Replacing fans in a Fractal Design R5.

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digicat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
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I just completed a build with a Fractal Design R5 case. The two "Dynamic GP-14" 140 mm fans that shipped with the case operated with a subtle, but constant clicking sound. I contacted Fractal support and they sent me 2 new fans to use with the case, but they do the same thing. Soooo, I'm looking for alternatives.

I'm looking for quiet. This mechanical clicking is no good.

According to Fractal's website, the GP14s moved a maximum of 68.4 cfm, and applied maximum pressure of .71 mm h2o. Noise is supposed to cap out at 18.9 dba.

In my current case, I'm using the built-in fan controller and have the fans set to the middle of the 3 available settings, so I'm not hitting those maxes.

I've used a 120 mm Noctua in the past and was impressed at the time. Looking at their web page, it seems like the NF-A14 PWM and FLX max ratings compare favorably to the GP14s (though are a

NF-A14 PWM: 82.52 CFM, 2.08 mm h2o, 24.6 dba
NF-A14 FLX: 67.98 CFM, 1.51 mm h2o, 19.2 dba

Are there better fans that I should be looking at to move the same (or more) air at the same (or lower) volume? And, without the clicking.
 
Maybe the fan controller is defective. Seems unlikely you'd get 4 bad fans. I have this case and while I do have Q&A concerns about Fractal my case is dead silent.
 
The fans also click when connected to the fan headers on the mobo. As I said, it's subtle. I might be hearing it more because the case is still on t6he desk about 3 feet from my head, and the room is silent.

When I plug in the 120 mm Noctua fan from my old rig to either the controler or the mobo headers, it does not click.
 
If you plug the 140mm Fractal Design fans into your old rig (or someone elses) do they still click?

There are "how to's" to lubricate fans, no idea if it would help.

I would probably replace with Noctua, Corsair, Cougar, or another well regarded fan brand.
Prolimatek and Thermalright have tempted me. Usually go with something with a good reputation on sale
 
I don't hear any clicking coming from the two I have, from what I understand clicking usually happens from PWM fans at low RPM.
I do have a few NF-A14 PWMs coming to replace the Corsair AF140s/Fractal 140s that I have.
I recently got a Corsair h100i and the fans on that are quite loud at speed, so I'm replacing them with some NF-F12 PWM, and I figured I'd grab some 140 Noctuas for the rest of the case :)

SPCR is usually the go to place for quiet computing
http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup1
http://www.silentpcreview.com/140mm_Fan_Roundup2
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Fan_Roundup_7
Keep in mind that they're primarily concerned with noise not cooling capacity, Personally I would stay away from Corsair fans.

edit: forgot to mention I already have some NF-F12 on my GPU rad, quiet and they do the job decently
 
Yeah, I didn't see any complaints of clicking from the SPCR review of the stock 140mm fans, so I have to assume they changed suppliers on something like the bearing (cost-cutting). Especially if the replacement fans did exactly the same thing.

Yeah, I'd try other winners form the SPCR fan roundups.
 
defaultluser said:
Yeah, I didn't see any complaints of clicking from the SPCR review of the stock 140mm fans, so I have to assume they changed suppliers on something like the bearing (cost-cutting). Especially if the replacement fans did exactly the same thing.

Yeah, I'd try other winners form the SPCR fan roundups.
Click to expand...

My fractal r5 is being used as an HTPC and I bought it partly due to the SPCR endorsement. I have definitely never heard clicking on my rig and I would have based on my setup.
 
I've recently finished building with two R5s. A fan in one of them clicked intermittently, the others were fine.

Regarding the built in fan controller, there is a possibility of it damaging other components. See here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1889648
If it is the cause, it is probably very rare, but I would not use it just to be safe.
 
Hmm, happy I'm using a fan controller now.
Been using an R4 for a couple years, left it on 7v then up to 12v for gaming, switched to an R5 a couple weeks ago with the same setup. Reading those two threads is making me glad that I always splurge on the PSU :)
 
Meeho said:
I've recently finished building with two R5s. A fan in one of them clicked intermittently, the others were fine.

Regarding the built in fan controller, there is a possibility of it damaging other components. See here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1889648
If it is the cause, it is probably very rare, but I would not use it just to be safe.
Click to expand...

Aw geeze. Well, I've got my fan controller in the middle position and haven't had any stability issues in the month that I've been running this rig.

