More or Less fans?

J

JOSHSKORN

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 29, 2007
Messages
262
My case is a Fractal Design Define XL R2. It came with 3 fans, and I can add 4 more. The cooler I use is the Noctua NH-U14S. My Temps are low, as it is.

My goal is to make my computer even more quiet than it already is. Can I do this by adding more fans and lowering the fan speed? I have not removed any stock noise blocking material from the case.
 
I have the same case, and after going through a few brands I found that I like Noctua NF-A14 FLX fans for my case, as they are quiet, include additional vibration reduction mounts, and work very well with my NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller. The front fans unfortunately don't move much air due to the removable dust filter, fan guard, and then front door, so if you're going to leave an empty space do so there, but the bottom fan, top, and rear shouldn't be ignored.

In the end, more fans at slower speeds usually moves more air quieter than fewer fans at higher speed.
 
I've setup a few Define R2, R3 & R4 cases using PWM fans controlled by CPU PWM signal and often GPU PWM fan signal as well. Advantage is fans idle down when CPU & GPU idle down. Most often used fans are TY-140 and TY-147, but they have the rounded sides cut flat to 141mm. I normally use 2x front and 1x bottom intakes with 1x exhaust int the rear. The back top vent is open but without fan with front top vent closed, as is side vent. Usually the PCIe back slot covers are removed for added front to back airflow around GPU. Case is raised about 40mm, usually on a caster base. This not only makes it easier to move system, but also give much better airflow to bottom intakes for case and PSU.

Link to case airflow
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1040832403&postcount=5

Link to PWM control of PWM case fans
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1040791376&postcount=13
 
mhenley said:
I have the same case, and after going through a few brands I found that I like Noctua NF-A14 FLX fans for my case, as they are quiet, include additional vibration reduction mounts, and work very well with my NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller. The front fans unfortunately don't move much air due to the removable dust filter, fan guard, and then front door, so if you're going to leave an empty space do so there, but the bottom fan, top, and rear shouldn't be ignored.

In the end, more fans at slower speeds usually moves more air quieter than fewer fans at higher speed.
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My motherboard is the ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME and it comes with some sort of controller, which I've installed but don't really know how to use, yet.

Should I replace the fan inside my NH-U14S with this fan? I'm not exactly sure how this works. Also, it is installed such that it blows front to back. How would that affect the placement of any fans do replace /remove /add?
 
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I would say to go with as big of fans as you can. Bigger fans usually push more air while being quieter. Otherwise your original idea isn't bad.
 
JOSHSKORN said:
My motherboard is the ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME and it comes with some sort of controller, which I've installed but don't really know how to use, yet.

Should I replace the fan inside my NH-U14S with this fan? I'm not exactly sure how this works. Also, it is installed such that it blows front to back. How would that affect the placement of any fans do replace /remove /add?
Click to expand...

If it were my rig, I would not replace the fan attached to your NH-U14S as it's doing quite well the way it is. Front to back is the correct orientation, so that warm air is directed towards the rear and top exhaust sections. I'm never owned a Rampage V so I can't say how to use it, but I went with the Sentry 2 for the manual control over the fans, but you don't have to. PWM control is another effective way of having a silent computer that only gets louder when it needs to in order to cool the system.

If you haven't already done so, I would start by replacing those stock Fractal Design R2 fans with the aforementioned Noctua fans and seeing if that gives the results you're looking for. Whether you control it by the provided voltage reduction cables, the built in fan controller switch on the case, motherboard controls, or a standalone fan controller, you'll have more airflow than the stock fans at lower noise levels and less vibration. At the very least I would start by getting 2 (bottom and rear) but in my rig I've got 6 (2 on rad at top, 1 rear, 2 front, 1 bottom) and I have never been happier.
 
