[SOLVED] BeQuiet! Silentwings 3 fan making a horrendous noise after a month of use

[eternalabys]

PC Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 3 3200G
Motherboard: AsRock B450M Pro4
RAM: Patriot Viper Steel 3200MHz CL16 2x8GB kit
SSD: AData XPG 8200 PRO 512GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM
GPU: Onboard Vega 8 Graphics
PSU: Corsair TXM 550W
Case: Cougar MX330
OS: Windows 10 64-Bit

Hello everyone,

I've had this issue for quite a while and wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this and or knows a way to fix it.

So, about 2 months ago I bought 3 BeQuiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Performance BL070 case fans for my new PC build, they were brand new and were purchased from a local retail seller online, after a month or so, one of the 3 fans started making a horrid noise, akin to trapped air in a radiator, gurgling every time I turn on my PC, it does go away after 20 seconds or so, but it can periodically reappear after using the PC, and every time I hear it, it makes me think that it's about to light itself on fire from how much it is struggling.

I think that it's an issue with the PWM part as I have set the fans to work at 20-30% it is audible but at start I think the fan really struggles to start cause without the side panel on I can see it just jittering back and forth while making that horrible noise until it starts to spin up and the sound goes away, somehow none of the other fans have this problem and it's always that one single fan making that noise.

I have tried setting the fans to DC mode but that didn't really help, so I don't really know what it could be, maybe the chassis fan connector on the motherboard is borked but when I switch the connector from 1 fan to the other the same fan makes the sound, and the sound only happens when I boot it up for the first time in the morning/day, otherwise than that it doesn't really make that sound, apart from doing it in random intervals, I've been recommended by others to just have a warranty replacement, but that would also take time and money to send it out to my country's capital where the company I bought it from has it's warehouses and base of operations.

I'll include a link to a video of the sound the fan makes when I turn it on.

No the fans aren't interfering with any wires, than it would sound more like a grinding noise, not gurgling.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XcU6O2FDk

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nlo4Gb7GT8

 

[Lutfij]

Adding spaces between lines of text would help in comprehension by the community.

Have you made sure that the fans' blades aren't brushing up against any wires? If the fans are under warranty, you can RMA them for being a faulty product since they shouldn't be making that noise(as you've described it)

Please include your system's specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Case:
OS:
^ for the sake of relevance.

 

[eternalabys]

Adding spaces between lines of text would help in comprehension by the community.

Have you made sure that the fans' blades aren't brushing up against any wires? If the fans are under warranty, you can RMA them for being a faulty product since they shouldn't be making that noise(as you've described it)

Please include your system's specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Case:
OS:
^ for the sake of relevance.

Aight, the fans aren't interfering with anything, you can hear in the video it's more like a tea pot boiling or, like I previously stated, air trapped in a radiator sound. I will most likely get them replaced from the people I bought it from as it's under warranty, beckons the question if it's a QC issue with BeQuiet! as I've read before that they had problems with the quality of their electronic components in their fans.

 

[Paperdoc]

What you describe sounds at first glance like a worn bearing problem, BUT normally that occurs only with a fan after several years' use. Then I note that you have set it always to run at a very low speed, and describe its start-up actions as indicating it does NOT start up smoothly. First, my own preference is to let the mobo headers do their automatic speed control thing based on measured temperatures, and that problem certainly would not happen. But even if you want to continue running as a fixed low speed, you need to increase that setting.

When allowed to do their normal control strategy, the mobo system will start up all its fans at full speed for a few seconds to be SURE they start. Then it slows them down to their required speed and normally ensures that it never is set to go so slow that it stalls. It even monitors for stalling and, if that happens, "bumps" the speed signal back up to re-start. But my setting yours to a fixed slow speed you have disabled all that. Now, PWM fans can be started at slower speeds than can the older fan design, but there is still a minimum speed signal for starting, and it appears you have set yours so low it is too low. Once it actually starts, it can keep going, but starting or re-starting at too slow a speed is very difficult. So, if you continue to use a fixed slow speed, set that a little faster and avoid the the start-up problem.

 

[eternalabys]

What you describe sounds at first glance like a worn bearing problem, BUT normally that occurs only with a fan after several years' use. Then I note that you have set it always to run at a very low speed, and describe its start-up actions as indicating it does NOT start up smoothly. First, my own preference is to let the mobo headers do their automatic speed control thing based on measured temperatures, and that problem certainly would not happen. But even if you want to continue running as a fixed low speed, you need to increase that setting.

When allowed to do their normal control strategy, the mobo system will start up all its fans at full speed for a few seconds to be SURE they start. Then it slows them down to their required speed and normally ensures that it never is set to go so slow that it stalls. It even monitors for stalling and, if that happens, "bumps" the speed signal back up to re-start. But my setting yours to a fixed slow speed you have disabled all that. Now, PWM fans can be started at slower speeds than can the older fan design, but there is still a minimum speed signal for starting, and it appears you have set yours so low it is too low. Once it actually starts, it can keep going, but starting or re-starting at too slow a speed is very difficult. So, if you continue to use a fixed slow speed, set that a little faster and avoid the the start-up problem.

Aight, I see, but somehow the issue is with only 1 fan and I have always set it up temperature based on BIOS and with speedfan I have tested that the minimum Percentage of fan speed that the fans will run is somewhere around 25%, under that they can run but not as well, I can send you a pic or video of the BIOS setup but I can assure you that I have set all of the fans minimum speeds to 30% and minimum temp at 50-55C, and with the automatic minimum fan speed search my mobo can do (it's called FanTuning), but it sets the fans to around 23% and lower to the point where they're either barely spinning or not spinning at all so I just set my own temp base fan curve, now, I might've set the temp too high but at idle, the CPU can get up to 45-50C (yes, even on boot), but I've noticed like you said, it does that sound in between going from a higher or lower fan speed, but I still don't understand how it's only 1 of these fans, and like I've said, I tried using DC mode and PWM mode to little difference at all, still makes that noise randomly.

