Sound dampening on side intake fan?

[suszterpatt]

Got a Casetek CK-1026-9A case. Removed the air duct and replaced it with a 80mm intake fan that's supposed to run at 19dB, but for some reason it's fairly loud. I'm thinking because of the turbulence the honeycomb "grill" makes. Even worse, if I stretch my legs forward next to it, the noise gets louder and higher pitched (most probably turbulence due to different airflow). This is most annoying as it makes me put my legs sideways and twists my entire spine, not a really comfortable/healthy pose).


Is there anything I could do to reduce the noise while keeping (most of the) airflow?

 

[mdchesne]

the noise is most likely the vibrations on the side itself, not air turbulence. The fan would also be a noise component but more "whoosy" than noisy. Get a rubber sheet and adhere it to the insde of the side panel, cutting a hole for the fan, to cut down vibrational noise. Get a silent fan if that's too much work. I'm guessing, unless you have one loud fan, the vibrations are the cause of your new problem

 

[Shadowknight]

Get some fan isolators from Veraxfans.com to remove the vibration from the fan from the case. Alternatively, use a ghetto method of using rolled up ear plugs or use blue tack.

You'll either want to use a fan controller to slow down your fan, buy a quieter fan, or both. Look into a Nexus or Panaflo L1A 80mm fan.

 

[suszterpatt]

Actually, it could be vibration, since the fan's pretty loose up there (the case's mounting holes are just too far away to fit the fan's screw holes, but I managed to keep it in place with some wiring... perhaps pics would be a better explanation, but I'm not sure if I can take any right now).


But, I'd like to stay away from cutting holes and that kind of stuff.



edit: the fan is a GlacialTech SilentBlade 80mm fan, 1700 RPM at 19dB. Couldn't get any more quiet than that.

 

[IEC]

Run 7V. Check out www.silentpcreview.com for all you ever wanted to know about the "Silent Front"

 

[suszterpatt]

Wouldn't that butcher the airflow of the fan?

 

[Shadowknight]

You'd be surprised at how little airflow you need to cool your components. In my last case I had every component passive, with the exception of the video card. I only had one system fan running at 650rpm, and my CPU was 40/60, and that's only because I value minimal noise over maximal cooling. With my passive heatsink and the Nexus cranked up to 1000rpm, my max load was 50C. You should be able to undervolt that fan with little change in temps. At the very least use one of the methods I mentioned above to decouple the fan from the case, that will take care of the vibrations. Try to use some zipties to anchor the fan to the mounting holes, then use blue tack to actually stick it to the case.

 

[0roo0roo]

next time get a sonata or something. only thing you can do is cutout the fan grill, the use a fan controller to lower the rpm until you are happy. no magic. oh, u can try mounting it on rubber grommet things. its easier to buy a quiet quality case in the first place. else its a lot of work and u still won't match stock sonata 80mm is bad.

 

[Shadowknight]

If in the future you plan on getting a new case, consider the Sonata II, NOT the Sonata I. P180 is still the best overall case right now, though,