The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Sam,
Perhaps on yours, you would notice the extra 200 rpm, as your computer is quieter than mine, but with the low amount of noise mine makes I can't hear the difference at all. I'm a great believer in the lower you can keep the temps, the better. It also makes the start temperature lower when you do put a load on it. I try to strike a balance between noise and cooling, favoring cooling! Any noise it does make, can't be heard from 8' away, and that's with two side cover fans running, which should be the most audible.

I may eventually change two of the 120s to the 40 CFM 800 rpm Scythe fans as I like them a lot. The rear Silverstone FN-121 53cfm fan stays, as it moves a lot of air and is the second quietest fan in the computer. Only the 800 rpm Kama Bay fan is quieter, but it only moves 33 cfm.

On a side note, as soon as I placed the order for the 40cfm Scythe fan, the clicking noise stopped in the Kama Bay fan! ROFLMSOAO!!

Russ

 

On the contrary, my gaming PC would blow your ears off at full speed... haha. It's all about the percentage speed. Fans have a minimum percentage speed at which they can operate well, which is usually about 30-35%. With my 1900rpm slipstreams that's already audible a little bit. With auto fan control they'd be horribly noisy. With a 1600rpm S-Flex, however, it's fine as that's a much quieter fan when at full speed, because it pushes less air.

 

Did you mean 8 feet or 8 inches? I wouldn't consider something audible within 8 feet quiet at all considering it's a lot closer to you when you're using it. I'm hoping to make my next system inaudible outside of a 3' radius (or smaller with luck) at idle.

 

He means inaudible, not quiet. Inaudible from 8 feet is pretty good in a quiet room.

 

Sam,
Truthfully it used to be 5 feet, but since I had to turn the lower side cover fan around and make an intake out of it, it's the loudest fan in my case now! I can hear it about 8 feet away. Before I would only know the computer was running by the lights, or if I didn't block the hard drive light. lOL!!

Russ

 

I know, but once you're inside the 8' radius it's audible. I would agree though, inaudible on air cooling is pretty hard in a quiet place. It's one of the reasons I'm willing to switch to WC if I ever feel like maintaining it.

 

watercooling is noisier than good air cooling, due to radiator fans and the pump. You can only go for silence with air cooling.

 

Could be, at least you get better cooling lol.

 

Better cooling, at the cost of far more effort, substantial expense, compulsary maintenance and risk of leaks. Personally, I'll still take a chunky heatsink and fans over a water cooling system any day. In my opinion, other than to post silly benchmark numbers, if you need water cooling, you're doing it wrong

 

Yes any decent 120mm Tower cooler will cool a high end chip enough for a monster overclock. Limitations are far more likely to be due to the chip or board, not the heat. Only silly benchmarkers need apply

 

Red_Maw,
Sam is correct! It is inaudible at 8' Within that circle, what you hear mostly is air. Even the HDDs are very quiet. Oops, make that 5 feet again! I just installed the new 800 rpm Scythe in place of the stock CoolerMaster. The next time I order from Newegg, I'll get another Scythe for the lower front. It's now Officially the quietest it's ever been, and due to get quieter when I replace the lower front 1200 rpm 30 CFM CoolerMaster fan, with another Scythe!

My thanks to Sam, for his advice on the Scythe fans! That 40 CFM 800 RPM fan is unbelievably quiet. That lower front CoolerMaster has got to go! Soon!! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Indeed, now if only Scythe made 230mm HAF-sized fans

 

I have my 230mm still on my HAF. Haven't seen the need for anything more. I suppose 4 120's could be a thing later. But If I do that, wouldn't I need better exhaust? Which is a 140 if memory serves.

 

As it stands now, I boosted the side intake substantially by replacing the 700rpm 230mm fan with four 1900rpm Slipstreams, which ups the airflow to about triple what it was. I had already added a 120mm Kaze White 1600rpm fan at the top before, and replaced the top 230 with another two slipstreams, so airflow there is around double what it was before. The rear 140mm fan was a 1500rpm sharkoon, but that didn't last long before the bearings started hissing badly, so I eventually intend to fit a 1900rpm Kaze Maru there instead, when I get round to it. Rear airflow is now more important since with the i5 and the adapter used to fit the Ultra-120, the CPU cooler only fits front to back, not top to bottom, as the mounting clamps interfere with the capacitors in the VRM area otherwise.

 

Triple air flow! WOW! I might get better temps then, if I attempt better intake, and upgrade the exhaust. Gonna have to really consider that before monday...

 

Be advised this is achieved through considerable noise

 

LOL!!! My desk right now (the earlier pic) sounds like a 24" fan in the summer. Totally ok for gaming, but if I had a front 5.25" fan controller, Oh baby! LOL!
Its mainly the HTPC putting out the noise though. Its that darn CPU stock fan. Its doing 3500Rpms I believe.

 

Mmm, it doesn't sound much like a desk fan, more like an array of xbox 360s. That's courtesy of the resonance caused by the material the HAF's side panel is made out of, and when I say 360s I mean this noise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5nsMX-AHbM&feature=related
This is a video of a faulty 360 that has immediately set fan speed to maximum. Normally as you know, 360s do not approach this fan speed. Musically, this pitch is an E, the maximum pitch of the Slipstreams is C#-D. Scientifically it's 320Hz, versus the scythe's 275-285.
Worth noting that that is only the base frequency, there are several other harmonics at play that give the distinctive 'plastic' style to the sound.

 

Also note this video.
Strange effect here, either the voltage is higher than 12V, or the fans' bearings are less resistant than usual, as the speed they are running here is more like 2000 versus the usual 1900.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BywNUssC2HE
However, this highlights a couple of important points, firstly the effect that much airflow has on airborne noise due to turbulence (broadband noise, a 'whoosing' if you like), and secondly the effect that using multiple noisy fans has with superposition. Clearly, due to position, sources of heat, voltage control and so on, all the fans will not be running at an identical speed. This causes a mismatch in the frequencies produced, and superposition occurs, which can be extremely annoying:
This effect is best illustrated at 0m54 to 0m59.
Also note during that section two clearly audible frequencies (get a free PC signal generator program like fg_lite to hear what I'm on about), 270Hz (the correct frequency of the fan) and 850Hz (a harmonic)

 

Sam,
You got to see this to believe it! I put that new scythe fan in place of the lower side Cooler Master fan, and my motherboard and CPU temps dropped like a brick! I guess that 10 additional CFM was needed! These temps border on incredible! I didn't even shut the computer down to install it! It's a little cool in here at 22C, but still!

Idle



Check it out running Orthos for a full round! UN-BELIEVABLE! It's the first time under load that the CPU was higher than the motherboard! Before, the motherboard would get to 40-41C. Simply Amazing!



The strange thing is it would have been installed in the Kama Bay, except that fan stopped clicking. It hasn't made a sound since I ordered the replacement, so I decided to try it in place of the one on the cover. Funny how Fate works! I'll definitely get the 800 RPM 30 CFM Scythe to replace the Kama Bay now. I don't want to upset the airflow, and the kama Bay fan is 30 CFM. I don't see how it could get any better than this though! Thank you again!

Warmest Regards,
Russ