If I tighten the screws on my case fans too much can that cause them to make extra noise?

[Bleedingyamato]

I tightened the screws in my new 140mm corsair ML140 case fans pretty tight and a few times I've heard some odd sounds from them.  I'm not sure how to describe it but it doesn't sound like they're damaged.

 

I'm wondering if it's just something normal to these new fans or if tightening the screws too much might be causing some kind of resonance sound with the case. 

[Peter041098]

I think the only thing that would happen is that it could eat the plastic (however it would be obvious because the screw would be loose if not fall out) so it could do the same as only half way in 

Unless you have some antivibration pads of which you want to make sure it holds still enough when you move the case

[Bleedingyamato]

10 minutes ago, Peter041098 said:

I think the only thing that would happen is that it could eat the plastic (however it would be obvious because the screw would be loose if not fall out) so it could do the same as only half way in 

Unless you have some antivibration pads of which you want to make sure it holds still enough when you move the case

Eat plastic?  What do you mean?  

[Peter041098]

When you screw into the plastic housing of the fan the thread of the screw is cutting into the plastic, if you use to much force on have a very fine thread the bit of plastic between the threads gets pushed back towards the head of the screw meaning that is only held in position by friction of the screw and the bit of plastic in the threads versus the rest of the housing it was torn from. 

If the screws you have used came with the fan like mine did (corsair sp120) it should be nearly impossible to do by hand 

[chrisz5z]

Shouldn't be any noise issues from tightening, unless the plastic got messed up like how Peter041098 stated.

 

Can you describe what the odd noises sound like?

[WoodenMarker]

Have you tried loosening the screws a bit to see if they made a difference?

[Bleedingyamato]

11 hours ago, chrisz5z said:

Shouldn't be any noise issues from tightening, unless the plastic got messed up like how Peter041098 stated.

 

Can you describe what the odd noises sound like?

Sorry.  It's a bit hard to describe.  Just that I'm fairly certain that whatver I think I'm hearing may not have been there before switching to the ML140 fans.  

 

3 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Have you tried loosening the screws a bit to see if they made a difference?

No I haven't tried that yet.    I did take the side panel off yesterday and I don't think I heard the sound.    Though it's possible the sound just wasn't being made at that time. I haven't noticed the sound all the time my computer has been on.  It seemed to come and go I think.  

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

No I haven't tried that yet.    I did take the side panel off yesterday and I don't think I heard the sound.    Though it's possible the sound just wasn't being made at that time. I haven't noticed the sound all the time my computer has been on.  It seemed to come and go I think.  

 

Maybe some part has started to coil whine? You'd had hard time overtightening fans by hand. And usually its better when they are tight than when they aren't.

[doits]

depending on where the fans are installed the center hub of fan blade may be rubbing on dust filer or case if there is not enough clearance due to overtightning and the blade is rubbing something. Turn fans to 100percent speed to make any noise more noticeable to figure what it is. 

[Bleedingyamato]

30 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

 

Maybe some part has started to coil whine? You'd had hard time overtightening fans by hand. And usually its better when they are tight than when they aren't.

I don't think so.  Pretty sure my 1070 had a bit of coil whine and that sounded like electronic buzzing.  This is different I think.  

 

I tightened the screws until the screwdriver slipped out of the screw head because it wouldn't turn despite pressing and turning the screwdriver rather hard.  

[WoodenMarker]

11 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I tightened the screws until the screwdriver slipped out of the screw head because it wouldn't turn despite pressing and turning the screwdriver rather hard.  

That's probably too tight.

[Bleedingyamato]

40 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

That's probably too tight.

Oops..

 

Do you think that might be a problem?

[WoodenMarker]

18 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Oops..

Do you think that might be a problem?

It wouldn't hurt to just loosen it a bit.

[Bleedingyamato]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

It wouldn't hurt to just loosen it a bit.

Ok.  I might do that.  Not right away though.  I'd need to wait until I calm down enough.  Idk if I have OCD but I suspect I do.  If I do it now I'd loosen them and then obsess over tightening them just enough without being too tight and I'd be there for at least a few hours dealing with what should take like 5 minutes.  

 

 

Sorry.  I hope that's not TMI.  ?

[doits]

15 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Ok.  I might do that.  Not right away though.  I'd need to wait until I calm down enough.  Idk if I have OCD but I suspect I do.  If I do it now I'd loosen them and then obsess over tightening them just enough without being too tight and I'd be there for at least a few hours dealing with what should take like 5 minutes.  

 

 

Sorry.  I hope that's not TMI.  ?

get something like this:   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VRB3PJY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

no screw needed, there are different variations but they all do the same and the rubber can reduce vibration. Just don't work with radiators. 

