[SOLVED] How loud should case fans be?

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Andrea Burgio

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I just bought two Noctua NF-P14s redux and I really had to return them.. They are really loud at just 800/900rpm and at 1500rpm it's like being on an airplane, it's just unbearable, I can literally hear them 2 rooms away. I have 3 ARCTIC F14 fans and at 800rpm (they're not pwm so that should be the only speed they should be running at), i can barely hear them (all running at the same time too). I thought the noctuas would have been so much better given the price, but they're really not (i can't buy more arctic fans because of the size, the'yre too thick). My question is, how loud should fans be at around 1000rpm? Are they all pretty much like the Noctuas and very loud, like that you can hear them very easily without even trying, or are there some fans similar to the arctics and barely hearable? I was thinking about getting the Noctua NF-A14 for their reputation, but after trying these Noctuas im not really sure..


 
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He chose rear and front as exhaust and top as intake, you can see it at minute 13:55. I did and I would have done the same thing - > since you want a slightly positive pressure in the case, you use the big hole in the back of the case as exhaust, the two fans on top as intake, and the front as exhaust since it has some little holes and not so much air moves out. It works pretty well like this. You have to use the top fans as intake even because there is a dust filter there, filtering the dust inside the case doesn't make so much sense lol


You're interfering with the cpu cooler with that top rear intake, trust me on this.

It may 'work' with a flat down blower cooler but with a tower cooler that relies on front to rear airflow you are creating a dead spot behind the cpu cooler, creating turbulence and making the cpu cooler fan work harder.

Also gpu air generally is pushed up the rear of the case towards the rear exhaust, top intakes will interfere and push it back down again.

Yes heat will eventually find a way out of the case irregardless but the way you have it is far from optimal.

You should have front intake, rear exhaust.

The top fans?

The back one as exhaust and the front one as intake.

That is THE best way to orient the fans you have I have no doubt at all.

The reason you said your room has never been so cool is because most of the heat is being retained in your case.

Your GPU is getting zero intake airflow with the configuration you have.


The guy on youtube makes literally no sense at all imo.
 
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Andrea Burgio

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I get the top intake to rear exhaust thing, but it's the front exhaust thing that puzzles me.
It was already poor for intake - exhaust isn't going to do any better, and should actually be worse.

I expected the TT H200 to behave just like NZXT's H500: rear + top exhaust only and no fans in the front, for negative pressure. I don't get the intent to force positive pressure here.
Dust? That's going to get in regardless of what one does.


The top filter is for when the PC is off; dust falls in from above. The filter is meant to keep that out.

I don't understand what you mean.. they say that the optimal "pressure" in a pc case would be neutral pressure, but since I can only install 5 fans that's difficult to achieve. If you can't have neutral pressure you should aim for a slightly positive pressure, 1 2 3, even though some people say it's pretty much the same thing. Now, as you said "It was already poor for intake - exhaust isn't going to do any better, and should actually be worse" that's why I use them as exhaust:
two 900+rpm fans for intake +
one 800rpm fan as exhaust +
two 800rpm "not full fans" (front panel) as exhaust =
slightly positive pressure (or almost)?

If i use the two fans of the top panel as intake, and the other 2 fans of the front panel as intake too, i would have 4 fans for intake and 1 for exhaust, there's too much difference.

And for the dust thing, well yeah, it helps with the falling dust when the computer is off, but it's also useful for blocking the dust coming in due to the intake fans, that's why hairdryers got a filter in the back right?
before-1.jpg


Anyway that's how i reasoned when installing the fans 🤷‍♂️ maybe if i do it differently is better, but i don't get why, if you can explain i'll be happy to change them! Thanks for the answers by the way =)
 
I don't understand what you mean.. they say that the optimal "pressure" in a pc case would be neutral pressure, but since I can only install 5 fans that's difficult to achieve. If you can't have neutral pressure you should aim for a slightly positive pressure, 1 2 3, even though some people say it's pretty much the same thing. Now, as you said "It was already poor for intake - exhaust isn't going to do any better, and should actually be worse" that's why I use them as exhaust:
two 900+rpm fans for intake +
one 800rpm fan as exhaust +
two 800rpm "not full fans" (front panel) as exhaust =
slightly positive pressure (or almost)?

