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tips on how to reduce PC noise?

64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
 
theHFIC

theHFIC

Member
Swapping out for liquid cooling on my CPU with some big fans has everything running quiet for me. GPU still is using fans but I can’t hear em.
 
Bonfires Down

Bonfires Down

Member
Crank those fan curves to a minimum. Personally I don’t give a shit how hot it gets as long as it’s quiet. Might be more difficult if you have more powerful hardware though. Argus Monitor for CPU fans, MSI Afterburner for GPU.
 
Knightime_X

Knightime_X

Member
64bitmodels said:
my GPU is stronger than a 1080ti i'm pretty sure (it's a 6650xt) and my CPU is a 5th gen ryzen 5 5600x
they are both relatively mid-high end
Click to expand...
Are you playing games in 4k?
And are you pushing games to the max?
Sometimes a lowering a setting or 2 will dramatically reduce fan noice.

Try playing at 1440p instead of 4k.
Also make sure whatever you're playing isn't trying to exceed the limits of your GPU Vram.
 
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64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Knightime_X said:
Are you playing games in 4k?
And are you pushing games to the max?
Sometimes a lowering a setting or 2 will dramatically reduce fan noice.
Click to expand...
the fan noise occurs even when i'm just browsing so it's definitely not games. but i do usually play games at 1440p high-ultra settings
 
Buggy Loop

Buggy Loop

Member
64bitmodels said:
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
Click to expand...

Ryzen : PBO 2 undervolt if 5000 series or 7000.
GPU : undervolt. If quiet mode bios that only accepts higher temp for lower rpm, consider enabling it (it’s a switch on my Asus TUF)

Noctua fans
Get rid of AMD stock cooler, buy something beefier.
Make sure there’s a logic for air intake and air out.
 
Denton

Denton

Member
I used gigabyte app to slow down my CPU fans to 600 RPM and also slowed down my case fans, and my GPU is passive in windows. So the PC is nice and quiet while being cool enough. In games the fans spin up, but not enough to be distracting when game sound is playing.
 
Fredrik

Fredrik

Member
You should have air over pressure inside the case, more or bigger fans on the intake than exhaust, and stock CPU fans are usually loud, go with a noctua cooler instead.

My current PC is silent enough to have in the living room, haven’t moved it there yet but I totally could. I only use two 140mm noctua fans for intake, sub 20db on both, and three 120mm fans on an Arctic Liquid Freezer AIO blowing through a radiator on the exhaust. Nothing else. Plus I use silent bios on 4090 Suprim X which is bizarrely silent. I thought I would need more fans on the intake but it totally works.
There is a slight whirr from the AIO, it has a small VRAM fan which isn’t as silent as I hoped. Still, very very silent PC.
 
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Ulysses 31

Ulysses 31

Member
Very flimsy info in the OP but these Arctic P14 PWN PST RGB fans are probably quieter and move more air than your current ones:

71rcY4QKSwL._AC_SX679_.jpg
 
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Knightime_X

Knightime_X

Member
64bitmodels said:
the fan noise occurs even when i'm just browsing so it's definitely not games. but i do usually play games at 1440p high-ultra settings
Click to expand...
Can you do a CPUz and GPUz screenshot?
I have a ryzen 7 3800x, and an RTX 2060 super. its whisper quiet even when gaming.
 
Buggy Loop

Buggy Loop

Member
64bitmodels said:
the fan noise occurs even when i'm just browsing so it's definitely not games. but i do usually play games at 1440p high-ultra settings
Click to expand...

Check with hwinfo64 how much watts the GPU is pulling on desktop. If it’s >50W it’s problematic, you could be a zombie PC for crypto mining. I also had a bios problem on mine, updating it have me the zero fan rpm at idle. It was still spinning on desktop and saw it was pulling 110W at idle! Did a DDU driver uninstall and installed drivers again, problem fixed, back to 20-30W on a 3080 Ti.
 
DGrayson

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Undervolt your CPU.

Replace all case fans with quiet PWM fans. Replace your CPU cooler with a quiet cooler or watercooled on.

Ensure lots of airflow around your case to keep temps low in general and not have fans ramp up.

Change your case for one with more airflow.
 
Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Your first stop should be checking your fan curves. You might want less aggressive ones but this will come at the expense of higher temperatures. Make sure to keep your components under safe temps. You don't want them frying on you. Take a look at the BIOS to see if you can change the speed of your case fans. Usually, you can only set them to a specific speed but it depends if they're PWM (controllable) or DC (not controllable).