[Bleedingyamato]

9 hours ago, doits said:

get something like this:   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VRB3PJY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

no screw needed, there are different variations but they all do the same and the rubber can reduce vibration. Just don't work with radiators. 

Sorry but I tried using some sort of rubber screw that came with a fan I bought a while back and to be honest I hated trying to use it.  

 

I ended up getting frustrated and I ruined the rubber screw things in the process of trying to use them.  ?

 

Regular screws are fine I just need to learn to not risk tightening them too much.

 

 

I appreciate the suggestion though.  ? 

[SpaceNugget]

3 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Sorry but I tried using some sort of rubber screw that came with a fan I bought a while back and to be honest I hated trying to use it.  

 

I ended up getting frustrated and I ruined the rubber screw things in the process of trying to use them.  ?

 

Regular screws are fine I just need to learn to not risk tightening them too much.

 

 

I appreciate the suggestion though.  ? 

The rubber nubbins for fans are really nice. They stop any vibration noise from transferring to the case/rad/thing they are attached to.

 

Generally, if you have an unbalanced fan, tightening it on really hard makes the computer hum, and leaving it loose makes a sharper rattle sound. putting rubber grommets or little bits of soft foam or rubber between the fans and the screw holes before screwing them in will quiet them down. make them snug not tight.

[Bleedingyamato]

17 minutes ago, SpaceNugget said:

The rubber nubbins for fans are really nice. They stop any vibration noise from transferring to the case/rad/thing they are attached to.

 

Generally, if you have an unbalanced fan, tightening it on really hard makes the computer hum, and leaving it loose makes a sharper rattle sound. putting rubber grommets or little bits of soft foam or rubber between the fans and the screw holes before screwing them in will quiet them down. make them snug not tight.

I think it does sound like a hum when I hear the sound.  It isn't always making it.  

 

Just a minute ago I think I heard the sound and it was pulsing on and off (the sound I mean) which makes me wonder if somehow it's related to fan speed.  

 

Though my computer should be idling since the only thing running is GOG Galaxy and I wasn't doing anything with it yet when I heard the pulsing sound. 

 

So if my computer isn't doing anything the fans shouldn't change speed so assuming the sound was the fans I'm at a loss to explain the origin of the sound incidents.  

[doits]

1 hour ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I think it does sound like a hum when I hear the sound.  It isn't always making it.  

 

Just a minute ago I think I heard the sound and it was pulsing on and off (the sound I mean) which makes me wonder if somehow it's related to fan speed.  

 

Though my computer should be idling since the only thing running is GOG Galaxy and I wasn't doing anything with it yet when I heard the pulsing sound. 

 

So if my computer isn't doing anything the fans shouldn't change speed so assuming the sound was the fans I'm at a loss to explain the origin of the sound incidents.  

Turn up fan speed to 100percent in bios or however you control, then loosen to see if there is any noise difference or if it is rubbing something or just loud bearings. Or maybe you are confusing sound from gpu/psu fan, I duno.

[Bleedingyamato]

1 minute ago, doits said:

Turn up fan speed to 100percent in bios or however you control, then loosen to see if there is any noise difference or if it is rubbing something or just loud bearings. Or maybe you are confusing sound from gpu/psu fan, I duno.

While I suppose I can't rule out the PSU fan I'm 100% certain it's not the GPU.

 

At the time I heard this particular sound the GPU should've been idling and the fans turned off for passive cooling at idle.  

 

Also from manually adjusting GPU fan speed with MSI afterburner I csn say with reasonable confidence that while yes the GPU fans can make a resonating sound they don't do that until around 68-70% fan speed.  Which thankfully is far higher than I'd ever need the GPU fans to run when using the card for anything besides folding or mining.

 

 

It does seem like loosing the screws just a hair and possibly some speed vs noise testing may be informative.  ?

 

 

This isn't a critical issue just a minor annoyance and mystery.   

[doits]

27 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

 

This isn't a critical issue just a minor annoyance and mystery.   

I understand, I've spent hours messing with fans and fan profile to get the sound down that was driving me crazy. I eventually ended up with all noctua fans with rubber mounts and pwm control. Go team brown!

Also try unplugging all the new fans and go one by one, maybe just a bad fan in the bunch.

[Bleedingyamato]

18 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

It wouldn't hurt to just loosen it a bit.

Should I make sure the two fans aren't touching each other?

 

Or does that not matter?

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Should I make sure the two fans aren't touching each other?

Or does that not matter?

That shouldn't make that much of a difference unless they're pressing together particularly hard.

[Bleedingyamato]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

That shouldn't make that much of a difference unless they're pressing together particularly hard.

I left a gap between the fans just in case.  I tried not to over tighten the fan screws so here's hoping I didn't tighten them as much as before.