Do Noctua NF-A12x15 fan blades stick out of the fan's frame?

[SHDBuilder]

Hello.

I bought Fractal Design Node 202 case and installed Big Shuriken 2 rev. B cpu cooler in it. I did some research and concluded that I can replace the default shuriken's 12mm-tall fan with some other 15mm-tall fan. I decided to go with ID-Cooling NO-12015 because it creates more static pressure than others. However, after I did the replacement and tried to boot the system, the CPU fan failed to spin in a closed case (and the corresponding message was shown in POST).

I found that apparently ID-Cooling's fan blades are sticking out of the fan's frame just a little, and they were stuck trying to push against the dust filter when I powered the system on (let me know if you need some illustrations to make this part clearer).

Now I need to find an alternative 15mm fan that won't have that issue. Noctua NF-A12x15 is quite popular. Although it doesn't create as much static pressure and is way more expensive, I was unable to find anything more efficient.

If anyone here has Noctua NF-A12x15, you can help me and emulate this case by positioning it against the flat surface (like table) intake down and trying to spin the fan blades manually. If you're unable to spin it by just blowing the air on it, then it has the same issue.

Thanks in advance.

[keskparane]

Why not just create a small gap? You could make your own gasket with cardboard or rubber, or even just use a washer at each corner.

[SHDBuilder]

11 minutes ago, keskparane said:

Why not just create a small gap? You could make your own gasket with cardboard or rubber, or even just use a washer at each corner.

I actually did. I used the rubber feet that came with the fan and sticked it to the fan's frame to create an extra space needed. The problem is that over time fan blades start to hit the dust filter's frame (I am guessing due to vibrations). In fact this always happens when I move the case over to a new place. I have to remove the case cover to fix it.

[keskparane]

Well then if it works for a while I would say the problem isn't the fan at all, rather the filter. 

[SHDBuilder]

6 minutes ago, keskparane said:

Well then if it works for a while I would say the problem isn't the fan at all, rather the filter. 

Doesn't make sense to me.

[keskparane]

2 hours ago, SHDBuilder said:

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

2 hours ago, SHDBuilder said:

....The problem is that over time fan blades start to hit the dust filter's frame (I am guessing due to vibrations)....

This implied to me that it doesn't always happen and I would think the filter would be far more likely to flex than the fan. 

[Dr0y]

you mean like the way it's positionned there but on a table or the opposite of that ?

 

[SHDBuilder]

@Dr0y

Unmount the fan from the heatsink and put it so it would look to you like this (see pic), then try to spin it by blowing the air on the fan blades (make sure to put the fan frame tightly against the table):

[WoodenMarker]

The dust filter needs to be removed. If you still want a filter, use an external one. 

[SHDBuilder]

8 hours ago, keskparane said:

 

This implied to me that it doesn't always happen and I would think the filter would be far more likely to flex than the fan. 

Here's the dust filter we're talking about:

It has the frame. When mounted back into the case, the frame appears on the inside of the case. After I mounted ID-Cooling fan on the heatsink for the first time, the fan blades were stuck against that dust filter's frame. One of the ways to fix it is to create the gap by putting something on the fan's frame.

Here's ID-Cooling fan:

It has special dedicated spots for the rubber feet. However, some of these spots don't align with the dust filter's frame (roughly illustrated that in the pic below - red lines are the dust filter's frame):

 

So I had to use rubber feet unconventionally to make it work. My guess is that because of this and due to vibrations in the case, over time these feet slowly move over the fan's plastic frame surface. It's a matter of time that fan blades will start hitting the either the dust filter's frame or the rubber feet that moved closer to the fan blades.

[SHDBuilder]

11 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The dust filter needs to be removed. If you still want a filter, use an external one. 

I don't want to remove the dust filter for the obvious reasons. I'd rather put 12mm fan... as a last resort. This build is supposed to be portable (in the backpack), so I'm not sure how to go about the external dust filter.

[WoodenMarker]

2 minutes ago, SHDBuilder said:

I don't want to remove the dust filter for the obvious reasons. I'd rather put 12mm fan... as a last resort. This build is supposed to be portable (in the backpack), so I'm not sure how to go about the external dust filter.

Have you looked at magnetic dust filters? It might slip a bit during travel but is easy to move back into place. 

[SHDBuilder]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

Have you looked at magnetic dust filters? It might slip a bit during travel but is easy to move back into place. 

That's in case it won't fall off completely (e.g. upon getting computer from the backpack), and if it would it can go completely unnoticed.

As for dust filters on the screws, not sure if there's enough clearance for the screws inside the case until the fan.

Also, I was planning to buy 120mm fan in GPU chamber anyways, so I can just put that ID-Cooling fan in GPU chamber and buy a new fan for CPU cooler and use the internal dust filter that came with the Node 202, rather than buying fan (which I need to anyways) and external dust filter.

[SHDBuilder]

Since no one was able to help me figure this out, I decided to order the fan and learn the hard way. Luckily, Noctua NF-A12x15 does NOT have fan blades sticking out of the fan's frame (at least my sample doesn't, I don't know if it can vary slightly from sample to sample). It solved the issues I had before (see my original message).

Off topic: Surprisingly, it actually performed slightly better at cooling than ID-Cooling 12015 that I originally used. -2°C CPU temp, which is weird since the latter creates more static pressure (2.57 > 1.35mm H_²O), which supposedly is better for heatsinks. Again, maybe due to the issues I had it didn't perform up to the spec, I should have concluded the test on the open bench without the case cover before and after...

Anyways, hope this will help others in similar situation.

[Dr0y]

Sorry if I didn't reply sooner, work stuff and such ... well you're lucky it works with your cause it wouldn't work with the one I have here.  As you said it might vary from fan to fan.