 

[Paperdoc]

The minimum speed you have set for all fans may be cmlose to the limit for that design, and then that one unit is just a little different so it's beyond its unique limit. Try setting the header for just that fan to a slightly higher minimum speed.

 

[jasonf2]

The electric motors that drive the fans have a torque curve that is pretty weak at very low RPM. Every fan has a slightly different curve. Setting the speed too low will cause the fan to just sit there and vibrate rather than spin. The percentage number you are looking at in bios is not usually indicative of your fan RPM, but a percentage of signal being sent to your fan. In the case of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) (4 wire) one of the wires is a signal wire and the target RPM is sent to the fan by varying the frequency of the pulse on the 4th wire and carried out internally by the fan. On three wire systems the motherboard varies voltage directly. Since the motherboard manufacture has no ideal what the actual fan performance characteristics are they give the end user the ability to tweak these settings. But the settings can typically be set lower than the fan design can handle. Fans can go bad, and I have have new bad fans. However, what you are describing here though sounds like you have a RPM setpoint below the minimum operating ability of a fan. They will just sit there and shake when this happens, making a humming sound. Turn up your fan profiles by 10%-20% and see what you get.

 

[eternalabys]

The electric motors that drive the fans have a torque curve that is pretty weak at very low RPM. Every fan has a slightly different curve. Setting the speed too low will cause the fan to just sit there and vibrate rather than spin. The percentage number you are looking at in bios is not usually indicative of your fan RPM, but a percentage of signal being sent to your fan. In the case of PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) (4 wire) one of the wires is a signal wire and the target RPM is sent to the fan by varying the frequency of the pulse on the 4th wire and carried out internally by the fan. On three wire systems the motherboard varies voltage directly. Since the motherboard manufacture has no ideal what the actual fan performance characteristics are they give the end user the ability to tweak these settings. But the settings can typically be set lower than the fan design can handle. Fans can go bad, and I have have new bad fans. However, what you are describing here though sounds like you have a RPM setpoint below the minimum operating ability of a fan. They will just sit there and shake when this happens, making a humming sound. Turn up your fan profiles by 10%-20% and see what you get.

Alright, I'll do that and come back to you if I see/hear any changes.

 

[eternalabys]

Alright, I'll do that and come back to you if I see/hear any changes.

Welp, I did increase the minimum fan speed to 35-40%, but the fan still made that horrendous noise on boot after ramping up and coming down to the set speed.

 

[Paperdoc]

If that one fan cannot operate smoothly above the recommended minimum speed, it is faulty and should be replaced. But just to be sure, check what the actual fan speed is, not the setting of % Speed. The fan's web page does not specify a minimum speed, but it does show a graph of speed versus "% Load". That indicates it should run at about 200 to 250 RPM at a minimum 20% setting (which may NOT be sufficient to start a stalled fan), and reach 500 RPM at about a 40% setting. Max speed is 2200 RPM. Does your fan meet these expectations?

 

[eternalabys]

If that one fan cannot operate smoothly above the recommended minimum speed, it is faulty and should be replaced. But just to be sure, check what the actual fan speed is, not the setting of % Speed. The fan's web page does not specify a minimum speed, but it does show a graph of speed versus "% Load". That indicates it should run at about 200 to 250 RPM at a minimum 20% setting (which may NOT be sufficient to start a stalled fan), and reach 500 RPM at about a 40% setting. Max speed is 2200 RPM. Does your fan meet these expectations?

At 40%, both of my fans spin at 960-970 RPM with varying degrees of offset, anywhere from +-10-30 RPM, but both of them are spinning relatively similarly.

I used SpeedFan to measure the speeds cause I don't really have any other way of doing so, I'll post a screenshot of the readings below.

Aux (Top Fan) and Aux2 (Bottom Fan) are my front intake fans which one of them is making the noise. (Sys Fan is my Back Exhaust Fan and Aux1 Is also an exhaust fan above the VRM's.)

Aux1 isn't the same fan as the other's as it's the fan that came with my case.

https://ibb.co/18RfqwK

 

[Paperdoc]

Well, all of those fan speeds make sense. The front pair have almost identical speeds at that setting. The rear exhaust fan is running a bit faster, but I'm not sure it is getting the same speed signal. And as you say, the one on Aux1 is a different unit and does not match.

So, if one of the front fans is making this odd noise and jerky performance at a lower speed setting, it may simply be slightly different from the other, but not by a lot. So it should stop doing that if you set it to a higher minimum speed. However, you say that it still DOES behave oddly with noise even at a minimum speed setting of 35% or so. Do you mean that, although it appears to run just like the other one at around 960 RPM for the 40% setting, at a lower setting it will stall and quiver and make noise? If that is the case, it must be faulty and you need to contact beQuiet for a warranty replacement.

 

[prophet51]

My fans make that noise if the blade rubs against the metal fan mount casing. Add some rubber washers when you screw the fans in or get an anti vibration fan mount like noctua has - https://noctua.at/en/na-sav2-chromax-black . That has the rubber washer built into a rubber fan mount so you don't need screws.
edit: just checked the fan out and it comes with anti vibrations mounts, but you have to plug them into the fan the right way around- so the thick part of the rubber is between the fan and fan housing.

 

[eternalabys]

Ok, so, after 2 weeks of setting all of my fans speeds to 40% minimum, it's a lot louder but it has never made that noise again so I guess it was just that the fan wanted more power to keep itself stable then.

 

[Paperdoc]

Glad to hear you have found a solution, and thanks for letting us know your progress.