What about if I were to get a second fan for my NH-U-14S cooler? I read somewhere that it can support dual-fans.

mhenley said:
If it were my rig, I would not replace the fan attached to your NH-U14S as it's doing quite well the way it is. Front to back is the correct orientation, so that warm air is directed towards the rear and top exhaust sections. I'm never owned a Rampage V so I can't say how to use it, but I went with the Sentry 2 for the manual control over the fans, but you don't have to. PWM control is another effective way of having a silent computer that only gets louder when it needs to in order to cool the system.

If you haven't already done so, I would start by replacing those stock Fractal Design R2 fans with the aforementioned Noctua fans and seeing if that gives the results you're looking for. Whether you control it by the provided voltage reduction cables, the built in fan controller switch on the case, motherboard controls, or a standalone fan controller, you'll have more airflow than the stock fans at lower noise levels and less vibration. At the very least I would start by getting 2 (bottom and rear) but in my rig I've got 6 (2 on rad at top, 1 rear, 2 front, 1 bottom) and I have never been happier.
Click to expand...

Why or why not also put a fan on the side? Just curious.
 
JOSHSKORN said:
What about if I were to get a second fan for my NH-U-14S cooler? I read somewhere that it can support dual-fans.



Why or why not also put a fan on the side? Just curious.
Click to expand...

Because there's no filter for the side fan, and the bottom fan (which has a filter) provides enough fresh air to satisfy my video card's needs. Also, each optional opening has a 'moduvent' covering which has additional sound dampening material, so only opening what you need to helps keep the case quiet.

If you can get a second fan for the NH-U14S I would absolutely do that. Multiple reports on multiple tower coolers show that those which can support dual fan for push/pull perform considerably better than a single fan on the same cooler.
 
The NF-A15 on the NH-U14S is a 1500rpm fan. The NF-A15 fan you can buy is a 1200rpm fan. Same model number, but not the same rpm. Also, adding a second fan will not make much difference in CPU temp .. maybe 2c at full speed. If you could get a 2nd 1500rpm NF-A15 it would help a lower fan speeds. But if one fan at 800rpm is 40c, 2x fans at about 700rpm will be same 30c .. While the noise level of a single fan at 700rpm is less than at 800rpm, 2x fans at 700rpm is as loud or louder than 1 fan at 800rpm.

Getting optimum case airflow / cooling generally give more cooling improvement than adding more fans. But it does require some knowledge, thought, a remote sensor thermometer (to monitor air temps at cooler intakes) and some testing to get it done.
 
Anyone know what the deal is with the Noctua Redux fans? They seem louder, but are they better/worse? Just curious.

I don't think they sell the NF-A15 at 1500rpm.
 
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mhenley said:
I have the same case, and after going through a few brands I found that I like Noctua NF-A14 FLX fans for my case, as they are quiet, include additional vibration reduction mounts, and work very well with my NZXT Sentry 2 fan controller. The front fans unfortunately don't move much air due to the removable dust filter, fan guard, and then front door, so if you're going to leave an empty space do so there, but the bottom fan, top, and rear shouldn't be ignored.

In the end, more fans at slower speeds usually moves more air quieter than fewer fans at higher speed.
Click to expand...

I was looking around, and found a NF-A14 ULN version. With ULN, it goes a speed of 650 rpm +/- 10%. My current fan speeds are 750-774 RPM, mind you, I have the stock fans right now, which are THREE (3) Fractal Design Silent Series R2 (these, I think).

I basically want the same performance out of my PC I'm getting now, but quieter. The NF-A14 ULN fans I linked to do not spin as fast as my current fans with LNA. If I end up replacing my 3 current fans with 6 of these NF-A14 ULNs (at lower speed), how might my CPU temp and temps of other components be affected?
 
Quite obviously your temps will go up. Sure, there are fans that can perform better than other fans at similar speeds, but the primary determinants of airflow are always fan RPM and fan size. The real question is will the amount your temps go up matter, and that's not something easily answered.
 
