How loud should the fan be?

When its stated that the new unit is supposed to have a quieter fan than the previous units, and then it turns out to actually be as loud, if not louder, while other folks post about how thrilled they are with the totally inaudible fan on their unit it warrants discussion to figure out what is going on, does it not ?
Of course it does - I never said it didn't.

If everyone was talking about how great the color screen on the unit was and your was showing black and white, wouldn't you want to know whats up ?.
Sure I would - I never suggested otherwise.

Given you state you will be "purchasing", and not "have purchased", I take it that you don't have a III sitting in front of you, correct ?
Correct (think my posts were clear that I'm waiting to purchase).

So how can you weight in on how loud, or not loud, the fan is on something you don't own ??
I did not weigh in on how loud or not loud the Axe3 fan is specifically! I said there were loud fan discussions 3 or 4 generations of Axefx ago - which was the whole point of my last post: Yes - we are still here discussing (correctly and appropriately) fan noise in the Axe 3, which is a bit troubling since one would think that fan noise would have been resolved by now given it has cropped up in a number of earlier Axefx generations. As someone who's looking to purchase the 3 without issues (I'm outside of the US so service is not as straight forward), I think it's perfectly normal for me to participate in this thread. This is an open forum - we are permitted to ask questions and express reasonable opinions in any thread.

Once you get yours, and you power it up and think "gee, this thing is actually louder than my previous unit" are you not going to care, or even wonder if that is how it should be working ? Are you just going to go "oh well, people have been having fan "issues" for 4 generations, such is life" ??
Of course I'll care (did you not even read my 1st post in this thread). I never indicated in any way that I would not care. Again - I expect Axe3 fan noise to be quieter than previous generations - I'll be disappointed if it's not, but I'll probably purchase anyway even if it's as loud as my II-mk1 which is loud, given the numerous other advantages the 3 provides.

If fan discussions bother you, then why click on the thread ??
I never said fan discussions bother me! I'm following this thread and any others related to Axefx 3 because I want to make an informed purchase - if there are any issues, fan or otherwise, I'm keenly interested in knowing about them and about what others think about them. I was happy to see Fractal's post earlier about adding another production check for fan screw tightness - thanks Fractal - one less concern for purchasers.

I'm gonna assume lqdsnddist, that you totally misunderstood my previous posts which maybe explains your response.
 
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It appears that some units may have the fan mounting too tight. The fans are mounted on rubber bushings but if the screws are too tight this defeats the whole purpose of the rubber mounts.

We've instituted a production check to make sure the screws are the correct tightness. Anyone experiencing excessive fan noise can contact support for an RMA to have the fan screws adjusted.

well, if it's just that it's an easy fix! great!
 
It appears that some units may have the fan mounting too tight. The fans are mounted on rubber bushings but if the screws are too tight this defeats the whole purpose of the rubber mounts.

We've instituted a production check to make sure the screws are the correct tightness. Anyone experiencing excessive fan noise can contact support for an RMA to have the fan screws adjusted.

Is there an easy way we can do that ourselves rather than sending our units (in my case) all the way across the county & back? Mine is fairly noisy and kind of sounds like a microphonic tube humming away.
 
It appears that some units may have the fan mounting too tight. The fans are mounted on rubber bushings but if the screws are too tight this defeats the whole purpose of the rubber mounts.

We've instituted a production check to make sure the screws are the correct tightness. Anyone experiencing excessive fan noise can contact support for an RMA to have the fan screws adjusted.



For sure what is going on with mine. The rubber bushings were compressed so flat they weren’t readily visible, and on the backside about 3/8th” of the bolt was sticking out past the nylon nut. I backed it off to where just about 1/16th” is sticking out and this allowed the bushing to decompress to where there is now about 1mm of visible gap between the fan frame and the aluminum mounting plate. Big improvement in noise/vibration!

To all the naysayers who wonder “why we are still talking about this?” This is why.

If no one mentioned this issue then FAS would not of realized there was a production line problem, and would not of known to take proper steps to prevent it from happening.
 
