Silencing an NZXT S340

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Steveowashere
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Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Thu Mar 17, 2016 4:10 am

Hello, Long time lurker first time poster.

I've got an NZXT S340, it's not the quietest case, but i'd like the change that. It's completely out of my price range to buy a new R5 or similar (PC cases are crazy expensive in Denmark).
What can I do to quiet my PC down?

My current specs are:

i5 4570S
XFX 7970 with Arctic Cooling Accelero
Asrock H97 fatal1ty
Samsung 850 EVO 120gb
ThermalTake Smart SE530 PSU (modded with 140mm Be quiet Pure Wings fan)
WD Blue 1tb

For fans, In the front I have one Be Quiet SHADOW WINGS 140mm fan intaking air.
On the top, I have another Shadow Wings 140mm exhausting air. On the rear, I have a Corsair SP120 silent exhasting air (I thought an SP fan because my case is completely up against a wall, I could be mistaken.)

Here's what I'm thinking to reduce the noise:
  • My current CPU cooling is the Intel stock cooler, so that will be replaced by a Raijintek Ereboss Core. It will be ran fanless using the case fans for airflow.
  • I was thinking of getting the Be Quiet Noise Absorber Kit and placing foam on all the inside panels. I'm also going to mod the window panel and spray paint it black and put foam on the inside as well. I'm also going to move the SSDs below the PSU cover, take off the SSD mounts on top of the PSU shroud and place foam along there.
  • I'd like to make something out of foam similar to a 'moduvent' and place it over my top fan mount. Then get one (maybe two) Nocuta NF-P14 for front intake.
Any feedback on these ideas? Does foam actually help that much? My GPU has some really terrible coil whine, it is by far the loudest part of my PC, i'm hoping the foam will take care of some of that noise.
Are temps going to be an issue? The Arctic Cooling Accelero on my GPU dumps lots of hot air into the case, i'm worried one 120mm fan won't be enough to get it all out.
Will blocking the top fan vent actually do anything for me?

I appreciate any feedback or help with this project. I know I can't make my build perfect silent, but i'd settle for near silent and idle and during gaming.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Mar 17, 2016 10:40 am

Steveowashere wrote:It's completely out of my price range to buy a new R5 or similar (PC cases are crazy expensive in Denmark).

So why don't you buy in Netherlands or Germany?

Steveowashere wrote:Here's what I'm thinking to reduce the noise:
  • My current CPU cooling is the Intel stock cooler, so that will be replaced by a Raijintek Ereboss Core. It will be ran fanless using the case fans for airflow.

I'm afraid that you don't have that much airflow, with two anemic Silent Wings and a solid front panel, so using a fanless heatsink wouldn't seem that easy, nor the CPU (you said) it's your main noise source.

Steveowashere wrote:
  • I was thinking of getting the Be Quiet Noise Absorber Kit and placing foam on all the inside panels. I'm also going to mod the window panel and spray paint it black and put foam on the inside as well. I'm also going to move the SSDs below the PSU cover, take off the SSD mounts on top of the PSU shroud and place foam along there.

I think it's a waste of work and money.

Steveowashere wrote:
  • I'd like to make something out of foam similar to a 'moduvent' and place it over my top fan mount. Then get one (maybe two) Nocuta NF-P14 for front intake.

Noctua NH-P14 are PWM fans for heatsinks, not for cases.

Steveowashere wrote:Any feedback on these ideas?

At first glance I don't like that much but, as I don't understand the underlying logic, I'd be curious to see the outcome.

Steveowashere wrote:Does foam actually help that much?

No, IMO it won't help a iota.

Steveowashere wrote:My GPU has some really terrible coil whine, it is by far the loudest part of my PC, i'm hoping the foam will take care of some of that noise.

Are you able to use a soldering station? At any rate, foam is mostly uneffective for loud whining.

Steveowashere wrote:Are temps going to be an issue?

Probably, though I guess even currently your temps haven't to be really great.

Steveowashere wrote:The Arctic Cooling Accelero on my GPU dumps lots of hot air into the case, i'm worried one 120mm fan won't be enough to get it all out.

Personally I think your main problem is lack of intake, more than exhaust.

Steveowashere wrote:Will blocking the top fan vent actually do anything for me?

It will likely increases internal temps.

Steveowashere
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Thu Mar 17, 2016 10:58 am

I'm afraid that you don't have that much airflow, with two anemic Silent Wings and a solid front panel, so using a fanless heatsink wouldn't seem that easy, nor the CPU (you said) it's your main noise source.

Noctua NH-P14 are PWM fans for heatsinks, not for cases.
The front intake is pretty restricted, I thought SP fans would apply here? Or not so much? I would be open to suggestions for 140mm fans.

At first glance I don't like that much but, as I don't understand the underlying logic, I'd be curious to see the outcome.
I'd be open to suggestions, my logic was to block off the top vent in order to prevent sound by coming through (subjectively, that's where a lot of the noise seems like it's coming from) And use foam to dampen the noise (I guess that doesn't work). Also get better fans than have more static pressure to provide more fresh air to the case instead of the weakly Be Quiet fans.
Are you able to use a soldering station? At any rate, foam is mostly uneffective for loud whining.


