PWM-fan ticking caused by an ASUS motherboard PWM-controller

[unholy_walrus]

So I've run into an interesting issue. It seems that the pwm controller of my current Z97-AR is making most pwm fans produce a pretty horrible ticking. It got so bad on my Venturi HP-12s that I ended up just going back to industrial NF-F12s as they are the only pwm fans alongside CM FP120s that I've never heard tick at all. EK Vardars had this issue as well, though I would've gotten rid of them anyway because of bearing issues and overall bad noise/performance ratio on low rpm. I've yet to try pwm NB-eLoops because of issues I had with them pwm versions much earlier and I'm not sure if NB fixed them.

 

Has anyone else experienced an issue like this? This is the first time I've had trouble with a pwm fan controller and I've been doing this for a LONG time. I'm tempted to order the Darkside pwm GTs to try them out but it'll be a fantastic waste of money if they'll end up ticking as well.

 

(No, it's not the normal and acceptable pwm ticking that most fans produce, it's the kind of noise that punches through your eardrums even at a distance of several meters.)