For sure what is going on with mine. The rubber bushings were compressed so flat they weren’t readily visible, and on the backside about 3/8th” of the bolt was sticking out past the nylon nut. I backed it off to where just about 1/16th” is sticking out and this allowed the bushing to decompress to where there is now about 1mm of visible gap between the fan frame and the aluminum mounting plate. Big improvement in noise/vibration!

To all the naysayers who wonder “why we are still talking about this?” This is why.

If no one mentioned this issue then FAS would not of realized there was a production line problem, and would not of known to take proper steps to prevent it from happening.

Exactly which bolts did you back off & can it be done without taking the whole fan assembly apart?
 
Exactly which bolts did you back off & can it be done without taking the whole fan assembly apart?

See how the fan is mounted to the metal plate? And the metal plate is mounted to 4 posts?

There's a screw going through a rubber grommet and a nut on the underside to fasten the fan to the metal plate.

I unscrewed the metal plate from the 4 posts to have access to the underside.
Using a 5.5mm socket and a phillips screwdriver you can back off the amount of torque applied to the fan screws so that the rubber grommet is not as compressed.



rKbPxbD.jpg
 
See how the fan is mounted to the metal plate? And the metal plate is mounted to 4 posts?

There's a screw going through a rubber grommet and a nut on the underside to fasten the fan to the metal plate.

I unscrewed the metal plate from the 4 posts to have access to the underside.
Using a 5.5mm socket and a phillips screwdriver you can back off the amount of torque applied to the fan screws so that the rubber grommet is not as compressed.



rKbPxbD.jpg
Thanks! I wasn't sure if you could just loosen the screws that hold the fan to the metal plate or if you have to take the metal plate off to adjust the screws.
 
I have a bunch of little silicon “o” rings and I’m thinking of putting one between the posts and the aluminum fan mounting plate. Certainly is enough threading on those bolts where less than a millimeter of added thickness shouldn’t hurt anything and seems like adding an additional bit of dampening from the fan and chassis could be beneficial. Might not make a tangible difference but since it would be required to take the mounting plate off to adjust the fan mounting nuts anyways (assuming one has an issue and wants to tackle it themselves) a dollar bag of small diameter “o”rings might not hurt...
 
The fan on my III was much noisier than my II XL+. So much so that it was a constant irritant, actually drowning out my computer fan noise. After reading about the overtightening issue on early models, I checked that to no avail. There is some kind of resonance going on with the metal plate after it's screwed down (not too tight). I bought some rubber washers from Lowe's and it's amazingly quiet. I'm thrilled with the results and can now fully enjoy the awesomeness of the III!
 
Here's what mine sounds like:



Danny W.


Thanks for posting this Danny.
Exactly what I hear. High pitch note-whine vibration. Air flow sound doesn't bother me but the whine is distracting. My III arrived yesterday. My wife only hears air flow. is the NF-A9 FLX a viable/safe solution? I'm asking bc I'm about 7 pages behind on this thread since I just got my III.

In the past, I replaced the fan on my II, but my XL+ is fine.
 
The fan on my III was much noisier than my II XL+. So much so that it was a constant irritant, actually drowning out my computer fan noise. After reading about the overtightening issue on early models, I checked that to no avail. There is some kind of resonance going on with the metal plate after it's screwed down (not too tight). I bought some rubber washers from Lowe's and it's amazingly quiet. I'm thrilled with the results and can now fully enjoy the awesomeness of the III!

I made that exact discovery today after I posted about the problem. With the chassis top off, the droning sound sound stopped, just the fan which is seems normal enough. Some kind of resonance created by the lid? It's Microphonic/amplified by it. Will try a gasket or rubber washers as you mentioned. Appreciate the confirmation. I didn't want to RMA for something simple if I could avoid it, but it's super service that Cliff offered that. I will see if I can 'fix it'.
 
I made that exact discovery today after I posted about the problem. With the chassis top off, the droning sound sound stopped, just the fan which is seems normal enough. Some kind of resonance created by the lid? It's Microphonic/amplified by it. Will try a gasket or rubber washers as you mentioned. Appreciate the confirmation. I didn't want to RMA for something simple if I could avoid it, but it's super service that Cliff offered that. I will see if I can 'fix it'.