I do, and i'm pretty decent at soldering But I don't follow... You mean I should replace the whiny components on the board?
Probably, though I guess even currently your temps haven't to be really great.
Actually, my CPU never gets above 60C and my GPU never gets above 65C, running Furmark and Intelburn test for ~one hour. It's 'okay' on the noise, I can barely hear it from 5 meters away on my sofa.
Personally I think your main problem is lack of intake, more than exhaust.
There's a 140mm fan intaking air right by it, but as you said the Silent Wings fans kinda weak, so that could be the problem.

CA_Steve
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Mar 17, 2016 1:07 pm

A couple of thoughts before you spend money.

See if the case is starved for air. With the case closed, run a stress test with Prime95 and Furmark. Give it 10 minutes to bake. Measure the case ambient, CPU, GPU temps and fan rpms (and case fan rpm's if they aren't fixed. Then, while still running the stress test, remove the case side and see how much the temps and rpms drop over time. If the change is massive, then the case is starved for air. If it's just a handful of degrees C and rpms don't change much, then it's not.

If the case is starved for air, that's the problem you need to solve first. Try removing the fan obstructions (filters, possibly remove the rear fan honeycomb..., etc). Is there a difference if the case is a few inches away from the wall instead of up against the floorboard?

If the case isn't starved for air, then it's not a temp issue, it's a fan issue. Try adjusting your fan profiles for lower rpm at higher temps.

Steveowashere
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Thu Mar 17, 2016 1:38 pm

CA_Steve wrote:A couple of thoughts before you spend money.

See if the case is starved for air. With the case closed, run a stress test with Prime95 and Furmark. Give it 10 minutes to bake. Measure the case ambient, CPU, GPU temps and fan rpms (and case fan rpm's if they aren't fixed. Then, while still running the stress test, remove the case side and see how much the temps and rpms drop over time. If the change is massive, then the case is starved for air. If it's just a handful of degrees C and rpms don't change much, then it's not.

If the case is starved for air, that's the problem you need to solve first. Try removing the fan obstructions (filters, possibly remove the rear fan honeycomb..., etc). Is there a difference if the case is a few inches away from the wall instead of up against the floorboard?

If the case isn't starved for air, then it's not a temp issue, it's a fan issue. Try adjusting your fan profiles for lower rpm at higher temps.
Thanks for the reply,

I know the temps do drop pretty significantly if I remove the side panel and I can feel a huge amount of warm air escape. I'm lead to believe this means my case is starved for air.

I'll try again by removing the front dust filter, and moving the PC away more from the wall (it's already about 5 inches away). I'll try to play around with the fan profiles too, see if that give some results.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:53 am

Steveowashere wrote:
I'm afraid that you don't have that much airflow, with two anemic Silent Wings and a solid front panel, so using a fanless heatsink wouldn't seem that easy, nor the CPU (you said) it's your main noise source.

Noctua NH-P14 are PWM fans for heatsinks, not for cases.
The front intake is pretty restricted, I thought SP fans would apply here? Or not so much? I would be open to suggestions for 140mm fans.

Sorry, my bad: I read "P14" BUT I thought "P12". The P14 might work fine, though higher pressure fans shouldn't help that much with such a restricted intake.

Steveowashere wrote:
At first glance I don't like that much but, as I don't understand the underlying logic, I'd be curious to see the outcome.
I'd be open to suggestions, my logic was to block off the top vent in order to prevent sound by coming through (subjectively, that's where a lot of the noise seems like it's coming from) And use foam to dampen the noise (I guess that doesn't work). Also get better fans than have more static pressure to provide more fresh air to the case instead of the weakly Be Quiet fans.

High pressure fans works better against a significant back pressure: seemingly there's something related mostly on just the rear fan.

With reference to your logic: if I recall correctly, according to Lawrence Lee, who reviewed the case here at SPCR, this case lacks probably heat exhausting prowess. My opinion is rather different, I consider a major flaw that the front inlets were too restrictive (and only one stock fan was not enough) to conveniently feed all the internal fans (somewhat differently from somehow similar approaches, like the Define R5 or the venerable Antec P183).

If I didn't get you wrong, you mostly don't agree with both of us: actually you want to reduce the exhaust flow, and you don't increase the intake flow.
Given how much useless is usually foam lining (you should need very, very thick one to address something real, go figure an actually loud whining), even if a direct noise escape is always a threat, I don't feel such your logic as that sound.

Steveowashere wrote:
Are you able to use a soldering station? At any rate, foam is mostly uneffective for loud whining.


I do, and i'm pretty decent at soldering But I don't follow... You mean I should replace the whiny components on the board?
No, I was thinking to a different, possible workaround.

Steveowashere wrote:
Probably, though I guess even currently your temps haven't to be really great.
Actually, my CPU never gets above 60C and my GPU never gets above 65C, running Furmark and Intelburn test for ~one hour. It's 'okay' on the noise, I can barely hear it from 5 meters away on my sofa.

I don't know your fans speed, so I cannot assess how good/bad are such readings.

Steveowashere wrote:
Personally I think your main problem is lack of intake, more than exhaust.
There's a 140mm fan intaking air right by it, but as you said the Silent Wings fans kinda weak, so that could be the problem.
I don't know whether it can be the problem (though I guessed the GPU whining was the problem): those be quiet are a tad on the weak side, performances wise, the S340 is on the mild-to-weak side, cooling wise, combining both would seem a tad problematic, even if not clearly impossible.

