Help with noisy setup

[z3rider]

In my setup, the "things" that are capable of making noise are (in the order of what I suspect to be causing the most noise):

- Black ICE GTX360
- 3 Scythe S-Flex (running at 900 rpm)
- Danger Dan Tower 26 (yes, it's a case and has no moving part, but being acrylic and has no noise dampening feature, I think it is contributing to the overall noise significantly).
- Corsair Dominator fans on top of the RAM
- Swifttech MCP655 (this pump is very quiet itself and I'm "insulating" it from the case with a 1 inch soft sponge; so I don't think it is the problem child here).
- A little fan that comes with my ASUS Striker II Extreme that cools the north bridge (very quiet on its own).
- Zalman ZM1000 (almost noiseless when I tested it outside of the case).

Overall my system is definitely noisy by water cooling standard.
Do you think the main culprit is the Black Ice? or the Fans (which I've used extensively on my other builds and they are usually very quiet)? or the case?
Any ideal to help quiet it down is much appreciated!

 

[Wshmaster0]

what noise are you talking about? air noise? cilcking? high pitched?

You can always try the Yate Loon fans, however you'll have to see how the Black Ice will handle it being a lower rpm fan.

 

[Copyright]

Any of it drive noise or PSU noise? If its drive noise look into HD suspension. You would be surprised how much noise you can get from your drives. I used to have a Raptor X 150 that sounded like a high speed fan.

 

[z3rider]

I think it's mostly air noise. Basically, low pitch humming kind. I was using a Raptor and yes it's noisy... so I just swapped it with a Barracuda which seem ok.

 

[Copyright]

Fan Grilles can create that kind of noise. I normally cut them away. I would try to suspend the drive somehow as well.

 

[Nanan]

Fan Grilles can create that kind of noise. I normally cut them away. I would try to suspend the drive somehow as well.

Smacking the center of the fan grill with a hammer a few times to dish it out also works, I did this on my CM690 for the top and side fans and the whistle went away.

 

[MrE]

At first I wanted to blame the GTX since its a high pressure Rad, but looking at your enclosed pic, I'd say it looks as if you have your Sflex fans in a "Pull" configuration which should be a bit quieter than Push. The DD tower can contribute some noise as acrylic isn't exactly quiet when used as a case. How do you have the Rad attached to the front panel? Could be a combination of vibration with the Rad and the acrylic front which will amplify.

Also, what power supply is that on bottom? I'll bet that tends to makes some noise vibrating the acrylic. Time to start isolating and dampening as these appear as the most likely culprits.

 

[z3rider]

Actually, I don't have any fan grill. The picture is not showing it well, but the fans are in a "push" configuration, so based on comments from MrE, perhaps I can get some improvements by changing it to pull? One issue I need to deal with is the fact that regular mounting screws won't work for this case due to thickness of the acrylic panel. To make the switch and keep the airflow in the same direction (i.e. blowing air out of the case), I'll need to find the right screws hopefully from the local hardware store (Toronto)...

BTW, thanks a lot for all your ideas, I'll explore them all... this should keep me busy for the rest of this summer!

 

[MrE]

There are trade offs with pull vs. push, but the biggest gain is the drop in fan noise when pulling air through vs. push. The negative to a pull setup is a 1-2 degree change in temps for the worse.