Lid really resonats for some unknown reason. Mine would be totally silent if I was touching it lightly, but all the screws were tight so shouldn't of been anything to vibrate.

If your going to take the fan off to put some little rubber washers in might as well consider swapping the fan and the mounting system. The little silicon pull through tabs, which are usually used to mount a PC fan to a computer case work great, IMO, because it seems logical they would transfer less vibration than a metal bolt. Just take the metal bolts out, pull the silicon tabs through, and then put your fan on, with the other part of the silicon tabs pulled through to hold it in place. Its not only held in place by silicon shafts and I found it did ease the vibration a good bit. I found you can buy them for like $7 or so for a set of 4, but as new fans usually include them might as well just buy the whole new fan for a few bucks more

IMG_2284.jpg IMG_2294.jpg IMG_2297.jpg
 
Lid really resonats for some unknown reason. Mine would be totally silent if I was touching it lightly, but all the screws were tight so shouldn't of been anything to vibrate.

If your going to take the fan off to put some little rubber washers in might as well consider swapping the fan and the mounting system. The little silicon pull through tabs, which are usually used to mount a PC fan to a computer case work great, IMO, because it seems logical they would transfer less vibration than a metal bolt. Just take the metal bolts out, pull the silicon tabs through, and then put your fan on, with the other part of the silicon tabs pulled through to hold it in place. Its not only held in place by silicon shafts and I found it did ease the vibration a good bit. I found you can buy them for like $7 or so for a set of 4, but as new fans usually include them might as well just buy the whole new fan for a few bucks more

Looks like the Noctua NF-A8 FLX you have there? I think a new fan is a good idea. Thanks for the detailed description. Very helpful.
 
Thanks for posting this Danny.
Exactly what I hear. High pitch note-whine vibration. Air flow sound doesn't bother me but the whine is distracting. My III arrived yesterday. My wife only hears air flow. is the NF-A9 FLX a viable/safe solution? I'm asking bc I'm about 7 pages behind on this thread since I just got my III.

In the past, I replaced the fan on my II, but my XL+ is fine.

I made that exact discovery today after I posted about the problem. With the chassis top off, the droning sound sound stopped, just the fan which is seems normal enough. Some kind of resonance created by the lid? It's Microphonic/amplified by it. Will try a gasket or rubber washers as you mentioned. Appreciate the confirmation. I didn't want to RMA for something simple if I could avoid it, but it's super service that Cliff offered that. I will see if I can 'fix it'.

This is exactly what I've found. With the lid removed it's fine. Putting a foam core sheet on instead of the lid is fine too. Put the lid on and there's a very annoying droning sound. Pressing on the lid makes no real difference, same with loosening the fan mounting screws to decompress the grommets. I put thick rubber insulating tape around the lid mounting flange, which helped somewhat. Rubber spacers between the fan mounting plate and the standoffs helped the most; it's tolerable but I'm still not happy with it. Since I use this only in the house, I might make up a foam core top and just leave it that way.

Otherwise, I love this thing! ;)

Danny W.

Danny W.
 
This is exactly what I've found. With the lid removed it's fine. Putting a foam core sheet on instead of the lid is fine too. Put the lid on and there's a very annoying droning sound. Pressing on the lid makes no real difference, same with loosening the fan mounting screws to decompress the grommets. I put thick rubber insulating tape around the lid mounting flange, which helped somewhat. Rubber spacers between the fan mounting plate and the standoffs helped the most; it's tolerable but I'm still not happy with it. Since I use this only in the house, I might make up a foam core top and just leave it that way.

Otherwise, I love this thing! ;)

Danny W.

Danny W.

I tried spacers on the lid too. no difference. I was thinking about trying tape. And I just use mine in the house. I wonder what magic FAS would do aside from a different fan? I did order a Noctua NF-A8 FLX fan today from Amazon arriving tomorrow, so I'll give that a shot. $20 to fix a $2.2k device. Why not. If it doesn't work, I may send it in.
 
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Plus side of the Noctua is it’s rated for 150,OOO hours and has a 6 year warranty to boot, so you’ll likely never have to worry about replacing the fan in your III again and it should be able to last for about 17 years running 24-7.
 
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