Steveowashere
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:21 am

Sorry, my bad: I read "P14" BUT I thought "P12". The P14 might work fine, though higher pressure fans shouldn't help that much with such a restricted intake.
I noticed under the 'Recommend Fans' section on the main site, that Noctua NH-C14 are recommend, those aren't made anymore but the Noctua NF-P14s Redux seems like an exact clone of the NH-C14. Maybe the Redux fans would fit the bill better?
With reference to your logic: if I recall correctly, according to Lawrence Lee, who reviewed the case here at SPCR, this case lacks probably heat exhausting prowess. My opinion is rather different, I consider a major flaw that the front inlets were too restrictive (and only one stock fan was not enough) to conveniently feed all the internal fans (somewhat differently from somehow similar approaches, like the Define R5 or the venerable Antec P183).

If I didn't get you wrong, you mostly don't agree with both of us: actually you want to reduce the exhaust flow, and you don't increase the intake flow.
Given how much useless is usually foam lining (you should need very, very thick one to address something real, go figure an actually loud whining), even if a direct noise escape is always a threat, I don't feel such your logic as that sound.
Well i'm hardly an expert, so I wouldn't put too much thought into my 'logic' on how optimize a PC for silence, but that's why i'm here; to learn a thing or two.

So from what I've gathered my case lacks proper front ventilation, which doesn't provide the rest of the case with fresh air? Anyway to get around this while still being silent/near silent? I would suppose using fans that push more air would help, and perhaps better fans to exhaust the warm air too.
No, I was thinking to a different, possible workaround.
I'll give this a try, which cap would I use specially? I found 2200uF caps on eBay, but in 10v or 15v. I believe it the yellow wire is 12v if i'm not mistaken?
I don't know your fans speed, so I cannot assess how good/bad are such readings.
For the intake Be Quiets they run at: 400RPM idle, and 600RPM under (heavy) load.

For the exhausting Be quiet, it runs at 400RPM idle, and 850RPM under load.

The Corsair SP120 exhaust, it runs at 600RPM idle, and 1000Rpm under load.

The GPU fans run at 1000RPM at idle and 1600RPM under load. (The GPU coolers fans are barely audible from about 1 meter away at 1500RPM)

The Intel Stock heatsinks runs at 1300RPM idle and 1700RPM under load. (Obviously, this is culprit for noise too)

I was thinking of the replacing the stock heatsink with a Scythe Kotetsu, I've seen it's gotten high praise in the reviews. But the sleeve bearing fan worries me a bit.

SebRad
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by SebRad » Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:46 am

Hi, your fan speeds don't look too bad to me, there is always room for improvement though.

I would not bother with any kind of damping foam, it's much better to not make the noise in first place than try to damp it. To be effective I think it needs to be thick and heavy.

I would start with the CPU cooler, get that quiet and see if it's then quiet enough or what next needs attention.
The Scythe Kotetsu should be ample for your CPU, if you can get it for a reasonable price. Coolermaster hyper 212 (or whatever it's called now) offers a lot of cooling for the money, although the fan may not be very quiet at minimum and a fan swap can then hurt the value of it. I've used and very much like Arctic Cooling products, I've found their F8/F9/F12 fans to be nice and cheap and the CPU coolers to be good too, as they have nice PWM Fans that can be slowed right down. One of their tower coolers with 92 or 120mm fan might be good value to you.

Looking at the images of the case it would seem the intake is somewhat restricted. Without seeing in person it difficult to tell but I think I would look to use as much of the bottom as possible as intake.
Cut away some (or all) of the 'grill' around the PSU intake, as it looks much longer than the PSU to me, and maybe add more holes further in front of the case floor. Either small ones like I did, see here or one big one. You might also need to work on the 'tunnel' so more of the floor intake can reach into the main case area.
If fighting for air it might be that 2 intakes and 2 exhausts, working in series to increase effective pressure, can get more air through at lower noise than fewer fans at higher speed.

For the GPU whine I've managed to tame a GTX260 and GTX285 with super glue. Get some nice cheap very runny stuff and (with the cooler off in my case) pour it all under/around the components that can make noise. [big cubes and coils etc] I think the glue's sufficiently non-conductive that it does no harm, and in theory it holds everything solid so it can't vibrate and whine. Certainly on the GTX260 it made a lot of difference. I can't find the post(s) I made back at the time, I think they're lost.

All the items with a blue dot got glued, you can see the glue on the back end of the card as a haziness.
large image

Good luck, Seb

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 18, 2016 9:38 am

Don't know if I'd mess much with the bottom of the case, SebRad, as it's mostly isolated from the main section.

As for the case being intake or exhaust limited...the open area in the top and bottom of the front bezel is fairly large. An easy way to see if it's the problem for limiting airflow: run the stress tests without the front bezel attached. If that doesn't significantly reduce the temps and fan rpms, then it's the exhaust that's limiting airflow. Just going with higher pressure case fans isn't going to make it much quieter. You might be able to push more air through the case and the gpu/cpu temps might drop causing their fans to drop in speed. But, the tradeoff will be significantly more case fan noise...

Also, your stress temps are pretty decent, your fan rpms (other than the CPU) really aren't all that high. Have you tried isolating the noise issues to see which components are the biggest sources? You've already said the gfx card isn't it..

..and yes, the Kotetsu is a great cooler.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 18, 2016 1:48 pm

Steveowashere wrote:I noticed under the 'Recommend Fans' section on the main site, that Noctua NH-C14 are recommend, those aren't made anymore but the Noctua NF-P14s Redux seems like an exact clone of the NH-C14. Maybe the Redux fans would fit the bill better?

