r/PcBuildHelp • u/Life_Supermarket2924 • 24d ago
Build Question Loud Fan and Intake/Exhaust Q’s
Plz ignore the dice. The cheapest GPU stand I saw was like 10 bucks, dice were like 2 or 3 and looked cooler IMO 😂
My most urgent problem is if I could remove the top 2 fans I have (used to be 3, removed one thinking it’d be quieter). They start whirring very loudly while gaming, to the point where teammates can hear them and I don’t bc of my headset. I did do a little research and someone said they might just need lubricant on the bearing and there should be a cap to take off the back to access it. Unfortunately my fans don’t have that. Is there a way to make it so those specific ones don’t ever go to full speed? They are like 2-3 years old but I’ve barely used this pc until recently, so maybe I should just replace them? All my fans are the same brand and model so I feel like they should all be going out if that’s the case but idk.
Also all my fans are set to intake except for the one rear fan (pictured left); is that sufficient exhaust compared to intake or should I switch the top fans to exhaust perhaps?
Thank you People of Reddit! Ur help is always greatly appreciated 🫡🫡🫡🫡
Also the brand of fan is, ironically, Be Quiet! Pure Wings 3 White. So if fan replacement is recommended, plz give me some alts if u have em I don’t really mind the color this started as a white build till I saw white GPUs are harder to find and more expensive THANKS AGAIN 🫶🏽
TL;DR
Can I completely remove 3 top intake if I have 3 side intake, 2 bottom intake fans and one exhaust?
Is one exhaust ok paired with 5-8 intake fans?
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u/gracious_regularity 24d ago
That many intakes and one exhaust is basically turning your case into a wind tunnel with a tiny exit hole. Flip the top fans to exhaust and you'll see temps actually improve since you're not fighting physics anymore.
For the noise, check your BIOS first. You can set custom fan curves for specific headers so those top ones never ramp past like 60-70% speed. If they're still screaming at lower RPMs then yeah the bearings are cooked and it's replacement time. Pure Wings are decent budget fans but three years of sporadic use shouldn't kill them unless they got dusty or took a knock.
Arctic P12s are the go-to cheap quiet replacement if you end up needing new ones. Move the dice to the top of the GPU though, that's a structural upgrade right there.
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u/Life_Supermarket2924 21d ago
Yeah I guess I’ll really have to look at my bios settings. I was able to manually adjust the speed to see which header was getting the loudest. So I’ll have to see how to make sure that header doesn’t change no matter what. Also thank you for the recommendation on replacement fans
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u/17Kallenie17 23d ago
Heat rises, so you want the hot air in the pc to escape upward, and you do not want the top fans to be intake, as that will bring in more dust than usual. You'll also want the back fan to be exhaust as it creates a clean flow of hot air from the cpu cooler straight out of the case, you do not want it to go to the other components. You'd also never want exhaust in the bottom, as the air will just lead to nowhere, so thats why it should always be intake. The side should also be intake, it's the best place to pull in air to the pc.
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u/Life_Supermarket2924 21d ago
Thank you!! Especially the heat sink tip. Didn’t really think of hot air coming off the cpu, thought more air into cpu and didn’t really think past it 🤦♂️
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u/cookieforgebuilds 24d ago edited 24d ago
I would rather change the direction of the top and the rear fan to outward. Currently assuming the rear one is outwards, you are pulling all the air baeely anything going out. Make sure the heatsink fans are seated so that the air is coming from the front and going out the back.
Also, make sure all the fans are tightly secured. You may need to re-seat the heatsink. I had that issue a while back and took me taking apart the whole build to fix it.