Water Cooler causing case vibrations I think

[XanderX]

Recently bought a new PC which has a water cooler. On more intense games the PC vibrates, it sounds like it coming from the water cooler fans at the top of the case. I don't think the cooler is faulty and it doesn't sound like air bubbles (I looked it up on YouTube and its not that). I suspect it's just normal vibrations, its only when the RPMs go up that I hear it but I've never had a water cooler before. I don't know if I can do anything about the noise? If not then I might look at getting a PC mount to mount it under the desk instead.

It's a Kolink Umbra Void AIO 240mm Performance aRGB Water Cooler, the case is APNX Creator C1 Black Mid Tower Case. I've tried putting some rubber furniture feet underneath the case but because the noise is coming from the top it makes no difference.

Would be good if I could find a way to dampen sound so open to suggestions that might work.

 

[jabski]

hi mate, have you any software installed to monitor the fan speeds ?

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Check the screws holding it to the case
Are tight enough
Sometimes you can test just by applying some hand pressure
On top of the case
see if that stops it
Can also put rubber washers between the radiator and case
Could also test by Unscrewing radiator and fans from the case
All those are basically testing to see if it's
Vibration/resonance
As another possibility is the pump impeller
If its unbalanced you get sort of a rattling noise
Which gets worse the faster it spins
Sometimes with it installed in the case
It's actually not easy to tell exactly what parts making the noise

 

[XanderX]

If I load up MSI Center and run a game then close it down it MSI shows over 2000 RPMs for CPU fan, then goes down to about 800 within a few seconds. Not sure how to check it in game as Nvidia overlay only shows GPU fan speed. I know what I need to know to get by so sorry if I'm not giving the right information.

I've been testing a few games and so far its only one game, wondering if it hammering the CPU more than the others.

I'll check screws and see if I can work it out but pretty sure its watercooler fans, the GPU fans weren't even getting hot enough for them to come on and case fans were running around 800. I'd say it's vibration rather than rattling. I think rubber washers are worth a go as I can feel the vibrations on the top case directly above the water cooler fans.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

That's OK mate
Everyone had to learn stuff

You could set the pump to a constant speed
Usually around approx 80% speed there's not much gained
By going over 80-85% pump speed
Sometimes having the pump speed vary can also
Cause vibration/resonance/noise
Have had cars where a certain speed vibrated steering wheel
Go above or below that speed nothing happened
Guess it's similar idea

You can use msi afterburner
It installs rivatuner statistics software
Then you can choose what to display
If got 2 monitors
Can run something like sidebar diagnostics on second one
Or aida64,HWINFO64 etc

Sometimes if the case/top of the case is thin steel
You're more likely to get vibration/resonance
If the AIO fan cables are easy to reach
You could briefly disconnect them to see if the noise stops

 

[jabski]

If I load up MSI Center and run a game then close it down it MSI shows over 2000 RPMs for CPU fan, then goes down to about 800 within a few seconds. Not sure how to check it in game as Nvidia overlay only shows GPU fan speed. I know what I need to know to get by so sorry if I'm not giving the right information.

I've been testing a few games and so far its only one game, wondering if it hammering the CPU more than the others.

I'll check screws and see if I can work it out but pretty sure its watercooler fans, the GPU fans weren't even getting hot enough for them to come on and case fans were running around 800. I'd say it's vibration rather than rattling. I think rubber washers are worth a go as I can feel the vibrations on the top case directly above the water cooler fans.

which game is it thats making the fans spin up? Another piece of software you could use is Fan Control. The set up tests each fan which may help

 

[XanderX]

I've tried to get MSI Afterburner to show fan speed and I just can't figure it out. I've tried getting HWINFO to report to RivaTuner but honestly staring at a load of white text on a black background is not my sort of thing. I've order some rubber washers which hopefully will be small enough to fix the issue, its easier for me to try to fix this physically that get multiple programs talking to each other.

It does it with DOOM Eternal as soon as game loads up, being playing Helldivers 2 at weekend and noticed it with that also but doesn't seem to have same intensity and doesn't happen straight away.

 

[freddie64]

Any panels loose on the case?

The radiator bracket looks a bit flimsy to be honest, thinking a 360mm rad would make it more stable

 

[Drumroll]

If the case have very thin panels it can vibrate. Also, if one of the screws holding the AIO isn’t secured properly, if can vibrate. I would suggest double checking if every fan screw is tightened properly. Sometimes we can miss one. Don’t need to go overboard and risk damaging the fan, but vibration is most likely to be from the fans to the case.
If all is okay, you can try, using your hand, apply a very small pressure on each panel while the vibration is happening. If you manage to find the panel that vibrates, you can solve it increasing its mass, one tile of silent coat (car sound deadening product) will fix it. Don’t need to cover the whole panel, just few pieces around should be enough.

