Sound proofing your PC case

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Rev. Night

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I am going down the rabbit hole of trying to build a silent PC even under full load. I'm mostly there with my Noctua case fans, undervolted/underclocked GPU, AMD Chill limiting FPS to 100, etc.. But not fully quiet. I still kinda hear the gpu (Sapphire 5700xt) during extended gaming sessions. Not wanting to go the full waterblock, or AIO, route, I began to think about adding sound insulation to the case panels. I have a Fractal Design Define C.
  • What type of foam should I buy?
  • Has anyone done this before?
  • Will this significantly increase temps, thereby increasing fan noise?

thanks all!
 
You should have bought a define R6 or R7 they include sound dampening, but yes you can add stuff like that yourself, depending on where, how much etc.. you add it may raise temps a bit, I'm suing a define R6 with a glass side panel but the other one is insulated, and my temps are fine but I don't realy care about the noise much, it's an alround good case to build in with plenty of space.
 
You can check out Acousti Products I have never used them, but have seen it on Performance PC's website. Looks like they have solutions that vary in thickness and cover a wide range of cases/racks. From my car audio days you have a couple of different materials. One to reduce/eliminate vibration and another to absorb noise. Based on what you are asking I would go with something designed to absorb noise as there typically isn't a lot of vibration in a PC case.

As long as you do not impede the airflow I cannot imagine it raising your temperatures much. If anything it will add some resistance to the natural flow over bare metal which could cause some increased temps resulting in higher fan speeds.
 
How well does it work? I've used some Dynamat-type stuff marketed for PCs back in the early 2000s and can't say I noticed a difference. I'm pretty sensitive to sound.
 
Car firewall sound proofing works. Brand doesn’t matter, you’re trying to dampen vibration.
 
I had nice results with removing the GPU's heatsink shroud and fans and putting a couple of 120 mm Noctuas on the card.
 
Meeho said:
I had nice results with removing the GPU's heatsink shroud and fans and putting a couple of 120 mm Noctuas on the card.
Click to expand...

Curious, I actually started a thread about that very idea. The problem is that two 120mm Noctuas (A12x25), Y splitter, and GPU adapter cost as much as an Arctic aftermarket cooler. I was then told to go the Arctic P12 route as they are alot cheaper.

What gpu did you do this with? Reference blower or AIB? What was your core/junction temps before and after?
 
Rev. Night said:
Curious, I actually started a thread about that very idea. The problem is that two 120mm Noctuas (A12x25), Y splitter, and GPU adapter cost as much as an Arctic aftermarket cooler. I was then told to go the Arctic P12 route as they are alot cheaper.

What gpu did you do this with? Reference blower or AIB? What was your core/junction temps before and after?
Click to expand...
ive done it on a 280x, 470, 580 and a 970 all aib, works good but a bit fugly. wont work well with a blower, if at all.
 
oh I could care less if its fugly since theres no window case. And the noctuas were an improvement on the stock pwm AIB fans?
 
Rev. Night said:
oh I could care less if its fugly since theres no window case. And the noctuas were an improvement on the stock pwm AIB fans?
Click to expand...
didnt use noctuas, i wont pay $30CAN+ for a fan. ive used corsair sp120s, cm 120s and arctic p12s and ive always sacrificed the oem cable and spliced them on since they were all out of warranty.
 
Rev. Night said:
Curious, I actually started a thread about that very idea. The problem is that two 120mm Noctuas (A12x25), Y splitter, and GPU adapter cost as much as an Arctic aftermarket cooler. I was then told to go the Arctic P12 route as they are alot cheaper.

What gpu did you do this with? Reference blower or AIB? What was your core/junction temps before and after?
Click to expand...
Asus HD7970 and a Gigabyte HD7950 were the latest, non-reference. I can't remember the before/after temps but went from loud to quiet with good enough GPU/VRM temps. One was my gaming rig and the other an HTPC, huge improvement over stock. Later cards were less power hungry with good factory coolers so didn't have to mod, but I'd do it in a heartbeat if necessary.

Go for fans that lean towards higher static pressure.

Used MBO headers and SpeedFan to control the fans in relation to GPU temps as I didn't bother ordering an adapter for the cards' fan header or improvising my own. Sometimes I would just hook them up to constant 7 or 12 V if the fans were quiet enough.
 
