Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

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ricksavery
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Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by ricksavery » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:03 am

Hello. First post so apologies if it's in the wrong place.
I have a Scythe Shuriken RevB and recently the fan has made grinding noises and has been stopping and starting, which has made the CPU temp rise quickly.
I really don't want to replace the whole unit unless I have to so my question is - can I just replace the fan, and if so, with what would be best?
As you can probably tell this is not my field of excellence, so any and all help gratefully received.
Rick

CA_Steve
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:33 am

Welcome to SCPR.

Yes, you can replace the fan. Just unclip, unplug, and install a new one. The model is SY1212SL12H-P. The specs are shown here as a PWM slimline fan 500 to 2000rpm. I didn't see an online source for the PWM version, just the 3-pin voltage controlled model, SY1212SL12H. However, if you have enough clearance, you could get the 25mm thick SY1225SL12LM-P.

How much clearance do you have between the top of the current fan and your case?

quest_for_silence
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:35 am

ricksavery wrote:can I just replace the fan, and if so, with what would be best?

Yes, you can ask to Scythe support for a replacement fan, they will (should) send you the exact one.

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by lodestar » Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:47 am

ricksavery wrote:...recently the fan has made grinding noises and has been stopping and starting, which has made the CPU temp rise quickly...
This fan has a sleeve bearing, and the symptoms you describe are failure of the bearing. If you peel back the hub label carefully there should be a small plastic plug. This can be removed and you could try a putting a few drops of oil, such as 3-in-1 into it. This might eliminate the problem. However the essential issue is that Scythe sleeve bearing fans are not rated for a particularly long life, a Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) of 30,000 hours. So even if lubrication works it may not last.

Whether you can get a replacement fan from Scythe depends on how long you have had the Shuriken, it has a 2 year warranty. If the fan absolutely must be 12mm thick then it will have to be a like for like replacement, either from Scythe under warranty or you can purchase them separately, although not apparently the PWM version. But there will always be the potential for exactly the same thing to happen again. For this reason if you can go to a 25mm thick fan I would suggest you consider something like the Noctua NF-F12 which has a MTBF rating of 150,000 hours.

I would add that I have had three Scythe sleeve fans fail in exactly the manner you describe, one CPU and two case fans.

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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:46 pm

lodestar wrote:I would suggest you consider something like the Noctua NF-F12
It doesn't fit (he need a 100mm fan).

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by lodestar » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:20 pm

Yes, that's right - I thought this was a Big Shuriken but it's the original 100mm fan model.

The only other 100mm fan I can find is 25mm thick, the SilenX EFX-10-12 Effizio available from sources such as Amazon. At that price it might be worth a try if it will fit; the Fluid Dynamic bearings should be an improvement.

DanceMan
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by DanceMan » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:51 pm

a few drops of oil, such as 3-in-1
3-jn-1 is a vegetable oil. Don't use it in a fan. Go to a fabric or sewing supplies store and get sewing machine oil.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Feb 25, 2016 2:56 pm

lodestar wrote:The only other 100mm fan I can find is 25mm thick, the SilenX EFX-10-12 Effizio

Never buy from Silenx, anything.

You don't have to be necessarily peculiar: at least in Europe another 100mm PWM fan from Scythe is either free or cheap, and it cools adequately & quietly.

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by lodestar » Thu Feb 25, 2016 4:15 pm

DanceMan wrote:3-jn-1 is a vegetable oil.
No it isn't. It's 100% mineral oil, some sort of petroleum derivative. See the Material Safety Data Sheet issued by the manufacturers. Definitely nothing to do with plants. I have tried lubricating Scythe sleeve bearing fans with a product claimed to be specifically for fans. It didn't make that much difference but maybe the bearings were too shot by that stage anyway.

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by lodestar » Thu Feb 25, 2016 4:35 pm

A user of this cooler says that a 92mm fan will fit and use the existing fan clips. So it might be worth considering this option particularly as it will allow a PWM replacement. In terms of a slim fan there is the Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM which as it name suggests is 14mm thick and should effectively be a drop in replacement. Like all Noctua fans the MTBF rating for this fan is 150,000 hours and there is a seven year warranty.

ricksavery
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by ricksavery » Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:20 am

Thanks for all the replies, really helpful. I contacted Scythe who agreed to sell me a replacement fan. Just to be sure, I took the heatsink off so I could replace the thermal paste and check it was seated correctly. There was a horrible build up of dust between the heatsink and the fan. After cleaning it all seemed sorted - CPU idling between 20 and 30 degrees. Then it shot up to the high 60s. When I checked, the fan at that point was only doing about 300rpm and has since started stopping again (if you see what I mean). I assume dust must have affected the bearings, but my question is whether it actually is the fan or could the motherboard be at fault? The notherboard is new and I have turned off the smart CPU fan setting in the BIOS so it should be running at full speed all the time. Thanks again.
Last edited by ricksavery on Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:08 am

Chances are, your PSU shipped with a molex to 2-pin fan connector adapter. So, if you still have that around, you could connect the fan directly to the PSU and see if it spins faster @ 12V. Might have to do some modification to get the connectors to fit - or run wire leads.

DanceMan
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by DanceMan » Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:41 pm

Dust will get into the motor shaft and bearing. I had a Toshiba laptop that had stopped booting. I cleaned the heatsink and to clean the motor shaft I oiled it, inserted and spun it, removed it and wiped it clean, reoiled and repeated this several times to clean out the bearing. I could tell the difference because before cleaning the fan would quickly stop when spun maually but spun freely after. Laptop fans seem to be easy to get apart if you can get the shrouding off, while desktop fans are much harder. I've only taken an Antec Tri-cool apart, but it involved having to pry off a small circlip through the small hole under the sticker. I'm assuming cleaning could be done in the same manner, if I could find that sewing machine oil.

In short, I suspect from the dust you found under the fan that it's dust in the fan bearing and not the motherboard.

piccobello
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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by piccobello » Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:42 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Thu Feb 25, 2016 8:33 am
Welcome to SCPR.

Yes, you can replace the fan. Just unclip, unplug, and install a new one. The model is SY1212SL12H-P. The specs are shown here as a PWM slimline fan 500 to 2000rpm. I didn't see an online source for the PWM version, just the 3-pin voltage controlled model, SY1212SL12H. However, if you have enough clearance, you could get the 25mm thick SY1225SL12LM-P.

How much clearance do you have between the top of the current fan and your case?
For the record: the link you gave now redirects to a more recent fan comparison, but the original page is still available on archive.org (thanks them for storing the Internet).

For the fan: I have the older Scythe Shuriken Rev. B, which shipped with a 10mm PWM fan, so I assume Scythe also sells the 10mm PWM fan separately, but I don't know the model name.

The clips keeping the fan in place attach to the bottom of it, so you can pick whatever height fits your build, but beware of the clearance: this review finds that a thicker fan can lead to worse performance if there's too little clearance left (less air can pass).

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Re: Scythe Shuriken RevB fan issue

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:01 am

Yep, the site rebuild broke a lot of links. Thanks for the archive.org link.

Fan clearance: It's all about airflow resistance. The less there is, the better the performance. It would be an interesting experiment to plot the delta temp vs distance to case cover.

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