New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

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ROGman
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:47 am

Finding SPCR site was as close to an epiphanic moment I'm going to get. I'm a gamer currently on build 5 and have sourced, what I believe to be, great components. The PC runs beautifully at 4.3GHz but it's just too loud!

Here's my rig:

Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D
PSU: Corsair AX860i
CPU: 5960X OC to 4.3GHz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i
RAM: 32GB G.Skill F4 DDR4-2133 (OC to 3000Mhz)
GPU: Asus Strix 980GTX (Currently running at stock)
Mobo: Asus Rampage V Extreme/3.1

Fan Setup:

Front: 2x 140mm Noctura NF-A14 Industrial PPC 3000 PWM
Rear: 1 x 140mm Noctura NF-A14 Industrial PPC 3000 PWM
Top: (CPU Radiator - Push) 2x 120mm Noctura NF-F12 PPC 3000 PWM

BIOS: All fans set to PWM and take their cue from the CPU temperature

My existing setup was stock corsair front and rear and 2 x Vortex CF-V12S on the radiator which ran a lot quieter.

I'd heard a lot about Noctura and their reputation - the only things that held me back on my previous builds was the colour. Now that the Industrial series is easier on the eye, decided to upgrade all fans in the hope that the greater control gained from 4 pin PWM would allow my rig to run even quieter.

Unfortunately, my PC boots at 68db and with the H100i Connect4 in Silent Mode manage to obtain 43db under normal use (measured with a SL814 Digital Sound level meter). When I gaming, the noise picks up significantly. I ran the Asus Q-Fan configuration and that made them run even faster.

Have I made a bum steer and bought the wrong fans? or should I be running the case fans in DC mode? Any help would be appreciated.

My only regret is not finding SPCR before I "upgraded" my fans.

Thanks

NeilBlanchard
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Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by NeilBlanchard » Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:35 am

Welcome to SPCR!

How far away from the machine are you holding the sound level meter? What is the ambient sound level in the room, without the computer running?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by Abula » Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:45 am

Are you overclocking the Intel i7-5960X?

What are your temps do the CPU and GPU? idle and load.

What rpms does your fans idle?

Are you running AI Suite / FanXpert?
Last edited by Abula on Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

boost
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Location: de_DE

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by boost » Wed Jul 06, 2016 6:02 am

ROGman wrote:Have I made a bum steer and bought the wrong fans?
YES. Those industrial fans don't belong in the home.
I think the low limit on those NF-A14 Industrial PPC 3000 PWM fans is 800RPM on a 140 mm fan. That's a high RPM for my 140mm Noctua NF-P14s redux. It idles in the 400 RPM range.
Get normal non-industrial Noctua PWM fans with a RPM range from 350 to 1200 RPMs, like these or these (120mm version). These are practically inaudible in idle, i have both 140mm versions.

ROGman
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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:05 am

NeilBlanchard wrote:Welcome to SPCR!

How far away from the machine are you holding the sound level meter? What is the ambient sound level in the room, without the computer running?

I have the sound meter on top of my desk. The PC is located under the desk.

ROGman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:23 am

Abula wrote:Are you overclocking the Intel i7-5960X?

What are your temps do the CPU and GPU? idle and load.

What rpms does your fans idle?

Are you running AI Suite / FanXpert?

Hi Abula

The CPU is currently running at 4.308 GHz with a CPU temp of 32 degrees C (Idle)
I run the GPU at stock speed (silent Mode) when not gaming; Mem Clock 7010, boost clock at 1076 running at 40 degrees C idle. For general PC use the GPU fan is off automatically.

Originally I would use FanXpert - allocating the fan configuration correctly and and running fan tuner, the outcome is very strange, once configured its loud:

2 CPU fans at 1038rpm
1 Front fans (intake) - 2079 rpm and the 2nd is off! weird.
Rear Fan 237 rpm
Sound Pressure: 53.6db at idle.

I must have the system conflicting in some way, just can't figure it out.

ROGman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Wed Jul 06, 2016 9:28 am

boost wrote:
ROGman wrote:Have I made a bum steer and bought the wrong fans?
YES. Those industrial fans don't belong in the home.
I think the low limit on those NF-A14 Industrial PPC 3000 PWM fans is 800RPM on a 140 mm fan. That's a high RPM for my 140mm Noctua NF-P14s redux. It idles in the 400 RPM range.
Get normal non-industrial Noctua PWM fans with a RPM range from 350 to 1200 RPMs, like these or these (120mm version). These are practically inaudible in idle, i have both 140mm versions.
Thanks for the advice Boost.