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I took the time to apply the accustipack linked above to a fractal Arc MIDI very thoroughly back in the day. I'm not sure I would do it again, you still get a lot of sound through all of the vents \ spots left open for fans.

Full coverage block and custom water is your best bet unfortunately. Otherwise something like an Accelero Xtreme may be a worthwhile upgrade if you have a blower card. I personally don't care much for their universal designs, but there aren't a lot of other options.
 
Yeah I just discovered that my mobo (Gigabyte Z170-HD3P), while it has two PCI gpu slots for crossfire, only one is PCI16. The other is PCI4x. Why the fuck you would place a second gpu in a slot that only has 4 lanes of bandwidth truely befuddles me. The reason I bring this up is because all of those Arctics (1-4), the backplate will interfere with my Noctua NH-D15. So I can't use any of their products.

Right now, I am looking into replacing the 5700xt fan shroud with two Arctic P12s. They have a great return policy on Amazon, so I don't really have anything to lose. I'll post up later how this helps.
 
Rev. Night said:
I am going down the rabbit hole of trying to build a silent PC even under full load. I'm mostly there with my Noctua case fans, undervolted/underclocked GPU, AMD Chill limiting FPS to 100, etc.. But not fully quiet. I still kinda hear the gpu (Sapphire 5700xt) during extended gaming sessions. Not wanting to go the full waterblock, or AIO, route, I began to think about adding sound insulation to the case panels. I have a Fractal Design Define C.
  • What type of foam should I buy?
  • Has anyone done this before?
  • Will this significantly increase temps, thereby increasing fan noise?

thanks all!
Click to expand...
If it's your GPU you're hearing, you won't change a ton by working on the case.

You need to silence your GPU fans, and the only good way to do that is to replace them.

Here's a decent suggestion: (But seriously, use epoxy, not tape. lol!)

 
It is interesting what you bring up, but I have a particular thought of it too. Every watch anime and there is a liking of the power cables? Me being a part of a cable generation I like them. Connection is a fascinating concept of many things. Why do you think so many games have the sound of a hard drive reading and writing? But this connection besides cables is the operating sound. I like to hear some of that, but not be distracting like the crickets on crack sound of coil whine. You can detect some things happening when heat is an issue to your system.

It is also my understanding that some of the dampening material can change the ebb and flow of air, and heat retention. Finding that balance of operational sound and cooling is not an exact science because of many variables. Flow, proper pressure of fans, case dampening, and proper exhaust are very particular. I also have forgotten, there is an acoustic variable when you mix attributes of the fans. It is a real term that can cause a more "noticeable" sound difference. Someone here may know and a simple trying to look for it was not successful. But this does have a major acoustic awareness when this difference is there and operating. IIRC, is something about the harmonic of that differences in operation.

Do not forget that also placements of the chassis having the sound being amplified by location to the walls around, and distance to wall, size of room, carpeting, and the exhaust distance to a wall can have an extra decibel or two. Carpet underneath the chassis changes air flow and sound. So much to consider before any overclocking and such.

Here are some terms when I was trying to find what I was looking for. Most links provided via the page are broken, but may lead to some more understanding of acoustics: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Acoustics/Noise_from_Cooling_Fans

But one personal note Radeons are often very loud in comparison to nVidia's.
 
Shikami said:
It is interesting what you bring up, but I have a particular thought of it too. Every watch anime and there is a liking of the power cables? Me being a part of a cable generation I like them. Connection is a fascinating concept of many things. Why do you think so many games have the sound of a hard drive reading and writing? But this connection besides cables is the operating sound. I like to hear some of that, but not be distracting like the crickets on crack sound of coil whine. You can detect some things happening when heat is an issue to your system.

It is also my understanding that some of the dampening material can change the ebb and flow of air, and heat retention. Finding that balance of operational sound and cooling is not an exact science because of many variables. Flow, proper pressure of fans, case dampening, and proper exhaust are very particular. I also have forgotten, there is an acoustic variable when you mix attributes of the fans. It is a real term that can cause a more "noticeable" sound difference. Someone here may know and a simple trying to look for it was not successful. But this does have a major acoustic awareness when this difference is there and operating. IIRC, is something about the harmonic of that differences in operation.

