Ventilation holes - Are they necessary?

P

pauly

Fractal Fanatic
Hi @FractalAudio

A question for the only individual who knows for sure, about the ventilation holes n the sides of the AXE FX III.

Are they functional, or (as has been said in the past about ventilation in earlier products) purely for aesthetics?

I ask because I want to cover them to lessen the fan noise, but don't want to rely on an assumption that "what's good for the old is good for the new".

Thanks!

Pauly
 
Aesthetics? For ventilation?

Please find the post(s) that claim this. Covering ventilation holes is IMO at your own risk. The Axe III will probably shut down before any damage would be done by overheating, but is fan noise such a concern for you that you would risk this? Get a quieter fan, get a thicker case, do the trick with softer rubber grommets, put it in a spot across the room...whatever.
 
It has been stated by Cliff that the MKII version of the Axe II had vent holes in the side simply because some commenters thought it should, not because they were required, as the MKI version of the Axe II did not have vent holes and worked just fine.

As the OP stated though, just because they seemingly were not really required on the Axe II does not mean they weren't a functional requirement on the III.

I swapped my fan to a Noctua and I don't even have the lid back on but can't hear the fan at all. I don't think covering up vents to quiet fan noise is a good way to go, its not addressing the actual source of the noise and 'could' compromise cooling.
 
HI lqdsnddist,

Thanks for that - I've also changed my fan and it's much better. I do want to silence it a little more though which is why I asked the question. I'm confident that doing that would make the fan noise acceptable (to me), however as you noticed, I want to confirm it's ok first :)

Pauly

lqdsnddist said:
It has been stated by Cliff that the MKII version of the Axe II had vent holes in the side simply because some commenters thought it should, not because they were required, as the MKI version of the Axe II did not have vent holes and worked just fine.

As the OP stated though, just because they seemingly were not really required on the Axe II does not mean they weren't a functional requirement on the III.

I swapped my fan to a Noctua and I don't even have the lid back on but can't hear the fan at all. I don't think covering up vents to quiet fan noise is a good way to go, its not addressing the actual source of the noise and 'could' compromise cooling.
Click to expand...
 
What did you change your fan to where your still getting such noise levels ? As I said, I’m one of the pickiest fan noise users around, with threads going back to the days of the II, lol, and my Noctua is essentially silent and my iii is sitting here with the lid off, not in a rack etc, no noise issue at all
 
lqdsnddist said:
It has been stated by Cliff that the MKII version of the Axe II had vent holes in the side simply because some commenters thought it should, not because they were required, as the MKI version of the Axe II did not have vent holes and worked just fine.

As the OP stated though, just because they seemingly were not really required on the Axe II does not mean they weren't a functional requirement on the III.

I swapped my fan to a Noctua and I don't even have the lid back on but can't hear the fan at all. I don't think covering up vents to quiet fan noise is a good way to go, its not addressing the actual source of the noise and 'could' compromise cooling.
Click to expand...
please share which specific Noctua fan worked best in the III for you, thanks.
 
... but the fan that really has me pissed is the one inside my MacBook Pro ...when running a typical DAW setup it roars....
 
bradlake said:
... but the fan that really has me pissed is the one inside my MacBook Pro ...when running a typical DAW setup it roars....
Click to expand...

I think it’s the NF-A8 FLX but I’m not 100%. I posted photos in one of the recent bigger fan threads.

I run it with the 1600rpm resistor. Full speed is 2000rpm and while pretty quiet, isn’t totally silent. It comes with an additional one which spins it at just 1200rpm and that is inaudible, but may sacrifice cooling a bit. Some heat gun readings showed like a 2-3 degree rise with that, not surprising given such reduced airflow.
 
Hi lqdsnddist,
I made a new mounting plate and used a silent wings 3 120mm - BQ SWG12025-LF. it's way quieter, but- in the dead of night, when I can hear a cotton bud falling onto a piece of felt, I can just hear it still. It's a 'me' thing ;-)
Thanks
Pauly

lqdsnddist said:
What did you change your fan to where your still getting such noise levels ? As I said, I’m one of the pickiest fan noise users around, with threads going back to the days of the II, lol, and my Noctua is essentially silent and my iii is sitting here with the lid off, not in a rack etc, no noise issue at all
Click to expand...
 
I’d take some heat gun readings with your 120mm. I experimented with lots of different sizes on the II, and found that while the larger fans are able to move a lot of air, and at a lower rpm, to where they are quieter, they didn’t cool the dsp heat sinks as well as the smaller fans. Issue of volume of air over a given area vs total volume of air.

I found at 120 or 140mm resulted in a higher temp than a 80mm fan by a good margin. Of course this also could of been a variable of the distance from the lid to dsp, but still work suggest you run the unit for like 30 minutes stock and measure and then with your larger fan and see if you have any significant differences, just to be safe.
 
lqdsnddist said:
I experimented with lots of different sizes on the II, and found that while the larger fans are able to move a lot of air, and at a lower rpm, to where they are quieter, they didn’t cool the dsp heat sinks as well as the smaller fans.
Click to expand...

This.


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...
 
lqdsnddist said:
I think it’s the NF-A8 FLX but I’m not 100%. I posted photos in one of the recent bigger fan threads.

I run it with the 1600rpm resistor. Full speed is 2000rpm and while pretty quiet, isn’t totally silent. It comes with an additional one which spins it at just 1200rpm and that is inaudible, but may sacrifice cooling a bit. Some heat gun readings showed like a 2-3 degree rise with that, not surprising given such reduced airflow.
Click to expand...

I found that this fan by itself or with the 1600rpm resistor was as loud at the stock fan, once the cover was put back on. With the cover off, all I hear is mild wind noise, but the cover adds an annoying undertone. I currently have the stock fan on the silicone supports, with the original rubber grommets under the metal plate. I've also put thick insulating tape around the cover flange. It's not as quiet as I'd like, but it's tolerable, so I've stopped experimenting for now.

I suspect that if I racked the III I wouldn't hear it at all, but I have no need for a rack at home. I'm also sitting with my head less than two feet from the Axe, which exacerbates the situation.

Danny W.
 
Mine is barely noticeable but I wouldn't block the ventilation holes. Heat is the enemy of electronics and mechanical systems.
 
*Cooling* fan, should be a hint.

Manual:
"2. Keep away from sources of heat such as ducts, registers or appliances that produce heat."

(vents should not to be confused with feeding shutes for the duel-hamster mod)

;)
 
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