Fan fitting

sx_turbo · 20 Jan 2023 at 13:06

I'm in the process of building my pc case from a n IKEA unit.

I'm just mounting the fans to my shroud which will glue to the unit front and I noticed that the fan has a 1mm gap all the way round.

They are noctua fans fitted with the noctua rubber feet and rubber mounting pegs.

It sits proud due to the rubber fan feet,

Do you think this will cause problems sucking in air? I'm concerned the fans will suck hot air from inside the case through these gaps rather than pull fresh air in.

Am I worrying about nothing?

My next step is to glue and screw the shroud on so before I do I want to make sure.

I can't remove the feet and screw it on as I will lose the maintenance access which the rubber pegs gives me

Hawk Tuah · 20 Jan 2023 at 13:09

Could always remove the rubber feet. I doubt it'd make any noticeable difference regardless.

Glanza · 20 Jan 2023 at 13:44

Have a look at the Noctua gasket, be what your after. You could mount the gasket then you'll be able to take the fans off when required.

sx_turbo · 20 Jan 2023 at 17:46

Cheers guys so glad I asked the question before I glued it down, I didn't know they were even available.

Drumroll · 21 Jan 2023 at 21:35

The purpose for those rubber corners is to help cancelling or reducing vibration from the fan to the case. Such a small gap wouldn’t cause any issue.
The only scenario where it would, is when pushing air through a radiator.
In your scenario, gasket is a good solution, but not necessarily needed.

sx_turbo · 23 Jan 2023 at 10:38

gaskets arrived yesterday so installed them, they look ok, has improved things a great deal, now there is a marginal gap in (not enough to get a feeler gauge through) so i'm happy with it. if i were to screw the fans down i have no doubt i could erase the marginal gap left if it was that big a deal.

my only thought now is that maybe i should have painted the shroud white..