Small axial fans have become widely used as cooling devices in recent years. Because of their increasing importance, studies have been conducted on ways to improve the performance and reduce the noise of such fans. In this report, a small axial fan with a diameter of 85 mm (a type popularity used in personal computer or workstation) was selected for further examination. The influence on aerodynamic performance and noise of such frame design parameters as blade tip clearance results in a decrease of discrete frequency noise and an increase of broad-spectrum noise. As for the most suitable design refinement in terms of fan efficiency, we found that the treatment of outlet corner roundness and altering spoke skew to the direction counter to that of fan rotation was effective.