Loud front case fans on Masterbox TD500 Mesh

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sean16

Bronze Level Poster
Hi there.

I received my new PC on Friday and have had some issues with the fans and noise coming from the system. My case is a CoolerMaster Masterbox TD500 Mesh which came with 3 preinstalled front fans. They rev up quite a bit when opening apps, including Edge, and will sometimes rev up randomly for a few seconds. I'm not surprised that they get loudly when opening applications but they are fairly audible. It also sounds like there's a very faint rumbling or clicking noise. On idle it sounds as though there's a Transit van sitting outside my window.

I received Warhammer 40,000: Darktide with my RTX 3080 and it got crazy loud. The default Graphics settings were set to High and Ray Tracing was set to Medium. I lowered the graphics to Medium and turned Ray Tracing off, and while it did seem to calm down a bit it was still very loud. It's much quieter with older games, which isn't a surprise, but I was expecting it to be way quieter. Performance is great though! I just feel like I'm sitting next to a jet engine.

I'm not exactly sure how to control the speed of my fans other than through BIOS. I saw a recommendation online to switch my fans from DC to PWM via BIOS but this only seemed to make them louder, so I switched them back to DC. I don't want to touch anything else until I know that I'm doing.

I have iCUE preinstalled but I'm not entirely sure if my case fans are connected to it, it looks like it's just the motherboard, RAM, GPU and CPU cooler that are connected. I'm not sure how to control the fans for those components either. I tried installing Armoury Crate from the ASUS website but the installer is just hanging at around 90% complete. Weirdly enough, before I tried installing Armoury Crate, I found a folder named ARMOURY CRATE Lite Service under ASUS in Program Files but there doesn't seem to be an actual app on my PC which allows me to open it.

I'm a little stumped and not really sure what to do now, so looking for some advice on how to make my PC run quieter.

My specs are:

  • Case: CoolerMaster Masterbox TD500 Mesh
  • Case fans: 3 at front, 1 at back (didn't ask for the one in the back but they must've figured I'd benefit from it)
  • Motherboard: ASUS Rog Strix B550-F Gaming
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
  • CPU cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i Elite
  • GPU: RTX 3080
  • RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro (2 x 16GB)
  • SSDs: 1x 500GB Samsung 980 Pro, 1x 2TB Samsung 980 Pro
  • PSU: Corsair 1000W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold
  • OS: Windows 11
Would greatly appreciate any advice.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
B4zookaw

B4zookaw

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
A few points to cover here I guess.

Yes, not unusual for the case fans to ramp up if they're linked to CPU temp. As Windows loads applications, CPU load will spike and temps will rise. The default fan curves are prob quite aggressive and ramp up immediately in reaction to a temp change. It's worth reading this article that explains how to avoid this constant ramp up and down in response to temporary load spikes.

Assuming that case has the same fans as what I got in mine, the case fans are three pin, so DC controlled only. So once you've confirmed what header on the motherboard the fans are connected to, make sure it's set to DC and not PWM. Same for the rear exhaust fan, that's normally 3 pin fan. (4 pins = PWM, 3 pins = DC).

In relation to the GPU, again the default fan curve set by the GPU bios is probably quite aggressive and runs at a higher RPM than is needed. I'd use MSI's Afterburner to set a new fan curve. The actual fan curve shape will depend on the GPU, load, how good your cooling is etc, but generally the sweetspot would be to have GPU temp ~70C and the fan RPMs at 60% (this is usually the point at which GPU fan noise starts to become unbearable). So set a fan curve that runs fans at 60% around 70C and test under load to see if it settles at the temp. If it doesn't up the RPMs to 65% and try again until GPU temp is steady under load. If it settles at 70C at 60% RPM, lower the RPM by 5% and see if it stays stable. Basically adjust up or down to find the balance point for your particular setup.

In terms of the software, as I said in your other thread, I'm not surprised you're having issues with iCUE and Crate. It might be worth starting from scratch with a clean install of Windows, that's what I had to resort to. But with your current setup this is how they'd be controlled:
iCUE: RAM, cooler pump head, radiator fans
Crate: Front case fans, motherboard Aura.

Hope this helps!
 
S

sean16

Bronze Level Poster
IRLRobinS said:
A few points to cover here I guess.

Yes, not unusual for the case fans to ramp up if they're linked to CPU temp. As Windows loads applications, CPU load will spike and temps will rise. The default fan curves are prob quite aggressive and ramp up immediately in reaction to a temp change. It's worth reading this article that explains how to avoid this constant ramp up and down in response to temporary load spikes.

