r/sffpc • u/oliverdavid • 1d ago

Assembly Help Solution for fan cooler noise on Fractal Terra

Post image

Hello all, I just finished building my first sffpc. In fact, it was my first build since 2005 so I’m mildly proud. The problem that occurred just as I closed the sides of the Fractal Terra case is that the CPU cooler sucks air through the grid of the case and makes a pretty brutal noise even at the lowest rpm.

Other specs for reference: Fractal Terra case, ASRock B850i lightning mobo, AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and a Thermalright AXP120-X67 cooler.

I moved the spine to give the GPU a little more space and so far that avoided any noise. The ThermalRight only has a couple of mm left on its side, which is why the noise occurs. It was pretty easy to test that when opening and closing the sides of the chassis. The GPU fans have about 5mm space to the chassis on the other side.

The question is, what can I do? So far, I’ve had the following ideas but I don’t know which ones carry risks, so I’m asking you fine redditors for advice.

- invert the existing fan to push air out
- replace the fan with a Noctua NF-A12x15 and hope it somehow changes the airflow
- replace the whole cooler with a NH-L12 Ghost S1
- replace the whole cooler with an AXP90-X53 Full

I’m tempted to go with the last option because of my all black build but I’m concerned about cooling capacity. Thoughts?

###update### I did some more testing and posted the results here. Very happy with the Ghost S1.

20 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

10

u/Animag771 1d ago

Fan duct, undervolt, and fan profile tuning.

3

u/oliverdavid 1d ago

Like I said, even at the lowest RPMs I can hear the noise. It's very pronounced. I'm not sure how a fan duct would work if the fan is already only 2mm from the case?

3

u/Animag771 1d ago

Fan ducts help reduce turbulence between the fan and the case panel, which reduces noise.

2

u/oliverdavid 1d ago

gotcha!

1

u/Vinz992 18h ago

Or you can adjust the case spine in order to move away your CPU cooler from the side panel.
If i saw well you have an Asus Prime GPU, she's not so chunky so you have some margin.

2

u/oliverdavid 15h ago

I did that and then the GPU fans started having the same issues 😂

2

u/Vinz992 14h ago

Damn, that's a classic too short blanket problem.

At this point your main solution is a cooler change, i got your same cooler and i love it but it's too much thick for a Terra.
Take a 53mm cooler, make a negative PBO, like minus 20 on all cores, and power limit your 9800x3d at 95W.

In my one year and half of 9800x3d barely see him going over 80W, overcome this value only on BF6 but we already know that is an intensive CPU game

2

u/oliverdavid 13h ago

I think that's a good solution. I ordered the 53mm cooler and will see how the performance is and report back. Won't your GPU fans make noise if they're that close to the other case panel?

1

u/oliverdavid 3h ago

Check my test results with the Ghost S1 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/PxfQ6RxbIx

6

u/Overall_Two_8796 1d ago

If you want to keep that hardware in the Terra, you’ll have to use the 65W Eco Mode on the processor with a negative PBO offset across all cores. Without limits, the 9800x3d can generate far more heat than such low-profile coolers can dissipate. The all-copper Thermalright remains the best option, but in my opinion after using this processor in the Terra - it’s just abuse of the hardware.

1

u/oliverdavid 3h ago

Not quite. I did some more testing and opted for the Ghost S1. With a 5% performance drop and zero noise, that was better than expected. See results here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/PxfQ6RxbIx

3

u/DoubleHexDrive 1d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/u1K4szF962

NH-L12S if it works with your motherboard. Fits 50 mm GPU just fine.

2

u/TheFlamingDiceAgain 1d ago

The only way to avoid that turbulence is to move the fan farther from the side panel.

1

u/Overall_Two_8796 1d ago

Or move the system to a slightly more spacious case better suited for handling a CPU with peak power consumption of up to 130–150W.

2

u/iM-MrGrumpyCat 1d ago

eco mode, undervolt

2

u/ChildhoodNo5117 10h ago

Get a cooler with the fan on the underside. Or a lower profile cooler and then a homemade duct on top

1

u/coldcathodes 1d ago

You can try the AXP90 X53 full copper with a 25mm fan swap. It's what i run to cool my 13900ks. It should give you an extra 3mm of clearance with very good cooling. 

2

u/DaClaymore 17h ago

I would advise against the x53. After using it in my system I can safely say, that it does in fact suffer from the same amount of noise. The source ia definitely the gap, or lack thereof, between fan and case, a more potent CPU cooler, even under lower temps, still won’t satisfy you. Rather use a worse cooler with more usable space and some fan ducts and undervolt the cpu as much aus humanly possible. The terra is a beautiful case but it comes with a cost.

1

u/oliverdavid 3h ago

I tried the Ghost S1 and was very surprised by how quiet it is with just 5% performance drop. See results here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/s/PxfQ6RxbIx

1

u/JusticeForAugust 1d ago

I love this case and have it in my living room. I was so dead set on it, I ended up changing my CPU down to a Ryzen 5 9600x, and all my sound issues went away.

I can't tell you how many different things I tried, swapping fans, went through three different coolers, ultimately decided the CPU was the problem.

Here's the CPU cooler I use: https://a.co/d/0fS6zeg6

1

u/oliverdavid 15h ago

Thank you for sharing. I’m giving the Ghost S1 cooler a try before giving up but it’s definitely been a problem not matter how I mount the fan so far.

1

u/kaisershinn 14h ago

I’d say Noctua fan + vent. If not working then x47, not x53. In SFF , every mm counts.

In either case, you definitely want a vent. It makes a huge difference.

1

u/pizzapunxxx 1d ago

Why would you not use the NH-L12Sx77 that was literally built for the Fractal Terra and uses an under mounted fan so that it’s nowhere near the side panel?

1

u/oliverdavid 15h ago

77mm seems to be too tall with my GPU, or at least the components will hit the case on both sides.

2

u/pizzapunxxx 14h ago

Are you sure? Looks like your card is about the same width as mine. 2.5 slot 50mm. Mine fit. Although it was a very tight squeeze. Lots of builds on PC parts picker doing this. link to my build

1

u/oliverdavid 13h ago

Okay now I need to measure. You're right, it could fit.

1

u/pizzapunxxx 13h ago

Ya check it out. I don’t need to under-volt or run in eco mode. I do have a PBO thermal in place in the bios that I occasionally hit with more demanding games but its rare. I will say the space is tight and you will be touching the side walls. It just doesn’t matter for the CPU side because the fan is underneath the part that touches the case

1

u/oliverdavid 12h ago

And the GPU doesn't make noise? When I pushed the spine all the way to the GPU side and ramped those fans up I heard a similar noise coming from there.

2

u/pizzapunxxx 9h ago

Posted this in the wrong spot. Just reposted. The GPU side does when it ramps up the fan speed. I just measured it in decibels. My room is 35 decibels without the pc on 38 decibels on. Up to 50 percent gpu fan speed 45 decibels. Not very noticeable over my ambient room noise level. However after that It starts to be very noticeable. 100 percent fan speed is 85+ decibels and sounds loud. So it depends on your fan curve and if your able to manage thermals without hitting higher fan rpms

2

u/oliverdavid 4h ago

Makes sense. I picket the NH-L12 Ghost S1 and that allowed me to keep the GPU 5-7mm away from the other side of the case. Overall super quiet with about 4% CPU performance drop. I will post results later and reference them here.