New pc, normal that Turbo Boost is very noisy?

[Elrandir]

Hi all, I recently got a i7-8700 with a Coolermaster Masterliquid ML120L, Asrock fatal1ty b360 mobo, 16gb-2666 RAM, nvidia gigabyte windforce gtx 1070 Ti, ssd250GB M.2 and 4TB WD black.

I thought the cpu or pump, (I'm a novice when it comes to hardware) was VERY loud when gaming or browsing. A friend told me to check the connectors on the mobo from the radiator fan from the water cooling and the pump (I guess this is the thing on the cpu?) and said they had to be switched. The radiator thick cable was connected to a pin on the mobo that said cpu fan/wpump. So I switched them but no luck. Still noisy.

Then I disabled turbo boost and found the noise was gone, with forum browsing I also stumbled on setting maximum cpu power in the power options in windows 10 to 99% instead of 100%. But then I read that this too, disables turbo boost. Which in my bios is set at 800mhz if that helps. So I found out that Turbo boost disabled gets rid of the noise entirely. Re-enabling it makes it go very noisy again when I open a program.

So now I finally don't have the airplane-taking-off noise but I have no turbo boost enabled. Which means Boralus stutters again and is unacceptable, that's the crazy reason I bought this rig (just kidding, I wanted the AAA graphic beauty too.)
It can't be normal that opening a browser makes a stupid amount of noise can it? For instance I can run around in Boralus and it will not blow like crazy, but if I open a browser, or the windows messenger app, or any program it will boost and be very noisy for a few seconds.

What is wrong here? How can I fix it? Is it the cpu? the cooler? the mobo?

A silly idea that is just me grasping at straws: Could setting the "fan" in the bios to only go at 100% at a higher temp than 70% as it is now? Is that why turbo boost is so noisy? (When I set it to silent mode it's still noisy as hell when I start apps)

The cpu stayed between 45-55° when gaming with whichever setting. (edit: degrees, not percent, oops)

Thanks for any advice and help you can offer.

edit: setting the turbo boost to 400mhz instead of 800mhz helps a little with the noise too though it still sounds like an airplane taking off but quieter, and boralus doesn't stutter (but it's late now lol so less people around)

[Elrandir]

Hiya, thanks for helping me out. I did what you suggested and loaded defaults in bios, now my RAM is back to 2133 DDR (I think, I had it set to 2666 xmp cause that's what they're capable of), turbo boost is on by default and it's kinda noisy again. I didn't touch the fan settings. I'll try and upload some bios pics later.

I launched wow and made the log and uploaded it here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApGoS0TeBgXJlEsJwQj2qBnd8ba2

Thanks in advance for your further assistance

[Temp name]

It's probably just a very aggressive fan curve. CPUs get hot when they go fast, so the pump and fans will go faster to keep it cool, which results in noise.

If you can tell us what the fan curve looks like, or send pictures we can help. Also, temps while stressed would be nice. Aida64 or Cinebench. Both are free, Aida is a synthetic load (pinned at 100%), Cinebench is a more realistic load

[stevenho]

It's probably just a very aggressive fan curve. CPUs get hot when they go fast, so the pump and fans will go faster to keep it cool, which results in noise.

This 100%.
With the temps you quoted you should not be dialing anything down, they are quite low.
Either adjust the fans in bios or dive into Speedfan configuration.

[Elrandir]

I'm at work now so will try messing with the fan config later. How is it though that silent mode even sounds like an airplane if it's just the fan curve?
I had a setting like this before
temp- fan%
40- 15
50- 20
60- 25
70- 100

I think it's just the turbo boost triggering the 70 setting then? CAn i put it much less without risking overheating the cpu? Thanks guys

[Temp name]

I'm at work now so will try messing with the fan config later. How is it though that silent mode even sounds like an airplane if it's just the fan curve?
I had a setting like this before
temp- fan%
40- 15
50- 20
60- 25
70- 100

I think it's just the turbo boost triggering the 70 setting then? CAn i put it much less without risking overheating the cpu? Thanks guys

You really shouldn't be hitting 70.. Maybe the pump isn't running the same profile and that's what you're hearing. You can try putting it down to 75% and see if that helps, if not, it might be your pump / other fans that aren't attached to a PWM header

As for if you can run your fans slower: My fans never spin above 50%, and I don't have any issues, but I also have a bigger radiator than you.

