

Yeah, I checked out some newer cases today, I have seen the fractal design meshify in a lot of LTT videos as well, might as well give it a try later on.

This deshroud mod tho... Never heard of it, thanks for the tip, I'll take a look at it :)

[leclod]

26 minutes ago, kecskeimavevo said:

Should I get PWM fans as case fans too? They can go on lower rpm, so they must be quieter, right?

I just know about the Arctic fans where both DC and PWM fans go as low and are very similar in the end.

[BetteBalterZen]

9 hours ago, kecskeimavevo said:

... and set up some undervolting for the gpu.The noise is already better!
...
...

 

@BetteBalterZen Tomorrow I'll try to undervolting the CPU too (GPU is -10°C with undervolt + flipped top fan), I messed up something with the offset and somehow it didn't come to effect...

Glad you to hear that you have already made it much better!

About the Offset not applying, are you sure it didn't work? It can be tricky to actually see a difference in voltage spikes if you try with different loads. 
You should fx start Cinebench and let the run complete. Then in a software like HWiNFO see what the Vcore voltages went to. 
Then go into BIOS and set the -Offset undervolt, then do do a Cinebench run again and check voltages after. 

If you make a 0.100mV -Offset, you should see a 0.100mV reduction in peak voltages. If not, then yeah, the -Offset doesn't apply for some reason. 

If the -Offset doesn't apply, I'm not really sure why. I think I'd look for newer BIOS updates. Maybe it's a bug on a older BIOS version. 

[kecskeimavevo]

Note to self: don't buy 5V fans...

I bought an arctic p12 pwm as a new rear exhaust fan and a noctua nf-a20 5v.

The p12 is way better the the current one.
And the nf-a20... I Ordered a 5V variant. I was surprised about its noise when I started it up. Amateur mobe