Ticking sound (Yate Loon specifically)

I call him Bub · Post by **I call him Bub** » Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:11 am

Is it normal/expected for the majority of fans? I have other fans that tick in the same way (NMB, Panaflo, Papst and some generics). I notice the spcr review mentions the ticking sound in their review, with the assumption the fan may be faulty.

I've managed to rule out any power supply/voltage issues by purchasing both a Scythe GT and S-Flex, neither of which make any kind of ticking noise. As I need another 5 fans I was hoping to save some money with the Yate Loons.

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:07 pm

The root cause of the ticking is almost certainly due to the fan controller on your motherboard, not the fan. Almost all motherboards use PWM fan speed control, which needs a hack to make the speed sensors on most fans work properly. The hack is to run at full voltage for a full revolution four (or so) times per second. The acceleration caused by this voltage change is what causes the click.

That said, there is considerable sample variance among fans; some Yate Loon/Nexus fans are much louder/quieter than others. For instance, my system has four Nexus fans but only one of them clicks.

Klusu · Post by **Klusu** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 4:07 am

Certainly wrong.
No speed control mentioned. At full speed there is just simple plain 12V. Some fans tick.

ehume · Post by **ehume** » Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:49 pm

Agree. Certainly wrong. Many fans click on Molex. Heck, I had fans clicking when I was using a wall brick as a power source.

I read somewhere that it is the circuitry in the fan that clicks, and that if the manufacturer sets the switching at a high enough frequency we never hear it. Maybe true, maybe not.

I call him Bub · Post by **I call him Bub** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:46 pm

Thanks for the replies.

The PWM ticking was an issue with an old ATI x800. Plugging directly into both the PSU and a fan controller failed to fix the problem then either.

I run the fans @5v direct from the PSU, so no PWM involved. They also click at 12v from the PSU. I guess it could just be bad luck/poor quality control/damage in transit.

sxr71 · Post by **sxr71** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:57 am

I call him Bub wrote:Thanks for the replies.

The PWM ticking was an issue with an old ATI x800. Plugging directly into both the PSU and a fan controller failed to fix the problem then either.

I run the fans @5v direct from the PSU, so no PWM involved. They also click at 12v from the PSU. I guess it could just be bad luck/poor quality control/damage in transit.

Does your moniker have anything to do with a Rickie Lee Jones song?

ntavlas · Post by **ntavlas** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:33 am

Unfortunately yate loons of late tend to click, mine did too and I`ve heard many similar complaints on the net. I don`t know if it can be considered "sample variance" anymore, more like the norm.

Something similar happened with panaflo fans, later production batches had more noisy bearings.

I would look at nexus real quiet and skythe slipstream as a more reasonably priced solution. Arctic cooling fans are not that bad either and tend to be a little cheaper.