Fan noise help

[Azunai]

Hello folks

I've a question about noise reduction on what I think is the CPU fan. My dad has recently bought a new PC (I selected the parts). The PC is all good, but the fan(s) are making a terrible ammount of noise. Compared to my own PC, which apart from the case is 100% the same setup, at least when it comes to components with a fan, it's a roaring beast.

So, I figured it was the case. It was one I selected rather quickly (an AOpen midi) and only has 1 fan in the back and no airholes or other types of ventilation. I bought him a Cooler Master midi tower - which is pretty much Swiss cheese with all the ventilation holes, and has a fan in the rear and front - in order to reduce the noise.

It came in today, I installed everything but the noise is still pretty much the same. I'm thinking it's the CPU fan since the noise stops immediately once I shut down the PC, and - correct me if I'm wrong here - case and GPU fans have a spindown time, unlike the CPU one.

It's a pretty new rig and I dusted off any dust when I assembled it today, so that's not it. It is pretty hot in the room it's in, especially in the summer, but the case doesn't feel particularly warm when it's running. The noise is still pretty excessive even when idle. I feel pretty guilty since I convinced my old man it was the case and he bought a new one (at no small price with €75,-) to no end. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on keeping the CPU fan more quiet?

[lionheart]

Did you get a new power supply as well? As I have heard some really loud fans in those before.

Silent fans are reasonably cheap but you need to be sure where the problem is first.

CPU fans can be replaced, as can case fans. PSU fans are not replaceable but I have seen the grills on them become bent and the fans rub on those to create a noise.

GPUs can be noisey usually created by a dust build up, have you tried blowing out the GPU heatsink and fan with a can of compressed air?

Also some fans have ball bearings and these can become dry over time a very small application of WD40 or light (sewing machine) oil can quieten them down.

[Azunai]

I just went over some tests, first I ran a CPU fan utility program that came with the motherboard. While it was calibrating fan speeds there was a distinctly different spinning sound than the one generating the noise. I then ran the overclocking utility of the GPU, and switching to manual fan control for a moment clearly showed it was the GPU fan, so I was wrong.

The problem is, the fan is already running at only ~35% speed. On automatic mode it's only slightly above the lowest setting possible on manual. This controls the speed only and has nothing to do with the temp of the GPU, which leads me to believe it's not an issue of dust build-up. So apart from knowing that it's the GPU fan now, nothing's changed, and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot I can do about it either.

[lionheart]

Which GPU do you have?

[Azunai]

An Asus EN9800GT 1Gig. I'm starting to think that this particular card's fan is just a noisy one in general. Even when idle and clearly running at a low rpm (visible in the monitor application) with low temperature it's noisy.

[lionheart]

One of these would sort you out. There are more expensive options of course.

[Azunai]

Hey, thanks a lot for that tip! I didn't think it would make much of a difference but I'll definetly look into a different cooler as an option. Also, my dad's b'day is coming up so this would make the perfect gift Thanks!