P180b, fan always noisy bottom bay

[Chrysalis]

Hi

I have a p180b was using bottom antec tri fan which for the most part worked ok but then started randomly getting very noisy sounding like a motor engine, power cycling would stop the noise temporarily days/weeks. Also on the lowest speed it barely span and had next to no cooling so had to be run on middle.

Spent 5+ hours swapping out the fan, at least 4 hours was spent trying to take the old fan out, the plastic fitting seemngly just needs sliding out but it felt like it was stuck in by superglue, it eventually came out with me snapping a bit of plastic off (the force required), from what I can see there was 2 little extra plastic clips holding it in place out of sight and I was probably supposed to pull it at a certian angle to release those holding clips. One of those clips is now broken off but the other is intact so may cause me an issue if I remove it again.

Put the new fan in a 1400rpm fan which was marketed and sold as low noise haha. Then powered up and to my dissapointment it sounds like an engine although to a much lesser degree than the antec fan did. The noise isnt completely out of line like the antec got but at the same time its too loud to be comfortable with. When I tested the fan outside of the case the noise wasnt present. If I reduce the fan speed using the bios to half speed the engline like noise is gone but the hdd temps are too high for my liking, better temps than no fan but not as good as I want.

Is there a flaw with how the bottom fan is attached in that it causes vibrations etc.? or have I just been unlucky with 2 dud fans in a row, or maybe the problem is me somehow with how I have set it up. eg. the screws to mount the fan to the plastic holder, should they go as tight as possible or ok to leave it not fully tightened? 3 of them wouldnt screw in 100%.

In addition I did buy a slim fan which I had planned to put inside the front of the case, but it seems I would still need to do mod work as there is a metal square thing there in the way to slotting the fan in the space, so I didnt go with that plan.

[Deucal]

Check the quiet recommended fan list here on SPCR, and choose from that list.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html
Manufacturers put "quiet" and "silent" on their packaging to sell you the stuff. Most of the time it's a lie.

Many fans when at 1000RPM or more start to make noise from pushing the air.

[Chrysalis]

thanks, it seems the list needs updating tho

most of them are discontinued products.

Have settled on D12SL-12 and will order one and hopefully will work well.

The noise I am complaining about isnt a normal fan noise but rather the noise changes to indicate something isnt right. eg. rattling or an motorbike engine noise, which then dissapears on a power cycle.