# CM 690 Side Fan Noise Issue



## welly321 (May 18, 2009)

Hey All, 
I've had this case for a while now and the side fan has always been extremely loud. Its almost like a whirring sound coming out of it. Ive heard this is a well known problem and I was wondering if anyone knew the easiest way to fix it, short of removing the fan. If you have any ideas please post here!! Thanks a lot
-welly


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## Sir_Real (May 18, 2009)

Spray WD40 inside it.


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## WhiteLotus (May 18, 2009)

See if it is catching on anything. Take the fan off the case and hold it in your hand and then power it up. I had one problem where the holes in the case were not sanded back down causing a bitch of a noise. Once i realised that it was the case and not the fan, a quick rub down, job done.


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## kyle2020 (May 18, 2009)

You know the front 12cm fan mount plate thing that has screws in it? I cant mount a fan to it because it hold the fan too close to the metal and makes a whirring noise too. Its damn annoying, but basically im assuming your side panel is doing the same - only suggestion I can make is either slow the fan down or buy a slow rpm fan like a noctua.

That or if your handy with a dremel remove the honeycomb mesh to stop the whirring. But dont do that until you have tried lubricating the fans bearings first, that may solve it, if not, then its probably what ive said.


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## Studabaker (May 18, 2009)

I had that problem. With my case I had a 120MM ThermalTake SmartFan and since it was so expensive (I pay 19$ locally at CompUSA) I decided to get a rear fan but I went with a $10 Masscool fan.  After I replaced the stock CPU cooler I could hear it's high pitched whirring so clearly that I went out and got me another TT SmartFan.  I'm a happy camper.  So, yes, you have to remove it to really get rid of the sound, and get a better one, like kyle said a slow mover (with the SmartFan I control the speed myself, so I get to fine-tune the sound level of the system to my preference).


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## WhiteLotus (May 18, 2009)

kyle2020 said:


> You know the front 12cm fan mount plate thing that has screws in it? I cant mount a fan to it because it hold the fan too close to the metal and makes a whirring noise too. Its damn annoying, but basically im assuming your side panel is doing the same - only suggestion I can make is either slow the fan down or buy a slow rpm fan like a noctua.
> 
> That or if your handy with a dremel remove the honeycomb mesh to stop the whirring. But dont do that until you have tried lubricating the fans bearings first, that may solve it, if not, then its probably what ive said.



or do a 7V mod like i did.


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## kyle2020 (May 18, 2009)

or use your motherboards fan header and dial it down?


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## WhiteLotus (May 18, 2009)

na - not ghetto enough


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## will (May 18, 2009)

With mine it wasnt the fan that was making the noise so spraying with WD40 wouldn't help. The noise was caused by the fan rotation vibrating the whole side panel. I couldn't fix it so I just moved the fan inside (the top or bottom I think). IMO side fans aren't that great, they disrupt the airflow from front to back.


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