Should I adjust my fan speed? How?

[michael diemer]

I have an i7, 16 GB ram, two WD Black 1TB drives rig, which I use for music exclusively (composing with midi, so no big audio drain). It's only rap is that the fan is noisy. I bought a large case fan with the idea that it would really keep it cool. I've put up with the noise long enough. I've been looking at ways to reduce fan speed, safely. It's a Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H motherboard. The bios has the usual choices of default, silent and manual. Also, I installed EZ Tune, but have not used it.

Is it worth reducing the fan speed, and if so, what is the best way? Or should I buy a smaller, quieter fan? I know about cleaning the fan as well; if I keep it I will do that, along with a general cleanout.

Thanks, Mike

 

[johnhoh]

First you want to be sure its your cpu fan that is the loudest fan because if some other fan is louder, then quieting your cpu fan won't make a difference.. If so, go manual in bios. Non-overclocked cpus are not in danger of overheating as long as they have a fan spinning on their heatsink. Play with the bios' manual speed setting until the loudness is to your liking. If you want to extend the life of your system, reposition that new case fan so its blowing directly on your hard drives, assuming they are the spinning type, which is usually the case with 1TB. You can keep it in place next to the hard drives by securing it with string or fishing line if needed.

 

[Layback Bear]

First things first.
Fans come in all kinds of different qualities.
What exactly fans do you have. The computer I'm on at this times has 14 fans at 12 volts and it is quiet because they are quality fans.

Please post a web page to show us what fan/fans you are using.

Jack

 

[michael diemer]

There are only three fans: the CPU fan, which is the standard Intel one for the i7-3770 CPU; the power supply fan for the Antec Earthwatts EA 500 PS; and a case fan, CFC-120MM.

I tried posting a link to the page it's on, but it doesn't work. I bought the rig from Magic Micro. You can easily find it on the web page, magicmicro.com. Build to Order Gaming Computer, Custom Barebone PCs, Gaming Laptops, Order PC Parts.

I know, not exactly show-stopping stuff, but it's a bare-bones machine, made to do one thing, music. no gaming, no photos, videos or anything but music. And even that is not too CPU-intensive as it's midi, not audio. I do use many instances of sound library synths, but that would be the most strain I put on it. It's rarely even online.

 

[michael diemer]

I decided last night to try changing the bios settings to "silent" for the case fan and CPU fan. I'll let you know if I see any difference. Some folks report hearing no change with this setting. Hopefully it will kick the speed up when necessary. That is the impression I'm under, anyway.

 

[johnhoh]

Some folks report hearing no change with this setting.

If you let your machine idle for 60 seconds after booting to the desktop and it still sounds the same as it did the day before, that means a fan other than the cpu fan is your loudest fan. Often its the video card.

 

[michael diemer]

There is no video card, it's integrated.

 

[meebers]

If you are not sure, do not do this. First, how many wires on each fan, are these Pulse-width modulation
type fans plugged into a PWM socket. Now to the not sure part, I usually put my finger (gently) on the spinning hub part of the fan and lightly touch it, the noise should change. Don't get near the blades. That will tell you which one is making the racket. (Don't try this at home)

 

[michael diemer]

I think I'm going to let things ride at this point. I did change the settings in Bios for the case fan and CPU fan, to "silent." So far, I can't say there's any difference. Things wouldn't be so bad if I could put the computer on the floor, under the desk, but there's a big sub-woofer down there.

 

[AddRAM]

Have you at least found out which fan is making all the noise ??

 

[Layback Bear]

Good question Brian. Can't be to hard, their is only 3 fans.

Slowing fans down when one only has 3 fans is not a thing I would recommend.

Jack

 

[meebers]

On my system, both the graphic card fan, the 120mm case fans and the cpu fan self regulate based on heat. Normal computing I hardly can hear the fans however when I do a system scan or installing, the fans speed up for a while and return to quiet. They are PWM type fans. On my W7 machine one day, the cpu fan was screaming and would not stop. The cure was for me to install a coolermaster 120mm fan. It is a monster and had to check on it for several days to make sure it was running. Monitored the cpu temp, it was amazingly COOL!

 

[RolandJS]

Well, my desktop fans can be heard in the next room and I do not mind at bit -- such means my desktop is running at the coolest possible temps. That noise can be considered "noise cancellation" for whatever ruckus happens outside.

 

[Layback Bear]

Well Roland that is one way of looking at it. Cancel outside noise.
If you ever live in a quiet place you are probably going to want to change your fans.
When and if that time comes give me a ring. I do have some suggestions.

Jack

 

[johnhoh]

Or if you're not a gamer go with no case at all and let it breathe while mounted on a fanless nightjar psu, and just one silent fan on the cpu