Noisy ML 120 Pro When Attached

keasy

keasy

keasy

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29 Jan 2012
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200
Just bought an ML 120 Pro and when I attach it to the side of my case it makes a high pitched whining noise.

It's fine when not attached.

It's not a rattle or anything like that all screws are fine, rubber grommets are intact etc. When I hold the fan in my hand with it spinning at around 2000rpm it's relatively quiet but the moment I touch the case side with it (holding it where it should be fixed in situ) the whining appears, so it's defo not the screws.

I'm thinking this is a case of my case being inferior quality?

I like the fan, my GFX card drops from 45 degrees C when idle to 36 degrees with the fan spinning at 1600 rpm and when gaming (with Battlefront being my standard testing game) it drops from 75 degrees C to 66/68 degrees.
I'd prefer to keep it and find a solution. For now it's sitting inside my case wedged between two cables on top of my PSU and it's doing the intended job but, it's not ideal.

Any ideas that don't involve a new case?

FTR my case is a Corsair Carbide 300.
 
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Is the fan right up to a restrictive grille or other type of cut out?

At 1,600-2,000 RPM a fan moves a lot of air and doing through a restriction can cause all sorts of turbulence, maybe that is manifesting as a whine in your case. If this is the case moving the fan further away from the obstruction or removing the obstruction may help.

Over the years I've had cheap cases, some with so few holes in their fan grilles as to make them pointless. I bought a pair of tin snips and have removed all my steel fan grilles for my last 3 cases. This does have the drawback that more noise escapes but given that there's now no restriction to airflow you can reduce the speed of the fan.
 
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Tealc said:
Is the fan right up to a restrictive grille or other type of cut out?

At 1,600-2,000 RPM a fan moves a lot of air and doing through a restriction can cause all sorts of turbulence, maybe that is manifesting as a whine in your case. If this is the case moving the fan further away from the obstruction or removing the obstruction may help.
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Click to expand...


Yup that's what it is as when I hold the fan roughly 0.5cm away from the grill then the silent whooshing of air is all that can be heard.

Do you (or anyone else reading this) know of any solution like an extended mount or something that would allow me to increase the distance from the grill?

I was thinking some rubber O-rings may do the job but not so sure.
My preference would be to keep to keep the grill and not cut it away as I have kids I allow on my main rig to play games. Much as I don't think they would do any damage, it just doesn't sit right with me.
 
Fan shroud would possibly do the trick, adds a bit of a gap, but also works to channel airflow a little bit more.

Just google 120mm fan shroud and some examples will pop up on first page.
 
Radox-0 said:
Fan shroud would possibly do the trick, adds a bit of a gap, but also works to channel airflow a little bit more.

Just google 120mm fan shroud and some examples will pop up on first page.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir!

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You can also repurpose an unused fan to act as a shroud by removing the fan hub and stuff.

If grille is removed you can use a circular fan guard like you get on PSUs, these will prevent finger entry.
 
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