Front stock fan turbulence noise - Inwin mana 136

elodman

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2013
49
0
18,530
Ave.

2 stock fans operating in case shown in subject - plz. see pic below.

Front fan is connected to PSU directly, thus RPM is at constant full speed, and I guess its generated airflow makes a not too quiet turbulence noise, when collides with case built-in obstacles.

Solution in your opinion?

-change it with the Fan Xpert controllable back exhaust fan (& reverse both fans direction)
-use it as a side fan.
-buy a controllable (pwm/dc) fan, but then the stock one will be redundant
-Maybe use a Fan controller

(mobo: Asus Z97-C, 3 pwm/dc fan compatible +1 cpu fan)

Thx.

370103_20171102_110311_2.jpg


 
Solution
Yes, you can get a fan controller for your 4-pin Molex fan. They are a bit rare, as the standard auxiliary fan connection has not been a full sized 4-pin Molex in quite a few years. You could also adapt your 4-pin Molex to the standard 3-pin if you wanted, as those are voltage control, the same way your 4-pin is. The third pin is just there to sense speed.

full sized Molex fan controller

4-pin Molex fan to 3-pin power adapter

Once you've adapted your fan connection, any 3-pin fan controller will do.

You can't determine airflow in a PC case from a picture. The best you can do is guess at it, and there's very little use in making guesses.

What you can do, however, is measure temperatures before and after changes to your...
You could replace the fan with a quieter one, but often times quieter fans move less air, and it's pretty constant they all cost significantly more to purchase.

A fan controller would allow you to reduce the fan speed, accomplishing the same goal. Slowing your current fan while reducing both noise and airflow.

So, either route should provide the same effect.

In the grand scheme of things, from the looks of your build, you could probably just disconnect the front fan altogether and relegate the problem to non-existent.

It wouldn't hurt to run the system closed up with and without the fan, monitoring temps under both configurations, to determine just how significant a change this will cause in your system. I know there are myriad experts who will chime in and say don't do this, but each chassis is unique and for a great many years, all of the intake and exhaust fans currently in vogue were unnecessary. Yes, in some cases, power usage has gone up, but each system is still unique, so you'll only know by directly testing yours whether or not it makes a significant difference, or if you're tilting at windmills with the significance of the front intake fan. I'll bet that under load, it may only make a few C° difference in temperature, at which point, if the noise was that big of a deal, I would ditch the fan or just turn the speed down on it.
 
It's a good idea to have some air flow, so I would

1) connect to motherboard

2) use the Asus fan software to setup a custom fan profile
(in my experience don't need much for a case like that. Heck, maybe just limit to lowest RPM since more than 600RPM probably won't help)

3) if VIBRATION persists look for noise dampening materials, or replace the fan
(even some thin CARDBOARD in the right spot might dampen noise enough)

Other:
Not sure what you mean about reversing fan position but it should be INTAKE in the front/bottom, and EXHAUST at the top.

OTHER:
It's possible your fan is non-variable design and thus can't change speed. If so you can only try to dampen the noise, or replace the fan. I see no benefit moving it elsewhere in the case.
 


Yes, you can REVERSE a fan to change the direction it blows air, but there's no reason to do anything different than what I suggested (which may be the way it already is).

Again:
FRONT INTAKE
TOP EXHAUST

My dad had a case where the front fan would cause it to VIBRATE a lot. Just touching the case would cause the noise to go away.

I experimented with NOISE DAMPENING using thin pieces of cardboard next to the fan which solved the problem.
 


That's why you have to test things YOURSELF as it's hard to tell what the results will be. Some noises are caused by RESONANCE (parts of case vibrate) which can be fixed by dampening the fan, and TURBULENCE is a separate issue but not one that would necessarily produce audible noise.

I personally use Noctua fans: http://noctua.at/en/which_fan_is_right_for_me

The best fan optimized for a case by that chart is the NF-S12A
https://www.amazon.com/Anti-Stall-Bearing-PWM-Cooling-NF-S12A/dp/B00BEZZBFO/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1509987924&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=noctua+nf+s12a&psc=1

It also comes with a noise reducer for lower RPM (about 600RPM is all you need)

I had fans that worked great for a few years but then became TOO NOISY. They just wore out. The bearings can be too noisy regardless of where you put the fan or even on minimum RPM for some fans.

$20 + tax/ship sounds like a lot of money but they do last a LONG time and work very well. I've had my fans for FIVE YEARS now, and the ones before it wore out after just two years.
 

elodman

Distinguished
Mar 17, 2013
49
0
18,530
Many thanx photonboy!

soon i am to finish this issue, i guess.

Currently the fixed RPM fan, connected to PSU, is on the middle of roof, functioning as intake, having somewhat less noise. (as drive bays are now not in way of air incoming)

Is it good, as for airflow?
Or should it be on the side?

370103_20171107_202739.jpg


Also, are there controllers for molex - connected fans, too? ( I guess, this is what my called )
eg @this controller ?

My connection type: @Picture

Thanx for any attention, soon will mark thread as solved.
 
Yes, you can get a fan controller for your 4-pin Molex fan. They are a bit rare, as the standard auxiliary fan connection has not been a full sized 4-pin Molex in quite a few years. You could also adapt your 4-pin Molex to the standard 3-pin if you wanted, as those are voltage control, the same way your 4-pin is. The third pin is just there to sense speed.

full sized Molex fan controller

4-pin Molex fan to 3-pin power adapter

Once you've adapted your fan connection, any 3-pin fan controller will do.

You can't determine airflow in a PC case from a picture. The best you can do is guess at it, and there's very little use in making guesses.

What you can do, however, is measure temperatures before and after changes to your fans, of the various hardware components in your PC such as CPU and GPU, to see if you have higher or lower temperatures, or if the temperatures are staying pretty much the same. While this doesn't directly tell you airflow, since the temperature differences from your baseline happen to be an effect of the change in airflow you made when you moved the fan, you can indirectly get an idea of whether airflow is better or worse for that particular configuration of the fans.

Not trying to be a spoil sport, but nobody can with any honesty or accurately tell you whether your airflow is better or worse, especially when there is no baseline to gauge against, without actually testing it. They can make claims of better or worse, but without actual tests with your particular equipment, it's at best a guess.

If your fan is quieter in the top most position, then for the purposes of noise, it can be said that is a better configuration, but when it comes to temperature, we can't say until things get measured.
 
Solution
I have this case. It has places for seven 120mm fans and a cold air intake for the PSU, and never did I even consider using the front fans, because there's enough airflow coming in to keep any drive in the bays cool already with two top and one rear exhaust, plus two side intakes. It's the place I banished my 3-speed Antec Tricool fans to because the PSU has a variable-voltage fan molex.

If you don't mind a slower fixed speed, then a simple inline resistor under shrink tubing looks cleanest and is the most foolproof. Or you could move the pins in the molex around to get 5v or 7v because there's no tach circuit to blow up.