Is the Noctua Fan Quiet? What Are Other Ways of Reducing Noise on MiSTer?

[Malor]

There is no stock fan. There's only what each individual vendor decides to use. The socket is for a 40x10mm fan, but what fan actually gets put there depends on who you buy it from. Legacypixels, for instance, uses lousy sleeve bearing fans, which are loud and will typically fail within a year or so. Mine didn't last five months.

[legacypixels]

All Legacypixels I/O boards include a DE10 heatsink and a basic cooling fan at no additional cost. Should a fan fail prematurely, we will cheerfully replace it at no charge.

[Stinky]

It hurts nothing to put a heat sink and fan on it, and it's added peace of mind, say if it's accidentally left running for extended periods, and you can be sure heat isn't the source of any glitches one experiences.

I only run a heatsink, no fan. My device is never turned off I leave it running, it's been on constantly for over a year running Amiga, ao486, neogeo and psx all very demanding cores. De10 Nano doesn't even have a fan header.

[Malor]

All Legacypixels I/O boards include a DE10 heatsink and a basic cooling fan at no additional cost. Should a fan fail prematurely, we will cheerfully replace it at no charge.

All sleeve bearing fans fail prematurely. That's their nature. Nobody who cares about what they sell should be including them.

Pretty much any dual ball bearing fan, which normally only cost a dollar or two more, will last at least five years, and sometimes much longer. Fluid or rifle bearing fans, which are too expensive to use without a significant upcharge, can last twenty years or more.

The $15 Noctua fan from this thread is a combination of a fluid and maglev bearing; I have no idea what the wear profile is like, but I would hazard a guess that one might well outlive its buyer.

[DiamondDave]

There is no stock fan. There's only what each individual vendor decides to use. The socket is for a 40x10mm fan, but what fan actually gets put there depends on who you buy it from. Legacypixels, for instance, uses lousy sleeve bearing fans, which are loud and will typically fail within a year or so. Mine didn't last five months.

I've had one of his digital boards for nearly two years, the fan runs silently and I've had no issues

[Malor]

Then you've gotten exceptionally lucky, aren't leaving your Mister running, or both.

[thisisamigaspeaking]

At least one of the Aliexpress complete system sellers offers (or did when I was looking) a Noctua option and I'd love to see that from western sellers. To me when I get one of these kind of very inexpensive fans on a piece of electronics it's just something I have to remove, replace, and throw away. Whether it's necessary to have a fan at all, or even a heat sink, is another question. If you are on a tight budget and don't care about the hobby element of cooling systems, obviously do what you want - I'm not going to say it's necessary because I have no idea. For me I enjoy putting Noctua fans any place they will fit.