Noise!

Alkers

Built my new rig there over the weekend. It's dissapointingly noisey and I'm pretty sure most of the noise is from the graphics card. (Gainward 6600GT Golden sample). My CPU and other fans are all stock but they vary their speed according to load and temperatures. Is there any tool or program I can use to do the same thing with my graphics card cooler? I don't see the point in it lashing away at full pelt while the pc isn't putting any demand on it at all. Thanks.

sionnach

i can't say for sure what the 6600gt is like, but my old gainward geforce 3 ti450 golden sample was just a highly overcloked ti200, ie running very hot the whole time. It fried itself eventually, if the 6600gt is the same then it's going to run hot and going to need some fairly noisy cooling to keep temperatures at acceptable levels.

Your best bet is to get an arctic cooler or a zalman gpu cooler for it. If your motherboard supports pwm you can get the fan to speed up and slow down based on your graf card temperature using speedfan or any other such programs out there.

Alkers

What is pwm? I have an MSI K8N Diamond. My card is idling around 47C while my CPU is at 43C and systme is at 37C. All the other fans spin very slowly so it seems mad to ahve this one making so much noise.

Malafus

Does your mobo have a fan on it's Northbridge cooler? If so, this could be the problem, as these fans are tiny, and therefore noisy. I have an XFX Geforce6600gt, it idles at 40, and raises to 88 on load. It's about 12% overclocked. Zalman make a cooler (no fan) for the northbridge, and they make some excellent CPU HSFs.

po0k

PWM == Pulse Width Modulation. It's a simple enough concept to understand, but I can't be arsed typing an explanation at this hour. Google it.

Col_Loki

What sort of Power Supply do you have ? Have you opened your case and listened to where the noise is comming from or is it a guess that its the GFX card?

jozi

A mate of mine has the same Gainward 6600GT, it's so noisey it's unreal!!! I had a Leadtek 6600gt and it's much quieter.
This should sort you out if its a pcie card or this (Less Coper)

Jozi

Alkers

Thanks for the replies guys. My mobo does have a northbridge fan but it is controlled and only speeds up under load. It also has another "active MOS 2" fan but that is also controlled. I have an antec neo true power 480W. I listened to the fans and the GFX is by far the loudest. I will take a look at getting a new cooler for the GFX card but I've spent all my money! I was just trying to get my hands on a way of controlling the cooler that I have at the moment.

Alkers

After further research I've concluded - it's the GFX card but the Northbridge is in a close second. Will a heatsink offer enough cooling on the northbridge? Otherwise is there any other way to get the GFX fan to slow down or will I end up buying a new cooler for that too?

dubdvd

the chipset on almost all NF4 SLI mobo will spin from 7000 to 8000 rpm or more which is the loudest part of my system aswell..it is quiet a headwrecher ... watch out if you plan getting a zalman heatsink for the chipset as on most mobos it will block one if not the both PCI-E slots ..make sure you have the room before you hand over the cash

dent

Silencing your PC can lead to insanity so before you go down that track be aware you have to silence the whole PC. I got a quieter PSU only to find I could then hear the chipset fan, I replaced it with a heatsink only then to discover my
case fans where a bit nosiy. I also replaced my stock CPU fan. It's quite silent now. If it bothers you a lot it might just be easier to buy a good set of head phones

jozi

I cant ever (not that i noticed anyway) hear the chip set fan and thats with a dfi nf4 mobo. Temps seem to be around 37min i dont know if its normal or not with that mobo.
I cant imagine it being to easy fitting/getting a good heatsink to cool it with the gfx card more or less sitting onto of it. (design flaw if you ask me)

Malafus

jozi wrote:

I cant ever (not that i noticed anyway) hear the chip set fan and thats with a dfi nf4 mobo. Temps seem to be around 37min i dont know if its normal or not with that mobo.
I cant imagine it being to easy fitting/getting a good heatsink to cool it with the gfx card more or less sitting onto of it. (design flaw if you ask me)

The chipset fans aren't really "heard" as a seperate sound, it's the whining of all the fans that build up to a cacophony of ear-destroying proportions. But, TBH, the chipset is the worst fan for noise - Smaller fans must spin at higher speeds which produces more noise.

The Zalman Northbridge cooler is VERY effective, if you have the room. A lot of boards have the Northbridge placed directly underneath the GFX cards, which is, quite frankly, a stroke of pure idiocy. Basically, if the heatsink fits, it'll stay cool enough.

Alkers

I'll have a look and see if I reckon a heatsink will fit. Are there any other Northbridge coolers out there, quieter ones at that? I don't see any point in getting a new cooler for my GFX card now that the other fan is almost just as loud.

Malafus

There are other Northbridge Heatsinks, but none quieter than the Zalman, because it's passive and therefore silent. Zalman do nice VGA coolers as well. Consider that as your next, next purchase.