How loud should the fan be?

When considering fan replacement, make sure the air velocity (not just CFM) is at least equivalent.
 
Some of you fellas must have dodgy fans. I'm a bit of a silence freak and even build my PC to extremely low noise levels, even built completely fanless in the past. The Axe FX III here is on a par with my PC, i'd wager even a noctua wouldn't warrant the fuss this time around, but if you're recording acoustics through it etc understand people wanting to eek out every last DB.
 
Last edited:
I have two III’s powered up in an acoustically treated room and I don't notice it unless I’m listening for it.
 
I’ve built a lot of silent PC’s, or at least pc’s with very low noise fans. Essentially inaudible unless your really listening for it. My III fan sounds more like the volume of a box fan like your put in a window. Not super high rpm video card cooling fan noise, and not like a hair drier, just like a lot of lower frequency air flow noise.

On a lot of pc fans they have a few different resistors you can plug in to change the rpm range and resulting air flow and noise levels.

I wonder if maybe some folks got fans with a lower speed so they are near silent then others got fans without so they are running at a faster rpm and moving a lot more air thus the turbulent air flow noises through the vents.

I’m getting like 30 dB with my sound level meter app which generally proves to be pretty accurate. My old II was running at 17dB. Pretty big difference when you consider the dB scale is logrhythmic
 
lqdsnddist said:
I’m getting like 30 dB with my sound level meter app which generally proves to be pretty accurate. My old II was running at 17dB. Pretty big difference when you consider the dB scale is logrhythmic
Click to expand...

I’ve built silent pc’s myself. My Axe2XL+ was a little noisier than my current non gaming PC but not bad. 30db would annoy me late at night when I’m sitting near field to monitor speakers. Really disappointed all the III’s aren’t quiet as the II.
 
Hmmm... I see a design issue -
See the aluminium ring protuding under the fan?... The fan 'hole' in the aluminium is actually smaller than the fan body outlet. If I was looking for ways to quiet that design a little, I'd enlarge that hole so air is not rushing by that thin cut aluminium hole.
If mine is noisy, that's where I'll start.

Thanks
Pauly


AlbertA said:
Looks like the fan used is a Jamicon JF0815B1LM-R, an 80mmx80mmx15 fan.
http://www.jamicon.com.tw/media/flash/DCFanView/assets/pdf/JF0815-03.pdf

Perhaps this Noctua could be a nice replacement:
https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-a8-flx/specification

Seems to meet the specs of the original fan, but noise 16dBA instead of
Beauty shot:
rKbPxbD.jpg
Click to expand...
Hmmm...
 
pauly said:
See the aluminium ring protuding under the fan?... The fan 'hole' in the aluminium is actually smaller than the fan body outlet. If I was looking for ways to quiet that design a little, I'd enlarge that hole so air is not rushing by that thin cut aluminium hole.
If mine is noisy, that's where I'll start.
Click to expand...
Without knowing the thermal design of the Axe, I’d be cautious about any change that would reduce the air speed.
 
Basic 3-wire fan.... +ve, -ve, and tach.

Speed can be throttled with any variable resistance fan controller (PC supply store). I can't see the DSPs in the picture but, before making and throttle adjustments or replacing fan, I'm wondering if Cliff and Co. might add a die temp for DSPs and CPU in the setup menu with the next FW release. It would be useful to monitor diie temps.... Warranty?

On fan selection, I've spec'd 100s of fans in my career... volumetric flow is what matters... this will be governed by dimesions, RPM, blade design, and system flow impedance.

No matter... I'm willing to take a guess it's the mounting plate resonating....
 
When I was experimenting with fans on my II I just used an ir heat gun checking different areas after given intervals. I actually found I was keeping it about 5-10 degrees cooler with a slow rpm 80mm than what the original and noisey 3k rpm 60mm fan would produce.

I think some hear gun readings on the III would give at least a ballpark as to what the spec temp range runs and if any reduction is fan speed etc results in increased temps
 
kartman said:
On fan selection, I've spec'd 100s of fans in my career... volumetric flow is what matters...
Click to expand...


Volumetric airflow isn't the only thing that matters when you're cooling a CPU...or even the most important thing.
FractalAudio said:
If you need to cool a small area, say 0.1 sq. ft., will a 100 ft. diameter fan spinning at 1 RPM cool it as efficiently as a 0.1 ft. fan spinning at 1000 RPM? Both provide the same CFM.

CFM is irrelevant to a heatsink's thermal resistance. The thermal resistance is a function of LINEAR airflow velocity. CFM is a measure of the total air moved, NOT the linear velocity.
Click to expand...
 
Rex said:
Volumetric airflow isn't the only thing that matters when you're cooling a CPU...or even the most important thing.
Click to expand...

Sigh... I'm seeing a pattern in your posts. If you choose to swap your fan, please share what you choose as an alternative. Thanks for contributing .
 
Danny W. said:
Here's what mine sounds like:



Danny W.
Click to expand...

That's a good bit of noise. Way more than I get from my Axe III.

Strange that the noise pulsated when you turned off the unit. Try turning the output knobs to zero, and see what happens.
 
Rex said:
That's a good bit of noise. Way more than I get from my Axe III.

Strange that the noise pulsated when you turned off the unit. Try turning the output knobs to zero, and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Since the amp is turned off, not sure why that would matter.

Danny W.
 
Danny W. said:
Since the amp is turned off, not sure why that would matter.

Danny W.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't. But it sounded almost like an echo, as if there were a delay attached somewhere. It'd be an interesting experiment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom