Warning: My 'quick fix' for a noisy server fan cost me a whole afternoon

I tried to quiet it down with some compressed air and a new thermal paste job, but the real fix was just replacing the whole fan unit for $45. The old one had a worn bearing that no amount of cleaning could fix. Anyone have a go-to brand for quiet 120mm server fans?

3 comments

3 Comments

evand651mo ago

I mean, did the Noctua fans need any special mounting or were they a straight swap?

king.dakota1d ago

Yeah the_lee is right, I read somewhere that something like 80% of noisy fans are just bad bearings. I learned that the hard way after I spent hours cleaning and re-pasting my old one. The Noctua industrial fans are solid lol, I put a 120mm NF-F12 in my server and it dropped the noise by a lot plus it pushes way more air. I've also heard good things about the Arctic F12 series being a budget option but they don't last as long. Straight swap on most standard mounts from my experience but I had to use a low noise adapter for mine to keep it quiet.

the_lee1mo ago

Wait, you spent a whole afternoon before trying a new fan? I usually just start by swapping the fan if it's making that grinding noise, it's almost always the bearing. For quiet 120mm fans, I've had good luck with Noctua's industrial ones, they move a lot of air without the whine.