How quiet is the Cooler Master CM690

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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ElSteve
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How quiet is the Cooler Master CM690

Post by ElSteve » Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:22 pm

I currently have a Xion II case, and its noisy and driving me crazy. Will the CM690 be any quieter? Theres a great deal at clubIT right now, but I plan on using the stock fans for a little while until I get some more money for quieter fans. How loud is it with the stock fans and how many fans can I add before it gets too loud?

FlorisNielssen
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Post by FlorisNielssen » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:01 am

First of all, I don't know what fans are included.

I do know there are 3 of them. 3 120mm, one 80mm (according to Coolermaster). Bit strange though, they don't list the 80 mm fan, but if you look in the gallery, there's a fan on the right panel, 80mm.

Anyway. As I don't know about the fans, I don't know about the noise. But you probably shouldn't think too much of them.
Furthermore, what are your system specs? It depends on your system how many fans you're going to need. You need good cooling, no matter what your system is, but less fans, less noise. So enough, but no more.

ElSteve
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Post by ElSteve » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:21 am

Here are the specs for my current rig:

C2D E6300 @ 3.22GHz (1.328V, 460x7)
Zerotherm Nirvana NV120
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
Corsair XMS 2GB DDR2-800
eVGA Superclocked 8800GT (650MHz, stock hsf)

If I replace the side and the back fans with the 800RPM Scythe SlipStream (120mm, 40.17 CFM, 10.7 dB), would that provide enough cooling for my computer? How much louder would it get if I place a lot of these SlipStreams in my case?

JaYp146
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Post by JaYp146 » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:48 pm

I would think so. Side fans are a bit superfluous, IMHO.

Check reviews to see how much of a difference they'll make..

Other than that, it looks to be a pretty nice case, especially for the price. If only I hadn't gotten my Centurion 5 for free after MIR during that Black Friday sale @ Newegg ... :)

Tullphan
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Post by Tullphan » Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:15 pm

I've got this case.
It doesn't come w/an 80mm fan. If you decide to get one, it has to be an 80x15mm. I only found one available at this size & I have it hooked into a Sunbeam rheostat. Turned down ~7v, it's still a noisy rascal.
It does come w/3 120mm fans. One on the side panel, one in the rear & one in the front.
I've got mine loaded up w/two 140mm fans on the side panel (pigtailed & hooked into the rheobus, & two 140mm fans in the top (again, pigtailed & hooked into the rheobus. I've got the front, rear & bottom 120mm fan hooked directly into the headers on my IP35-E.
The 140mm fans I got were the Yates-Loon. If I turn the side panel fans down to ~7v, they're tolerable. I can have the top two 140's cranked all the way up & can't hear them. Of course i'm also using a Big Typhoon & have a 7900GT as well with its' fan running @ 60%.
I'm getting ready to try a Tuniq Tower w/a Y-L I have lying around to quiet things down some. I'm also pondering getting Zalman cooling for my 7900GT. The PSU i'm using is a Corsair HX520.
My temps on a slightly overclocked E6300 & an ambient of 67F run in the upper 30's/low 40's at idle & mid 50's stressed. The GPU runs in the mid-upper 40's @ idle & upper 50's stressed. My 2 hdd's stay cosistently in the low 30's. The MB temp is showing cosistently in the mid-upper 20's. I've been told that's good, but I want better w/o having to go water. I also want a little more quiet. I may end up getting a P182 if I can catch them on sale again for <$50 AR.
There's an interesting article here regarding a grounding issue w/the top ports.
Hope this helps & I apologize if I ranted on too much.

Jeff Cutsinger
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Re: How quiet is the Cooler Master CM690

Post by Jeff Cutsinger » Fri Jan 18, 2008 8:30 am

ElSteve wrote:I currently have a Xion II case, and its noisy and driving me crazy. Will the CM690 be any quieter?
I find that cases are very quiet in general. They don't really have any moving parts, and don't generate any heat at all. Now, the components you put in them, on the other hand... :lol:

null_pointer_us
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Re: How quiet is the Cooler Master CM690

Post by null_pointer_us » Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:12 pm

ElSteve wrote:I currently have a Xion II case, and its noisy and driving me crazy. Will the CM690 be any quieter?
That depends on what is causing the noise in your Xion II. If the video card fan is very audible, then you are out of luck with the CM690 because it really does not hide GPU fan noise well at all. There's a 80-140mm fan hole right there. Ditto for the CPU cooler. You could cover the side intakes and just use the bottom/front intakes for fresh air, but I haven't tried that.
Theres a great deal at clubIT right now, but I plan on using the stock fans for a little while until I get some more money for quieter fans. How loud is it with the stock fans and how many fans can I add before it gets too loud?
I actually got in on that deal. I also purchased this:

- 7x Yate Loon Low Speed (~1400 rpm) 120mm fans
- 7x cheap chrome grills (120mm)
- a 50-pack of black fan screws
- an Ultra screw pack (my CM690 came with NO screws?)

...from Jab-Tech (which is really inexpensive).

But, since some of the fan holes can actually take up to 140mm fans, I should have purchased the following instead:

- 2x Yate Loon Low Speed (~1400 rpm) 120mm fans
- 5x Yate Loon Low Speed (~1400 rpm) 140mm fans
- 2x cheap chrome grills (120mm)
- 5x cheap chrome grills (140mm)
- a 50-pack of black fan screws
- an Ultra screw pack (my CM690 came with NO screws?)

I have to say, basically the only sound I hear is airflow. Coming from an Enermax Chakra, my temps fell by 5-10c in the CM690.

However, the side panel had absolutely horrible vibration. I had to remove the low speed 120mm fan because it was just so incredibly irritating. I tried cutting up some rubber-like material I had lying around to put between the fan and the case side panel, but this barely helped. The panel itself is just flimsy that it buckles either way when trying to install/remove fans...

The rest of the case is REALLY nice to work with, though.

Generally speaking, if you are looking for a cheap sound dampening case for rather noisy components, you are probably better off with a case that does not have mesh all over it and fan intakes right next to some of the noisiest components (CPU and GPU). Maybe something like the P180 would be a better fit?

Note: This is my first post on these forums...please be kind!

Not to hijack the thread, but I would greatly appreciate Any ideas on how to quiet the side panel vibration with a fan installed. Please PM or request a separate topic if this discussion would get too involved.


Thank you and good luck!

LuckyNV
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Post by LuckyNV » Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:56 pm

CM690 comes with screws, open up the side panel, on the side of the 5.25" drive bays what do you see? Same on the opposite end too.

as for the side panel fans, I need 5V YL-S otherwise bad noise...
my upcoming test fix is to hammer out the grill slightly as i notice it is concaved in

ElSteve
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Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:14 pm

Post by ElSteve » Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:40 pm

I just moved everything into the cm690, and noticed the vibrating panel. Would ordering these help at all?

http://www.jab-tech.com/120mm-Anti-Vibr ... -3268.html
http://www.jab-tech.com/4-Pack-Anti-Vib ... -3269.html

Also, I plan on getting the Accelero S1 to replace the 8800gt stock fan. Will the side panel fan be enough to cool it, seeing as its basically blowing right on to the card anyway?

LuckyNV
Posts: 68
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:26 pm

Post by LuckyNV » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:12 am

try loosen the fan screws so that the fan isn't so close to the side panel.

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