The clone is the P14r (I know because I swapped the original NF-P14 with a pair of P14r Redux on my NH-C14, and, noise-wise, they overlap pretty well at similar speeds), while the P14s is the same motor/hub/blades in a squared frame (available in two flavour). Any of them look good to me.

Steveowashere wrote:that's why i'm here; to learn a thing or two.

Me too.

Steveowashere wrote:So from what I've gathered my case lacks proper front ventilation, which doesn't provide the rest of the case with fresh air?

That's about my thought about its main limitation, just that.

Steveowashere wrote:Anyway to get around this while still being silent/near silent? I would suppose using fans that push more air would help, and perhaps better fans to exhaust the warm air too.

My idea is often to add fans, I prefer to add fans than raising speeds.

Steveowashere wrote:I'll give this a try, which cap would I use specially? I found 2200uF caps on eBay, but in 10v or 15v. I believe it the yellow wire is 12v if i'm not mistaken?

Yes: even if it isn't a critical applications, in case I'd recommend using some serious caps for PSU use (purchased from a reliable source, counterfeit electronics is more than a concern), like perhaps a NCC KYB 2200µF/16V, or even something larger, maybe a Samxon RS 3300 µF/16 V (as it's more compact than similar e-cap, like NCC KZN 3300µF/16V).

Steveowashere wrote:For the intake Be Quiets they run at: 400RPM idle, and 600RPM under (heavy) load.

For the exhausting Be quiet, it runs at 400RPM idle, and 850RPM under load.

The Corsair SP120 exhaust, it runs at 600RPM idle, and 1000Rpm under load.

The GPU fans run at 1000RPM at idle and 1600RPM under load. (The GPU coolers fans are barely audible from about 1 meter away at 1500RPM)

The Intel Stock heatsinks runs at 1300RPM idle and 1700RPM under load. (Obviously, this is culprit for noise too)

Seemingly your figures look not that bad (set aside the GPU fans which I simply don't know): even better, the 65°C figure would look even too good, whether the system is that quiet.

As you said in your opening post: - "What can I do to quiet my PC down? ... Here's what I'm thinking to reduce the noise ... My GPU has some really terrible coil whine, it is by far the loudest part of my PC, i'm hoping the foam will take care of some of that noise ... Are temps going to be an issue?".

Well, seemingly current temps arent that much an issue (something I've asked about), and as I wrote in my previous message, seemingly (I mean, from what you said) your issue is the referred GPU whine (so nothing resolvable by a fanless heatsink, new fans or a new case), with perhaps the stock CPU cooler as a minor annoyance.
Last edited by quest_for_silence on Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Steveowashere
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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:00 pm

@SebRad Thanks for the suggestion, as CA_Steve pointed out, modding the S340 is a bit tricky because of PSU shroud, I won't rule it completely out, but I think i'd rather get a new case if it came to modding it that extreme. Your links made for good reading nonetheless :D

I actually talked one of my friend into selling his old Noctua NH-D14 to me for around 35USD. I figured that was probably better than anything else new for 35USD.

I'll give the super glue trick a try, It can't hurt the card is 3 years old and doesn't have warranty any longer, so might as well. Thanks for picture guide as well, i'm sure that will come in handy once I get the heatsink pulled off.


@CA_Steve

Removing the from bezel yielding almost no results during a stress test, maybe around 1-2C benefit. I guess that makes my exhaust is limiting airflow then.

I can try to crank up the exhaust fans, but as I found out my process of elimination, the rear Corsair SP 120, is one of the noisy fans. I think i'll replace it with another 120mm. (I'd be open to suggestions), I was thinking a Noctua NF-S12B. According to this sound test, they seem to be inaudible up to 7V and barely audible at 10V, and move a fair amount of air.

According to this website's tests the Corsair SP 120 moves 29 CFM at 7v and 9,5 DbA, where the NF-S12B will move 42.7 CFM at 7V also at 9,5 DbA.

As for the top 140mm, I'm not sure if replacing the Be Quiet fan will do anything beneficial, but I could be wrong.

My WD 1tb drive makes a bit of spinning noise I can hear as a constant whirl. I'll trythe trick that was used in the review to try to isolate the drive from the HDD cage.

Other than that, there's the coil whine coming from the GPU, which i'll try to fix as per the recommendations on this thread.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:20 pm

The clone is the P14r (I know because I swapped the original NF-P14 with a pair of P14r Redux on my NH-C14, and, noise-wise, they overlap pretty well at similar speeds), while the P14s is the same motor/hub/blades in a squared frame (available in two flavour). Any of them look good to me.
Do you think two of the NF-P14s is good enough for my front intake? Or should I get one for top 140mm exhaust as well. (See my previous post reply to CA_Steve for details)

Are the any benefit to having round frame fans besides heatsink use? Or is it generally better to have square frames for case fans?
My idea is often to add fans, I prefer to add fans than raising speeds.
Unfortunately the S340 is very limited in the fan mounting department.
Yes: even if it isn't a critical applications, in case I'd recommend using some serious caps for PSU use (purchased from a reliable source, counterfeit electronics is more an a concern), like perhaps a NCC KYB 2200µF/16V, or even something larger, maybe a Samxon RS 3300 µF/16 V (as it's more compact than similar e-cap, like NCC KZN 3300µF/16V).


I wasn't planning on skipping out here. But it's a good point you raise about counterfeits, Ebay is somewhat notorious for this. I'll go the safer route and visit my local shop and pick some up.