Tsumi said:
Quite obviously your temps will go up. Sure, there are fans that can perform better than other fans at similar speeds, but the primary determinants of airflow are always fan RPM and fan size. The real question is will the amount your temps go up matter, and that's not something easily answered.
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My temps will go up, even though there are more fans blowing air in/out, despite the lower RPM rate?
 
if your temps are fine, why dont you just lower fan speeds to make it quieter, rather than spend more money on more fans you don't really need?
 
mnewxcv said:
if your temps are fine, why dont you just lower fan speeds to make it quieter, rather than spend more money on more fans you don't really need?
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Define "fine". I don't know what good temps are for my setup, to be honest.
 
looks like the cores are idling around 30 and the gpu at 34. Others can chime in with an answer more specific to that hardware, but those temps are nice and low. Can you check to see what they get up to while gaming?
 
mnewxcv said:
looks like the cores are idling around 30 and the gpu at 34. Others can chime in with an answer more specific to that hardware, but those temps are nice and low. Can you check to see what they get up to while gaming?
Click to expand...

How do I do that? Is it as simple as running the app while gaming, then rerunning the report?
 
open the program, let everything populate, click view on the menu bar, click "clear min/max".

go play a game for a while, then close it and go look at the program. Then upload the new report.
 
mnewxcv said:
open the program, let everything populate, click view on the menu bar, click "clear min/max".

go play a game for a while, then close it and go look at the program. Then upload the new report.
Click to expand...

Trying to...but now all the sudden getting an error when I attempt to load Battlefield 4. Odd, never happened before. Trying to troubleshoot it, now, then I'll get back to you. But, if you're curious, this is the error I'm getting:

DirectX function "GetDeviceRemovedReason" failed with DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_RESET ("The device failed due to a badly formed command.") GPU: "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980", Driver:34475
Click to expand...
 
Sorry to bump my old thread, but I had a question with respect to it.

I'm still (when funds permit), looking into getting new fans for my computer case to lessen some of the noise from my PC. In a couple months, I may look into 6 Noctua ULN fans. I think they run at 650 RPMs, and that's probably good enough. My current temps are good, and I don't think it'll have much of an affect.

Here's another thought. My case, sits roughly 1/2" off the floor. I don't know how tall the actual legs are to my case, so that's just a guess. I could easily stick my thumb under it. Also, the floor of my bedroom is Pergo, or basically some form of wood flooring. I'm thinking that the flooring alone, causes major reverberation of the sound from my fan.

Thoughts on this? If I'm correct, what material would be best to put underneath my case? The physical specs on my case are: (H) 22.00" x (W) 9.13" x (D) 22.05"
 
Something like a door-mat (non-rubber or flat-textured rubber would be better, I'd think) would probably work fine. If you want to test before you go out and buy, you could put a quilt or something like that (a thin padded fabric) folded over once under your computer. A shower mat would probably work as well.
 
Nobu said:
Something like a door-mat (non-rubber or flat-textured rubber would be better, I'd think) would probably work fine. If you want to test before you go out and buy, you could put a quilt or something like that (a thin padded fabric) folded over once under your computer. A shower mat would probably work as well.
Click to expand...

Can you or someone show me an example?
 
JOSHSKORN said:
Sorry to bump my old thread, but I had a question with respect to it.

I'm still (when funds permit), looking into getting new fans for my computer case to lessen some of the noise from my PC. In a couple months, I may look into 6 Noctua ULN fans. I think they run at 650 RPMs, and that's probably good enough. My current temps are good, and I don't think it'll have much of an affect.
Click to expand...
You really don't need six fans. I highly recommend reading this article on the number of fans and where to place them:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/1

As for fans, I highly recommend reading this article as well as to which fans you should be looking at:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Scythe_Fans_2013

And for 140mm fans:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup1
JOSHSKORN said:
Here's another thought. My case, sits roughly 1/2" off the floor. I don't know how tall the actual legs are to my case, so that's just a guess. I could easily stick my thumb under it. Also, the floor of my bedroom is Pergo, or basically some form of wood flooring. I'm thinking that the flooring alone, causes major reverberation of the sound from my fan.