 

[XanderX]

I've tried the washers and it makes no difference. I think the noise is coming more from the radiator fan towards the back, the one towards front doesn't seem to make it. I think from the side it sounded more like case vibrations, it might be at little as well or also that the sound is bouncy around inside the case a little.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I'm going to take a break from fixing as it's giving me a meltdown.

I've no idea if the noise is perfectly normal, Overclockers have said it's fine, but because I'm Autistic and sound sensitive it's driving me round bend a bit.

I bought one pre-built as I didn't want to mess about as I've not built a PC for 15 years+. I just wanted it to work off shelf. Which it does just at a pitch that agitates me so I'm kinda feeling stuck now.

Also went with an AIO as I read it should be quieter. I think if I'd got a CPU fan instead I'd would have been better off.

I'm just going to calm myself down and try to fix this another time.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

How do ocuk know its fine?
They heard it?
If I bought a brand new pc
And it rattled I wouldn't accept it as fine

 

[Drumroll]

Maybe the vibration is from the AIO. If you were closer to Cambridge I wouldn’t mind help you pinpoint the issue and sort it out. I can only imagine how hard must be for you. I’m just picky about noise and can get really frustrated by things most people won’t even notice. Reason why I’ve splashed on T30s, and a very efficient cooler on a very efficient CPU that can run virtually silent. My only issue is the slightly coil whine from the 4080, but capping FPS as I usually do, sort it for the games that cause it.

 

[jabski]

are you able to disconnect just the rear radiator fan?

 

[XanderX]

I think my husband has found the cause of the problem.

He worked out that the AI in the MSI center was overriding fan curves. The CPU wasn't even hot (32 degrees), and it was sending the radiator fans to 2400 RPM. The fans for the radiator have a max of 2200.

So it looks like AI was preempting a heavy load on CPU/high temperatures and maxing it out even when it didn't need to. Which is why as soon as I loaded DOOM the AIO's fans were going crazy.

Turned off MSI AI and it's stopped. I'll do some testing another time to see if anything changes once I've been gaming for a bit but hopefully this has fixed it. I'm glad I didn't just accept Overclockers answer as I would have probably worn out the AIO's fans pretty quick if I'd just left it.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Usually fans have a plus or minus % tolerance
So say 10% tolerance
That would make 2200 rpm be just over 2400 rpm
Not surprised something was rattling at 2400 rpm
Must have sounded like a jet taking off

 

[Parsley]

I think my husband has found the cause of the problem.

He worked out that the AI in the MSI center was overriding fan curves. The CPU wasn't even hot (32 degrees), and it was sending the radiator fans to 2400 RPM. The fans for the radiator have a max of 2200.

So it looks like AI was preempting a heavy load on CPU/high temperatures and maxing it out even when it didn't need to. Which is why as soon as I loaded DOOM the AIO's fans were going crazy.

Turned off MSI AI and it's stopped. I'll do some testing another time to see if anything changes once I've been gaming for a bit but hopefully this has fixed it. I'm glad I didn't just accept Overclockers answer as I would have probably worn out the AIO's fans pretty quick if I'd just left it.

I don't think I've ever had a good experience with the motherboard manufacturer software. Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Asrock... it has all been a bit lame. Gigabytes sucked the least though, I think .

Can you set up curves in the BIOS? That used to be my go to, before I started using Argus Monitor.

 

[XanderX]

The MSI center by itself is working fine to manage it but if I turn on the AI in the center that's what causes the issues. So MSI AI is overriding itself, if I set quiet or balanced for example in the MSI center the AI says no that's wrong and decides to wack the fans up. If I turn off the AI off then it keeps the settings. Although I might just get rid of it completely.

This is what it sounded like before
Noise from AIO.

After fixing it I realised there's vibrations from the GPU too, but so far a blob of blue tack on the back of the GPU has stopped it. I've tried reseating and checking screws and doesn't make a difference. Don't think it's anything unusual though so not concerned.

I think the noise from the AIO and GPU together was making it harder to work out where the noise was coming from.

I can still hear the AIO a bit but only when I don't have my headset on.

I've googled MSI Center AI and I'm not the only one struggling with fan noise.

 

[D1craig]

In my opinion uninstall the software that is controlling the fans and set it in the BIOS. Then you should get no conflicts. Hopefully somebody can explain how to do thay for you because I am hopeless at that.