Weird fan grinding sound

[yeenfei]

I build my PC few month ago and recently I notice there is this weird scratching sound when the CPU (could be other, eg power draw) load is high.

Initially I suspected it was my PSU (I happen to suffer from out of box defect on my seasonic psu where some protruding wire is obstructing the fan but it's fixed by corbell after sending in) but during my visit (to corbell) today I was told it could be the way I position my PSU (facing downward to prevent PSU fan blowing at my Gfx card in my NZXT H210). I tried to flip the PSU orientation but the problem persists.

However, I realize that if I lay down my casing instead of keeping it up, the fan grinding issue disappeared. I have manually checked all wires around every fans and none of them are possible of getting into the blades.

My question is, are there any tips to further troubleshoot or the root cause is already clear for you guys (eg faulty stock cooler) ?

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[yeenfei]

The grinding sound when pc moved from laying position to standing

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[yeenfei]

Full load without grinding noise (testsd 100% cpu load for 30min)

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[DevilishZ]

Full load without grinding noise (testsd 100% cpu load for 30min)

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Have you isolated that the sound is from the cpu ?

You can test by changing the CPU's fan speed in either bios or software and see if the sound pattern changes.

If it is the CPU's fan , check if there is anything touching it . it does sound like maybe a loose cable or something might be hitting it.

Otherwise just replace that unit.

 

[Godeau]

Check your front intake fans, most likely the culprit because the way the fans are designed and how it's mounted onto the chassis. If the fan hub and blades are wobbly(or lack the clearance when they're screwed into the case), it might come into contact to the front case mesh mounting which in turn produce the sound you are hearing.

 

[hg2]

Its hard for brushless fan to rub against the bracket, unless its center connector is broken. Can see your rear out fan is wobbling....

Another cause, the intake lower fan blade is hitting a loose cable...when i turn to certain angle the sound is gone, when upright its hitting the pin head again.

One way to find out which fan, disable 1-by-1...

 

[yeenfei]

Have you isolated that the sound is from the cpu ?

You can test by changing the CPU's fan speed in either bios or software and see if the sound pattern changes.

If it is the CPU's fan , check if there is anything touching it . it does sound like maybe a loose cable or something might be hitting it.

Otherwise just replace that unit.

good idea. ive tried boot into bios and set the fan profile to full speed while maintaining the pc in standing orientation, not hearing any grinding. however i can't judge if the fan are really spinning at "full speed" this way since visually i cant tell the difference =/

 

[yeenfei]

following test done for DevilishZ, I've set the fan speed for chasis fan #1 to full speed and manage to replicate the issue, so it will take some time to identify which one (of 4 fans) is causing the problem.

Currently my PC has the following fan configuration:
- 1x Arctic 10Port PWM Fan Hub
- 2x Exhaust fan: rear+top (AER F120 bundled from H210 casing)
- 2x Intake fan: front (Arctic P14)
- 1x CPU stock cooler (Wraith Spire @ 3600XT) - assume unrelated to issue
- 1x Gfx Fan (ZOTAC 1650) - assume unrelated to issue
- 1x PSU Fan (Seasonic SGX500) - assume unrelated to issue

All of them connected to the same fan hub. Can it be problematic if these fans have different RPM range but being controlled over single PWM source?

 

[Godeau]

btw, check gpu too, someone had something similar in hwz:

https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/hardware-clinic-2/zotac-gtx-1660-super-gpu-fans-makes-rattling-noise-while-50-60%25-fan-speed-6379029.html

Also:

 

[tatose]

Common problem if it is due to ball bearing wearing out. If out of warranty you can try taking out the fans out one by one (including the GPU one) to see if any obstructions from cables metal fins or tape, you may need to change your fan with some carosell/ebay/alibaba/taobao one if it is the GPU fan.