Making my PC quiet

shad_68

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I've got a Lancool K58 case for my PC, and I'm looking for some advice on how to make it more quiet. It's not loud, but audible.
It's got a 140mm fan in the front, and a 120mm fan in the back, with the option for two 140mm fans on top. And to be honest I've got no idea about what to do and what I need to do it. :p

Should I replace the stock fans? Add some in the optional spots? Make them run slower? Where/how can I regulate that? ...
 
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The question is: are the fans really the loudest parts in the PC or is it something else? The easiest way to find out is disconnecting them momentarily (for 10 seconds or so, until they spin down). If the PC is still as loud as before it weren't the fans but maybe the HDDs which vibrate and transmit the vibrations to the case or the graphics card fan.

The outlet-fan should be at the top, not the back since that's the natural air flow.


That said, the stock fans in Lian Li-/Lancool-cases aren't quiet so tuning them down would be the first thing I'd do. I have a PC-60F and the front fan is connected via a 5V-adapter directly to the PSU. That way the noise is bearable but it still shifts some air.
If you have an adapter which has wires between two big connectors you can either switch the pins of the yellow with the pins of the red wire so the fan gets 5V.
If you want 7V you can switch the black wire where the wire to the fan-connector is located with the red wire. In that way the potential difference is 7V.

The pins should be switched over in both big connectors so the wires go 1:1 from one connector to the other, otherwise there could be a big mess if you want to connect other devices behind the adapter.
 
yeah, that!
most case-fans on 12V are ridiculously loud. luckily my case came with a controller (of sorts, just a poti for 4 fans regulating voltage), so i have my 4 fans running at something between 6 and 7 V, which keeps them nice and quiet. turning them up to 12V will of course make them shift way more air, but will also drive me crazy in a matter of minutes.
 
Have you done anything to make the hdd quieter?

Anyone have success with hdd silencers?

Power supply noise?
 
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my hdd's are mounted on tiny rubbery things, they work rather well for being so simple. i think the K58 has a similar system (a friend of mine at least has that with his K58).
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PC is definitely more quiet with the fans unplugged, CPU fan is the next in terms of loudness. The fans are connected directly to the main board.

HDDs are already decoupled from the frame with rubber mountings by default.
 
As I said, reduce the voltage for the fans to 5V or 7V and put the rear fan to the top if there are holes for mounting a 120mm-fan, should be enough (depending on the components).
 
How can I control the voltage? In your other post you mentioned switching pins on an adapter, but as I said, the fans are directly plugged into the main board. :dunno:

Sorry, I really am quite noobish with these things.
 
How can I control the voltage? In your other post you mentioned switching pins on an adapter, but as I said, the fans are directly plugged into the main board. :dunno:

Sorry, I really am quite noobish with these things.

if they're plugged into the MB you could try using a software such as speedfan to control the fanspeed. usually those are quite good at detecting all the fans attached to the MB. i have some asus software which i only use to check cpu temperature and regulating cpu-fan speed, there's tons of stuff around (usually every MB manufacturer has something like it, mine's called asus AI suite).
 
How can I control the voltage? In your other post you mentioned switching pins on an adapter, but as I said, the fans are directly plugged into the main board. :dunno:

Sorry, I really am quite noobish with these things.
I meant such an adapter. On those adapters you can put the yellow wire in the place of the red wire, then the fan will get 5V.
You can get these already built as adapters to 7V or to 5V, but then a molex-connector is lost, if you have one not connected to any device. If you have a PC-store nearby you can go there and ask for such an adapter, they should have it in stock.

Speedfan is another possibility, but there are limits so you can try but it isn't guaranteed you can control the fanspeed.
 
Speedfan seems to do the trick, after fiddling around to get it to automatically adjust the fans it's now running them around 33% speed in idle.

One thing I noticed though, is that the GPU has a significantly higher temp than everything else at all times. Everything else is around 40?C or below, but the GPU is around 50?C with the fan at 46% in idle. Is it normal for the GPU to be so much warmer, and what's an ok idle temp?

Oh, and how do I get the fans to run with their default settings again? For the case fans that should just be at 100%, but the GPU fan already had an internal speed regulation. I't doesn't seem as if quitting speedfan resets them to default.
 
Yes.

At one time, I was concerned about my GPU running at 40-50* but it's completely normal. My XFX 6850's ran at 45ish and my Sapphire 6970 runs as 40ish. As long as you aren't hitting 90+, you'll be alright.
 
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