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What is your opinion on the fan noise?

Are you a fan of noise?

  • Absolutely not. My system must be silent.

    Votes: 12 18.5%

  • Not really. I prefer my systems quiet.

    Votes: 29 44.6%

  • At least noisy fans let me know my cooling is functional.

    Votes: 6 9.2%

  • Of course. Fans must blow!

    Votes: 10 15.4%

  • Something different. I will explain in my commentary.

    Votes: 8 12.3%
  • Total voters
    65
It drives me absolutely nuts really and I tend to run fans at startup voltages.
 
I prefer per fan control in windows but otherwise as long as my GPU with stock fan profile is the loudest thing in my system under load I don't care I think the average yearly temp here is 76F so it's not hard to keep my house in the 20-23C range making my computer fans not work too hard to keep it cool.
 
I increased the distance from my pc tower to my chair position. It seems fan characteristics are measured in one meter distance usually.

I got a quieter graphic card and sold the more noisy one. There is a big difference in regards of graphic cards fan noise

a good example - for a worse example just compare recent graphic card reviews.
www.techpowerup.com

PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound Review - Amazing Noise Levels

PowerColor's Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound is an amazing custom-design for AMD's new release. It sells at the $500 baseline price, yet has the best cooler of all cards tested today, with whisper-quiet fan settings, dual BIOS and RGB illumination.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com
 
The type of the sound matters a lot. As long as it's white noise (the sound of moving air, over a wide range of frequencies, with no discernible tones), it's mostly fine with me. The sound of motors and bearings, however, isn't.
 
Jetster said:
What are you doing that your ears are sweaty? Never mind
Click to expand...
I had that same thought...

Wirko said:
The type of the sound matters a lot.
Click to expand...
This is true. And what kind of fan noise is or isn't irritating is as personal as peoples favorite things.. I grew up with PC fan noise and it not being optional or adjustable. So I've learned to tune it out. Not everyone has that ability.
 
My fans are all 3000RPM+ blowers at 100% at all times. I use... a fuckton of them for no real good reason. I put my computer in a data closet down the hall and game in silence remotely.

Obviously, there is no "both" so I chose "something else."

Jetster said:
What are you doing that your ears are sweaty? Never mind
Click to expand...
Try wearing them for a full work day. If your ears aren't sweaty you are superhuman.
 
R-T-B said:
Try wearing them for a full work day. If your ears aren't sweaty you are superhuman.
Click to expand...

I find over-ear headphones sweaty, but not on-ear models.


_roman_ said:
I got a quieter graphic card and sold the more noisy one. There is a big difference in regards of graphic cards fan noise
Click to expand...

Same for power supplies, some are noisier than others.
 
Last edited:
First thing I do after a new build is lock every fan (apart from PSU) at a fixed RPM that sounds fine from my seated position. Fluctuations in the volume/pitch are more annoying than anything else.

For this same reason I've never tried liquid cooling. A constant, 'pleasant' white noise is so much more appealing to me than other factors.
 
I use a large fan for ventilation in the bedroom and the trick for silence is to run it on a variac.

variac.jpg
 
rusty caterpillar said:
Horizontal mount, with no bottom fans.
Thanks for the tip but, I'm very much against fans on the bottom of the case, dust and extra noise, yes I know those fans can get rid of the trapped hot air in between side panel and GPU but, that shouldn't exist in a XL case with marketing for good cooling in the first place. The fault is in the PSU chamber pushing MBO too much towards side panel while the width of the case becomes mediocre. I really don't care if they rectified that on EVO cause they added a 50-60£ premium. Looks like they pushed ppl into buying their expensive Riser cables brackets.
Vertical mount for me is a no, I need the rest of my motherboard usable. Also vertical mount might bring GPU fans too lose to the side panel.

I cut the case grill of the rear fan and that dropped my GPU temps with 5-7 C, those grills if we are lucky, have at least 46-48 % gaps, which we can agree is very bad for airflow.
Now GN has some experimental tests Porosity of the Grills, however are other test like the one made by Puget Systems in 2011 showing how grills are hindering airflow and add noise.
Lian Li has no excuse in adding such grills in 2022 for an expensive case with cooling in mind.
Click to expand...
I hardly see any dust build up in the bottom filter for the lower fans also the temps of my GPU went down remarkably when it gets lots of fresh cool air pushed right into it and because they sit slightly closer to the glass side panel it tend to stop the GPU from recirculating hot air back into itself by pushing the hot air coming out into an upwards direction it's then sucked out through my rad to exit the case

_roman_ said:
I increased the distance from my pc tower to my chair position. It seems fan characteristics are measured in one meter distance usually.

I got a quieter graphic card and sold the more noisy one. There is a big difference in regards of graphic cards fan noise

a good example - for a worse example just compare recent graphic card reviews.
www.techpowerup.com

PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound Review - Amazing Noise Levels

PowerColor's Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound is an amazing custom-design for AMD's new release. It sells at the $500 baseline price, yet has the best cooler of all cards tested today, with whisper-quiet fan settings, dual BIOS and RGB illumination.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com
Click to expand...
Yup I love my Red Devil RX7800XT even OC'd to 2750MHz it's still fairly quiet even at 90% fan speed
 
Onasi said:
Quiet, but not silent is fine for me. In fact, what annoys me more than just the noise is the change to it during ups and downs. It’s fine on a CPU and GPU coolers, usually inaudible anyway, but my case fans I would alway run at a static RPM. Something that’s a decent compromise between airflow and noise. Having a well ventilated case helps quite a bit with that.
Click to expand...
Yeap, I prefer mine silent (current system is thank god) but what's more infuriating is the constant ups and downs. That's the reason I deshrouded my 4090 and just attached some T30s on it.
 
Haha. Little tiny fan. Make tiny little noise.

People complain as if they are using the old monster I once had. Fan singular.

Had a newer build, can't find the pics. This is 2008/9 original :)
 

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I have gotten used to fan noise that don't sleep as well without it.
 
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