Can anything be done to make this PC quieter?

Q

quok

Member
I bought the following system from PCS a little while before Christmas:

CaseCORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT 12 Core CPU (4.7GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)



Motherboard		ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080
1st Storage Drive2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNOT REQUIRED
Power SupplyCORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingCorsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired NetworkingWIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating SystemWindows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System LanguageUnited Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery MediaWindows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office SoftwareFREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-VirusNO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
BrowserGoogle Chrome™


I was under the impression I got reasonably good parts for cooling, a good case etc, but the thing makes so much noise. Now I haven't owned a powerful desktop PC in over a decade having just used laptops so maybe all PCs make a racket and I just don't have a frame of reference, but to me it seems extremely loud, it's almost like having a vacuum cleaner on full power under the desk. The extent to which I need to turn up the speakers to try to drown out the noise means gaming at night is just not possible.

This is specifically when gaming so I assume it's the GPU making most of the noise, though the PC's "idling" sound is still a fair bit louder than I would ideally have liked. Again, I haven't used a desktop in years so I've no reference, but I'm surprised there's not some kind of low power mode for basic web browsing and other non demanding tasks that my laptop can do with equal performance in absolute silence.

I should mention that the GPU is a Zotac, as that isn't specified in the order above. Is there anything I can do to quieten the system down? I'd be willing to spend money, but I'm not sure what scope there is for retrofitting quieter parts, nor would I be super confident in doing anything complicated myself. Alternatively are there software solutions that might improve how the fans are managed and are there any potential gains there?
 
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Don Coyote

Active member
Have you installed Corsair iCue and set a custom fan curve for the case fans. My 500DSE case fans were extremely noisy before I loaded a custom profile for the fans which reduced both noise and temperature. I have also found that leaving the H115i pump on extreme and the fans on balanced has a significant affect on noise and temperature.

I am sure one of the more knowledgeable guys will be along shortly with a better idea and fix.
 
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Deleted member 17413

Guest
Custom fan curves...the ones iCue comes with (even the "quiet" one all up the fans pretty high, pretty fast...)
At 40C it has the fans on something like 80% output...and AMD chips normally sit around 30C to 40C even when resting.

Set your own fan curves... even just copy the curves theyve set up but increase the temps at which they kick in.
You only really need the fans to be working when the CPU starts properly warming up. Below 50C/60C they can sit below 1000rpm and you wont hear them (PS, would leave the pump speeds alone though, you'll find most the noise comes from the case fans rather than the cooler fans anyway).
 
Q

quok

Member
Thanks for the advice.

I've opened up iCue - there are four devices, my "K70 RGB MK2" which is my keyboard, "H115i Platinum" which is my processor, "Vengeance RGB Pro" which is the RAM, and "Lighting Node Pro" which I think is a thing I can plug lights into that's not used.

The CPU is the only one that has fans, it has Fan 1, Fan 2 and Pump. I've made a new Ultraquiet profile for the fans and left the pump alone. I've set the curve to 0% until 40 degrees raising to 100% at 60 degrees. 0% at 40 is probably way too aggressive but I just wanted to see what impact it had.

I'm not sure how reliably this is being followed, because the temperature is being reported at a stable 32 degrees while the fans seem to drop to 0RPM for 30 seconds then speed up to around 700RPM for a minute or two, maybe the temperature is actually fluctuating and the reporting isn't keeping up?

In any case, dropping them down to 0 had no noticeable affect on the noise. If I look in the case I can see 2 large fans at the top of the case which drop their speed in line with iCUE, but there are three further fans at the front of the case which continue at full speed, and I don't see any controls for those ones.

Also, I guess none of this will affect the fan on the GPU, can that be set up elsewhere, or is it safe to change? I opened Nvidia control panel but didn't see anything about fan speeds.
 
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Don Coyote

Active member
I am not familiar with the lighting node pro as my case uses the commander pro. If you click on the Lighting Node Pro in iCue, and then click on the Performance tab, does it then list the fans there? If so then that would be where you can change the case fans.
 
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TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I've set my AIO fans to 'quiet' and the pump to 'extreme' on mine and it's fine. However, my CPU and GPU are a step down from your's albeit in a smaller case.

However, if you only have the provided Lighting Node Pro, then you can only control the RGB on the front fans via iCUE. The speeds will have to be controlled by something else (in my case it was FanExpert in the Asus Armoury Crate).

I've now installed a rear fan and connected it all via a Corsair Commander Pro (which was fun to disconnect and reconnect all those cables/cable ties) and then all 4 SP120 fans are controlled for RGB & speed via a single profile.
 
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TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Don Coyote said:
I am not familiar with the lighting node pro as my case uses the commander pro. If you click on the Lighting Node Pro in iCue, and then click on the Performance tab, does it then list the fans there? If so then that would be where you can change the case fans.
Click to expand...
Lighting Node Pro (at least on the one that came with my iCue 220T) only does the RGB.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Don Coyote said:
Thanks for the clarification, I am only familiar with the Commander Pro.
Click to expand...
No worries...I've only recently become familiar with all of this...especially trying to fit all those cables from a RM1000x into the tiny space the 220T provides - finding the space for the Commander Pro was not easy, and I ended up sticking it to an empty HDD drive sled as it was too thick to fit anywhere behind the side cover.
 
A

Ash_

Master Poster
Download a decibel metre on your phone and find out how loud it is.

I had a faulty gpu that was over 60db
 
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Deleted member 17413

Guest
When you select the commander pro module, does it not show you the three case fans?
I have a different case but will be a similar setup, 4 icons in iCue, keyboard, AIO, commander pro and motherboard.
The case fans are connected via the commander pro, to set custom curves for those I select the icon for the pro, then on the left i select performance which then shows the three fans and three pre-programmed curves.

Far as i'm aware, you cant adjust the preset ones, but if you press the "+" it will let you create your own fan curve.
xaB1RgG.png
 
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TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
sibun1 said:
When you select the commander pro module, does it not show you the three case fans?
I have a different case but will be a similar setup, 4 icons in iCue, keyboard, AIO, commander pro and motherboard.
The case fans are connected via the commander pro, to set custom curves for those I select the icon for the pro, then on the left i select performance which then shows the three fans and three pre-programmed curves.

Far as i'm aware, you cant adjust the preset ones, but if you press the "+" it will let you create your own fan curve.
xaB1RgG.png
Click to expand...
The don't believe the OP has a Commander Pro, just the Lighting Node Pro that comes with the case.
 
Q

quok

Member
AgentCooper said:
You may need software for your motherboard to control speeds on the case fans. Most likely FanXpert which is part of ASUS AI Suite...


Click to expand...
Thank you! This tool helped a lot. It ran an automated fan check which turned different fans on and off and created a profile so I could choose silent and it turned them down.

It doesn't seem to have picked up all of the fans, two of the three front fans are now turned down along with the 2 at the top of the case that iCue picked up, while there is actually a 6th fan at the back that I hadn't noticed before now which has also remained at full speed.

So of 6 fans, 4 are now turned down and 2 are running at full speed. So it's by no means silent but a very significant improvement on where it was.
 
A

Ash_

Master Poster
Edit the rear exhaust in your bios, if you have 2 extraction fans at the top, the rear exhaust will be the one you can get away with low speed.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I think you've spotted the reason I opted to install the Commander Pro.

I never found FanExpert or the BIOS could identify or properly map all the fans - almost as if something had been plugged into the wrong header on the motherboard (which I suppose is easy when every fan cable is identical). I think my front 3 fans were connected to the bottom 3 fan headers (CH2, W-PUMP+, M2).
 
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