How to make your gaming PC quieter

Clear the dust from your system

A frequent culprit behind system noise is the fan. Dust build-up is common, so it’s always good practice to regularly clean the fans for optimal performance and heat management. If dust isn’t the problem, then the hardware itself is to blame. Worn bearings, broken fins, or misalignment could be the issue. Fans are an important part of your system, so whether you have purchased them with the system or put them in yourself, an upgrade to quieter fans may be necessary. Go for fans with magnetic or fluid dynamic bearings (FDB), and high pressure, silence optimised fan blades. These are generally more expensive, but your ears will thank you!

Check your power!

One of the common PC build mistakes that beginners make is not working out how much power the system will need. It may be the power supply that is causing issues, not the quality of the fan you have decided to go with. Power supplies are graded with the 80 Plus rating system which will help decide what is best for your machine. You should always find out how much power your chosen hardware will use before purchasing, otherwise the power supply will heat up and create a lot of noise when overworked. A tip is to always purchase slightly more wattage than you need just to be safe.

Not so fast! Check your fan speed!

Are your fans running at high speed all the time? Another reason why you’re getting excess noise is overheating. The answer: enhance the airflow within the computer casing. One way of doing this is swapping out the casing you currently have with a more ‘air friendly’ design, which will naturally cool down the hardware inside. There are many case options that can provide more optimal airflow. You can aid your airflow by optimising the number of fans you have and adjusting the configuration. The best practice is generating and pushing air towards your components to cause positive pressure, which is promptly ejected out of the system. Additionally, using PWM (Pulse-width Modulation) allows all your fans to be controlled automatically based on the temperature of the system. You can also manually play with the fan curve to keep noise to a minimum.

Be cool!

Using AIO (all-in-one) liquid cooling could lower the noise level of your system as AIOs use radiators mounted in your system, substituting for traditional fan-based CPU cooling. An AIO utilises the same space that you would normally mount your case fans. The functionality of the case fans stays the same but cool air is passed over the radiator to cool the CPU quietly!