How do you configure your fans; PWM or DC mode? Is the CPU fan difference to chassis?

Cheers

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by Abula » Wed Jul 06, 2016 4:46 pm

ROGman wrote:
Abula wrote:Are you overclocking the Intel i7-5960X?

What are your temps do the CPU and GPU? idle and load.

What rpms does your fans idle?

Are you running AI Suite / FanXpert?

Hi Abula

The CPU is currently running at 4.308 GHz with a CPU temp of 32 degrees C (Idle)
I run the GPU at stock speed (silent Mode) when not gaming; Mem Clock 7010, boost clock at 1076 running at 40 degrees C idle. For general PC use the GPU fan is off automatically.

Originally I would use FanXpert - allocating the fan configuration correctly and and running fan tuner, the outcome is very strange, once configured its loud:

2 CPU fans at 1038rpm
1 Front fans (intake) - 2079 rpm and the 2nd is off! weird.
Rear Fan 237 rpm
Sound Pressure: 53.6db at idle.

I must have the system conflicting in some way, just can't figure it out.
I think whats happening, is that Asus today has all fan headers switchable, but on haswell X99 i think its still 1x PWM and the rest fake 4pin (aka 3pin Voltage controlled). And you are trying to control high rpm PWM fans as voltage control, or at least thats the only explanation i can reach. Do something, usually Asus mobos have a CPU_OPT, while not controllable, its a mirror of CPU_FAN, try to connect the front intake thats its running at 2079 to this CPU_OPT, see if you get the same rpms or you get lower.

Have you ran the FanXPert Tuning?

lodestar
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Location: UK

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by lodestar » Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:59 am

All of the Asus X99 boards, including the Rampage V Extreme, have Allow Fan Stop as a BIOS option. It should be available as an option which running the BIOS Q-Fan tuning. Alternatively it can be implemented by setting the BIOS setting for the chassis fans to manual, and setting Allow Fan Stop to Enabled. This will keep the chassis fans off while the CPU temperature is below the minimum set in the BIOS. Typically this is 40C but I don't know if this can be varied in the BIOS to a higher figure. At least it will eliminate chassis fan noise during normal idle conditions. The manual fan settings also allow some control of what PWM % duty cycle the fans will run at once the minimum CPU temperature is exceeded.

Fan Xpert has had a facility for Fan Stop for chassis fans since the release of Fan Xpert 2.

ROGman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Thu Jul 07, 2016 1:30 pm

lodestar wrote:All of the Asus X99 boards, including the Rampage V Extreme, have Allow Fan Stop as a BIOS option. It should be available as an option which running the BIOS Q-Fan tuning. Alternatively it can be implemented by setting the BIOS setting for the chassis fans to manual, and setting Allow Fan Stop to Enabled. This will keep the chassis fans off while the CPU temperature is below the minimum set in the BIOS. Typically this is 40C but I don't know if this can be varied in the BIOS to a higher figure. At least it will eliminate chassis fan noise during normal idle conditions. The manual fan settings also allow some control of what PWM % duty cycle the fans will run at once the minimum CPU temperature is exceeded.

Fan Xpert has had a facility for Fan Stop for chassis fans since the release of Fan Xpert 2.

Thanks for the info Lodestar, I spent about 2 hours today, trying out different bios settings (PWM vs DC). I noticed the fan stop function...pretty cool. In the end the only way I could get the speed down was manually controlling the fans through the front base panel - oh boy, drop the RPM To 700 and they are whisper quiet. I still have to contend with the 68db boot, which now scares the dog.

I've got the replacement fans arriving tomorrow, so will put an end to this misery; although I must admit this has been a totally captivating journey of discovering a side of PC building that has to this point eluded me. I think keeping the noise down has been a greater challenge than over clocking some dodgy memory that just lost the silicon lottery.

I'll install the new fans and post an update. As of now, my rear fan has stopped working !!!

