As soundsubs and other have reported, new silent fans don't really cure the racket. It's got something to due with the fan and or airflow resonating inside the chassis I think.
On the one hand, I kind of like the racket. It's a reminder of the GRAVITY of the SITUATION and how you had better drop some serious klang with your E-monster! On the other hand....
The PSU fan is an extractor,
drawing air over the PSU and out the back. That PSU does get quite warm.
The other mid case fan is
drawing air through the card cage, and blowing it onto the HDD.
Us more highly evolved types
who have broken free the shackles of the HDD and are booting off a CF card are wondering.... do we now need that mid case fan? Or will the cards in the cage cook without it's extractive qualities ?
What about this: a larger diameter mid case fan turning
much more slowly in the other direction,
pushing cooler air (no HDD or boards to heat it up)
through the card cage towards the PSU. Maybe then, we could also lower the RPM's of the PSU fan a bit, because it's getting some free flow from the mid case fan.
The RPM's could be lowered by in-line resistors (I have done this on E4 rack) or even with in-line potentiometers.
I read this from the good doc:
I would make a mod, adding a diode; kinda 1N4003, like on the drawing. It allows, because the fan is an inductive load, to avoid the reverse voltages getting back to the power supply and kiilng your machine.
Please, test your diode and don't plug it in reverse !!!! DON OT PUT 1N4001 !
I have to understand this more.
Anyway, what do the peoples think ?
pot.