How can I make my case even quieter and more cooler?

[BLaME2012]

Hi All,
This is my spec:
COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3820 (3.6GHz) 10MB Cache
ASUS® P9X79 PRO: INTEL® SOCKET LG2011
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(4 x 4GB KIT)
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
12x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
CORSAIR 750W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX750 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
INTEL CERTIFIED LIQUID CPU COOLER FOR SOCKET LG2011
NZXT Sentry 2 Fan Controller with upto 5 Fitted Case Fans
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E Soundcard

Runs a dream. Very powerful. However, can you advise how I can make it even colder and/or quiter?
Recommendations for adding more kit/replacing kit valued here?

Cheers BLaME2012

 

[tom_gr7]

well you could always run your fans slower?

OR look at getting some quieter fans? can be costly though. Especially considering you went for the fan controller and extra case fans option.

 

[BLaME2012]

How about quieter fans? Ive seen the sharkoon fans around. Will they reduce the noise? Any other water cooling i can do? Sorry am a novice in the "cooling" area.

 

[steaky360]

It would depend on how much quieter you want it, you could look into foam or soundproofing your case too although I've not seen it myself I've heard of it done for some cases.

You won't be able to do more water cooling unless you went custom loop and that would be more costly than quieter fans!

 

[Karnor00]

I would guess that most of the noise is coming from your GPU - is your computer noisy when idle (e.g. browsing the web) or is it only noisy when gaming (i.e. when the GPU is working hard).

Assuming it is the GPU then you could look into getting an aftermarket cooler. Basically these are more efficient & quieter than the standard coolers which come with GPUs. They aren't too difficult to fit, but you need to be happy with taking the existing cooler off your GPU and fitting the new one.

Otherwise you are pretty much looking at a custom water cooling loop. It's not a cheap option (probably a £200 - 300 or so) and requires a fair bit of work to fit it.

 

[steaky360]

Both options (custom water loop or aftermarket cooler) will most likely invalidate any warranty left on the GPU (typically 2 year I think... depending on manufacturer etc.) but its worth consideration if you're not concerned about this (or the noise is too much to bare!).

An exception to this would be adding an EVGA water block to an EVGA graphics card

 

[BLaME2012]

Thank you all. I opened up the case and it is indeed the GPU. the beast is the main sound even when idle. I can live with it i guess as i dont fancy invalidating warranty need to push this baby harder...

 

[halox]

You could use a push / pull config with the fan on the radiator. This will drop the temperature 4 -6 degrees under load. You could tweak the fans in your case. A sure fire way to get lower temperatures. It takes a while but is worth it. This would mean changing fan directions to fan speeds. Try a negative and positive pressure to check for improvement.

If you are willing to take the step to a fully water cooled system then go for it. You can expect a massive reduction in noise and heat. I have and will never go back to air cooling. As an example my SLI's GTX590 GPU's used to run at 75 degees under full load. They now run less than 50 full load with a 23 ambient. My CPU is the same. It now runs at about 45 full load. This is not something you would do straight way. Think about it and plan a budget. 1 CPU and GPU water cooled will cost you a minimum of £300. For a 2nd GPU add another £100. On tick over (typing here and browsing) here is my temps with a 23 ambient.