Thoughts on this? If I'm correct, what material would be best to put underneath my case? The physical specs on my case are: (H) 22.00" x (W) 9.13" x (D) 22.05"
Click to expand...
I highly doubt that that's the issue considering your case. If it was a smaller or cheaper quality case, I would have an easier time believing that would be an issue. With that said, I concur with Nobu that you should test before you buy. I used old mousepads to test that once actually.
 
Dangman said:
I highly doubt that that's the issue considering your case. If it was a smaller or cheaper quality case, I would have an easier time believing that would be an issue. With that said, I concur with Nobu that you should test before you buy. I used old mousepads to test that once actually.
Click to expand...

What was the result using old mousepads?
 
You know, a doormat. Depending on the material, you may want to put something under it to prevent scratches on your floor. Alternatively, a shower/bath rug.

Softer/thicker materials (to a point) will absorb more vibrations. If you could get a flat rubber mat (no bumpies) that'd probably be good, but wouldn't look great. The combination of a soft fabric mat on top of a thin rubber mat would probably work best, but I don't have any rubber mats (or wood floors) to test.
 
I had a thought. Considering that this case is heavy, plus the internal parts, what if I just went to a local mom and pop store and had them build me a dolly on small wheels with carpet or some rubber mat? I would leave the front open, but probably have some sort of lip along the 3 other sides. I rarely move my machibe, but when I do, this would be nice. Previously, I'd just used a regular dolly. Would raising it off the floor dampen the noise as well? I do realize that clearance under my desk might become more of an issue, then but I think there's plenty of room.
 
JOSHSKORN said:
What was the result using old mousepads?
Click to expand...
Limited change: The case was just old and thinly made.
JOSHSKORN said:
I had a thought. Considering that this case is heavy, plus the internal parts, what if I just went to a local mom and pop store and had them build me a dolly on small wheels with carpet or some rubber mat? I would leave the front open, but probably have some sort of lip along the 3 other sides. I rarely move my machibe, but when I do, this would be nice. Previously, I'd just used a regular dolly. Would raising it off the floor dampen the noise as well? I do realize that clearance under my desk might become more of an issue, then but I think there's plenty of room.
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That's a bit much man. I highly doubt your case is that noisy unless you happen to be extremely sensitive to noise or something. Not to mention that it's kind of a ass-backwards method of lowering PC noise when you should be concentrating on the CPU HSF, video card's HSF, case fans, and the PSU fan to a certain extent.
 
Fans do generate noise .. but much of the noise we here from our systems is not caused by the fans, but by the airflow itself.

As I said in post #4
Half inch between case and floor creates additional noise.
Raise case for at least 40mm (1.6") clearance
120mm fan has approx 100sq cm airflow area, 140mm fan has approx 140sq cm airflow area. 120mm circle by 0.5" is 49sq cm airflow area, 140mm circle by 0.5" is 57sq cm airlfow area .. less than half of fan area.​
Vent grills create noise.
Remove vent grills
Grills typically have 50-70% airflow area .. 100sq cm bent area has 50-70sq cm airflow area. Also grills create turbulence .. which slows airflow and creates noise.​
Bottom with PSU fan and case intake fan side by side limit airflow to each fan by 25% because one side of each fan is blocking airflow to the other.​
 
JOSHSKORN said:
My case is a Fractal Design Define XL R2. It came with 3 fans, and I can add 4 more. The cooler I use is the Noctua NH-U14S. My Temps are low, as it is.

My goal is to make my computer even more quiet than it already is. Can I do this by adding more fans and lowering the fan speed? I have not removed any stock noise blocking material from the case.
Click to expand...

I have a r4 and I only use 4 fans, 3 intakes and 1 exhaust.... I have the fans set up so it is 100% silent at idle (PC makes no noise at all can't tell its on) and during games almost silent... Covering up the top holes and just using 1 exhaust fan works very well for reducing noise and still keeps temps low enough (get a high quality 140mm fan for the rear such as Phanteks etc. Run it at about 600-700rpm idle and 1000-1300rpm load)
 
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