Case fans rattling.

[Captain_Neckfat_]

I have two front intake fans, and one rear exhaust fan. Its a 3 year old Fractal design R4 case. The rattling of the fans get on my nerves. They do it even when my PC is idle. I replaced the rear fan with a new Phanteks 140mm hoping it would solve the rattling issue, but to no Avail. The new fan rattles as well. Ive tightened all of the screws in the case up pretty good, so its not some sort of vibration issue. Any thoughts?

[Omega]

Make sure you replace the correct fans. It might be hard to find the culprid.

Replace them, that is all you can do.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

The fan is probably over-tightened, causing the blades to scrape along the venting on the case.

Also unhook all case fans, test the system like this briefly (just load up into the BIOS and leave it there) to rule out; CPU Fan, GPU Fan(s), or PSU fan. Course most PSU fans wont really kick in with enough RPMs at this low of a system load. Once these ruled out, then test each Case Fan til culprit is found.

I've had some settings where the GPU ended up leaning more over time and the front-most GPU fan started clipping against a SATA cable, causing such noise.

[Captain_Neckfat_]

The rear exhaust fan has 4 screws which hold it into place. The two front intake fans just clip onto the case, no screws needed. But one of the front fans does the exact same noise. I've even unplugged them from the motherboard one at a time to see which one is the culprit but even the new fan makes the noise. Guess Ill just have to live with it lol.

[Arya]

Better fans vibrate less. From my experience Phanteks are particularly bad on vibrations; you may've just gone from the one vibrating fan to another.

Try a BeQuiet PureWings, it's a very affordable fan but it's extremely smooth-running and whisper quiet. It should be perfect.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Quality case fans usually have rubber corners on them too which helps.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by Omega:

Make sure you replace the correct fans. It might be hard to find the culprid.

Replace them, that is all you can do.

On that evry occasion Omega, do you rember the PC we repaired together and where loosing a screw of the case side panels did solve that issue?

[Captain_Neckfat_]

My case fans all have 3 pin fan headers. My mobo only has 4 pin. Does that mean the fans are always running at full speed?

[Arya]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Quality case fans usually have rubber corners on them too which helps.

An anti-vib mount would also, you'd think, stuff the card into the bracket a little more tightly. Like a shim. Which would be another option for OP - packing the fan into it's bracket with some kind of wadding to prevent it moving.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by Backwoods_Metalhead:

My case fans all have 3 pin fan headers. My mobo only has 4 pin. Does that mean the fans are always running at full speed?

no theat means they have to be controlled through voltage instead of PWM. If your motherboard in incapable of duing that, there special cables (low noice adapters) to reduce fan speed compeltley.

[Arya]

Originally posted by Backwoods_Metalhead:

My case fans all have 3 pin fan headers. My mobo only has 4 pin. Does that mean the fans are always running at full speed?

A four-pin has PWM, which has some claimed efficiency advantages. But they're all adjustable via voltage, by way of BIOS.

Electric motors are controlled by voltage, so any kind of PC fan is adjustable regardless of how you plug it in.

[Talby]

Originally posted by Backwoods_Metalhead:

The rear exhaust fan has 4 screws which hold it into place. The two front intake fans just clip onto the case, no screws needed. But one of the front fans does the exact same noise. I've even unplugged them from the motherboard one at a time to see which one is the culprit but even the new fan makes the noise. Guess Ill just have to live with it lol.

In a pinch, try some electrical tape on the borders of the fan mount and punch the hole out where the screw is - a DIY anti-vibration fan mount. Depending on the thickness of the tape 1 layer may work or may need 2 (cheap tape is thinner!)