From the picture you linked, It seems you just solder the cap in-line with the grounf and 12V wires? Only on one 12v wire per connector I take?
Seemingly your figures look not that bad (set aside the GPU fans which I simply don't know): even better, the 65°C figure would look even too good, whether the system is that quiet.
The Arctic Cooling Accelero does an impressive job I have to say. I am running at 950mhz on the core and 1300mhz on the memory. Most 7970 run higher clocks, so perhaps that has something to do with it as well.
As you said in your opening post: - "What can I do to quiet my PC down? ... Here's what I'm thinking to reduce the noise ... My GPU has some really terrible coil whine, it is by far the loudest part of my PC, i'm hoping the foam will take care of some of that noise ... Are temps going to be an issue?".

Well, seemingly current temps arent that much an issue (something I've asked about), and as I wrote in my previous message, seemingly (I mean, from what you said) your issue is the referred GPU whine (so nothing resolvable by a fanless heatsink, new fans or a new case), with perhaps the stock CPU cooler as a minor annoyance.
As I just found out from a process of elimination, my rear corsair fan is actually a source of some noise. I think i'll replace it with a Noctua NF-S12B (see post above for link). Also my WD drive makes a good amount of spinning noise, but i'll try a few isolating tricks with foam between the drive and the HDD cage to hopefully solve that. I believe I was confusing the HDD spinning noise for fan noise (I have an untrained ear).

As for the stock heatsink, my friend sold me his old Noctua NH-D14 (with fans) for around 30USD. I figure it was better than anything you could get new for 30USD. Hopefully, I should have anymore CPU cooler noises.

Other than that, the GPU whining, but i'll try the cap trick, and maybe put some super glue on a few components SebRad like suggested. Hopefully it might take away some of the coil whine if not a majority.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:37 pm

If you don't have any inquisitive pets or kids, you could also cut out the rear fan's honeycomb structure (after removing everything from the case first! Don't want bits of metal meeting your electrical components..). That'll remove any airflow restrictions.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Mar 18, 2016 4:30 pm

Steveowashere wrote:I actually talked one of my friend into selling his old Noctua NH-D14 to me for around 35USD. I figured that was probably better than anything else new for 35USD.

Does it sport 3-pin fans? Your mobo might have a limited support for them.

Steveowashere wrote:Removing the from bezel yielding almost no results during a stress test, maybe around 1-2C benefit. I guess that makes my exhaust is limiting airflow then.

Even if, with a single 600rpm (on load) be quiet, such a limited yeld might have been somehow expected. What about stopping alternatively each fan while stressing the system, to better assess your previous findings?

Steveowashere wrote:I think i'll replace it with another 120mm. (I'd be open to suggestions), I was thinking a Noctua NF-S12B. According to this sound test, they seem to be inaudible up to 7V and barely audible at 10V, and move a fair amount of air.

Just try the stock fans (NZXT FN V2) at first, they may be good.
Said that, the S12 is a good fan, in my experience quiet or enough quiet up to around 850-900rpm.

Steveowashere wrote:According to this website's tests the Corsair SP 120 moves 29 CFM at 7v and 9,5 DbA, where the NF-S12B will move 42.7 CFM at 7V also at 9,5 DbA.

I wouldn't compare CT noise measurement with SPCR ones, as they follow a rather different methodologies.

Steveowashere wrote:As for the top 140mm, I'm not sure if replacing the Be Quiet fan will do anything beneficial, but I could be wrong.

First of all, I'd try to crank it up: if temps improve, there may be room for a more generous fan.

Steveowashere wrote:Do you think two of the NF-P14s is good enough for my front intake? Or should I get one for top 140mm exhaust as well. (See my previous post reply to CA_Steve for details)

Are the any benefit to having round frame fans besides heatsink use? Or is it generally better to have square frames for case fans?

Broadly speaking there's no advantage in any frame, a fan has to be considered as a whole: square frames are usually more practical.
At first glance I'd think to two fans, however: you should have the two stock NZXT fans and the swapped PSU fan, play with them.

Steveowashere wrote:Unfortunately the S340 is very limited in the fan mounting department.

You have four: it's not that low number.

Steveowashere wrote:From the picture you linked, It seems you just solder the cap in-line with the grounf and 12V wires? Only on one 12v wire per connector I take?

Yes: with that cap you're not trying to filter/smoothing anything (which would likely require a caps on every wire), just to alter the resonance which generates the whining. With reference to that, I think I quoted all low-ESR caps, but probably a low ESR is not needed for such application.

Steveowashere wrote:Other than that, the GPU whining, but i'll try the cap trick, and maybe put some super glue on a few components SebRad like suggested. Hopefully it might take away some of the coil whine if not a majority.

I'd try both.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Sat Mar 19, 2016 1:48 am

@CA_Steve

No kids or pets to worry about, i'll consider busting out the dremel only as a last resort if raising RPMs/Swapping fans doesn't help. Thanks for suggestion.
Does it sport 3-pin fans? Your mobo might have a limited support for them.
I believe both of its fans are 4 pin. My friend says it includes the original fans, and according to Noctua's spec the fans are both 4 pin.
My Asrock board has two fan headers for CPU coolers, one 4 pin and one 3 pin. Both are controlled together, rather than being controlled individually. (seems to be an Asrock thing, all my other Asrock boards do the same)

What about stopping alternatively each fan while stressing the system, to better assess your previous findings?
Good thought, i'll give this a try.