Do not forget that also placements of the chassis having the sound being amplified by location to the walls around, and distance to wall, size of room, carpeting, and the exhaust distance to a wall can have an extra decibel or two. Carpet underneath the chassis changes air flow and sound. So much to consider before any overclocking and such.

Here are some terms when I was trying to find what I was looking for. Most links provided via the page are broken, but may lead to some more understanding of acoustics: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Acoustics/Noise_from_Cooling_Fans

But one personal note Radeons are often very loud in comparison to nVidia's.
Click to expand...
.... What? Was this stream of consciousness typing?
 
Guarana [BAWLS] said:
If it's your GPU you're hearing, you won't change a ton by working on the case.

You need to silence your GPU fans, and the only good way to do that is to replace them.

Here's a decent suggestion: (But seriously, use epoxy, not tape. lol!)

Click to expand...


Funny enough, thats exactly what I'm doing. Because I already have an AIB card with a huge (non-reference) heatsink, I'm just putting better fans on. No need for Noctua A12x25s, read a few reviews that puts Arctic P12s at 99% of the performance for 1/3rd the cost.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/g8xrtu/my_reference_rx_5700_xt_cooler_mod/) talked about people ziptieing two 120mm fans (AIB is two 92mm), and I was about to do that until someone posted about this fan pci slot rack you can get for $9 on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N3T1GJP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Hell yes I am doing this, I never liked the ziptie mounting. The two Arctic P12s get here next week, I will post pics and temp comparisons to AIB Sapphire Pulse 5700xt. I will obviously do a noise comparison too, but thats going to be 100% subjective since I don't have any mics.

370796_41yU4BduoBL._AC_.jpg
 
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Rev. Night said:
Funny enough, thats exactly what I'm doing. Because I already have an AIB card with a huge (non-reference) heatsink, I'm just putting better fans on. No need for Noctua A12x25s, read a few reviews that puts Arctic P12s at 99% of the performance for 1/3rd the cost.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/g8xrtu/my_reference_rx_5700_xt_cooler_mod/) talked about people ziptieing two 120mm fans (AIB is two 92mm), and I was about to do that until someone posted about this fan pci slot rack you can get for $9 on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N3T1GJP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Hell yes I am doing this, I never liked the ziptie mounting. The two Arctic P12s get here next week, I will post pics and temp comparisons to AIB Sapphire Pulse 5700xt. I will obviously do a noise comparison too, but thats going to be 100% subjective since I don't have any mics.

View attachment 269413
Click to expand...
I just replaced all the fans in my case with Arctic P14 PWM fans. They're great.

The only thing I'll mention: One or two of them do make a 'light' clicking noise when PWM'd down to low speeds. It's hard to hear through a closed case, but it's there, depending on your sensetivity.
 
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My GPU fans are the ones making the noise. All the other case and CPU fans I have are Noctua, so they are great.
 
Guarana [BAWLS] said:
I just replaced all the fans in my case with Arctic P14 PWM fans. They're great.

The only thing I'll mention: One or two of them do make a 'light' clicking noise when PWM'd down to low speeds. It's hard to hear through a closed case, but it's there, depending on your sensetivity.
Click to expand...
my p12s and f14s do that too. there is a spot around 800ish rpm(i think) that they sound off. pick up or slow down just a tad and it goes away.
 
.... What? Was this stream of consciousness typing?
Click to expand...

rofls, i have no idea what this thread, anime, cartoons, and cables all relate
Click to expand...

As I said it is "connectivity." The sound of a system is your connection to its operational state. Even the light indicator is just as equal as an audible hum to the operating state of the system. This is an obvious thing if it is a laptop, or even a desktop. The click of a power button, a POST beep, possible hard drive pops, spinning fans, and the shitty audio file Windows or most OS's play after boot that most mundane users have not disable. Too quite, and it might not "feel" right, unless you want that. Right amount of noise can be operational ambiance. A desktop should have some acoustics, but not become distracting.

BTW, lol: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-power-lines-anime-electrical-infrastructure#:~:text=Power lines act as a,big ones,” says Steinberg.

my p12s and f14s do that too. there is a spot around 800ish rpm(i think) that they sound off. pick up or slow down just a tad and it goes away.
Click to expand...
maybe I'll see about speeding them up a hair. Noise isn't a problem (yet)
Click to expand...

