Disappointed with Define R4 - am I doing things wrong?

[sykurmoli]

Hello all.

So, I was tired of my very noisy system. I figured I would achieve some quietness by moving from a Thermaltake spedo to the Define R4 (without door).

The problem is, my system is now only very marginally quieter. The noise it makes is lower-pitched, but I don't think the noise level has decreased all that much.

So, I'm wondering if someone else has had this problem? and if not, if anyone has an idea what is wrong with my system. Was there a connection that I could have missed?

A couple of details:
1) I haven't noticed any difference when switching from 12V to 7V or 2V on the front panel switch. I haven't noticed any difference in the strength of the air expelled by the back fan either.
2) My processor cooler is a Zalman CNPS 9700 LED. I know it's a noisy fan, but it was noisy in my previous system as well, and shouldn't its noise be dampened by the "silent" case ?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[jaedaliu]

1) because there's no noise difference when you switch the case fan speeds, it's not your case fans.
2) The Zalman is pretty quiet at low speeds. Have you tried adjusting your CPU fan profile?
3) How about the video card? is that fan speed automated?

Your next step is to open up the case and stick your ear next to each fan to figure out where the loudest noise is coming from. Fix that, then repeat until you're happy.

 

[TheStu]

1) because there's no noise difference when you switch the case fan speeds, it's not your case fans.
2) The Zalman is pretty quiet at low speeds. Have you tried adjusting your CPU fan profile?
3) How about the video card? is that fan speed automated?

Your next step is to open up the case and stick your ear next to each fan to figure out where the loudest noise is coming from. Fix that, then repeat until you're happy.

Rather than stick your ear in there, you can do a reductive approach. Open up your case, and stop each fan with your finger (press on the hub, not the blades). You only need to stop them for a couple of seconds to see if they are the troublemaker, so it won't hurt anything.

 

[Torn Mind]

Zalman fans have a certain timbre that can get annoying for some people. Some things just don't get dampened.

 

[kiriki]

Hello all.

So, I was tired of my very noisy system. I figured I would achieve some quietness by moving from a Thermaltake spedo to the Define R4 (without door).

The problem is, my system is now only very marginally quieter. The noise it makes is lower-pitched, but I don't think the noise level has decreased all that much.

So, I'm wondering if someone else has had this problem? and if not, if anyone has an idea what is wrong with my system. Was there a connection that I could have missed?

A couple of details:
1) I haven't noticed any difference when switching from 12V to 7V or 2V on the front panel switch. I haven't noticed any difference in the strength of the air expelled by the back fan either.
2) My processor cooler is a Zalman CNPS 9700 LED. I know it's a noisy fan, but it was noisy in my previous system as well, and shouldn't its noise be dampened by the "silent" case ?

Thanks in advance for your help

Would help if you post a diagram with fan placements and how they are connected (ie, to the fan controller, directly to psu, etc).

One thing to remember is that any case openings will let noise out. So if you open the top you are letting noise out as well.

Any fans that are not controlled (fan controller or mobo header with controls in place) will pretty much run at 12v.

I've also found that the air noise for any fan is substantially higher than the noise from the motor and the only way to mitigate that is to slow the fan down till you are happy with it.

 

[MoInSTL]

"Was there a connection that I could have missed?"

I hesitated asking this question, but are you sure you hooked the fan controller up? (Molex connector). There is a huge difference between 12v and 7v. Btw, there is no 2v. It's 5v.

 

[DavidT99]

It a misnomer that cases can be "silent" as all cases are silent, its the components that make the noise. All the sound dampening on silent cases just reduces vibration and reverberation of the case but noisy components in a "silent" case make a noisy case. As already stated look at replacing fans until the culprit or culprits are found, also look for noisy HDD's. What PSU do you have, some are near silent whilst others are anything but.

David

 

[DSF]

"Was there a connection that I could have missed?"

I hesitated asking this question, but are you sure you hooked the fan controller up? (Molex connector). There is a huge difference between 12v and 7v. Btw, there is no 2v. It's 5v.

I had this thought as well. OP, can you confirm that your fans are actually plugged into the fan controller?

(I will say that on my R4 the stock fans are quiet enough that I don't hear them at 12V with the door closed either.)

Don't forget that your PSU also has a fan.

 

[Phantom9309]

If it turns out to be your cpu cooler, I'd suggest going with a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo.

Definitely best bang for your buck, plus you have the option of putting a fan of your choice on it.

My roommate also runs a Hyper 212 Heatsink but has the Corsair 550D case and his computer is pretty damn silent. I've heard that R4 is a comparable case.

Best of luck!

 

[kmurkey]

You can't expect magic from a case, although r4 if a darn good case for those things.

If You want a really silent computer, here's the deal:

1. CPU - Thermaltake Venomous X Silent Edition
2. GPU - SCS3 7850 or Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II
3. Hard drives - SSD and/or WD red on Noisemagic Novibes III
4. Fans - Noctuas 120mm with ULNA adapters
5. PSU - Passive Seasonic 460w or 520w

Add Acoustipacks to taste and thermal capabilities of the system.