Just try the stock fans (NZXT FN V2) at first, they may be good.
Said that, the S12 is a good fan, in my experience quiet or enough quiet up to around 850-900rpm.
I gave one of the stock fans away to my friend, I have the other, but I remember it being fairly quiet until around 1200RPM. So it's worth a try.
I wouldn't compare CT noise measurement with SPCR ones, as they follow a rather different methodologies.
Noted :)
First of all, I'd try to crank it up: if temps improve, there may be room for a more generous fan.
I'll try with the exhaust fans at higher RPMs.

You have four: it's not that low number.

I was looking at the Fractal R5/S with envy. The S340 wouldn't hurt by having another top exhaust I think. But 4 is hopefully enough for my purposes.

An online retailer here in Denmark has a sale through the weekend on the Corsair Carbide Quiet 400Q case. Any thoughts on this? All the reviews say it's 'silent at idle' but don't give any Db readings or explain their testing environment. Front intake seems much less restricted than my S340, however the 400Q has only a 120mm exhaust (same as S340) if I choose to leave the top closed. This might get me in the same trouble i'm in with my S340 now.

Update: The Corsair 330R is also on-sale this weekend, I would appreciate thoughts on that too.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:24 am

Steveowashere wrote:
Does it sport 3-pin fans? Your mobo might have a limited support for them.
I believe both of its fans are 4 pin. My friend says it includes the original fans, and according to Noctua's spec the fans are both 4 pin.

I don't think the NH-D14 specs say that, moreover I know them differently: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1020-page5.html /

Even if, there can be the chance your friend swapped the fans (but I don't know any PWM NH-P14)

Steveowashere wrote:My Asrock board has two fan headers for CPU coolers, one 4 pin and one 3 pin. Both are controlled together, rather than being controlled individually. (seems to be an Asrock thing, all my other Asrock boards do the same)

As far as I know it's a usual arrangement, meant mainly for watercooling: hopefully using the stock Noctua y-cable you should be able to run both the fans off the same OPT header.

Steveowashere wrote:An online retailer here in Denmark has a sale through the weekend on the Corsair Carbide Quiet 400Q case. Any thoughts on this? All the reviews say it's 'silent at idle' but don't give any Db readings or explain their testing environment. Front intake seems much less restricted than my S340, however the 400Q has only a 120mm exhaust (same as S340) if I choose to leave the top closed. This might get me in the same trouble i'm in with my S340 now.

Yes, there's more than a chance it may behave similarly.

But, as I already said two times, you shouldn't think you have an actual problem with your case: despite what Lawrence Lee thought about exhaust, regardless of my thought about intake flow, at the moment your temps seem fine, so you have just to address the VGA whine and the rear noisy fan, while you already replaced the stock cooler. Some issues might raise whether you were going to block the top inlet, but I'd try at first, and just then I'd worry about (I mean: in case of problems).

Personally I don't see compelling reasons to switch with that 400Q, atm.

Steveowashere wrote:Update: The Corsair 330R is also on-sale this weekend, I would appreciate thoughts on that too.
The 330R is a modified Corsaid 200R, nothing special, though it should deliver some good temps: it should also be EOL, as well as the 550D, but said that, at the moment I don't see any reason to buy it (take also note that here in Italy it is more expensive than the Define R5).

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:09 am

I don't think the NH-D14 specs say that, moreover I know them differently: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1020-page5.html /

Even if, there can be the chance your friend swapped the fans (but I don't know any PWM NH-P14)
It seems you're right, I was getting it confused with the DH-D15' fans. According to my friend the fans are stock NH-D14, so 3 pin it is. I hope it won't cause too much of an issue, PWM is much nicer to work with than DC control.
As far as I know it's a usual arrangement, meant mainly for watercooling: hopefully using the stock Noctua y-cable you should be able to run both the fans off the same OPT header.

Oh, okay, I was just going to plug each fan into each CPU fan header, but is there some benefit to using the same header? Or is this only if the fans are PWM.
Yes, there's more than a chance it may behave similarly.

But, as I already said two times, you shouldn't think you have an actual problem with your case: despite what Lawrence Lee thought about exhaust, regardless of my thought about intake flow, at the moment your temps seem fine, so you have just to address the VGA whine and the rear noisy fan, while you already replaced the stock cooler. Some issues might raise whether you were going to block the top inlet, but I'd try at first, and just then I'd worry about (I mean: in case of problems).

Personally I don't see compelling reasons to switch with that 400Q, atm.

Just thought I was ask, just in case. I think i'll stick with my S340 for now and try some of the suggestions on this thread. I can get my temps GPU and case temps to improve 2 or 3 degrees if I increase the exhaust RPMs, but it's not worth the noise IMO. I've also tried to stock NZXT 120mm fan, it moves air, but is much louder than I remember and needs a higher RPM than the Corsair SP fan I was using. So i'll be picking up a Noctua NF-S12B to replace it. I think for now, i'll stay away from blocking that top inlet, and keep my Be quiet fan there, It seems like I'll need that top for exhaust as a single 120mm fan won't cut it.

I bought these caps from Ebay, they're Nichicon, so hopefully good. My local store said it would take 2 weeks to order some name brand caps, all he had was cheapo ones.

I'll give an update once I get everything in the post and get it all together. I appreciate all your help and patients so far. :)

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Abula » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:47 am

Steveowashere wrote:I hope it won't cause too much of an issue, PWM is much nicer to work with than DC control.
PWM is just another way to control fans, its not better or worst than voltage controlled, simply different. Its far more important to know the fan behavior and motherboard way of controlling the headers, so you can achive your desired cooling/noise performance.

