Hi all,

I know the some of you have sought to silence the actively cooled Mikrotik with aftermarket fans, including Noctua. Being a long time fan of this brand (and in no way affiliated nor have I received anything from them or any other supplier), I'd thought to draw your attention to the release of the NF-A4x20 FLX model 40x40x20mm fan.

Until recently the only 40mm fan from Noctua was 10mm thick which required to seal the gaps with duct tape and what not (viewtopic.php?f=3&t=42772&p=478111&hilit=noctua#p478111) to maintain the airflow, but this new fan is a drop in replacement for the stock fans found on my RB1100AHx2 (see picture below) and will probably also fit e.g. the CCR-models (although I have not tested this).

As you can see in the comparison table below, its specs are a far cry from stock the Symbang D4020V12HB-K-FG, so if you're in a high load environment this may not be the fan for you (then again, you might also be less concerned with noise). *NOTE: these figures are for the D4020V12HB-K model, not the D4020V12HB-K-FG actually fitted in my RB1100AHx2 which, according to the sticker, runs at max 8200 RPM, so the other figures will be slightly lower as well.

Sources:

• * http://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-a4x ... cification
  * https://www.activa.com.tw/uploads/d4020-k.pdf

I've decided to only replace the main fan for now to keep some proven resilience in case the Noctua fan fails or can't keep up (in which case I'll post back). Looking at initial the before and after figures however, temperatures are nicely under control - minus the low pitched whine that the Symbangs give you (which in my SOHO situation is significantly audible outside my utility room); the router is now inaudible outside the utility room (which was the objective).
Before (with Symbang D4020V12HB-K-FG): After (with Noctua NF-A4x20 FLX):
For more information see http://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-a4x20-flx

Thank you for posting about this.

@magchiel

Is the mikrotek still running silent or does the second fan kick in many times ? Just interested I got me such mikrotik here and ordered that NF-A4x20FLX fan to replace the system fan.

That's awesome mate. Thanks for the heads up .

@magchiel

Is the mikrotek still running silent or does the second fan kick in many times ? Just interested I got me such mikrotik here and ordered that NF-A4x20FLX fan to replace the system fan.

It's still running, always silent on the Noctua, never with the second (factory standard) fan kicking in. Today is a hot day with 30 deg ambient temperature in and it's in a uncooled 19" case.