Fan Noise

lqdsnddist said:
Get a nice Noctua or similar quiet fan, which mounts using those little silicon tabs opposed to bolts and it will solve any issues with vibration, noise etc. Also will run for about 15 years of operation.
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I'm surprised that they didn't use a more premium quality fan (or fans?) in these, given the price tag.
But yeah, as a PC enthusiast myself -- Notcua is the way to go, I've yet to come across anything better than their fans when it comes to noise -- not necessarily the best CFM on the market, but a little bit less airflow isn't going to make that much of a difference if you're using it in a climate controlled environment anyway, at least I wouldn't think it should.

ANYWAY -- has anyone successfully upgraded the stock fans to something better from Noctua or any other companies?
 
Daveis said:
Is the Axe III Mark 2 much different with respect to fans?
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I don’t know what the Mark 1 is like but I just got a Mark 2 today and I’m impressed by everything except the fan noise, it’s kind of a low frequency clugging. I’m probably being a bit nit picky but IDK...the fans on my RTX 3080 graphics card aren’t even this loud / annoying 🤷‍
I am sure it could be easily rectified though, maybe it’s a mounting issue or maybe I can just upgrade it to a Noctua.
 
niquek said:
I don’t know what the Mark 1 is like but I just got a Mark 2 today and I’m impressed by everything except the fan noise, it’s kind of a low frequency clugging. I’m probably being a bit nit picky but IDK...the fans on my RTX 3080 graphics card aren’t even this loud / annoying 🤷‍
I am sure it could be easily rectified though, maybe it’s a mounting issue or maybe I can just upgrade it to a Noctua.
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My Mk1 is almost silent to my ear - A few times I thought the fan was broken until I got my head right up next to it to confirm that it was indeed running.
 
I must be deaf...there's a whole lot of crap that I hear other than the fan noise. I've literally never noticed it.
 
I have two Mark 1’s. One of them the fan shuts off completely most of the time. The other one is louder than my PC. My understanding is that the earlier units didnt have the same fan speed control and the fan never shuts down. I was hoping the Mark 2 would be quieter than the Mark 1, but it seems that’s not the case. Can someone confirm if the Mark 2 can shut the fan off if your environment is cool enough?
 
Daveis said:
I have two Mark 1’s. One of them the fan shuts off completely most of the time. The other one is louder than my PC. My understanding is that the earlier units didnt have the same fan speed control and the fan never shuts down. I was hoping the Mark 2 would be quieter than the Mark 1, but it seems that’s not the case. Can someone confirm if the Mark 2 can shut the fan off if your environment is cool enough?
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My mark 2 fan turns on and off throughout the day. Or at least goes from inaudible to relatively loud and back again. temperature in the room does not change.
 
sean.e said:
Yes, that describes what I'm hearing. Mine isn't racked right now -- I'm hoping once it's in the rack, the sound won't be as noticeable.
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Reading some other posts I think it may be a combination of factors, not just related to the fan itself, but mounting pressure, case cover resonance / vibration transfer, etc. I'm fine with higher pitched fan noise, it's just the lower frequency stuff that bugs me.
Gonna take a look at it tomorrow, and yes, mine also turns the fan off when it's not needed, which is nice.
 
niquek said:
Reading some other posts I think it may be a combination of factors, not just related to the fan itself, but mounting pressure, case cover resonance / vibration transfer, etc.
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Old SoundMan always replaces his metal rack mounting rails with 1”x 2” (usually, depends on the rack) painted soft white pine mounting blocks. While we originally did this in studios to prevent electrical ground loops between devices — caused by having shared physical chassis grounds via the metal rails — it also allows leaving variable cooling space (1/4”+) between units AND can dampen vibration (fan) noises from causing sympathetic rack resonances. BTW: 1” coarse-thread wood screws with #8 nylon cup washers (both black, plz — neatness counts) will hold even heavy power amps without bunging up their front panels...
 
So today I took the case off and just loosened and tightened the fan screws, and the noise seems to have gotten WAY better just because of that. Great suggestion from others in the thread previously, thanks! Not sure it's worth replacing the fan with the Noctua at this point, will have to wait and see if it continues to perform well over time, but needless to say, that low frequency noise that was bothering me is no longer present.
 
The fan in my mk2 was overightened. Losening the fan screws helped, but I still went ahead and replaced it with the noctua.
I did dome reaserch and the Noctua fan with the L.N.A. resistor cable is quieter and still outperforms the stock fan.
Screenshot 2020-12-15 at 21.25.32.png
If anyone is interested, I made a video comparing the stock fan with the noctua at different fan speeds.
 
Peromustejn said:
The fan in my mk2 was overightened. Losening the fan screws helped, but I still went ahead and replaced it with the noctua.
I did dome reaserch and the Noctua fan with the L.N.A. resistor cable is quieter and still outperforms the stock fan.
View attachment 76318
If anyone is interested, I made a video comparing the stock fan with the noctua at different fan speeds.
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Yes, Id be interested in seeing that video.
 
Peromustejn said:
The fan in my mk2 was overightened. Losening the fan screws helped, but I still went ahead and replaced it with the noctua.
I did dome reaserch and the Noctua fan with the L.N.A. resistor cable is quieter and still outperforms the stock fan.
View attachment 76318
If anyone is interested, I made a video comparing the stock fan with the noctua at different fan speeds.
Click to expand...
The key metric here is air velocity, not total airflow (CFM). If thes fan's diameter is larger than that of the built-in fan, the velocity could actually be lower, even with its higher CFM.
 
Rex said:
The key metric here is air velocity, not total airflow (CFM). If thes fan's diameter is larger than that of the built-in fan, the velocity could actually be lower, even with its higher CFM.
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Noctua NF-A8 is the same diameter as the stock fan, but it is taller. I can't find air velocity specifications for the stock fan or noctua.
What is the built-in fan air velocity ?
 
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