[moremana]

What pins are the pump on. You should not set a fan curve on the pump.

[Elrandir]

I've tried both the cpu fan pin (above ram) and the cpufan/pump (under cpu socket) pin.
Same problem.

[Cilraaz]

How loud is loud? Grab a mobile app to check sound levels. I use one called "Sound Analyzer App".

Also, what load are you using to get the CPU to clock up and initiate the noise? If you're using WoW, the newest DX12 optimizations will ensure that your GPU is working hard also, which will add to the noise.

Edit: The ML120L is a single fan unit. The fan's rated for a max of 30 dBA with a pump rated <8 dBA. It shouldn't be horrifically loud, even at full bore, unless there's a mechanical problem.

[Elrandir]

Thank you all very much for your help, especially CryotriX! Setting the curve has helped alleviate the noise problem, I've set it to the following now: degrees - power
50 - 20
55 - 25
60 - 30
70 - 35

No more noise, though it still needs a boost when hyperboost kicks in (though it's much less audible and not disturbing now). For some reason the messenger app takes up loads of cpu so it's a good indicator. The cpu stays nice and cool too. I still don't understand why I needed to do this and why silent mode on the fan doesn't work either. But I'll have it checked at a shop to be sure everything's ok.

I can't find this system clock you speak of CryotriX but the logs you got were in standard bios config without xmp enabled. I'll reboot now and check the other stuff you mentioned.

edit: so XMP is enabled at 2666. I can't find the system agent clock in hwinfo64 or my bios though. BCLK I only find a setting: BCLK aware adaptive voltage: enabled. I also set fan step up to 3.6 instead of 2.1, fan step down I left at 2.1 - If you have recommendations concerning this, thanks in advance.

[Elrandir]

Here's the SA clock in HWinfo64:



I don't know the exact details of Asrock BIOSes, you will have to experiment with those. Typically Smart modes should have been set by the BIOS for CPU fans, but it's not really a big surprise if they don't. A few of my case fans also default to a stable DC voltage (which means stable RPM), and I had to manually edit them as well. The CPU fan though was set to PWM by default and was quite on the conservative, quiet side, so I modified it to be more aggressive.

Oh, you should set the RPM even more relaxed. Coffee Lake CPUs are kinda hot, and they also can run at very high temps (they only thermally throttle at 100C). 50-70C is absolutely nothing to worry about. Not even 80C. I would recommend you target a 50-60C in games, and 70-75 in stress testing, which you probably won't ever have to do , since there's no OC to be done and tested for stability. So lower the RPM until the CPU is 50C-ish in games. Expect higher temps in more modern games that can utilize the CPU better, WoW barely scratches it.

If you cannot find the BCLK in the BIOS, just leave it alone, it's fine. Just check that you're at 1000MHz for System Agent. Your BIOS could have that entry names something like "FCLK frequency for early power on" or w/e. Should default to 1000MHz with XMP, if it doesn't, set it manually if you find it, if you don't, no big deal either.

I found it! It's set at 1000MHz now, it didn't default it to it but I set it manually. I lowered the fans each with 5% per temp setting again and temps still stay the same, I might lower them some more.
Oh and I set power options in windows 10 to high performance, which really helped boralus fps.

Thanks again, you're lifesavers, best wishes for 2019 everyone!

edit: I set the fans to 50 - 20, 55 - 25, 60 - 30, 70 - 35 again as the witcher 3 was staying around 60 degrees, now it's dipping below 60 more.

[Elrandir]

Noise is tolerable at these settings? It should be, those are pretty low fan speeds. Try going to a city like Novigrad, just whatever is populated the most, and make sure there are as many NPCs on screen as possible, and take a look at the temps. If they still keep around 60C it's all fine IMO. Uncap the fps too for this test, i.e. no Vsync or anything. If you do that, the CPU will have to work harder to keep the GPU fed.

Yeah it's barely audible! I've only just started playing but ran around with fps uncapped and it stayed mostly under 60C. Good to know, I usually play with vsync on cause I'm allergic to screen tearing! Thanks again!

[xacid]

CoolerMaster fans are known to be loud. I have the ML240R and replaced the fans with Corsair LL120's and now it's nice and quiet.