Hey Guys,

I have been reading a lot of post and I needed some help. This is what i have

mini tower with 2 92mm Scythe "KAMA PWM" Fan 31dba cfm 55 . http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html One is intake at the front bottom of that case and the other is blowing out at the back of the case.

My problem is that the fans are too loud. Looking and doing research Im guessing 31dba is loud. When in the next room my computer sounds like the refrigerator when the freezer turns on when on idle. I play BF3 and SWTOR and i know that the fans might get louder due to the game.

Last night I had enough and opened my case. I always went in to the BIOS and saw that my system fan was at about 2400rpm Those 2 fans were the culprits. My questions is...Is it a good idea to replace the intake fan with a 120mm less noisy fan? I did unplug one of the fans to see how much noise I loss and the computer sounded way better. Or should replace the intake with a 120mm and add an additional 120mm on the side. My CPU temp was at about 30C.

Im looking at getting something local so I can do it over the weekend. There are so many choices so far i have been looking at Nactua, Antec True Quiet, Scythe slip stream.

Thanks in advance

Replacing 92mm fans with 120mm fans will always be the quieter option, you can run the 120mm fans lower with a fan controller or via bios fan controls and make them spin slower so they push the same amount of air as your 92mm fans but at lower speeds.

Both Nexus and Noctua have good 92mm fans. Thry swapping them in.

Without you revealing details about your CPU, GPU and Case I can offer some general advice.

As you reduce the fan noise you will likely reduce the air flow through the case. To ensure adequate air flow with the least noise some measure of science is prudent.

Generally you should:
-1- test your system and record the results
-2- make a change
-3- retest and compare the results

These are good tools:

CPUBurn - processor stress software x4 for your quad core CPU
FurMark - to stress the GPU
GPU-Z - to monitor GPU temperature and fan speed
HWMonitor - to monitor temperatures and fan speeds

While HWMonitor is a very capable tool I recommend using the main board manufacturer's monitoring software. ASUS provides ASUS PC Probe II. Gigabyte provides EasyTune.

Have fun...

I have amd phenom II X4 635..GPU visiontek ati HD6770. The case is a m-atx. MoBo is MSI 785-45p

WELCOME TO SPCR!!!

we need to know more about your pooter to be more helpful....

aside from the fans you mention, there is also a PSU fan, a CPU and maybe a even a GPU fan to take into account.

Good Point.

I wouldn`t replace the fans. I also have some Kama pwms and they`re excellent fans with a very smooth motor. There problem is that they`re running at full speed.
There are two ways to solve this: either get a pwm splitter or manually control the voltage fed to them by using a fan controller or the 5 volt trick.

If you use the first solution, you`ll have to plug the splitter on the cpu fan header and let the motherboard control all the fans based on cpu temperature. They will get powered directly by the psu so there`s no risk of overloading the fan header (it`s only used to control the speed). The drawback is that the fans will not adjust their speed according to gpu temperature although this too can be solved by using speedfan. If your video card has a blower type cooler then this is even less of an issue.

i posted more info earlier guess it didnt go through. I have a MSI 785GM-P45. I looked in the BIOS and there is no system fan control. Looks like I also dont have PWM. My system fan connector on the MoBo is a 3 pin. I dont mind the noise from the GPU and CPU they are not that bad but the system fans are loud. I do have one connected directly to the PSU. OH my PSU in an ANtec 430w. Pretty quiet.

I looked into that PWM splitter but again i dont have PWM. If the BIOS is controlling the case fan I maybe able to use PWM splitter on both fans. I ordered the Noctua 92mm NF-B9 Blade Design with BBT & VCN. The dba is really low and the Airflow 64.3 m³/h. We will se what happens.

Ok, the system fan header is 3 pin but what about the cpu fan header? Those are 4 pin (with automatic speed control) in the vast majority of motherboards, have been so for quite some time.

I see what you are saying. Yes the CPU is a 4 pin. Use the CPU fan connector with the case fans. Excuse my slowness i have one the mac scene for about 10yrs and getting back to PC building.