Assuming that case has the same fans as what I got in mine, the case fans are three pin, so DC controlled only. So once you've confirmed what header on the motherboard the fans are connected to, make sure it's set to DC and not PWM. Same for the rear exhaust fan, that's normally 3 pin fan. (4 pins = PWM, 3 pins = DC).

In relation to the GPU, again the default fan curve set by the GPU bios is probably quite aggressive and runs at a higher RPM than is needed. I'd use MSI's Afterburner to set a new fan curve. The actual fan curve shape will depend on the GPU, load, how good your cooling is etc, but generally the sweetspot would be to have GPU temp ~70C and the fan RPMs at 60% (this is usually the point at which GPU fan noise starts to become unbearable). So set a fan curve that runs fans at 60% around 70C and test under load to see if it settles at the temp. If it doesn't up the RPMs to 65% and try again until GPU temp is steady under load. If it settles at 70C at 60% RPM, lower the RPM by 5% and see if it stays stable. Basically adjust up or down to find the balance point for your particular setup.

In terms of the software, as I said in your other thread, I'm not surprised you're having issues with iCUE and Crate. It might be worth starting from scratch with a clean install of Windows, that's what I had to resort to. But with your current setup this is how they'd be controlled:
iCUE: RAM, cooler pump head, radiator fans
Crate: Front case fans, motherboard Aura.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Okaydokes thanks, I'll have a wee mess around with it and will see about installing Fan Control and Afterburner.

Little bummed I might have to reinstall Windows, it came preinstalled with my rig, but if it helps fix the issues I'm having then hopefully will be worth it in the end.

Thanks a bunch!
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Armoury Crate is horrid software. You probably need it, but it's horrible. I ended up doing exactly what @IRLRobinS said and had to reinstall Windows to fix a broken installation. (I mean, I broke the installation, but there still should be a better way!)
 
S

sean16

Bronze Level Poster
IRLRobinS said:
A few points to cover here I guess.

Yes, not unusual for the case fans to ramp up if they're linked to CPU temp. As Windows loads applications, CPU load will spike and temps will rise. The default fan curves are prob quite aggressive and ramp up immediately in reaction to a temp change. It's worth reading this article that explains how to avoid this constant ramp up and down in response to temporary load spikes.

Assuming that case has the same fans as what I got in mine, the case fans are three pin, so DC controlled only. So once you've confirmed what header on the motherboard the fans are connected to, make sure it's set to DC and not PWM. Same for the rear exhaust fan, that's normally 3 pin fan. (4 pins = PWM, 3 pins = DC).

In relation to the GPU, again the default fan curve set by the GPU bios is probably quite aggressive and runs at a higher RPM than is needed. I'd use MSI's Afterburner to set a new fan curve. The actual fan curve shape will depend on the GPU, load, how good your cooling is etc, but generally the sweetspot would be to have GPU temp ~70C and the fan RPMs at 60% (this is usually the point at which GPU fan noise starts to become unbearable). So set a fan curve that runs fans at 60% around 70C and test under load to see if it settles at the temp. If it doesn't up the RPMs to 65% and try again until GPU temp is steady under load. If it settles at 70C at 60% RPM, lower the RPM by 5% and see if it stays stable. Basically adjust up or down to find the balance point for your particular setup.

In terms of the software, as I said in your other thread, I'm not surprised you're having issues with iCUE and Crate. It might be worth starting from scratch with a clean install of Windows, that's what I had to resort to. But with your current setup this is how they'd be controlled:
iCUE: RAM, cooler pump head, radiator fans
Crate: Front case fans, motherboard Aura.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
sck451 said:
Armoury Crate is horrid software. You probably need it, but it's horrible. I ended up doing exactly what @IRLRobinS said and had to reinstall Windows to fix a broken installation. (I mean, I broke the installation, but there still should be a better way!)
Click to expand...
Ah that sucks. Dumb question, and really sorry about all the questions, when reinstalling Windows 11 do you recommend selecting Clean Data under Additional Settings? I had a mess around with some of the ASUS files while trying to follow some solutions online and I'm not sure if I'm better off just wiping the drive completely. I have no files on the new PC but I'm a little worried in case selecting Clean Data removes the supporting files for my motherboard, GPU, etc or if I'll have to reinstall all my drivers again.

Martinr36 said:
At the moment I've actually got armoury crate and iCUE playing nicely together, although I think it's more by luck than judgement
Click to expand...
Aw lucky.
 
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