Hey all, I have recently finished putting together my latest PC, and it suffers from a really annoying hum. Im going to have trouble describing this to you, but basically, every other few seconds the normal sound of the PC (Fans im assuming) are louder. Sort of like when your mobile phone vibrates every other second. It sounds like something to do with the fans, but reducing the speed of them has had no effect. If I touch the side of the case I can feel the increased vibration when the noise occurs. Im wondering if it could be the noise of the H50 pump? Or perhaps the Sycthe GT that cools the 120mm rad… Any ideas? Anyone else getting similar with their H50? Both CPU & Case fans are set to 'Silent' profiles in the BIOS. My set up is: Core i5 750 @ stock Asus P7PPD mobo H50 + 120mm Sycthe GT 1850rpm (fan cools H50 rad, but it also acting as case exhaust) 2x 2gb Corsair XMS3 1gb Gainward GLH GTX 460 Spinpoint 500gb SATA HDD Coolermaster Silent M 650 or 750 PSU (I cant remember now) NO DVD DRIVE Case is a Silverstone Raven RV02 with window 3x 180mm Stock silverstone fans (Not the AP's)
hmm I think the pump does have full power. It is connected to the moterboard. The Fan cooling its rad is set to 'silent'. The CPU sits at stock and doesnt exceed 43c. Plus the hum was happening before i changed the BIOS. Any other ideas?
There was a thread about this a few months ago, probably before Xmas IIRC. It seemed a few peeps with H50s had a similar issue. How have you got your H50 configured in the RV02? Can you borrow an air cooler to eliminate H50 from the problem? Other than that, try looking at the simple things like HDDs. Are they fastened in securely? All screws tight enough? You don't have a DVD drive, which is more likely to cause noise than a HDD. What about cable management? Any stray cables free to vibrate anywhere? Try to eliminate one thing at a time but start with the simple things to save you having to deconstruct everything. I'd look at things in this order: 1. Screws torqued up 2. Cables - make sure nothing stray to rub against fan blades etc 3. Make sure dust filters aren't clogged and rubbing against blades 4. Unplug one fan at a time and boot the machine to eliminate noisy fan. 5. CPU Cooler - check if it's seated properly. If so, swap for an air cooler and check again. EDIT - If you've set your CPU fan to Silent in the BIOS, then the pump won't be getting full power as this is the connector for the pump.
As long as the H50 pump connected to the designated CPU fan header on the motherboard is at full whack then that should be fine! Without interfering with the cooling of the CPU I would try disconnecting a component at a time then power on again and listen. Start with the hard drive, axillary case fans and then the GTX 460. Come to think of it I had case hum a few months ago and it turns out it was because a fan was connected to a particular 3-pin header. The fan was fine it was just because it was connected to that particular header! If the pump is fine then that would most likely be the next suspect.
Thanks for the useful tips - I can answer a couple now. 1. Screws torqued up --- Screws are tight as ive just re-built this, but still no harm in double checking. 2. Cables - make sure nothing stray to rub against fan blades etc --- Cables are…… Immaculate - I spent 3 hours cabling up this beauty, has a black & UV green theme throughout. 3. Make sure dust filters aren't clogged and rubbing against blades --- Just cleaned these. 4. Unplug one fan at a time and boot the machine to eliminate noisy fan. --- Il give this a go…and I think this is my only viable option to working out the problem. 5. CPU Cooler - swap for an air cooler and check again. --- I have a freezer pro I could test. But il only change this by process of elimination if stopping fans doesn’t work.
Interesting thoughts on the H50 power. I will have to check which header ive plugged the H50 into when i get home. Just to be sure.... On a H50 there is.... 1x 3 pin power for the H50 itself. 1x 3 pin power for the Fan coolling the rad. Which header should the H50 power go into? Im pretty sure this is a red herring as the pulsing hum happened before i changed my BIOS settings recently, but still really useful to know.
OK, all H50/H70s pumps are plugged into the CPU fan header and the Fan attached to the rad should be plugged into another fan header and both should be set correctly in the BIOS. Also ensure Cool n Quiet or equivalent is turned off. EDIT: To rule out the pump problem, you could connect your pump directly to a MOLEX and then put the 120mm radiator fan on the CPU Fan header. MOLEX will always output at full power. An idea to play with maybe.
Yeah not a bad shout. Il give this a go. But only if the H50 power cable reaches behind the mobo try lol. I dont have a braided molex / 3 pin adapter and cant have any other cables making it look untidy Could be worth doing just for test purposes though
So tonight im going to plug the H50 into the CPU header (if it isnt already), then im going to set the BIOS to ..... Default? or performance? or turbo? lol If that doesnt solve the problem, then im going to disconnect one fan at a time to try and eliminate the repeated humming. Sounds like ive got my evening planned (along with fitting a GPU into my other rig)
in bios you should have the thermal management disable. when disable it will send full power to the fan headers at all times. or if you have a more advanced thermal management it is possible you can set disable on the cpu fan header only where the pump is attached. also using rubber washers on all of your fan and pump mounts never hurts cut vibrations either.
Ok here are things to try to find where the sound comes from: While your computer operates AT IDLE (meaning in Windows, not doing anything) and produces this sound, open the case, and put your finger in the middle center of a fan to slow it down and make it stop (don't touch the blades... it will hurt). See if the the problem disappears. If that is not the case, try another fan until you try them all Don't forget to try your graphic card fan, as well. If you can't find the problem so far, than you know it's not the fans. Next turn off your PC normally, and unplug your HDD power connector. Now turn on the computer. Obviously you won't go far in the boot process as you are missing the HDD, BUT you can see if your problem is gone. If it is.. then it's the HDD, if not.. then it's something else, which is most likely the Corsair H50 pump.
I run my H70 pump on one of these: This assures me that the pump is always running at full speed and not being regulated by the CPU usage.
From personal experience I'd say its the RAD/Pump, I have a H70 fixed on the back blowhole, all fans are near silent, hard drives are "floating" and the case is wrapped in AccoutiPack sound proofing stuff. I get a very low hum comming out the back of the blowhole, which I believe is the making of the RAD/Pump. I've even put my ear up to every component to try pinpoint. I think because the PC is in the corner the sound is coming out the back and reflecting and being amplified by the back wall. Im considering have carpet behind the back of the case to try soak up the sound.
Right... Ive switched over the pump's power to a 4 pin molex now. But the noise is still the same, so we can rule out the pump not getting enough power. Just to be clear (or at least try), its not just a hum that is annoying me. Its a on/off hum. Or intermitant? Or repeating?? A bit like when you get a text and it vibrates every other second. Does that make sense?
Where have you got the rad positioned in relation to the pump? The pre-fab water coolers do contain a bit of air which is why its recommended to install them vertically with the water pipes beneath the rad so the air rises to the top and won't circulate the loop. If you've got it installed on the roof of your Raven, in a horizontal layout, this might be the cause - if it's the pump and not another component. Worth checking it out. You can test it by removing the Rad and holding it in your hand in an upright position. You'll be able to hear/feel anything much better too.
I've had this in one of my previous PCs, I assumed it was a resonance from either the hdds or fans, possibly both combining. In theory you could work out the frequency of the hum, then go backwards to find out the frequencies that are generating it. Probably a bit difficult to do. It's possible that one or more of the fans are running slightly differently to the others generating the extra frequency vibrations. Try connecting them all to Molex connectors or disconnecting them completely.
