Optimization of airflow and sound in very tied place

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

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kamelie1706
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: finland

Optimization of airflow and sound in very tied place

Post by kamelie1706 » Thu Jan 23, 2020 8:43 am

Hi,

Back after 9 years after, finally decided to ditch my trusty phenom to Ryzen. :-D
https://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/v ... =8&t=61269

I changed first:
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING (115€)
- CPU: Ryzen 5 2600X with Stock Cooler slighly overclock to 3,8Ghz (111€)
- Ram: Corsair Vengeance DDR4 16 Go (75€)
- Drive: SSD PNY XLR8 CS3030 M.2 NVMe 250 Go (46€)
=> around 350€ for nice update!

I kept:
- my super compact case which could fit an ATX motherboard : The Coolmaster Elite 360. That was at that time one of the cheapest and even nowadays MicroATX case are bigger! 148x360x439mm!
Screen Shot 01-23-20 at 05.17 PM.jpg
- my set of very basics Arctics fan (2xF12 pwm and 2xF8 pwm)

I was using with my phenom a nice Noctua C14, it was very efficient in the pack space but:
- I needed to order AM4 adpater
- it was taking so much space that maintenance was almost imposible.

The first try was not great with stock cooler (reaching 90 in stress mode ....)
ryzen_2600X_prism95.jpg
Curious about the water-cooling offering ... I found a rather interesting solution at great price (60€) : The Arctic Freezer II 120
It almost fits but I had to do without the Fan (Arctic P12) due to lack of cabling, and use the very basic Arctic F12 PWM out of the case.
IMG_3111.JPG
IMG_3114.JPG
I was not expecting much as the inside still looked so pack .... and I was wrong!
Max 65 on stress mode, Fantastic!
ryzen_2600X_prism95_water_cooler_2.PNG
And I do not make the think easy when it come to cooling (the back is closed ....)!
IMG_3116.JPG
My airflow is positive with 3 fans blowing in (F8 from the back and the side right, F12 from the Front to get maximum fresh air) and only hot air going up (F12) from the heatsink ... but blowing somehow partly inside.

Temperature all good, I now focus on the sound.
Environment far from silent (hardrive, NAS ...) that I could already reduced by working on vibrations of the different elements: 40dBA
Idle/light usage: 47dBA
Stressed max: 63dBA

Again positively surprised by those cheapo Arctics Fan. At light usage the noise is barely audible and not unpleasant (not high). The issue comes when converting some video and stressing the CPU.
I was thinking to replace my arctics fan by a fancy Noctua:
- 1 x Noctua A8-PWM (to get the extension in the package)
- 1 x Noctua A8-PWM redux
- 1 x Noctua P12- PWM redux (for the heatsink in pull mode)
- Use the Arctic P12 from the package as input in the front
For a somewhat reasonnable cost of 40€.

Should I try an other airflow strategy? How much dBA improvement can I expect with Noctua knowing the challenging environment (close packed case, close metal closet, far from silence to start with ...)?

Thx!
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CA_Steve
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Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Optimization of airflow and sound in very tied place

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jan 23, 2020 6:59 pm

Here's an additional thing: Is the side of the case sitting directly on the metal drawer? Is it causing any vibration induced noise of it's own (potential to amplify what's coming from the case)? If so, try isolating it with something simple, like a rubber/fabric keyboard and/or mouse mats and see what happens.

kamelie1706
Posts: 45
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 9:55 pm
Location: finland

Re: Optimization of airflow and sound in very tied place

Post by kamelie1706 » Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:02 am

Hi,

no I have avoid this, touching the metal only on the bottom (which I agree I should also damp).
It is actually easy to hear as the sound is different in that case (high buzz) ... as far as I can tell I hear only fan/air noise.

Thx

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