Case / fans resonating

bazzabear · 21 Jan 2018 at 09:38

Wasn't sure where to put this, so trying in this forum...

I have one of those limited watercooling setups, just a sealed unit heat sink connected to a pair of fans and a radiator.

The fans seem to cause the case to buzz rather annoyingly. Looking at the attachment to the case, it's simply screws and washers. Should they have rubber gromits of some kind? Are they buyable separately and would they likely solve the issue?

Thanks for any advice.

harvey.l12 · 22 Jan 2018 at 13:13

If you stop the fan or put a little pressure on the fan while its spinning does the noise stop?

harvey.l12 · 22 Jan 2018 at 13:15

be careful if you do this though, i wouldn't advise it unless you are confident.

bazzabear · 22 Jan 2018 at 19:10

I had a similar thought myself, and stopped the fans one by one (by removing the power supply to them though).

It appears I was wrong, and it isn't any of the fans. I'm thinking it must be the PSU therefore - what else is there that moves in order to cause the buzz?

Danny75 · 22 Jan 2018 at 19:35

bazzabear said:
I had a similar thought myself, and stopped the fans one by one (by removing the power supply to them though).

It appears I was wrong, and it isn't any of the fans. I'm thinking it must be the PSU therefore - what else is there that moves in order to cause the buzz?

Hard drives, if you have any*. Was making my case buzz/resonate. Windows 10 having them practically perma-waked didn't help either. Fixed it by decoupling the HDD cage and laying it on some foam material. Bungee method is something else to look at (my case didn't really have adequate holes for that method).

* If the boot drive is an SSD, test by unplugging the additional mechanical drives. Note that marking them Offline will not help with Windows 10, as it wakes up even offline drives.

harvey.l12 · 22 Jan 2018 at 19:39

Danny75 said:
Hard drives, if you have any*. Was making my case buzz/resonate. Windows 10 having them practically perma-waked didn't help either. Fixed it by decoupling the HDD cage and laying it on some foam material. Bungee method is something else to look at (my case didn't really have adequate holes for that method).

* If the boot drive is an SSD, test by unplugging the additional mechanical drives. Note that marking them Offline will not help with Windows 10, as it wakes up even offline drives.

Yep I’ve been through the same thing my self. Mine ended up being a dust filter on the bottom of my case where my psu sits. I just adhesive padded the bracket to the case and all sorted. Check for any filters it took me ages to find it was that on mine

Tealc · 22 Jan 2018 at 20:19

What about the pump? You've ruled out the fans but didn't mention anything about the pump.

Resonating moving parts can usually be pin pointed by resting a finger lightly on the offending article and seeing if a vibration can be felt at the same time as the noise.

bazzabear · 23 Jan 2018 at 12:51

Thanks for the tips guys. I will do some investigating.

This is one of those sealed watercooling setups. Is the pump at the rad end of the CPU end?

bazzabear · 25 Jan 2018 at 19:52

Quick thought. Is there any issues with loosening the screws holding my PSU to the case, as it might give a clue as to whether it is the PSU buzzing?

mistersprinkles · 26 Jan 2018 at 17:06

bazzabear said:
Thanks for the tips guys. I will do some investigating.

This is one of those sealed watercooling setups. Is the pump at the rad end of the CPU end?

It varies from model to model. Usually on the CPU end. If the CPU end is a big block, thats the pump. If its a small flat block, the pump is in the rad.

Habakkuk · 13 Feb 2018 at 01:12

I've had this with the window panel on my computer - when the fans spin down they resonate. I changed the fan curve to keep them above this level.