Fan speed question

My itx htpc sounds like a jet engine in my livingroom regardless of use.

I tried the "silent" setting for the cpu fan in the bios of my mobo (asus 61-i) but it changed nothing.

My cpu temps are around 55 and the fan RPM is constant around 2800. Task manager shows cpu load at 2-5 % when idle and the fan is still loud????

My cpu is an I3 2100, and i'm using a pico psu 120wide in a habey case. Connected is an ssd and a external usb tv tuner.

I'd like to be able to leave my pc on 24/7 but noise and heat are too much to handle.

Any advice?

Ok...thanks Asassain. Time to look for a new case. Anything similar in size that you can recommend.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I actually got a family friend who who works with metals to use his waterjet to cut multiple holes in the top of my case. Its the habey 800 so I also added a 40mm evercool fan but it made it even louder so i removed it.

I will try the asus suite first then Speedfan to see how it works.

Why would the cpu be so hot and fan be operating at such a high speed when my cpu is idle showing 2-5%? is there anything i should look for?

Thanks for all the replies, I've been busy with work so I haven't had the time to test anything. I found the stock i3 cooler last night so I think I'm gonna take the computer to NCIX and have one if there tech's remove the Silverstone psu and install the stock one. It's running at 2800rpm on a cold start so something is wrong. I will report back once done

Thanks to all the advice in this thread, it turns out the silverstone fan was the problem. i swapped it out for the stockl intel cooler and its running quiet now i guess i did put too much of the of the thermal grease so i lightly scraped it off the cpu with my fingers and attached the intel cooler. It already has thermal grease applied.

So its been a week with the intel stock cooler and although its running quiet the temps are still high. 45-50 celsius on idel and 70+ on load.... ie: while streaming a 1080p mkv from server or watching live TV from my HD homerun dual. Sometimes i hear the fan speed increase and slow down randomly. I just bought this Scythe Big Shuriken 2 REV.B so i'm hoping that helps but if not i will look at replacing the case.

My question is, as i stated earlier i got a friend with a waterjet to cut multiple holes all over the top of my habey 800... it looks like one of those m350 cases now. Where it sits is pretty cramped with my cable co's HD box right next to it. Theres about half inch of space at the sides and about an inch and a half at the top. For cosmetic reasons i can't really put it anywhere else.

knowing my space problems will going with an actual m350 or Stardog's Realan E-i5 mini-ITX make any difference?. I dont want to spend the money and the cpu temp problem is due my setup and not the habey. I would normally think this would be so but Assasins first reply to this thread makes me wonder otherwise.

See the pic below


Edited by rsoares28 - 11/16/12 at 6:56am

Any advice? What about Wesena ITX

Thanks for the reply. I dont have a hole in the top of the case like assassin's. I have multiple holes.. What i did was replaced the intel heatsink with a Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B and left the top of the case off. So far so good.