Literal SILENCE at Idle

[ahkenatan]

I'm happy with both my GPU and CPU temps at load -- 80C and 74C max respectively, which aren't bad for an overclocked 980 Ti and 4690k. I'm happy with how much sound my computer makes at load too, which is drowned out if I simply open my window, and I'm basically on the edge of an urban area as far as noise goes, so it's not loud at all.

 

What I'm having difficulty with is that my case fans aren't spinning down enough (or turning off) when I'm at idle. For context, all of my fans are either Noctua or bequiet:

x2 NF-A15 (on an NH-D15)

x2 NF-A14

x1 NF-S12A

x1 Pure Wings 2

 

The lowest I can set case fans (not CPU headers) on my motherboard -- MSI Z97 Krait Edition -- is 50%, which I have them running at all of the time because it's the slowest/quietest they can go. I'd love to be able to make it so they just stop spinning or are SUPER slow at idle, much like on a laptop, where you literally cannot hear the system at all. As it stands currently, the system is only slightly louder under load.

 

Is there any way I can do this? Am I missing something?

[Enderman]

unless they're PWM fans and your motherboard has PWM headers, no

you could buy a fan controller and adjust them manually all the time, but i think thats an inconvenience

 

i would recommend using quieter fans like bequiet silent wings or some other sub-20db fans

then you can even have them at 100% and you wont hear them

[SageOfSpice]

Cool. One thing I did to decrease the noise of my system is filter all of the intakes and unused vents.

 

Just bought a dozen or so generic filters off ebay. They muffle the noise of the internal fans quite well, and I haven't noticed any decrease in airflow with the exception of one fan in the rear, but I just clicked it up a notch and no issues. That's the nice thing about having 3 speed fans, I guess.

 

[ahkenatan]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

unless they're PWM fans and your motherboard has PWM headers, no

you could buy a fan controller and adjust them manually all the time, but i think thats an inconvenience

 

i would recommend using quieter fans like bequiet silent wings or some other sub-20db fans

then you can even have them at 100% and you wont hear them

Yeah, all of my fans save two are 4-pin PWM and my motherboard has 4-pin PWM headers but the lowest it lets me set it to in the BIOS is 50%.

[ahkenatan]

2 minutes ago, SageOfSpice said:

Cool. One thing I did to decrease the noise of my system is filter all of the intakes and unused vents.

 

Just bought a dozen or so generic filters off ebay. They muffle the noise of the internal fans quite well, and I haven't noticed any decrease in airflow with the exception of one fan in the rear, but I just clicked it up a notch and no issues. That's the nice thing about having 3 speed fans, I guess.

 

I have the Define R5 so the front and bottom intakes (which are the only intakes) are filtered. All unused vents are blocked off with their Moduvent covers.

[WoodenMarker]

3 minutes ago, ahkenatan said:

Yeah, all of my fans save two are 4-pin PWM and my motherboard has 4-pin PWM headers but the lowest it lets me set it to in the BIOS is 50%.

Power them off of the cpu_fan header with a splitter. Other headers aren't as reliable.

[ahkenatan]

1 minute ago, WoodenMarker said:

Power them off of the cpu_fan header with a splitter. Other headers aren't as reliable.

Trying that now.

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, ahkenatan said:

Yeah, all of my fans save two are 4-pin PWM and my motherboard has 4-pin PWM headers but the lowest it lets me set it to in the BIOS is 50%.

i know on asus motherboards there is an option to switch headers between DC and PWM control

idk about MSI

[WoodenMarker]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

i know on asus motherboards there is an option to switch headers between DC and PWM control

idk about MSI

It's not a pwm or dc issue. Msi has a lower limit of 50% on some sys_fan headers. 

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

It's not a pwm or dc issue. Msi has a lower limit of 50% on some sys_fan headers. 

dc fan headers are usually limited to 40-50% on all motherboards

the reason PWM is there is to go below that

 

so if it has PWM control then there should be an option to switch the header to PWM instead of DC and go below 50%

otherwise it is just a fake PWM header

a 4 pin header that uses voltage control all the time

 

some asus motherboards had that a while back

people got pissed off because its false advertising to call them PWM when its just DC

[SageOfSpice]

1 minute ago, ahkenatan said:

I have the Define R5 so the front and bottom intakes (which are the only intakes) are filtered. All unused vents are blocked off with their Moduvent covers.

Ooh, that's a pretty nice case, man.

 

Not recommending it by any means, but I'm sort of curious if anybody has ever tried just traditional audio dampening practices in order to reduce the noise generated by a desktop. You know, like fastening rubber sheets on the side panels and such to prevent reverb.

 

Or I wonder if somebody hasn't come up with a way to derive temperature from the 4 pin cpu connector and use that to apply a manually calibrated fan controller in real time.

 

I wonder if in your case you wouldn't be able to use something as simple as a 7v adapter to reduce the translated speed of the fan, yet still allow it to follow your preset curves. It would reduce the top end of the fan though too, so it would really depend on your max temp, and how fast your fan is going to need to spin.

[thekeemo]

Try speedfan

[WoodenMarker]

5 minutes ago, Enderman said:

otherwise it is just a fake PWM header

Mhmm.

2 minutes ago, SageOfSpice said:

Or I wonder if somebody hasn't come up with a way to derive temperature from the 4 pin cpu connector and use that to apply a manually calibrated fan controller in real time.

..what? How would that work?

[Enderman]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Mhmm.

 

ok yeah they're fake

CPU header or fan controller are the only options then

[ahkenatan]

I attached the two 3-pin fans (S12A and Pure Wings 2) to the built-in fan controller on the R5. I moved the front NF-A14 to the CPUFAN2 header, and I put a low-noise adapter on the second fan on the NH-D15. I already had an LNA on one of the fans and just ran Intel's XTU stress test and it seems to have only increased the temperature by one or two degrees. It seems like the board's built-in 4-pin headers were causing the issue after all  thank you all for the help though! It's a lot quieter now.

[Curufinwe_wins]

44 minutes ago, Enderman said:

dc fan headers are usually limited to 40-50% on all motherboards

the reason PWM is there is to go below that

 

so if it has PWM control then there should be an option to switch the header to PWM instead of DC and go below 50%

otherwise it is just a fake PWM header

a 4 pin header that uses voltage control all the time

 

some asus motherboards had that a while back

people got pissed off because its false advertising to call them PWM when its just DC

I can confirm ASUS, Asrock and newest gen MSI motherboards have fan off modes for both DC and PWM.

 

I'm using DC fan off atm (for 4 of my 3-pin fans).

 

Ouch on the fake fan headers... I have some issues with some assist fan headers on pwm, but I've made workarounds anyways.

32 minutes ago, Enderman said:

ok yeah they're fake

CPU header or fan controller are the only options then