Fixed Noctua Fan Buzz Noise

[Demonic Donut]

I bought a NH-D15 about a year ago for my computer. It came with two A15 fans to be mounted to it.

 

Much to my dismay, the fans buzzed whenever they ramped over 40% or so. Luckily the cooler was overkill for my cpu at the time anyway, so it was fine with one mounted fan and set to 40% and the other behind the cooler as case exhaust.

 

Enter my new build. I basically gutted my case and started over, except for reusing the cpu cooler, cd drive and storage drives. Reading that the Ryzen chips like to be cool, I was determined to figure out the buzzing noise. With some googling I found the fans don't like to pull, only push on the cooler. Ok, easy fix. Quiet fans attained. But then my two new Noctua NF-A14s for my side intake were doing the same thing, only louder... Flip them to side exhaust, silent. Flip them to intake, horrible buzz.

 

I wanted to achieve near pressure balance. Axial fans are garbage at creating static, so the more balanced my air in and air out, the better flow I'll achieve.

 

So the other night I mocked up a spacer using cardboard and taped in my fans. And it worked! Silence at last.

 

Now, by silence regarding the fans, of course I mean relative to the fan itself. They are just as loud as being out of the case and running in open air.

 

The spacers are about 3/8 of an inch tall. I plan on making something more permanent when I have the time to tinker. I know it looks rough, but it works. And I don't have glass sides anyway.

[LogicalDrm]

First of all, do you have source on that where it says A15 is only for intake or exhaust? Noctua is premium cooling brand so that wouldn't make any sense. I have 2 A15s and no issues.

 

Second, Noctua has 6 year warranty. So if your store doesn't offer replacement, contact Noctua directly. Fans should work regardless of the orientation (only angled orientations can be hard on bearings).

[Demonic Donut]

I don't have an official source from Noctua, but when I was looking into the noise, it seems to be a very common issue.

 

Here's a response regarding 120mm fans on this forum from years ago. That has a supposed response from Noctua.

 

Look on YouTube for NH-D15 noise and you will find some videos where people show the noise issue in pull.

 

https://youtu.be/UdmmLj9A1qQ

 

I suspect it's just a harmonic issue. The sound is even louder on my side panel. I found one post saying hexagonal holes make the noise particularly bad, which is what my case has.

 

Here is a video of the noise. Sorry about the background noises and that it's dark. Family life...

 

 

I don't think the fans are defective. It's simply a tolerance and harmonic issue. Both of my A15s do this and my A14s did as well. I didn't bother testing the P12 since it's in push on my cooler.

 

[For Science!]

35 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

 

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

 

 

I thought this was a well known issue (feature) of the Noctua fans; they themselves are well aware of the buzzing noise when running the fans in pull against a heatsink. As you can see for in the manual for the NH-U14S, 2nd page "Adding a second fan", the cooler comes with thicker anti-vibration pads that puts enough space between the heatsink and the pull fan to avoid the buzzing. This is clearly for the spacing and not for vibration as the vibration pads on the push side of the fans are normal thickness.

 

Quote

Please use the thicker anti-vibration pads on the rear NF-A-15 fan for improved acoustics if space allows.

 

https://noctua.at/media/blfa_files/manual/noctua_nh_u14s_manual_en_web_v2.pdf

[Demonic Donut]

17 minutes ago, For Science! said:

 

I thought this was a well known issue (feature) of the Noctua fans; they themselves are well aware of the buzzing noise when running the fans in pull against a heatsink. As you can see for in the manual for the NH-U14S, 2nd page "Adding a second fan", the cooler comes with thicker anti-vibration pads that puts enough space between the heatsink and the pull fan to avoid the buzzing. This is clearly for the spacing and not for vibration as the vibration pads on the push side of the fans are normal thickness.

 

 

https://noctua.at/media/blfa_files/manual/noctua_nh_u14s_manual_en_web_v2.pdf

I honestly didn't read my manual for the D15 that thoroughly, I'd have to check to see if it says to only put fans in push.

 

Do you know how thick the spacers are? My testing showed a minimum of about 3/8" (about 10mm) to get rid of the issue with my side panel.

[LogicalDrm]

47 minutes ago, For Science! said:

 

I thought this was a well known issue (feature) of the Noctua fans; they themselves are well aware of the buzzing noise when running the fans in pull against a heatsink. As you can see for in the manual for the NH-U14S, 2nd page "Adding a second fan", the cooler comes with thicker anti-vibration pads that puts enough space between the heatsink and the pull fan to avoid the buzzing. This is clearly for the spacing and not for vibration as the vibration pads on the push side of the fans are normal thickness.

 

 

https://noctua.at/media/blfa_files/manual/noctua_nh_u14s_manual_en_web_v2.pdf

Oh, ok. I use the pads so maybe this isn't something I would find out. But I also thought issue was with the middle fan of D15.

[For Science!]

26 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

I honestly didn't read my manual for the D15 that thoroughly, I'd have to check to see if it says to only put fans in push.

 

Do you know how thick the spacers are? My testing showed a minimum of about 3/8" (about 10mm) to get rid of the issue with my side panel.

I think the D15 is not "designed" to be run in pull and doesnt come with the fat spacers. I actually dont have one at hand but i think it is about 5-7 mm.

[Demonic Donut]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

I think the D15 is not "designed" to be run in pull and doesnt come with the fat spacers. I actually dont have one at hand but i think it is about 5-7 mm.

That makes sense, I checked the manual and found it doesn't explicitly say push only, but the pictures show it in push.

 

I had run pull due to RAM clearance with two fans, but now I just use a 120 by the RAM and it works perfectly.

[For Science!]

40 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

That makes sense, I checked the manual and found it doesn't explicitly say push only, but the pictures show it in push.

 

I had run pull due to RAM clearance with two fans, but now I just use a 120 by the RAM and it works perfectly.

 

Maybe Noctua would be willing to ship the spacers if you ask them since they do not sell the fat spacers as a standalone accessory either.