Here is example, to me Scythe Gentle Typhoons are very good fans, and i dreamed on PWM version of them, and now there is one, DarkSide Gentle Typhoon Performance Radiator Fan (550-1850rpm) 58cfm - Black Edition PWM, sadly even though is very similar in specs to the GT AP15, the Darkside idles around 630rpms while the GT AP15 goes down to 320rpms.

Image

Btw not saying PWM is worst or better than Voltage controlled, simply its just another way of controlling, and in PWM there is not as many options as with 3pin. That said, noctua are one of the best on their PWM design.
Steveowashere wrote:I was getting it confused with the DH-D15' fans. According to my friend the fans are stock NH-D14, so 3 pin it is.
The NH-D14 initially came out with NF-P14 which were 3pin voltage controlled, the LGA2011 version of the NH-D14 came with NF-P14 PWM fans.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Sun Mar 20, 2016 7:49 am

Abula wrote:
Steveowashere wrote:I hope it won't cause too much of an issue, PWM is much nicer to work with than DC control.
PWM is just another way to control fans, its not better or worst than voltage controlled, simply different. Its far more important to know the fan behavior and motherboard way of controlling the headers, so you can achive your desired cooling/noise performance.

Here is example, to me Scythe Gentle Typhoons are very good fans, and i dreamed on PWM version of them, and now there is one, DarkSide Gentle Typhoon Performance Radiator Fan (550-1850rpm) 58cfm - Black Edition PWM, sadly even though is very similar in specs to the GT AP15, the Darkside idles around 630rpms while the GT AP15 goes down to 320rpms.

Image

Btw not saying PWM is worst or better than Voltage controlled, simply its just another way of controlling, and in PWM there is not as many options as with 3pin. That said, noctua are one of the best on their PWM design.
Steveowashere wrote:I was getting it confused with the DH-D15' fans. According to my friend the fans are stock NH-D14, so 3 pin it is.
The NH-D14 initially came out with NF-P14 which were 3pin voltage controlled, the LGA2011 version of the NH-D14 came with NF-P14 PWM fans.

Thank for the correction. I was under the impression the PWM was beneficial in some way because it allowed for smoother control of a fan's RPM, I guess I was reading too many marketing blurbs :lol:

Hopefully the hopefully the 3 pin fans that come with NH-D14 are able to get some low RPMs, that's what seems to count when keeping fans silent/low noise.

By the way, which fan control software is that? I've been using the sort of broken Asrock 'Fan-Tastic tuning' tool.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Mar 20, 2016 8:31 am

Steveowashere wrote:I was just going to plug each fan into each CPU fan header, but is there some benefit to using the same header? Or is this only if the fans are PWM.

It depends: if your 4 pin cpu fan header may drive both 3 pin/4 pin fans (as I vaguely recall) you can do what you thought. Otherwise you wouldn't have two available headers for the cpu (and need the y-splitter).

Steveowashere wrote:Thank for the correction. I was under the impression the PWM was beneficial in some way because it allowed for smoother control of a fan's RPM, I guess I was reading too many marketing blurbs :lol:

It's not all fluff: BIOS min speed settings for 3 pin case fans may often be higher than PWM one, for instance.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Tzeb » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:28 am

Steveowashere wrote: I was under the impression the PWM was beneficial in some way because it allowed for smoother control of a fan's RPM, I guess I was reading too many marketing blurbs :lol:
I will take this 1 step further. DC is better than PWM! Some PWM fans have "hard coded" a too high minimum speed. If you plug that same fan into a 3 pin header, or switch to DC from bios, you can turn the fan off, or have it spin much slower.

That's why DC > PWM.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Abula » Sun Mar 20, 2016 12:51 pm

Tzeb wrote:
Steveowashere wrote: I was under the impression the PWM was beneficial in some way because it allowed for smoother control of a fan's RPM, I guess I was reading too many marketing blurbs :lol:
I will take this 1 step further. DC is better than PWM! Some PWM fans have "hard coded" a too high minimum speed. If you plug that same fan into a 3 pin header, or switch to DC from bios, you can turn the fan off, or have it spin much slower.

That's why DC > PWM.
While you have a valid point somewhat its not the general trend, again its not that one is better than the other, its just different approaches to controlling the speed of a fan. That said, on equal terms i prefer PWM over Voltage control for using PWM splitters, its much safer to do it this way than to overload a header with 3pin splitters. The reason im buying so many PWM fans is im thinking on building a water rig in the near future, but with tons of rads and fans, so 3pins are out of the question, i will never be able to do this, while with Swiftech PWM splitters and just two true PWM headers i will be able to do as many as i wish. One big plus i have found on PWM is you forget the starting voltage issue that many 3pin have, some can go lower than what people achieve but the starting voltage plays a role, and not having a bios that can push them over and then down makes it not able to reach as low as you want, while PWM they always operate at 12V so there is no starting voltage issues. But i do agree with you in terms that the design of the manufactures varies, and in some cases doesn't help people like us searching to slow your fans extremely slow, but researching how the motherboard works and chosing the right fans most of the time ends up with a good setup, reagardless if its PWM or Voltage Controlled.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Tzeb » Sun Mar 20, 2016 1:32 pm

That's right. The starting voltage for DC is an issue. I avoid turning them off. At ~300 RPM a good non defective 12CM makes no noise.

