How to fix noisy computer fans with a drop of oil

While usually when a fan starts making a loud noise it means it's time for a new one, sometimes you want to extend it's life until you get a replacement without braking the bank - I remember I had to look for while a couple of years ago for a fan replacement for my Radeon 9600 XT card and I eventually found a Vantec Iceberq 4 on the web but it didn't come cheap at all. So now that that this one started to make a bit of noise, I wanted to make sure it keeps spinning for a bit longer.

I only discovered WD40 recently and I was so impressed with it that now I can hardly resist using it with anything really, but luckily I said it must be too good to be true and looking on the web I found this article on ZDNet explaining how computer fans work and what you should do.

Fix noisy computer fans with a drop of oil
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,2135514-1,00.htm

Ask in your local hardware store for 3-in-1 oil or sewing machine oil. I found 100ml 3-in-1 oil made by the same WD40 company at 3.5 Euro at a my local Lenehans store.

My new Shuttle XPC SG33G5 development box

I just built a new development box last week, a Shuttle XPC SG33G5 - I called it Black Beauty after a tv show from when I was a kid :-)

Shuttle SG33G5 Black

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz
• OCZ Platinum DDR2 PC6400 4096MB (CL5-4-4-18)
• Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB, 16MB, 7200RPM
• LG DVD±RW burner GSA-E60N, USB, Black
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2c (OEM)

Very quiet (especially with the latest BIOS) although the comparison with my old SB61G2V3 P4 Prescott box is not a fair one since on this box I'm using the onboard graphics. Quite impressed with the Intel Core2Duo processors - I went for E6550 to balance speed with noise/heat. I chose 4 GB RAM even though XP 32 bits (same for Vista 32 bit) won't see more than 3.2 GB, but the extra gig over a 2GB would come in very handy and the memory wasn't expensive at all. The Samsung drive is pretty much quiet, except for when is under load you can notice a bit of the heads seekeing - I'll try next the Zalman ZM-2HC2 Heatpipe Cooler. Going to use the box at work, where most of us have laptops, so I'm trying to make it as quiet as possible. The onboard Intel GMA 3100 is pretty good too, I'll be running the box without a monitor through Remote Desktop and as I've tested it at home it managed 1650x1080 no problem, been told by Shuttle it would handle 1920x1440, we'll see about that next week.

Anyway, overall very pleased with the choice after all, as I've said in a previous post I had my eye on this one.

Update 05 March 2008:

The box works fine in 1920x1200 through Remote Desktop although at maximum 16 bit colors, but that's an XP RDP server limitation.

Update 12 March 2008:

Zalman ZM-2HC2 Heatpipe Cooler has a good quality build and it does it's job nicely. The HDD temperature raised with a couple of degrees Celsius since the move from the 3.5" to the upper 5.25", but in my opinion that is because the 3.5" bay is better positioned in the air-flow path rather than the heatpipes not doing their job properly - usually when the HDD is mounted directly into the 3.5" bay some of the heat is dissipated through the sides into the cage, while with this cooler it goes through the heatpipes. Although the Samsung drive stays fairly cool at around 30 Celsius when idle and 35 Celsius in use, I might try next a quiet hdd fan.

Xbox external fan mod

I have modified my Xbox before to replace the 60mm x 60mm x 25 mm stock fan with a 80mm x 80mm x 15mm Everflow fan (following this tutorial), but a while ago the fan started to make a whizzing noise, and since originally I had to cut the corners of the fan to get it in, I wanted to change this time and put the fan on the outside, so I can try with different fans, without having to alter them.

For the external mod the fan will be on the outside of the case, in the same position as the original fan. Most of the cutting is in the base plastic case, but there is some cutting to be done in the cover plastic case to accomodate for the top of the fan. I have also cut the metal grill for beter flow. I've used a side cutter but I'm sure there better tools for a cleaner cut.

I have ordered the Sharkoon Silent Eagle "Golf Ball" 80mm fan (SK-SE2000-80) from Performance-Pcs.com - the bad news is that I have received the 1000 RPM version, which proved to be very quiet, but it didn't move enough air (only 11.35 RPM) and it didn't allow to control the speed (update: see footnote). As a nice touch, the package included 4 rubber bolts, and will use those.

The nice thing about this mod is that there is no fan altering, so I could use eventually the trusty Zalman ZM-OP1 (80mm x 80mm x 15mm) - for a thin fan it blows a respectable amount of air and is quiet too.

The fans I mentioned above, from left to right: Zalman, Sharkooon, Everflow.

Here's the final cut - you can notice at the bottom the two holes I drilled in the metal frame, that's where the Sharkoon rubber bolts will go. The metal frame was already cut in the factory in such way that there's no way to drill another two holes at the top - but that's not really a problem, the two rubber bolts should be enough, and when the case is closed the plastic top cover will press the fan in place. Additionally we'll use a silicone fan gasket between the metal frame and the fan, to eliminate any vibrations.

Fan wired in, the rubber bolts, ready to fit the fan.

The finished product (I know the cut in top cover is a bit ugly...). For a nice finish I've used a fan grill, held in place with just two screws, but it should be ok.

Update 27 Feb 2007:
Performance-Pcs has just replied yesterday to my email and they kindly offered to exchange the Sharkoon Golfball fan and cover the shipping back, but unfortunatelly they don't have a 2000 RPM version of the 80mm fan, only 120 mm. Now, a 92mm fan with a fan adapter is not such a bad idea, hmm... - maybe some other time :-)

How to build a USB desk fan

While I'm still looking to get a couple of Thermaltake Mobile II fans, as I was going yesterday through some things, I realized I had everything to build one on my own.

This article on Engadget gave me the idea - I already had a Microsoft Blue USB mouse that wasn't working anymore, a Zalman ZM-OP1 fan and the fan cage from my Shuttle SB61G2V3 XPC (I'm wasn't using the last two, as I've modded my Shuttle to mount a 92mm fan Vantec Stealth externally with an aluminium 80 to 92mm adapter).

Cut the mouse cable, strip out the red and black wires, those are the ones for power, we won't use the other two, used for transmitting data.

The Zalman OP-1 is a 12V DC fan, 0.14A, which makes it good for the job, as the USB ports output a 5V, 500mA current on each port. This fan is very quiet in normal operation, even quieter now that's running on 5V current. The fan has a 3pin connector, red and black wires are for power, and the third wire is for speed readings.

Mount the fan in the aluminium fan cage, add a 80mm silicone fan gasket and a fan grill to give it look a professional look ;-) and here is the finished "product".

This is quite useful if you use the R2H in it's stand, you can put the fan blowing air in the hard-disk air vent along the back of the unit. If you take the battery pack off you can get around 40 degrees C for HDD and 50 degrees C for CPU - not too bad.

Update 24-02-2007
I finally found the Thermaltake Mobilefan II at Performance-Pcs.com, and even if they weren't the cheapest around, it is one of the few websites shipping to Europe.