The only thing odd that I noticed about the built-in fan controller is that if you try and manage to get the switch to stick between settings, the fans will shut off.
 
digicat said:
I contacted Fractal support and they sent me 2 new fans to use with the case, but they do the same thing. Soooo, I'm looking for alternatives.
Click to expand...
Let me guess, the clicking sounds like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbIiIdUjbCQ (you'll probably need to turn your speakers up)

Most fans I've experienced have that clicking. All of Fractal's fans I've tried have had it (GP-14s, R3 silent fan, and their HP-14 pwm fan), as have the Corsair SP120 quiet edition and Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 fans I've tried. It's certainly not your fan controller; the problem is too wide spread across various fans for that to be it.

The 2 fans I've been most happy with in terms of noise, including the ticking in question, are the Thermalright TY-147a and the Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 fan.

I haven't pulled apart a TY-147a yet, but I'm curious if it's an NF-a15 rebrand, in which case it may employ Noctua's custom NE-FD1 pwm controller to alleviate the tick. As for the Silent Wings 3 fan, it uses a 6-pole fan motor (vs. a conventional 4-pole) to cure the tick and it works wonderfully. Until it's released, I'd avoid their Silent Wings 2 fan.

digicat said:
When I plug in the 120 mm Noctua fan from my old rig to either the controler or the mobo headers, it does not click.
Click to expand...
That's b/c Noctua is one of the only fan companies to acknowledge how common this ticking problem is, and has taken care to resolve it with their fans. See the link above regarding their revised pwm controller.
 
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null said:
I haven't pulled apart a TY-147a yet, but I'm curious if it's an NF-a14 rebrand, in which case it may employ Noctua's custom NE-FD1 pwm controller to alleviate the tick. As for the Silent Wings 3 fan, it uses a 6-pole fan motor (vs. a conventional 4-pole) to cure the tick and it works wonderfully. Until it's released, I'd avoid their Silent Wings 2 fan.
Click to expand...

Does a PWM controller come into play on non-PWM fans? The Noctua fan and the Fractal fans are not PWM, they're 3 pin fans. I'm not sure how the custom PWM controller would come into play with their non PWM fans.
 
digicat said:
Does a PWM controller come into play on non-PWM fans?
Click to expand...
Probably not, and you bring up a good point: why do non-PWM fans exhibit the same ticking?

The Fractal R3 silent fan I have ticks, but it's not a pwm fan.

If Noctua uses 6-pole fan motors across the board, that could help explain why their non-pwm fans also do not tick.
 
Just in case anyone else plans to stick NF-A14s in the front of the R5:
the screws supplied with the R5 are slightly too short to catch on (I happened to have some 6/32 1 1/4" screws around), unless you remove the padded corners.
It's also a tight, but doable fit (with the aforementioned padding).
 
So, for the case fans, would it be better to get PWM or FLX? Does the PWM fans operate identically to FLX when just using 3 pins, or are they mechanically different?

I ask because I'm not 100% sure if I want to use the switch on the case to change fan speeds, or if I want to have the motherboard handle it for me.

If the PWM = FLX when using 3 pins, then having the option to use that 4th pin for PWM would justify getting the PWM fan.
 
digicat said:
So, for the case fans, would it be better to get PWM or FLX?
Click to expand...
It looks like the FLX is just a 3-pin fan with speed reducers. In which case I'd get a 4-pin pwm fan (which can act as a 3-pin fan, but not vice-versa), and just get these Noctua 4-pin speed reducers if you need them.

digicat said:
Does the PWM fans operate identically to FLX when just using 3 pins, or are they mechanically different?
Click to expand...
A 4-pin pwm fan connected to a 3-pin fan header will run at 100% speed, all the time. But you can slow its speed with a speed reducer, just as you can w/the 3-pin FLX fan.

digicat said:
I'm not 100% sure if I want to use the switch on the case to change fan speeds, or if I want to have the motherboard handle it for me.
Click to expand...
As someone that prioritizes noise, fan speed, etc., I'll always go with software-based fan control, when available and adequate. My own personal quest for a quiet and cool rig became much simpler when I factored out additional hardware (controllers, reducers, etc.) and started using software to automate fan speed, based on temps.

In your case, I'd use your motherboard if it provides sufficient control. I don't know which motherboard you have, but Asus boards in particular provide excellent fan control software (Q-Fan in bios, or Fan Xpert in Windows). If you don't have an Asus board you may be able to find similar 3rd party software.
 
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I've got an ASUS Maximus VIII Hero motherboard.
They've got their fan control software bundled up in the AI3 suite, but the suite is buggy and I took it off my system (and had to do a system restore) due to persistent BSODs on shutdown.

I've used the qfan utility in the UEFI to set up a profile for the CPU fan. I used fan controllers to manually control fans for previous rigs, so I've just gotten accustomed to doing it that way.
 
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