The second thing you could try is undervolting/power limiting your parts. This will make them weaker but will require less cooling and thus fans will run at lower rpm, reducing noise.

The third thing is to look for larger fans if your case has enough space. Larger fans if they're of good quality typically require less speed to cool the same as smaller fans, again, reducing noise.

The fourth thing is to look at your CPU cooler. Can you get an AIO liquid cooler with lower noise levels?

If you want the absolute quietest possible PC, your only solution is to go with a custom loop but this is time consuming and very expensive. It isn't worth it for a 6650 XT. Your cooling gear will end up costing more than the card itself.

I suspect your GPU is the noisest part of your rig. Check the fan curve in MSI Afterburner.

Hope this helps.
 
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SlimySnake

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
64bitmodels said:
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
Click to expand...
Go to your bios and adjust your case fan speeds until they are quiet. keep them at the same temps instead of curving up as CPU heats up. Leave that curve on for for the CPU stock cooler fan.

Replace CPU stock cooler with an AIO. It will keep your temps at least 15 temps below what your stock can. Which means you will be able to run your CPU fans at lower speeds.
 
Gaiff

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
DGrayson said:
Undervolt your CPU.

Replace all case fans with quiet PWM fans. Replace your CPU cooler with a quiet cooler or watercooled on.

Ensure lots of airflow around your case to keep temps low in general and not have fans ramp up.

Change your case for one with more airflow.
Click to expand...
In short: Change your PC, OP.

I kid, I kid.
 
Mikado

Mikado

Member
Fractal Design case like the R5 + low dB fans (Noctua has worked well for me, probably others)

Switched to the FD cases after a miserable audio experience with a coolermaster HAF case a decade ago. Never again.
 
Greirat

Greirat

Member
Recent generations of PC hardware are very noisy compared to before due to higher power draw needing more cooling. 40xx series GPUs are giant power hungry bricks.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
64bitmodels said:
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
Click to expand...
What are your specs? Most importantly, what is your CPU, your CPU cooler, your GPU, your case, how many case fans do you have and how are they oriented?
 
64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Rentahamster said:
Most importantly, what is your CPU, your CPU cooler, your GPU, your case, how many case fans do you have and how are they oriented?
Click to expand...
ryzen 5 5600x
amd stock cooler
Radeon RX 6650xt
Coolermaster Masterbox Q300L
3 case fans, 2 140mm ones intake, 1 120mm exhaust
 
oldergamer

oldergamer

Member
64bitmodels said:
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
Click to expand...
Don't turn it on?
 
bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Member
Is it still loud if you take the case off?
Fans crank up when there’s lots of heat in the case, this should determine if you have noisey fans or if there’s too much heat inside, in which case you may need a bigger box or switch to a different cooling method.
 
gothmog

gothmog

Gold Member
64bitmodels said:
My PC runs great on the majority of games, but it always sounds like a whirring jet engine... even with headphones on, i can still hear the blowing. I have 4 fans (3 are case fans, the 4th is my stock CPU cooler from ryzen) and the cable management is admittedly terrible... but besides those, my PC isn't out of the ordinary. What can i do to make it sound better? how do your builds sound?
Click to expand...
Just remove the fans and it will run silent. Please don't do that although I have had experiences with people doing that to stop the sound. Expensive lesson to learn.

There are many ways to reduce noise but the level of effort can go up. Some of them are relatively cheap like installing more fans to circulate the air better which will reduce the need for high rpms. Make sure the PC is somewhere that gets good airflow. Beyond that there are better cooling systems like replacement CPU coolers, heat sinks for the hotter parts, and even liquid cooling like a car radiator if you want something like that.
 
Gamezone

Gamezone

Gold Member
Gudji said:
Buy a console.
Click to expand...
Then we do my PS4 sounds like a jet engine?

On topic:

Noctuna or Be Quiet fans with low fan curves. I use the NZXT fan hub with software for Windows. Or Corsair fan hub with iCue software might do the trick.
 
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skneogaf

skneogaf

Member
You need to identify which fan/fans are making the most noise?

I used software to put fans on silent then ran a game and tested gpu fan noise, after that I made adjustments to power target and fan curve.

I then did the cpu fan, followed by the case fans which don't make much noise anyway.
 
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