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I have this computer case. It has a large fan on the side which makes too much noise. Is this fan necessary, or can I disconnect it?

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People worry a lot about heat buildup in systems, but the average consumer does not stress his or her computer to the point that cooling is a big issue. It that were the case you would most likely be a gaming enthusiast and would not be asking the question. I think intel did a nice job investigating the truth of heat/dust and equipment failure rates in a study that is summarized here:

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/09/18/intel-servers-do-fine-with-outside-air/

In our engineering department we routinely test our circuits under extremem conditions with heat guns and dry ice and while performance will vary, we rarely see any lasting effects.

So go a head and disconnect the fan, because chances are you will want/need a newer and faster computer long before the tiny bit of heat buildup has done any dammage.

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the fans is part of the cooling system. it is required for "air exchange cooling" which is replacing heated air in the case with cooler air, e.g. ambient air.

so, i would not recommend to disable the fan 'per se'.

monitor your system and if the temperature is low enough, you can test without this fan.

Update

according to your link, it's the "side intake" for the "VGA Air Cooling System", grab GPU-Z and monitor your video card. then disconnect the fan and have an eye on the temperature, see if it will increase significantly.

If the fan is too noisy it might be faulty (the fan is specced for 15 dBA, which is very quiet), contact the vendor and ask for a replacement fan, the case is rather expensive, you'd expect quality here.

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  • I think usually there is no Fan on the side door , so i think system can work with that but i am not sure. It was not there in my previous case
    – Mirage
    Jan 22, 2010 at 0:42
  • @Mirage - updated my answer.
    – Molly7244
    Jan 22, 2010 at 0:59
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I agree that if the fan is noisy you should consider replacing it with a properly functioning one. However, are you sure that the noise is coming from the side intake fan? I mean no offense if you are sure, I only mention it because in the past I have misidentified the source of fan noise.

Being right next to your video card, it may be the fan on your video card that gets loud as it ramps up under load and the sound just comes out the adjacent vent.

You can disconnect the side fan for a short period of time and verify that the noise goes away. With as many other fans as that case has you'll be fine for the time it takes to test. But @Molly is correct, you should use some kind of software to monitor the temperature of the card with the fan connected and again with it disconnected to determine the actual difference.

Airflow is critical to extending the life of your computer's expensive components. It will save you money in the long run to replace noisy fans with quality replacements.

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  • the @ sign only works in comments. if you leave a comment to an answer and you wish to notify another person than the author of the answer (who will be notified automatically), you'll use @<user name> :)
    – Molly7244
    Jan 22, 2010 at 2:30
  • Actually the FAN is quite big and is made up of heavy Plastic. So the noise is not due to fault but when air strikes the heavy blades , then it make the noise
    – Mirage
    Jan 22, 2010 at 2:38
  • The size of the fan is not the cause of noise, it is normally caused by the speed and the type & quality of the bearings. I have a case with a fan over twice the size of the one you are referencing and it is whisper quiet. Larger fans are often more quiet than smaller fans because they do not need to spin at such high RPM's in order to move air.
    – Donald Byrd
    Jan 22, 2010 at 2:44
  • Thanks @Molly. I wasn't trying to signal you, just making sure you got props. :)
    – Donald Byrd
    Jan 22, 2010 at 2:45
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Neat setup! I also had noise problems that I mistakenly attributed to a fan, when it was actually caused by a stray cable coming in contact with the fan. A few cable ties did the trick.

Ongle is right, get a temp monitor for your CPU and graphics card first, then try to identify the source be disconnecting/reconnecting individual fans.

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