Generally, when you put the CPU fans to silent, you will most likely hear the PSU fan. When you get a passive PSU, you will hear the hard drives. When you install a SSD...you get the idea

 

[hans030390]

Some things to consider and tips I can suggest based on my experience with the case:

1. Any loud fans you put in there are going to stay loud, despite the fact that the case is dampened. Dampening can only go so far in a computer case. You might want to invest in a new CPU cooler at the very least. I'm using the True Spirit 140, and it's great. A lot of the self-contained CPU water cooling units are great as well.

2. In relation to the above, the stock fans it comes with are pretty quiet. You can do a bit better than the stock fans. You can also do a lot worse, so any aftermarket fans you might have thrown in there could be causing problems. I've been using the more expensive 140mm Cougar fans in mine, and they're great at 7V. They even come with a 7V adapter in case you don't have them hooked up to a fan controller.

3. If you're using a fan in the side panel, I can say that was really noisy for me. I ended up closing that off and using the fan in the bottom of the case instead, even though it doesn't cool as well. Putting fans in the top of the case can also be a bit louder than the other positions (not including the side). I have both of those areas closed off.

4. You should definitely notice a difference in volume with the fan speed controller on the front. Either you hooked it up wrong/not at all or you have a defective unit. You should be able to plug 3 fans of your choosing into it.

5. Having the door on the front of the case is a big part of keeping the case/computer quiet. I would strongly recommend you use it.

The great thing about this case (besides it's build quality, features, etc. etc.) is that you can set it up for any combination of airflow and fan "volume." If you want the best of both worlds, it's critical that you invest in quiet components. Here is my current setup:

- Two Cougar 140mm fans in front, connected to fan controller (I believe it's their TOTL fan)
- One stock Fractal 140mm fan on the bottom, connected to fan controller
- One stock Fractal 140mm fan in back of case running at full speed
- True Spirit 140 CPU cooler. It's only decent with cooling a highly OCed 2500K, but the temps are perfectly safe and it is very quiet (PITA to install the fan on it, though). I have it set to an aggressive fan speed profile because the fan is still very quiet at its highest RPM.
- EVGA GTX 680. Quiet enough, but you can hear it somewhat during gaming. This is easily the loudest component in my system, though it is still nearly silent during regular usage.
- Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU...has a fan, but I have never noticed it. Some PSUs have louder fans than others.
- Side and top fan areas closed off

This configuration provides for a very quiet (not silent) case, and I could do even better without reducing cooling and airflow capabilities. I've reached what I consider a great balance between cooling performance (quite good, actually) and loudness.

I usually set the fan controller to 7V, and I am planning on replacing the two stock Fractal fans with additional Cougar fans.

 

[Freddy1765]

- Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU...has a fan, but I have never noticed it. Some PSUs have louder fans than others.

Is that the Platinum one, or the "80 Plus" one that's grey in colour?

 

[hans030390]

Is that the Platinum one, or the "80 Plus" one that's grey in colour?

I'm not sure. It's a very dark green PSU if that helps.

 

[JimmiG]

Stock Fractal Design fans that come with their cases are loud at 12V and definitely audible at 7V. There's a loud humming motor noise coming from them and they seem to vibrate quite a bit. When I installed a Fractal Design fan in the top of my Define XL R2, I actually had to place an old external hard drive on top of the case to stop the vibrations from resonating through the entire case. Tried swapping it for another Fractal Design 140mm fan, no difference. I'll replace it with something quieter eventually.

 

[Vectronic]

Don't know if the manufacturing changed, but my R2's (3, 2 with the case, one bought after... it really should come with 3) don't vibrate.

1 rear, is screwed directly to the frame/back.
2 front are just floating/clipped in the tray... if either of them vibrated they'd be rather loud, they don't.

They are far from quiet though, like you said 7 and especially 12V will be especially noticeable. In my situation, the difference in cooling between 5V and 12V is about 0.5 degrees, so the two front ones stay at 5V, the rear is tied to the CPU fan controller (~25% to 100%)... so 95% of the time, it's "practically" silent.

 

[Zap]

2) The Zalman is pretty quiet at low speeds. Have you tried adjusting your CPU fan profile?

AFAIK that Zalman uses a 3-pin fan. Some motherboards can only adjust 4-pin PWM fans, and leave 3-pin fans running at full speed all the time.

 

[JimmiG]

2 front are just floating/clipped in the tray... if either of them vibrated they'd be rather loud, they don't.

I guess I made it seem worse than it is. It's not like the whole fan rattles, but that humming motor noise really propagates through the case, especially from the top fan which is just screwed to the grille (though I'm using rubber spacers). As soon as I put a weight, like that external 2.5" drive on top of the case, it gets much quieter (but still very audible).

AFAIK that Zalman uses a 3-pin fan. Some motherboards can only adjust 4-pin PWM fans, and leave 3-pin fans running at full speed all the time.

I had the CNPS 9700 in my previous system. It was definitely loud at full RPM (like any fan), so you really need to have it slow down when the CPU is idle and not generating much heat. It's really hard to have a completely quiet, high-end desktop system at full load. The key is to set up your fans with automatic or manual fan control, so they only kick in when they're needed.