This fan should have a 4-5~ mm diameter ball bearing, which is replaceable. I have a fan of the same make on a Voodoo Banshee which was a bit noisy. Its ball bearing wasn't worn, so a drop of engine oil mixed with a thicker transmission oil did the job, however it had a bigger problem - rattling due to imbalance, which I managed to completely eliminate with a counterweight. Had to play around a bit looking for a right spot to attach the counterweight, but in the end it worked out perfectly.

SSTV2 wrote on 2026-01-01, 02:09:

This fan should have a 4-5~ mm diameter ball bearing, which is replaceable. I have a fan of the same make on a Voodoo Banshee which was a bit noisy. Its ball bearing wasn't worn, so a drop of engine oil mixed with a thicker transmission oil did the job, however it had a bigger problem - rattling due to imbalance, which I managed to completely eliminate with a counterweight. Had to play around a bit looking for a right spot to attach the counterweight, but in the end it worked out perfectly.

Not sure if it's the same size but I bought some of these to replace the bearings in an FX 5950 Ultra last year and they worked great:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3VCBPVV

I actually tried these first and they were really rough and had issues. May have just been a bad batch... I don't know. I got a full refund so it only cost me time at least.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819B49JY?th=1

One thing I will mention is that you have to be careful adding oil indiscriminately to fans that use bearings like this. As far as I can tell, they aren't really designed to be oiled that way. It can work, but it can also allow the bearing itself (the outer metal ring) to slip within the plastic fan housing which can make a terrible, sporadic ticking or scratching sound. I had a fan do this once after I oiled it. To fix it I had to dismantle the fan completely and clean all of the oil out of it (I did not spray or clean out the inside of the bearing itself... just everything else).

Because of this I have actually grown to really appreciate simple sleeve bearing fans. Just pop them open, clean them out, apply some oil, reassemble, and they tend to be good to go for a long time. The ones with removable bearings like the ones linked above can be nice but the bearings themselves are a lot more finicky and harder to correct if they start to get noisy.

Also, something else I learned, which seems kind of obvious now but at the time was an "ahhh..." moment... when you see a fan labeled as "dual ball bearing" or "double ball bearing", it means that there are two of these ring shaped bearing assemblies in the fan... usually one at one end of the shaft and one at the other, probably to keep it spinning perfectly straight. If you replace one bearing, you will want to be sure you check for another one deeper inside the fan. If you just have the one removable bearing and you see a copper ring further inside, then it would have a single ball bearing plus a copper sleeve bearing (not sure if there is a better term for this).

For some reason I've always had a hard time visualizing what these terms meant because to me a ball bearing is the steel ball itself, not the ring shaped casing with the balls in it.

Those bearings are a bit bigger than what I had in that fan, it looked just comical in comparison.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-01, 07:46:

One thing I will mention is that you have to be careful adding oil indiscriminately to fans that use bearings like this. As far as I can tell, they aren't really designed to be oiled that way. It can work, but it can also allow the bearing itself (the outer metal ring) to slip within the plastic fan housing which can make a terrible, sporadic ticking or scratching sound. I had a fan do this once after I oiled it. To fix it I had to dismantle the fan completely and clean all of the oil out of it (I did not spray or clean out the inside of the bearing itself... just everything else).

Because of this I have actually grown to really appreciate simple sleeve bearing fans. Just pop them open, clean them out, apply some oil, reassemble, and they tend to be good to go for a long time. The ones with removable bearings like the ones linked above can be nice but the bearings themselves are a lot more finicky and harder to correct if they start to get noisy.

I know what you mean, but this noise is caused by the excess of the thin oil that's sloshing inside the bearing and it usually stops once the ball bearing "breaks-in" after some use or dries up again. A thicker oil would last longer and prevent the occasional scratching noise, but adding it is quite difficult due to the narrow gaps between the dust covers and the center ring.

I'm not a fan of sleeve bearings, they might be easier to service initially, but once they wear out, finding an exact replacement is almost impossible (replacement process is no easier) and it's no fun when a proprietary fan, like in the OP's case, fails, meanwhile ball bearing fans can be kept running for a lifetime. I was so relieved to find a ball bearing inside that Voodoo's fan, if it had a sleeve bearing, I'd be forced to constantly service it. Just my two cents.

