Controllers Stop Working

[Bizman]

Your ventilation sounds like it should be!

[hijack] For those who'd like to get their computers cooled but are worrying about it getting too noisy: If you want a cool, silent rig, get the biggest fans your case can take. Also, get as many of them as there's places. Logically, the more fans you have the better airflow you get. Seemingly illogically the more and bigger fans you have the quieter your system can get!

Now you might wonder how that can be possible. The explanation is simple: Fans make noise in several ways, all of which are related to rotating speed. The most obvious is the noise of bearings. The second obvious is the whoosh caused by airflow - it gets worse if the fan grille has only small round holes instead of a hexagonal mesh. The third is the sound of the fan blades slicing air.

For a desired airflow big fans need to rotate much slower than small ones, so the rotation related sound levels diminish, even below an audible level. Even at full speed big fans aren't causing too much noise as Condor can confirm.

As for the amount, sound level math is somewhat different. The sound level doesn't add linearly by every new fan. If you have an inaudible 15 dB fan, doubling that won't give you a 30 dB whoosh not to mention that three fans would make a 45 dB tornado. Highly simplified, duplicating the existing amount of fans using similar ones will add some 3 dB. So 2*15=18, 2*20=23 etc. in a very inaccurate way of calculating. [/hijack]

[Chalenge]

3dB, though, is double the noise level.

It's not just about the number of fans, though. The primary consideration is volume of flow. You can run your case pressure as positive, neutral, or negative, as long as you have adequate exhaust to prevent heat buildup. If exhaust temperatures rise just a few degrees C, then you doing very well. If your exhaust temperatures are hot to the touch, then you should increase exhaust flow through rpm, or additional exhaust area.

Usually, if the number if intake fans is the equal of exhaust fans, and you have the fan orientation correct, then you should be fine. I have been using a front panel fan controller for years now and usually run the intake fans at a higher rpm than the exhaust fans, but I also have Scythe fans on the hard drive mounts to make sure there is adequate flow there, too.

[Bizman]

3dB, though, is double the noise level.

That's what I remember reading, too.

What I meant to say, a duplicate or triplicate whisper doesn't equal to a yell.

[Condor]

Yes, with three 180mm and one 120mm case fan running at the highest setting plus the CPU cooler, PSU and video card fans the sound is noticeable but no objectioal. The sound is not noticeable at all during game play. Thanks for the high jack. It's always nice to learn.