Aurora R8, fan noise increases playing Dota 2

It sounds like there might be a power supply cable in one of the fans, if you are comfortable, you could try opening it up, Dell provides a guide on how to do this here

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/us/en/04/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop/alienware-aurora-r8-service-manual/procedure?guid=guid-d99280ff-d37d-4675-b6b1-048d067dc654&lang=en-us

I would start by just looking around inside, see if there are any loose cables near the front fan and graphics card, and if you don't see anything, you could also check the processor fan (assuming it is not water cooled) and the top fan. Procedure here, only follow up to step 4.

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/us/en/04/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop/alienware-aurora-r8-service-manual/procedure?guid=guid-16093822-6438-4965-b0c3-a19b3f8531ac&lang=en-us

Make sure to unplug your computer before doing any of this. If there is a cable or something in the way of the fan, you can just move it out of the way, to be extra safe, ytou can try to zip tie it to another cable, or piece of the case.

If there are no visible problems, it might be something wrong with one of the parts, and you should contact dell tech support to have them replace it. 

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@Terenceh1986 wrote:

Brand new Aurora R8. All drivers updated. I am just playing Dota 2. While playing, the fan becomes too loud like saw cutting stuff.

Anyone experienced this loud noise from their Aurora R8?

Should I just ask for a new one?

 

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Could be several fans; front fan, top fan, GPU fan, or CPU fan (if not liquid cooled).  Chances are its not the PSU fan.  My money however is on the GPU fan.  We have blower style cards in our computers.  That means it's a single fan sucking air from the front of the front of the card, pushing it over the heatsink, and out through the back of the card's PCI bracket.  Because of the single fan arrangement, it usually has to spin faster in order to keep temperatures down below the T-junction threshold (the temperature the chip cuts power back to prevent thermal damage).  On the nVidia 1080, I believe it's around 95C.  

You can adjust fan curves for the GPU through the nVidia control panel or third party application like MSI Afterburner.

Also, the case fans can be linked to various components in AWCC.  For example, you can link the front chassis fan to the hard drive or GPU.  You can also specify whether the fans should run at a constant speed or on a curve.  You'll need to play around with the software to see where your sweet spot should be in terms of noise and thermal management.

FWIW however, the stock Nidec fans that Dell uses are quite cheap.  They're able to push a lot of air but at the cost of noise quality.  You can replace both the front chassis fan and radiator fan with aftermarket units (like Noctua or Corsair) that are much quieter.  That's what I ended up doing and my R7 for the most part is now barely audible, especially at idle.  When playing games though, my 1080's fan does ramp up quite a bit to the point that it sounds like a mini hoover.  But, I'll take thermal protection over noise any day.  Yes, it's loud but my GPU is overclocked and usually doesn't exceed 79C even when playing games at 4k.  I wear headphones anyway so it doesn't bother me.

And no... Dell's not going to give you a new computer because it's loud when playing games.  

I just got my Aurora 8 and it does the exact same thing.  Except mine does it even under little to no load (web browsing).  How can we fix this dell!?

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@churrious wrote:

I just got my Aurora 8 and it does the exact same thing.  Except mine does it even under little to no load (web browsing).  How can we fix this dell!?

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The Aurora-R8 comes in many different hardware and cooling configs.

What fan is too loud for your liking?

I have the same problem.

My front fan is like a jet engine starting at 50% fan speed. The Top fan is a bit better. Closer to 7x% to get loud. Tried Smooth Line but that doesn't work as I wanted it to. It just speed up even at low temperature. Not sure if it's a bug in command center.

I am getting exactly the same problem and I am really sick of it. I have several R7 and no problems at all.

Also having the same problem.  When trying to make a custom temp control it acts crrazy and doesn't do what I program it either.  

Hi @Seeker83

Is the BIOS up to date? Is it the front fan?

What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

There is no cooling solution that is Silent in General.

Its probably the GPU fan.

Having Passive Cooler on GPU will be quieter.

ARCTIC Accelero S3 - Passive Graphics Card Cooler

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Accelero-S3-Graphics-Compatible/dp/B00RVAEI1E/

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX Silent is one of the Quietest Around.

Its not cheap However

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01N3CC5DU/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all&qid=1557788280&sr=8-5-fkmrnull

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYtG3InRHI0