PWM fans should be the first choice when looking for a fan. I don't think many mobos have the DC or PWM bios option and will only control 4 pin fans on the 4 pin headers.

That's why one has to look for that nimimum speed of the pwm fan. 500-600 RPM is not ok for minimun. If you get stuck with such a fan from a heatsink bundle and don't want to throw it away, you just plug it in a 3 pin header, or switch to DC, if the mobo has that.

I'm one that puts 2-3 DC fans on the same header for many many years with zero issues. Just have them spin slowly! ~400 RPM idle, 800-850 load. No faster than that.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Abula » Sun Mar 20, 2016 1:46 pm

Steveowashere wrote:Hopefully the hopefully the 3 pin fans that come with NH-D14 are able to get some low RPMs, that's what seems to count when keeping fans silent/low noise.
Well really will depend on the motherboard into how low it will be able to take them down. But you have a really good option if you find 3pin isnt working out for you, Noctua NF-P14r redux-1500 PWM, its the same design as the default fans of the NH-D14 so fitting and swapping should be very easy. Now if you want to go with NH-D15 its also fine, and as you said before, it already comes with PWM fans, the cooler is slightly better, but also cost more, its up to you if you think its worth it or not. To me the Thermalright Macho Rev B is better in term of price performance, and already comes with a very good PWM fan.
Steveowashere wrote:By the way, which fan control software is that? I've been using the sort of broken Asrock 'Fan-Tastic tuning' tool.
Its Asus FanXpert2, i use it more for fan testing, none of my setups use software to control fans, to me minimalist bios fan control is where is at, set it and forget it. But AsRock seem to be atm the best on bios fan control, im about to buy one to test it, but from what i have read lately they really seem the best option. The Fan-tatstic bios (not the software) option seem to have 1% increments and 1C variations, allowing you almost any breakpoint you wish, play with the bios and see how it goes.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:27 am

Hopefully the hopefully the 3 pin fans that come with NH-D14 are able to get some low RPMs, that's what seems to count when keeping fans silent/low noise. Well really will depend on the motherboard into how low it will be able to take them down. But you have a really good option if you find 3pin isnt working out for you, Noctua NF-P14r redux-1500 PWM, its the same design as the default fans of the NH-D14 so fitting and swapping should be very easy. Now if you want to go with NH-D15 its also fine, and as you said before, it already comes with PWM fans, the cooler is slightly better, but also cost more, its up to you if you think its worth it or not. To me the Thermalright Macho Rev B is better in term of price performance, and already comes with a very good PWM fan.
I noticed the NF-P14r Redux, it's an option if I have issues with the 3pin stock NH-D14 fans. Unfortunately, my case doesn't have the width needed for the NH-D15's height. I believe it is 165mm with fans, and my case can only support up to 161mm before hitting the side panel. The NH-D14 is 160mm on the other hand and it fits like a glove (a snug one). Plus i've already bought the NH-D14 from my friend and it's in the post now. I had considered the Macho but I opted for the D14 because It was around the same price (friend price) as a new Macho.

I actually had a question about which way to mount the D14 in my case, should be be vertical or horizontal? If I go horizontal with the fans blowing towards the rear, it's completely up against my top 140mm fan, which doesn't have decent static pressure (Be quiet! Shadow Wings PWM), Vertical might be better if It doesn't hit on my GPU, and even then I might only be able to run one fan on D14.

Its Asus FanXpert2, i use it more for fan testing, none of my setups use software to control fans, to me minimalist bios fan control is where is at, set it and forget it. But AsRock seem to be atm the best on bios fan control, im about to buy one to test it, but from what i have read lately they really seem the best option. The Fan-tatstic bios (not the software) option seem to have 1% increments and 1C variations, allowing you almost any breakpoint you wish, play with the bios and see how it goes.
All 3 Asrock boards i've owned have had really good fan control in the Bios, even the lower end budget boards. You do indeed have 1% increments and 1c variations. I'll give the bios a go, thanks for the suggestion.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Kobold » Fri Mar 25, 2016 6:20 am

So any news on your NZXT S340, Steveowashere?

Am considering this myself for a build, so would be interesting to know what is achievable?

Kobold

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by Steveowashere » Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:32 am

Kobold wrote:So any news on your NZXT S340, Steveowashere?

Am considering this myself for a build, so would be interesting to know what is achievable?

Kobold
I got the NH-D14 in, and it's much quieter now. I also swapped my WD 1tb drive for a 2.5" laptop drive. The harddrive cage is directly attach to the frame of the case, so vibrations transfer very easily. I used the 'foam trick' from the SPCR review linked above. This worked well. Those two changes took away 80% of the noise coming from the PC. So i'd recommend the S340, as long as you put the right components in it. Over all, i'm very happy with it. Besides the coil whine from my GPU ( which i'm in the process of fixing) sitting at my desk about 1 meter away, I can't hear it.

I'd also recommend staying away from the Be Quiet! fans, as now my system is silent enough, they are actually the loudest part of my system and have strange bearing noise coming from them. Almost like a scrapping. This is happening to both of my Be Quiet Shadow Wings fans.

I'd also like to point out, that I scratched my front panel, and I asked NZXT if I could have a new one, and they sent it at no cost to me. So thumbs up for good customer service.

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Re: Silencing an NZXT S340

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Mar 26, 2016 10:15 am

Glad it all worked out for you.

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