To anyone else who also just received their Axe-Fx II ... how is your fan noise?

The fan is super quiet in my AXE II - half the "noise" as my Ultra.

In fact, I wouldn't even call it noise & this is in a studio environment.
 
I wonder if there are a few different types of fan in use? When I tracked the specs on my "loud" fan, IIRC it puts out 24CFM at 36 dB (high speed). BTW, the fan is now connected to bolts which protrude from the case top. The bolts measure about 34 mm. If you put in a 25 mm thick fan, you will have to use about 5 mm for a spacer and 5 mm for the nut. Again, the fan doesn't bother me too much, just curious.
 
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I'd rather have a somewhat "noisy" fan that Cliff has found trustworthy than a more silent fan that doesn't deliver what is needed. The fan in my Ultra never bothered me enough to even consider replacing it.
 
I was prepared for it to be noisy, after all this talk. I changed out the fan on my Ultra because I like to have it running in the studio. I'm just starting with my II, but it seems much quieter. I bought a quiet fan, but I'm going to wait to install it.

If yours bothers you, changing the fans is simple. All you need is a screwdriver.
 
I have done about three fan replacements in the Gen1 units. I am a very quiet person and don't like noise of any kind even in my computer. The loudest thing in the room right now is a clock ticking on the wall. If I can hear the fan from two feet away it's too loud.

The SilenX ones are completely quiet and work great, not hard to switch out either.
 
Ok..I replaced the fan with the 12 dBA Silenx. That one is very quiet. I used 00 rubber washers from plumbing (about 5 mm thick) with a smaller soft rubber washer on top of that (about 1 mm thick) then the fan with the original nuts/washers.
 
As an update, the noise seems to have gotten louder as it's run for the past few days. Still less noisy than the Ultra though. Not bad, but not excellent in a silent studio.
 
Fan is definitely more quiet than the Ultra. Doesn't bother me at all. I use headphones most of the time anyway. Loving the Axe II.
 
I thought my Axe FX II was much noisier than my Ultra, then I realized my ULTRA is in a rack and the Axe FX II was on the desk!
 
I bought a silenX today to replace the II's fan because mine was much noisier than my Ultra and I had changed that also.

After removing the top I realized I would need to modify the rubber mounts underneath the stock fan and reduce their height by half in order to have room on the chasis mounted screws for the nuts with the new wider fan. Since I did not have anything that would work on hand I decided to replace the original fan and change it later. However, I noticed there were little inserts in the middle of the rubber mounts that raised the fan slightly higher than the mount itself. I removed the plastic insert and just bolted the stock fan to the rubber mounts.

Silence! So it could have just been vibration. Maybe the lid wasnt completely tight. All I can say now is its silent. Next time I open it up I will put the plastic inserts back in and see if it was them or just a matter of something being lose.

All is good!


edit: I replaced the inserts and tightened her down good and the noise has not returned. All is well.

**** please note cliffs reply below and do not remove those inserts. *****
 
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I wouldn't recommend removing those spacers. If you move the fan closer to the cover the airflow will decrease and you could overheat the processors.
 
I put them back in and seated it tight and the noise has stayed away so I imagine i had a nut loose or screw on the lid causing some viberation. All is good!

BTW, The board looks clean!

Craig

For what it's worth. The value knob issue has only raised it's head a couple times in last 2 days. Seems to be clearing itself up as the first 8 hours or so it happend quite often.
 
You could also try mass loading the lid a bit to dampen extra noise. I wouldn't mess with the fan as it was clearly selected for the thermal requirement and reliability.
 
Well, I lived with my fan for a couple of weeks and it was still annoying but I solved my problem without replacing the stock fan. The stock fan is installed with rubber spacers that offset and isolate the fan from the top of the case, but those rubber spacers also have plastic spacers that slightly offset the fan from the top of the case a little bit further. However, those plastic spacers are in direct contact with the actual fan itself and that was the root of my problem. There were probably vibrations from the plastic on plastic contact between the fan and the spacers that (to my ears) was causing the annoying and distracting fluctuations I mentioned in my original post.

I replaced the plastic spacers with rubber grommets as shown in the attached picture (I purchased these grommets here Heavy Duty Rubber Grommet - FrozenCPU.com). So you have the original rubber spacers and then also these rubber grommets and this way the fan is still offset from the top of the case by the same amount. And, as Cliff mentioned earlier, you probably don't want to just remove the spacers and bring the fan closer to the top of the case which would possibly affect air flow. So my solution keeps the fan in the same place but the key change is that it eliminates the plastic on plastic contact between the fan and the spacers.

It actually now sounds like my Ultra fan did and I am fine with that. The annoying fluctuations are gone. This is not going to make the fan quieter but to me it makes it much less noticeable. Without those fluctuations anymore, it does not distract me. Of course it never really distracted me when playing, but playing is not the only thing I do.
 

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