Cooling with Noctua

[Jellyfishpudding]

Corsair Carbide Air 240
ASRock 775M
Core i5 2380 (no OC) w/ Freezer 7 Pro
GTX 980

My rig is in a finished basement that stays fairly cool year round. I play games very infrequently, but use it quite often for music production. I’m also a writer and am planning to record my first audiobook. So I’m taking measures to quiten things down a bit. I just replaced three 120mm Corsair fans (2 intake, 1 exhaust on the roof) with two Noctua NS-F12A’s using the 900rpm adapters mounted on the front as intakes. The case is so open that I’m not bothering with an exhaust. Naturally, things are significantly quieter now, but I’d like to see how much quieter I can make it without putting any components at risk. I’d still like to play an occasional game without having to change things up beforehand.

Should using the 700rpm adapters still provide plenty of airflow?

Might I tweak the speed of the fan on the Freezer 7 a bit?

Any other tweaks you’d recommend? Remember, the room is already fairly cool year round. The air vents are on the ceiling so heat doesn’t impact the room as much as we’d like. It’s comfortable down there, but my kids and I will sometimes put a blanket over our legs while watching movies even during the summer months.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I can post a pic if you’d like, but the rig is pretty standard fare.

Thanks!
Eddie

 

[VanGoghComplex]

You shouldn't put a low-noise adapter on your CPU fan - most LNAs I've seen are three-wire, meaning you'd be running your PWM-enabled CPU fan on voltage with no control.

I'd get into your BIOS or use a software tool like SpeedFan to create a custom fan curve for your CPU cooler, running it slower than "stock". If you can do that and are still satisfied with temps, you're off to the races for $0.

If a slow Freezer 7 can't keep your CPU cool, get one of those big honkin' 140mm Noctua coolers.

 

[Jellyfishpudding]

Thanks! I wasn't going to put the adapter on the CPU fan. Just curious if using the "ultra low noise" 700rpm adapter with the two 120mm fans would still blow plenty of air into the case. Doing that alone might give me the quiet I'm looking for.