[SOLVED] Loud fan rattling with Noctua NH-D15

[owsie]

Currently having issues with my new Noctua NH-D15 cooler.

Everything is mounted and operating as expected temperature-wise, but the fan in the middle of the radiators is making a very very loud rattling sound for some reason. It's definitely the middle fan as I unplugged it to test which was causing the loud rattling.
I've re-seated the fan with the pin hooks onto the radiator multiple times and at varying heights, made sure that the cable is tied down out of the way and still nothing.

Volume level is genuinely unusable it's that bad.

See video link for sound:

Any ideas?

 

[Lafong]

I hear a rotation component.

Here's the only ideas I can think of right now.

If you press down or sideways against the fan frame while the fan is spinning, does the sound change? Wondering about fan vibration, although it doesn't sound like vibration.

Have you swapped fan clips?

Have you swapped fan positions, from inside to outside? I assume there are two.

Does the noise change significantly if fan speed is forced up by workload?

Is there a remote chance the noise is coming from some other fan in the system?

Performance may not be radically different with just one fan, if you can identify which one is the problem.

Just judging from the noise, it doesn't sound like what I'd expect from bad bearings, but I suppose anything might have sneaked through Noctua quality control.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Defective fan.

 

[owsie]

I hear a rotation component.

Here's the only ideas I can think of right now.

If you press down or sideways against the fan frame while the fan is spinning, does the sound change? Wondering about fan vibration, although it doesn't sound like vibration.

Have you swapped fan clips?

Have you swapped fan positions, from inside to outside? I assume there are two.

Does the noise change significantly if fan speed is forced up by workload?

Is there a remote chance the noise is coming from some other fan in the system?

Performance may not be radically different with just one fan, if you can identify which one is the problem.

Just judging from the noise, it doesn't sound like what I'd expect from bad bearings, but I suppose anything might have sneaked through Noctua quality control.

I'll attempt to switch the fans positions do see if it's just that fan or something to do with that inside position
There is also only one set of clips for each fan.
Tried pressing down on the fan to do that vibration test myself, doesn't seem to affect it much if at all.
The noise does get worse with higher RPM.

 

[COLGeek]

Make sure nothing is touching the fan blades, like the wires. If that is a new Noctua, it is the first defective fan I have seen.

 

[owsie]

Thanks for quick replies legends.

It seems that the clips that came from the factory on one of the fans were a bit dodgy or something, I couldn't see any visible issues, but after taking all 4 off the fans and swapping them, it's fixed.