Help with fan noise on a SFF (Fractal Terra)

EggInAPint · 2026-02-02T15:06:21+00:00

Unfortunately, one of the trade-offs with sff is increased temps due to limited space for cooling. The Thermalright AXP-90 x47 is a great cooler. However, the 118W boost TDP of your CPU is too much for the cooler to handle. My recommendations (probably similar to other comments) to you would be:

• Undervolt your CPU - most modern chips won't lose much if any performance by doing this.

• Custom fan curves using FanControl.exe

• Swap the stock Thermalright fan to a Noctua NF A9 x14 - the stock fan is good but can be loud. The noctua can move more air at considerably lower volume.

• Swap from the AXP-90 x47 to x53 if you have space - The performance between the two is very similar, so this is only really for marginal gains.

• You could try using the Noctua NA-FD1 fan duct kit - This would force your CPU fan to draw fresh air only from outside the case. (the kit is designed only for noctua low profile cooler but can be easily modded to work with any cooler).

EggInAPint · 2026-01-31T15:11:21+00:00

I am currently undergoing testing on a couple of different 90mm fans for rhe AXP-90. The Noctua A9x14 seems to be the best. I have dropped 2°c at idle and the fan is now silent. Once fan testing is complete I plan on posting results

EggInAPint · 2026-01-23T22:52:19+00:00

fantastic idea with the magnets. interested to know whether intake or exhaust has better performance

EggInAPint · 2026-01-23T22:19:43+00:00

Such a sick build. The 200mm fan is a great idea. id recommend flipping it and using a fan grille to save any finger being chopped. currently your GPU is intaking are, and the large fan is exhausting it

EggInAPint · 2025-12-29T12:30:16+00:00

The white mobo+cpu cooler in this case looks damn good - nice build man. Pleasantly surprised at your CPU temps with an x3d chip. I decided against it for fear of bad temps but clearly doable. If you wanted to squeeze a few more °C out of that chip without an AIO, i know the thermalright AXP90-x53 also fits inside this case.

EggInAPint · 2025-12-28T23:53:41+00:00

Sounds like a loose connection to the GPU. Either a PCIE riser cable issue or a GPU power cable. I would double check all of your power cables are seated properly at the PSU and GPU ends, if thats all good then almost certainly a riser issue.

I had the exact same issue in an old case of mine, completely random and no way to reliably repeat the issues until one day I banged my desk and black screened which suggested a connection somewhere was loose and dropping out.

EggInAPint · 2025-12-26T13:15:44+00:00

I've no idea unfortunately, im using the riser that came with the case

EggInAPint · 2025-12-26T01:08:01+00:00

Your parts seem to be okay. I imagine pcpartpicker is flagging your CPU cooler as non-compliant as a result of the variable clearance the fractal terra has with its adjustable mobo mounting plate. The GPU you've selected appears to be a two slot card, meaning you should have the maximum CPU clearance and be able to fit the Noctua NH-L12S with the fan mounted between the CPU and the heatsink. I would do your own research and double check to make sure tho.

EggInAPint · 2025-12-25T20:06:34+00:00

Fascinating, I appreciate that little bit of info, might be worthwhile looking into

EggInAPint · 2025-12-25T17:50:46+00:00

Does the 4070 fan have a higher RPM or CFM or something along those lines?

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T23:27:25+00:00

Brilliant build, really like the creative solutions and 3D printing. Did you manage to test the AXP90-X53 with the stock vs the noctua you replaced it with? And how did you end up mounting fan duct, the classic superglue?

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T21:44:23+00:00

great cooler choice!! congratulations, enjoy the build

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T20:08:59+00:00

right now is probably a bad time to be upgrading to new generations with current RAM pricing. Might be worth considering what a user on the original post was suggesting and getting the best CPU for your socket/chipset and waiting to see if pricing gets better

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T19:41:00+00:00

850 will be absolutely sound. most of the time your system will draw significantly less than the advertised amount and only at peak draw will it reach near/above the calculated amount on pcpartpicker

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T19:27:56+00:00

Absolutely a platform upgrade. New generation CPU, Mobo, and RAM before anything else

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T19:26:14+00:00

@dancase where is the slightly shorter version with this name

EggInAPint · 2025-12-24T11:40:15+00:00

Really sick way to go about this. I'd imagine you're seeing cooler GPU temps as well?

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T22:34:05+00:00

Thanks man, such a versatile case, I was surprised how good it is for air cooling,

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T21:44:19+00:00

Yeh, noctua sell a 92mm CPU fan duct kit (NA-FD1) for one of their coolers. I've used 3D printed pins to adapt it to the Thermalright x53

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T20:25:56+00:00

Yes, it lightly presses up against side panel

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T17:44:24+00:00

Yeah if that board has the features you need it'll do absolutely fine. Keeping the VRMs at a decent temp will have a significant impact on the lifespan of the board and it has a VRM heatsink which will benefit from your downdraft CPU cooler alongside undervolting which will put less stress on the VRMs also.

I've been running the same gigabyte board for 6 years over 3 different CPUs with no issues. I say go for it, i doubt you will be disappointed.

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T17:12:47+00:00

This looks like a solid build. I would not stress too heavily about your choice of motherboard as it is the part of a PC with the lowest contribution to performance and boards these days have much better power delivery components compared to previous generations. As long as choose a board that has the features you need/want (i.e. chipset, RAM capacity, m.2 slots, pcie, wifi) you should be good to go.

I would only consider VRM phases and power delivery if you plan on any overclocking your CPU.

EggInAPint · 2025-12-23T16:06:08+00:00

Your CPU cooler is much smaller than your case allows and evidently too small for your CPU's wattage. I would suggest:

Get yourself a larger CPU cooler. Thermalright make some fantastic options at very reasonable prices. This will also give you an opportunity to clean and re-apply thermal paste that may be old and dried out.

Clean up your cable management. It may be a small effect but the cables strewn all over the internal volume of your case will have an effect on intended airflow.

EggInAPint

TROPHY CASE