ROGman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Sun Jul 10, 2016 4:13 am

ROGman wrote:
lodestar wrote:All of the Asus X99 boards, including the Rampage V Extreme, have Allow Fan Stop as a BIOS option. It should be available as an option which running the BIOS Q-Fan tuning. Alternatively it can be implemented by setting the BIOS setting for the chassis fans to manual, and setting Allow Fan Stop to Enabled. This will keep the chassis fans off while the CPU temperature is below the minimum set in the BIOS. Typically this is 40C but I don't know if this can be varied in the BIOS to a higher figure. At least it will eliminate chassis fan noise during normal idle conditions. The manual fan settings also allow some control of what PWM % duty cycle the fans will run at once the minimum CPU temperature is exceeded.

Fan Xpert has had a facility for Fan Stop for chassis fans since the release of Fan Xpert 2.

Thanks for the info Lodestar, I spent about 2 hours today, trying out different bios settings (PWM vs DC). I noticed the fan stop function...pretty cool. In the end the only way I could get the speed down was manually controlling the fans through the front base panel - oh boy, drop the RPM To 700 and they are whisper quiet. I still have to contend with the 68db boot, which now scares the dog.

I've got the replacement fans arriving tomorrow, so will put an end to this misery; although I must admit this has been a totally captivating journey of discovering a side of PC building that has to this point eluded me. I think keeping the noise down has been a greater challenge than over clocking some dodgy memory that just lost the silicon lottery.

I'll install the new fans and post an update. As of now, my rear fan has stopped working !!!

OK, new fan installation complete, but now have a new problem to overcome; the Bios sees both front, back and CPU fan set up but fan Xpert does not see my front fans.

New Setup as follows:

Front: 2 x NF-A14PWM - Y-cable with low noise cable to fan header 2B
Rear: 1 x NF-A14PWM - Connected to fan header with low noise cable 3B
CPU (H100i Radiator - push): 2 x NF-F12PWM - set to DC mode in bios (3 pin from H100i to CPU header)

BIOS Setting:

Rear - PWM min 400rpm
Front - PWM min 400rpm
CPU - DC min 500rpm

When I run Fan Xpert, it sees the CPU and Rear fans, an unknown fan (Fan Header 1A) but does not see the front fans in 2B.

As always, any help would be appreciated.

P.S. Thanks to Boost, these fans really are quiet - my sound pressure meter is unable to detect against ambient sound of room when on idle c40db - simply wonderful!

boost
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Location: de_DE

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by boost » Mon Jul 11, 2016 2:56 am

ROGman wrote:When I run Fan Xpert, it sees the CPU and Rear fans, an unknown fan (Fan Header 1A) but does not see the front fans in 2B.
Are the fans spinning when the computer is running?
Maybe you have to disconnect the low-noise cable for Fan Expert to detect and optimise the fan speed? Does it even make a difference to the sound level if you use them without the cable?
If I find the cable I will test this with my board (Asus Z-170). Don't know where the retail box for the fan is at the moment, though. Fan Expert optimisation for the NF-P14s only brought the low limit from 20% PWM for silent profile down to 15% on a good day, when I rerun it it goes to 18%. I can't tell the difference either way, so I set the profile to silent and I'm done.

ROGman
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:00 am

Re: New build PC boots at 68db - HELP!!

Post by ROGman » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:11 pm

boost wrote:
ROGman wrote:When I run Fan Xpert, it sees the CPU and Rear fans, an unknown fan (Fan Header 1A) but does not see the front fans in 2B.
Are the fans spinning when the computer is running?
Maybe you have to disconnect the low-noise cable for Fan Expert to detect and optimise the fan speed? Does it even make a difference to the sound level if you use them without the cable?
If I find the cable I will test this with my board (Asus Z-170). Don't know where the retail box for the fan is at the moment, though. Fan Expert optimisation for the NF-P14s only brought the low limit from 20% PWM for silent profile down to 15% on a good day, when I rerun it it goes to 18%. I can't tell the difference either way, so I set the profile to silent and I'm done.
Hi Boost, I didn't have time to trouble shoot the headers, so opted to connect the front fans to the 1A header and bingo! fan Xpert picked it up, ran the optimization and we're all good. These fans are amazing - at full power I'm registering 49db and when on silent mode are barely audible, in fact my sound pressure meter can't go that low. A week ago I was frustrated to hell, I knew too little, I bought the wrong fans, I couldn't control them and today I'm a happy man with my "Build-5 PC" running smoothly and very very quietly.

Thanks to everyone who helped me a long the way.

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