Loud Noctua Case Fan

[Mjlleach]

I recently put a Noctua NF-A14 PWM in my case as a side intake fan hoping for a quiet, nicely built fan, but it is easily the loudest part of my build right now - it makes a sort of buzzing/whirring noise constantly.

It is connected to a 4-pin fan header on my M5a97 LE R2.0 motherboard via the extender cable provided in the fan's box.

Fan xpert 2 is running with a silent profile, and Q-fan control in the BIOS is on silent as well, for both CPU and Chassis fans (the BIOS said the chassis fans were running around 800rpm I believe).

When I tried to plug the NF-A14 PWM in using the low-noise adaptor, the fan wouldn't spin when the computer was turned on.

Would this be most likely to be an issue with the fan itself, the motherboard, the BIOS/fan xpert, the PSU, something else? Is there any way I can check? Thanks.

My build is below:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£75.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£63.06 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston XMP Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£80.37 @ PC World Business)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£129.38 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.79 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.50 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£15.59 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Hannspree HE225DPB 21.5" Monitor (£82.85 @ More Computers)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM6150 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (£12.97 @ Dabs)
Total: £555.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-25 08:39 GMT+0000

 

[helpstar]

Did you use the 4 vibration compensators?

Is anything touching the fan, like a cable?

Temperature inside the case? CPU Temp?

Which fan port do you use?

But I think it´s a defective fan.

 

[Mjlleach]

Did you use the 4 vibration compensators?

Is anything touching the fan, like a cable?

Temperature inside the case? CPU Temp?

Which fan port do you use?

But I think it´s a defective fan.

I used the normal screws rather than the vibration compensators, but I can try switching them out.

Nothing seems to be touching the fan or anything like that, and temperature is fairly low - it idles around 20-30C.

I use the CHA_FAN1 port on my motherboard.

 

[helpstar]

If the compensators don´t help, return the FAN

 

[hwc1954]

Definitely try the silicone isolator mounts. The side panel of a case is like a big noise amplifier and you want to isolate the vibration of the fan.

The problem is likely that, despite having full auto speed control of the PWM chassis headers, ASUS picks parameters that run those fans at a constant 60% speed. The BIOS parameters, even using the MANUAL fan curve, don't let you go below 60% for chassis fan.

So you are going to have to set up a custom fan curve in Fan Xpert 2. These fan curves are based on CPU socket temp. The preset profiles are fan curves.

First step is to run the fan calibration routine in Fan XPert. Just doing this and selecting the STANDARD or SILENT curve may fix the problem.

If not, set a custom curve that has the chassis fan running at 20% speed at say 25 degrees and 80% speed at 60 degrees. This will have your fans barely turning at idle and cranked up to 80% speed when the CPU is under full load, peak temps.

You can do this is BIOS, except ASUS won't let you set the MINUMUM speed of a case fan below 60%.

For future settings, you have full control of the fan curves. If you want the fans to run faster at idle, set a higher minimum fan speed and/or a lower low temp. If you want them to run faster at full load, set a higher max speed at a lower upper temp (i.e. faster/sooner)

Check out this video with the ASUS tech guy explaining Fan Xpert 2:

[video="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFjQb0BdBiA"][/video]

 

[mtrains]

If the compensators don´t help, return the FAN

It might not be the fan at all. It might be the case. Unlike other locations in your case the side panel is a big piece of sheet metal. Even if you have the vibration compensators installed, the whole sheet metal panel might vibrate and generate the noise. If you have the option try out the fan on a more rigid mount point in the case and see whether it makes the same noise before you decide to return it. I had a similar issue with a Corsair quiet edition fan mounted on the side panel.