Review
ARCTIC P12 PWM PST Review: Sone, Not Decibels
56.3 CFM at 0.3 Sone, 2.2 mmH2O, and a noise figure you cannot compare against a dB-rated fan. The specification is honest and the unit is the catch.
4 min read
Fix 8 · Ugly 2
Noise & Vibration
Making a loud machine quieter without making it hotter.
Start here
Ugly Things That Make a PC Quieter
Rubber washers, bitumen sheets and a plastic box cable-tied behind the motherboard tray. None of them photograph well and all of them work.
Comparison
Repasting vs Replacing a Noisy Cooler
Noise and heat are different symptoms with different causes. One of these fixes a cooler working too hard; the other fixes a cooler that has worn out.
4 min read
Guide
PSU Fan Noise and Zero-RPM Modes
The one fan you cannot control, on the one component you must not open. What a hybrid mode changes, and when the noise is telling you something.
5 min read
Comparison
Air Cooler vs AIO, Judged on Noise
An AIO moves heat somewhere easier to exhaust and adds a pump that never stops. Which is quieter depends on the noise you are actually trying to remove.
4 min read
Guide
Building a Fan Curve That Is Not the Default
The stock curve protects the chip, not your ears, and ships the same regardless of your case. What to change, in what order, and which sensor to drive it from.
5 min read
Guide
Coil Whine: What Actually Stops It
A high electrical squeal that changes with frame rate, not with fan speed. Why cleaning and better fans do nothing for it, and what genuinely helps.
5 min read
Guide
Fan Bearings, and Which Ones Get Noisy
Sleeve, rifle, fluid dynamic and magnetic bearings fail differently. The bearing decides whether a quiet fan is still quiet in three years.
3 min read
Guide
Undervolting to Cut Fan Speed
The only quiet-PC fix that removes heat instead of moving it, and it costs nothing. What it is, why it usually keeps the performance, and how to know it is stable.
4 min read
Collection
Ugly Things That Make a PC Quieter
Rubber washers, bitumen sheets and a plastic box cable-tied behind the motherboard tray. None of them photograph well and all of them work.
3 min read
Comparison
Fan Hub vs Splitter vs Manual Controller
Three ways to run more case fans than the motherboard has headers. One is safe by design, one has a current limit people ignore, one gives up automation.
3 min read
Guide
Hard Drive Rattle: The Cheap Rubber Fix
A mechanical drive screwed hard into a steel cage turns the whole case into a speaker. Rubber grommets cost almost nothing and stop it at the source.
3 min read
Guide
Sound-Dampening a PC Case Without Cooking It
Dampening mats work on resonance and do nothing for fan noise. Where they belong inside a case, and the thermal cost of putting them everywhere.
4 min read
Guide
Why a Gaming PC Gets Loud, and What Fixes It
Fan whine and case rattle sound similar and have nothing in common. Telling them apart first is why some people fix the noise and others buy fans twice.
4 min read
Review
ARCTIC Case Fan Hub Review: Ten Fans, One Header
A SATA-powered PWM hub that puts ten case fans under one motherboard header. The port count is the headline; the 4.5 A ceiling is the specification.
4 min read
Fix 8 · Ugly 6
Other things that might be annoying you
- Warning lightThe light is on and nobody can tell me why.
- A long drive coming upSix hours in the car and I have not thought about any of it.
- Wi-Fi that keeps droppingThe PC is upstairs and the router is by the front door.
- The desk is set up wrongThe screen is too low, the chair is too high, and I have never changed either.
- A screen that is hard to look atGlare across it, or text I keep leaning in to read.
- Stuck at the roadsideSomething failed away from home and I had nothing useful with me.
- Taking a handheld awayCharging it, filling it, and getting it there in one piece.
- A PC that will not startIt was fine yesterday and now nothing happens at all.
- A car that barely movesIt sits far more than it drives, and that is its own problem.
- Nobody can hear me properlyHum, echo, or a microphone that picks up every keystroke.
- Losing work to a power cutA flickering supply, a failing drive, and no backup worth the name.
- Dead batteryThe car sat for a month and now it won't turn over.
- No garage spaceThe car fits, but only just, and nothing else does.
- Car clutterEverything I own is loose in the trunk and rattling.
- Dirty interiorThe interior has grit in places a vacuum cannot reach.
- Bad lightingI cannot see what I am doing under the hood or under the car.
- Lost toolsI own three 10 mm sockets and can find none of them.
- Loud PCIt sounds like a hairdryer the moment a game loads.
- PC runs hotFrame rate drops after twenty minutes and never recovers.
- Cable messBehind the desk is one knot I refuse to look at.
- Cannot drillI rent, so nothing can leave a hole or a mark.
- Nowhere to put itThe flat is full and there is nowhere left to put anything.
- Bag will not closeIt all went in last time and now the case will not shut.
- Everything needs chargingFour devices, one socket, and a flight in the morning.