This is that acoustic dissonance I was trying to find. When the fans operate within these difference they create a more audible nature. I will try to find that.


My GPU fans are the ones making the noise
Click to expand...

As I mentioned, even from my personal experience, Radeons are notoriously loud: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...hUKEwjK__yu2JbrAhUPo1kKHdaBC2sQ4dUDCAw&uact=5
 
Here is an article, but doesn't mention the terminology I am looking for. It does mention the audible noise that can be heard when noise is not matched to load (ah, the ambiance). I am looking for what is created with different pressures of fans that causes audible acoustics to increase, IIRC-it is a term. Anyways, many do not know about pressure and dust, but hey I talk about connectivity and anime power lines: https://www.electronics-cooling.com/2019/03/managing-cooling-fan-noise-in-product-design/

Still looking for it, if someone finds it I owe them a really strong virtual beer
 
Rev. Night said:
Funny enough, thats exactly what I'm doing. Because I already have an AIB card with a huge (non-reference) heatsink, I'm just putting better fans on. No need for Noctua A12x25s, read a few reviews that puts Arctic P12s at 99% of the performance for 1/3rd the cost.

This reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/g8xrtu/my_reference_rx_5700_xt_cooler_mod/) talked about people ziptieing two 120mm fans (AIB is two 92mm), and I was about to do that until someone posted about this fan pci slot rack you can get for $9 on amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N3T1GJP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Hell yes I am doing this, I never liked the ziptie mounting. The two Arctic P12s get here next week, I will post pics and temp comparisons to AIB Sapphire Pulse 5700xt. I will obviously do a noise comparison too, but thats going to be 100% subjective since I don't have any mics.

View attachment 269413
Click to expand...
I just used some card stock (creditcard ads are useful, after all!) – cut a little piece off, poke two little holes in it, and screw one of your extra fan screws into each side. Nice to have a bracket, though.
 
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I silenced my 1080ti by replacing the fans with an Arctic Accerelo Extreme III. It's still, at full load, the only thing in my case any making any noise at all - but its way, WAY less noise than my original EVGA heatsink was making and now ONLY at full load.
Otherwise every other component in my Fractal Design R5 is absolutely silent and I have a pretty crammed case with 6 HDDs and 3x nvme drives.
 
TheSlySyl said:
I silenced my 1080ti by replacing the fans with an Arctic Accerelo Extreme III. It's still, at full load, the only thing in my case any making any noise at all - but its way, WAY less noise than my original EVGA heatsink was making and now ONLY at full load.
Otherwise every other component in my Fractal Design R5 is absolutely silent and I have a pretty crammed case with 6 HDDs and 3x nvme drives.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree with you, but because of my massive Noctua NH-D15 cpu cooler, i don't have the room for a huge backplate on my gpu. And I can't place it in the 2nd gpu slot because that slot is only pcix4, not x16
 
Rev. Night said:
Oh I agree with you, but because of my massive Noctua NH-D15 cpu cooler, i don't have the room for a huge backplate on my gpu. And I can't place it in the 2nd gpu slot because that slot is only pcix4, not x16
Click to expand...
There's no backplate on the Accelero III. I'm using it with a Thermalright Le Grand Macho, which is about the same size (if not bigger?) than the Noctua DH15. It's a tight fit, but its a fit.
1597535397147.png


I am, however, upgrading my case (to a Fractal Define 7 XL) and motherboard (To an X570 Taichi) in the next few weeks because I personally would like more space to work with and I need more PCI-E bandwidth.
 
Rev. Night said:
Interesting. I see you still need those individual heatsinks though.
Click to expand...
They're part of the package that comes with the Accelero III, I actually have a bunch of extra heatsinks left over that I'll likely find a use for... someday....
 
Guarana [BAWLS] said:
FYI: The Arctic Accelero 4 has a backplate, but no tiny heatsinks. I have it on my GTX1080.

I haven't had a single problem with it, even in games, since swapping to it. And it's SOOOOO much quieter than the blower was, OMFG
Click to expand...
yeah but due to my noctua nh-d15, I dont have the room for a heatsink backplate
 
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