Does cutting the fan grating improve noise?

[styrafoam]

Will a fan covered only by a cage and no case grating be more quiet than if it were left untouched? I have one of these cases, only without the side fan, and it has gotten a little noisy lately. I am considereing cutting out a blowhole in the plastic grating in the front. The front fan is held in place by a plastic cage,(see here) and that seems to be the source of the noise/rattling, I dont know if this will help or harm the whole setup. I was also thinking if that didint work I would just put an intake on the side and do away with the front one entirely. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[OulOat]

Not only will it improve airflow, it will reduce noise if you cut the grate off. If the cage isn't tight and is letting the fan vibrate, you might want to stick some paper wads or something inside the cage to kill the vibration.

 

[styrafoam]

I actually did put a wad of duct tape on each of the tabs when it started and it helped a small amount, but it still has the feint RRRRRrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrRRRRR, just not as loud as before. I think I am gonna cut it up---

 

[HappyPuppy]

When I received my LianLi PC70 the first thing I did was to cut out all the punched fan gratings. I mounted all my fans with screws and nyloc nuts and put wire fan guards over those that were exposed.