If i use the two fans of the top panel as intake, and the other 2 fans of the front panel as intake too, i would have 4 fans for intake and 1 for exhaust, there's too much difference.

And for the dust thing, well yeah, it helps with the falling dust when the computer is off, but it's also useful for blocking the dust coming in due to the intake fans, that's why hairdryers got a filter in the back right?
before-1.jpg


Anyway that's how i reasoned when installing the fans 🤷‍♂️ maybe if i do it differently is better, but i don't get why, if you can explain i'll be happy to change them! Thanks for the answers by the way =)


Positive/negative pressure is virtually impossible in any pc case.

Its an absolute misnomer.

Keeping air moving is the simple key to case cooling.
The easiest way to do that is to direct it from the front of the case to the rear.

As long as some air is moving over components they will be cooled to at least some extent.

The way you have it there will be dead spots with virtually no airflow.
 

Andrea Burgio

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May 6, 2015
94
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You're interfering with the cpu cooler with that top rear intake, trust me on this.

It may 'work' with a flat down blower cooler but with a tower cooler that relies on front to rear airflow you are creating a dead spot behind the cpu cooler, creating turbulence and making the cpu cooler fan work harder.

Also gpu air generally is pushed up the rear of the case towards the rear exhaust, top intakes will interfere and push it back down again.

Yes heat will eventually find a way out of the case irregardless but the way you have it is far from optimal.

You should have front intake, rear exhaust.

The top fans?

The back one as exhaust and the front one as intake.

That is THE best way to orient the fans you have I have no doubt at all.

The reason you said your room has never been so cool is because most of the heat is being retained in your case.

Your GPU is getting zero intake airflow with the configuration you have.


The guy on youtube makes literally no sense at all imo.

I don't think i'm cold because the heat is retained in the case.. i think it's just because it's more windy and i'm close to the computer, but yeah it makes sense, I didn't think about it, I'll change them then, thank you!
 
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Andrea Burgio

Distinguished
May 6, 2015
94
6
18,535
Positive/negative pressure is virtually impossible in any pc case.

Its an absolute misnomer.

Keeping air moving is the simple key to case cooling.
The easiest way to do that is to direct it from the front of the case to the rear.

As long as some air is moving over components they will be cooled to at least some extent.

The way you have it there will be dead spots with virtually no airflow.
lol yeah the pressure thing actually has never made so much sense to me, but reading so many websites talking about it i was like "hey maybe they know..", i'm glad to see i'm not the only one then
 
@madmatt30
NZXT H500? That's been shown multiple times that the stock top and rear exhaust was the best overall for cooling on air. Adding fans in the front was either detrimental, or changed nothing.

Yeah I know, I never actually got that it could possibly be detrimental having front fans as intake in the nzxt.

At worst it would surely make no difference.

His thermaltake at least has some decent side venting on the front although I have no personal experience of it.

Fractal have managed it fine with solid fronted cases with the define R series for years simply because the fans are set further back inside the case and can draw air in from the sides rather than from directly in front.

The point is I'd never take someone's say so on youtube as gospel without experimenting first - I don't believe for a minute that that fan setup is anywhere near optimal.
 

Phaaze88

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Yeah I know, I never actually got that it could possibly be detrimental having front fans as intake in the nzxt.

At worst it would surely make no difference.

His thermaltake at least has some decent side venting on the front although I have no personal experience of it.

Fractal have managed it fine with solid fronted cases with the define R series for years simply because the fans are set further back inside the case and can draw air in from the sides rather than from directly in front.

The point is I'd never take someone's say so on youtube as gospel without experimenting first - I don't believe for a minute that that fan setup is anywhere near optimal.
Point well taken.
 
Kindly disagree. I've seen too many PC's where backside was looking like hairy sailor's chest. And in extreme situations (of negative pressure) one can actually see dust filling the gaps between case panels.


I honestly wasn't talking about dust, I meant just from an actual cooling perspective.

Where you have fans you're going to get dust, that's just the nature of the beast.

Anything that gets to that state is just a case of poor maintenance - it's not hard to keep the inside of a pc clean if you keep on top of it periodically.
 

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