Computer noises... really loud...

#1

Hello everyone!
I posted a long time ago about making my own computer for my animations and school work. Guess what… I built it! Well… technically my sister built it… BUT it was all thanks to the wonderful support and advice we received here that gave us the confidence to build our very first computer. So THANK YOU! To all of the wonderful people here! :smiley:

On the note that has brought me to write this post… the computer is making… loud noises.
I’m not sure if this is normal… I’ve been poking around and some people say its normal, others say its not. I dont know… and after all the cash dished out to make this wonderful machine, I dont want to chance something going wrong with it so soon. Ya know?

Sounds like:
Almost bubbly… but kinda clacky… makes me think of boiling water sometimes. But I’m not sure if its bubbles in the water cooling or what. Video at the end of the post has the sounds recorded on it for clarification.

Things we’ve tried:
1: Tightening screws on the fans(turns out a few screws were gonna come out soon yikes!)
2: Changing fan speeds (it makes the noise no matter what speed we set the fans to, Sometimes the noise lessens when the fan speed it turned down, other times it remains the same)
3:Cleaning/ double checking the fan blades. (alls good there)
4: Adjusting the fans and water cooling system in to bios. (no change)

Time the noises started:
It ran pretty silent when we first started her up, but recently (past month or so) she’s been makin a lot of noise.

Location:
Beside my desk on the floor. She’s a big girl. There is a vent that lets out cool air about half a yard away that is behind my desk. We went to great lengths to make sure the computer was not crammed or crowded, she’s got room to breath on all sides and nothing stacked on her.

NO pets or children. Only three grown up hooman females here, and we are all very careful around the machine.

Computer specs:
CPU: i7-5820k
GPU: NVIDIA QuadroM4000 8GB
HDD: Western Digital Black Series 4TB 3.5’’ 7200 RPM
Mobo: Asus X99 AII ATX LGA 2011-3
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5" SATA
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFMLio

Hope i spelled everything right…

and finally… I captured the sounds on a videos here:

WARNING: Headphone users may wanna turn the sound down… jus sayin.
And ya gotta use the link cos the video is unlisted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSaA2Fj9BwQ&feature=youtu.be

**** That steady whoooooooooooooooohhhh noise you hear is the fans as they are running on 100%. Its that clacky/bubbly noise thats the issue(location: was holding my device right over the top of the case).

If anyone knows what may be the culprit of these sounds I would greatly appreciate you sharing it with me. I do not mind the sounds myself… but I want to make sure that they are not something thats going wrong. If it IS just bubbles in the water cooling, I’ll live with it… I just dont want my computer to go down when I could have done something to prevent it.

Thank you! I know it was a long post… your awesome! <3

-Malinil.

#2

It sounds like a noisy pump, but I’m not sure. You must completely stop the fans first to hear clearly where the sound comes from. There is no reason to run the fans at 100% all the time. That will wear them out quickly. Make a custom curve inside CAM software and put the fan’s rpm at 25-30% when the cpu is idling and 75-80% for max load.

I have the same AIO in my system. No issues, except a noisy fan when I first bought it, that was immediately replaced by NZXT.

An easy way to check things inside your system is to cautiously place your fingers on different parts and try to feel where the noise/vibration comes from, ex. the fan’s center of axis, the psu, or the top of the AIO pump. If the pump makes such a noise, you should feel a vibration on your fingers.

If it turns out to be the AIO, send this video to NZXT and they will definitely send a replacement if it’s faulty indeed. They have a great support and RMA policy.

Check out the psu too. You didn’t mention which one you’ve picked for your system.

#3

Will do. The reason I had my fans at 100% was because people on a number of forums said to. I’ll have get the curve in cam working. Thanks for your reply! Very helpful. :smiley:

#4

First, turn the fans down, theres no need for them to be at full power. Use the fan curves in bios or software to leave them at minimum speed until around the 70c mark, then ramp them up from there.

As for the main noise, it sounds like a rattling water pump. Sometimes youll find a pump might rattle or reverberate at a particular frequency. In the fan controllers, leave the pump as a set speed (ie dont get faster and slower with heat) and just find a level where it quietens down. Personally I run mine at 80% voltage as this is the quietest and the cooling lost is quite minimal.

#5

I was starting work today and the rattling go waaayyy worse. So I opened her up and pokes my head in (metaphorically) and following the source of the noise, touched the top front fan in the middle. When I touched it the noise stopped, withdrew my hand and within moments the rattling was back. Grrr… I’ve opened a ticket with nzxt. Hopefully they can either tell me how to fix it or send me another.

Thank you all for your replies! You were very helpful and your suggestions helped me solve my problem. <3

#6

Hi Malinil. I’m glad you found the faulty part. I had almost the same issue when I first bought the X61. One of the fans made a strong noise, but not like yours. I made a little research and asked some good guys that make reviews of cooling systems about that. It turns out that many of the fans that are included in AIO cooling systems are not so well designed to run upside down. If you have the X61 placed on the top part of your chassis and the fans push air outside the case, you’ll probably run into the same problem at some point in the future.

My advice is to install the X61 in the front part of you chassis, if it has room for a 280mm AIO like this.

By the way, what’s your chassis?

I personally made this change in my system, and now the fans run quietly with no issues, and I gained better temps with my cpu too (~3-4°C lower temps).