3770k - How loud is your stock cooler?

[outspacer]

Hey, I'm just getting my first build up and running, and was trying to figure out if the noise I have coming from my stock CPU cooler is normal. What I'm getting is a clicking sound, not enough to really worry about, but enough to hear with the case closed. It may sound like a minor issue, but I'm going to be using this computer for audio work, so need it quiet. I'll probably end up replacing it once I can do some more research into coolers, but if in the meantime this was louder than normal, I might try to get a replacement from Intel. Thanks!

 

[bacole2]

I am not sure how to rate the sound level. I have a new 3770K with the stock cooler in a Gigabyte Q77-D2H board. The fan speed is usually about 1200-1400 rpm under light load, and there is a slight humming sound. It is about the same sound level as a typical 7200 rpm hard drive just spinning (not considering the clicking from reading data). I suppose you have made sure that there is no wire near the fan blade that might be causing some clicking sound, and that the fan housing is secure and not rattling?? If you can change the motherboard orientation from horizontal to vertical or vice versa and that changes the CPU fan noise, maybe there is a bearing problem with the fan.

I need to explore fan speed options in bios in case I can get the fan speed any slower. The cpu temps are typically about 95 F under light load and can go up to about 140 F when running tests like Geekbench. Seems like a lower fan speed might be acceptable for a small increase in CPU temp.

I recently bought my wife a 2012 iMAC with the i7 processor, and I can barely hear any noise from the fan or hard drive in that! My hackintosh is pretty quiet compared to most Windows computers I have used, so I am pretty satisfied with my build based on TonyMac recommendations.

 

[outspacer]

Thanks for your reply. The first thing I checked were the wires, and they look ok, and the housing does seem secure to me. I'll try laying it horizontal and see if that changes things at all. CPU temps for me seem to be pretty good for me as well.

 

[taylorwatson18]

I think most people in this form will agree. DO NOT USE THE STOCK COOLER. It is literally, Garbage!

Spend $50 and buy yourself ether another dependable heatsink with a noise reduced fan or spent another $10-15 and buy yourself a closed system with radiator. Doesn't matter if you are over clocking or not. DO. NOT. USE. STOCK. FANS. They are ****, their thermal grease is ****.

Please for the safety of your CPU, buy a quality cooler. They are dirt cheap and will save you a lot of head aches. Also don't skimp on quality thermal grease. I won't go into debate on what is the best but I use Arctic Silver 5.

 

[outspacer]

Lol, alright then, will do

 

[SG-]

if you're not into massive OC and just want something that cools better than stock and is dead quiet you only need to spend around $20-25. I'm using an Arctic Cooler Freezer on my i5 2500k OC'd at 4.4Ghz. I originally got it for my i5 750 so I'm sure there's other that are better, but they have been releasing newer models of their products and it was $25:

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/detail?sArticle=4.?

 

[outspacer]

Thanks for the recommendation, SG-.