NB fan noise driving me crazy!

[adam.s]

The Northbridge fan on my SLI-DR is driving me nuts. I have 2x 7800GT, so the fan is slightly blocked, otherwise I'd replace that sucker in an instant. I tried searching, but couldn't find a fan that would fit under the lower card. Looking for something uber quiet, or something that will do the trick without spinning to 7000-8000 RPM.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Shredman]

Yes, there are some options....look in the modifications forum for Evercool Twinkling VC-RE fan (search for "twinkling") it's supposed to be ultra quiet and still drop your temps for chipset by more than 5C. There are others too, vantec makes one, etc...

 

I'm trying to avoid replacing it because I'm worried about it being a pain in the butt and also maybe damaging my mobo being such a noob.

 

So, looking for other solutions, I've been using smart guardian (on your dfi driver cd) to control the chipset fan. I've found that in the AUTO setting, the fan is always running around 6700rpm and it keeps the chip at about 41C - it also revs up to 7600 fairly often. I tried lowering the fan speed in auto mode with little difference. BUT if you enter Software mode you can then precisely control the fan. In my case I can set it to an index of 53, which puts my rpm at about 2300 and the chipset heats up to about 47C...and it is much quieter....still the loudest thing in my case, but quieter for sure.

 

I've read that temps up to 60C are fine for the chipset, but I need confirmation on this. I'm using the "alarm" to alert me at 52C so I can rev it up if need be. I'm not sure this is the best solution, so I need some advice also!

[adam.s]

Yeah, I'm wondering if it's just an issue with airflow and heat in my case, though. I have a couple 120mm fans blowing air in the upper compartment, but I'm debating whether to add another or not.

 

Ultimately, my goal is to have a really powerful system at low noise, so adding another noise-contributing component isn't ideal.

[iamkoza]

Yeah, I'm wondering if it's just an issue with airflow and heat in my case, though. I have a couple 120mm fans blowing air in the upper compartment, but I'm debating whether to add another or not.

 

Ultimately, my goal is to have a really powerful system at low noise, so adding another noise-contributing component isn't ideal.

 

try mounting a 80mm fan that blows in the direction of the chipset,

 

since you only have one hdd, move that as high as it will go in your case, and put an 80 mm fan that will direct air from your intake fan (assuming its the bottom fron of your rig) to the chipset

 

try and get it as close as you can to chipset, it should help to drops temps 2-3 C and maybe will lower the rpm of the chipset fan a bit

[Shredman]

adam.s, I'm messing around with smart guardian and here are some results so far from this thread:

 

I've been experimenting with various speeds in smart guardian with the following results:

 

in full AUTO (defaults) mode---> 6300-6760 rpm, 41C, loud

in AUTO mode w/15 on fan ---> 5444rpm, 41C, less loud

in AUTO mode w/10 on fan---->5114rpm, 41C, same noise as 15

any setting in AUTO mode less than 10 has same result as 10 setting.

 

in software mode 90 setting--->5114 rpm, 42C, can hear fan noise

in software mode 80 setting--->4327 rpm, 43C, still can hear the fan slightly over system noise

in software mode 71 setting--->3660 rpm, 45C, starting to not notice fan noise

in software mode 63 setting--->2860 rpm, 46C, can't really pick fan our from system noise

in software mode 53 setting--->2280 rpm, 46/47C, no change

in software mode 43 setting--->1550 rpm, 49C, ----

 

[To try and gauge the amount of noise from my comp as a whole, I set the fan speed to 0 and listened...that way I could tell what was the chipset fan and the rest of the noise from the case.]

 

So it looks like about 65 or so is a sweet spot for my system (I'm sitting about 4 feet from the case right now).

 

I just need to see if this is a decent long term solution or not and what is an ok temp spectrum for the chipset. Also, I still can't figure out why my chipset fan is spinning so fast at low temps (without my intervention) - it likes to spin at 6200 rpm and 41C temp --why?

[adam.s]

Mine does the same, and it's a really high-pitched whine, sounds like a turbine!

 

I haven't tried Smart Guardian at all yet though, so I'll be sure to give that a shot and see how things change.

[Addiarmadar]

Im using the HSF from my Radeon 9800 pro on my mobo and works great! Cant hear the mobo anymore and dropped my temps by 10c.

[Benamin]

Yup that sucker is loud but you can help. I removed mine and reinstalled with Arctic silver 5 and this helped reduce fan speed for same temps depending on how you set the fan monitor in the bios. I currently average 44c @ 3800rpm. At this speed I don't notice it all, or I can speed it up and reduce temps but 44c is fine under load.

 

so,

I really recommend re applying thermal paste.

 

good luck!

[bp1019]

http://jab-tech.com/Evercool-VC-RE-Twinkli...er-pr-2291.html $12 after shipping and fits with no mods, basically a direct replacement. I just did it and it helped alot with some AS5. Now the chipset temps don't even get up to 50C, they don't go over about 46C so for $12 it was a good upgrade.

[Nehil]

If you can't get the twinkler and don't wanna mod your Vantec try same as mine, keeps the [email protected] on full load [email protected] about 2250 rpm, making it really silent!

[NeilSouth]

Ive just bought the vantec copper northbridge cooler , this thing on there now sucks

ive only had the board for what a month and the damn thing makes a horrible grinding noise

for 10mins then its ok so i think the bearings are going

[adam.s]

Does anyone know if there's a Canadian retailer that carries the Evercool VC-RE? That site looks like a good deal for it, but by the time shipping and customs come into play, I'd be looking at paying close to $40 for the damn thing.