Loud fan on my Fortron (aurora series) psu

[blackrain]

I have this psu:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article106-page1.html

Anyway, it is really loud. As soon as I use the control knob to turn the rpm's all the way down, the loud noise goes away. But is it okay for the fan to be going at the slowest speed?

Is this is a sign that the fan is on its way out? Just wondering if it is going to be much longer before the fan croaks altogether. At that point, do I have to get a new psu?

 

[boomerang]

Is it fan noise or mechanical noise or what?

You can run it at it's lowest setting. The control knob allows it to go that low, so it must be OK, right? As long as there is air coming out you should be fine. I say this because case fans have the potential to create enough low pressure in the system to draw air in through the PS.

You can replace the fan in a PS with minimal skills.

 

[blackrain]

Not sure if it is mechanical noise or fan noise. When I crank up the rpm the sound immediately starts up.

 

[Navid]

You can adjust the minimum RPM of the fan with that knob. The RPM of the fan is controlled by a thermal sensor inside the PSU.
It increases the RPM of that fan if the PSU heats up.

So, if you want the PSU fan to move a lot of air may be to help your case exhaust fan, you can turn the knob to increase the RPM. Then, it will spin high even if the PSU does not need it.
Or, you can turn it down to its minimum. Then, the fan will only spin fast enough to keep the PSU cool enough, but no more.

If you want to test this, set it to minimum and then run Prime95. After a few minutes, you will notice the noise of the PSU fan will increase.