SSTV2 wrote on 2026-01-01, 19:02:

Those bearings are a bit bigger than what I had in that fan, it looked just comical in comparison. […]
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Those bearings are a bit bigger than what I had in that fan, it looked just comical in comparison.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-01, 07:46:

One thing I will mention is that you have to be careful adding oil indiscriminately to fans that use bearings like this. As far as I can tell, they aren't really designed to be oiled that way. It can work, but it can also allow the bearing itself (the outer metal ring) to slip within the plastic fan housing which can make a terrible, sporadic ticking or scratching sound. I had a fan do this once after I oiled it. To fix it I had to dismantle the fan completely and clean all of the oil out of it (I did not spray or clean out the inside of the bearing itself... just everything else).

Because of this I have actually grown to really appreciate simple sleeve bearing fans. Just pop them open, clean them out, apply some oil, reassemble, and they tend to be good to go for a long time. The ones with removable bearings like the ones linked above can be nice but the bearings themselves are a lot more finicky and harder to correct if they start to get noisy.

I know what you mean, but this noise is caused by the excess of the thin oil that's sloshing inside the bearing and it usually stops once the ball bearing "breaks-in" after some use or dries up again. A thicker oil would last longer and prevent the occasional scratching noise, but adding it is quite difficult due to the narrow gaps between the dust covers and the center ring.

I'm not a fan of sleeve bearings, they might be easier to service initially, but once they wear out, finding an exact replacement is almost impossible (replacement process is no easier) and it's no fun when a proprietary fan, like in the OP's case, fails, meanwhile ball bearing fans can be kept running for a lifetime. I was so relieved to find a ball bearing inside that Voodoo's fan, if it had a sleeve bearing, I'd be forced to constantly service it. Just my two cents.

Regarding sleeve vs ball bearings, it really depends on the design. A well maintained sleeve bearing that can be oiled is significantly easier to keep running for a long time than a ball bearing fan that is built in such a way that the bearings cannot be removed, since their problems usually can't just be fixed by adding oil. In my experience, if a fan starts making scratching noises after oiling it, it doesn't go away on its own unless we're talking many hours of use (I have never been able to stand listening to that noise for long enough for it to go away, haha). If the bearings can be removed and the outside of the housing can be cleaned that seems to fix it. With a sleeve bearing, even if it's a cheap fan with nowhere to put oil I have drilled a tiny hole, added oil, covered it with electrical tape and the fan runs flawlessly.

Sleeve vs ball bearing also depends how much use it's going to get, and how long it will be used that way. For occasional retro gaming spread out over decades, I feel like a sleeve bearing will hold up just fine if it gets periodic oiling. If it's going to be used in an arcade machine or you plan to run the system for dozens of hours per week for many years, then yeah, a ball bearing would be preferable as long as the fan design allows for them to be replaced.

One other thing is if you get your parts from less than ideal sources, such as scrap lots or E-waste facilities, there's a chance that a fan has been neglected or exposed to the elements. If it has ball bearings and they have even a slight amount of rust, they are going to be shot and will need to be replaced (if possible), where as a sleeve bearing is normally copper or bronze, won't rust or corrode as easily and tends to just need cleaning and a bit of oil to work like new.

Ideally, old video card fans would use nearly silent and easily replaceable ball bearings with only a couple varieties so that high quality replacements could be found easily... sadly, at least one of those is often not the case.

SSTV2 wrote on 2026-01-01, 02:09:

This fan should have a 4-5~ mm diameter ball bearing, which is replaceable. I have a fan of the same make on a Voodoo Banshee which was a bit noisy. Its ball bearing wasn't worn, so a drop of engine oil mixed with a thicker transmission oil did the job, however it had a bigger problem - rattling due to imbalance, which I managed to completely eliminate with a counterweight. Had to play around a bit looking for a right spot to attach the counterweight, but in the end it worked out perfectly.

I'll try reoiling and if that doesn't work, great idea on the ballbearing replacement. Thanks!

Re-oiling worked great to quiet down that fan.