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todd
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Quality case fans?

Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:20 pm

Need some help choosing some good, quality, low noise case fans please.

I've a rosewill mid-atx case. With front and back 120mm fans. I can also add another 120 on the side. The rosewill fans, especially the front one, have gotten loud.

I'm cooling a stock x2 4600 windsor (89w). Midrange vid card. 2 hdd's. 4 sticks of ram. My temps are fine, just seems to have gotten loud lately.

What brand, speed of fan would you choose for the front, back, and side?

Thanks.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:31 pm

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

I'm using the Scythe S-Flex SFF-21Fs in my P182, controlling them with the mobo BIOS. There's 6 of them in my case and, when throttled down to 1000RPM or so, the noise level is low and the tonality is entirely unobtrusive. Given the dust bunnies I see on the two lower intake fans, they're definitely moving some air.
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SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:35 pm

There are a lot of recommendations around for fans. In general, good sleeve bearings are best suited for low speed quiet fans. fluid dynamic bearings are the best across the range, and ball bearings are the best for high speed fans.
nexus - expensive standard quiet fan
panaflo - quietest at medium flow rates IME. louder ICs hurt their low speed performance (for the 120mm fans)
scythe - their lower RPM series are apparently good
yate loon - best option IME. They are the OEM for nexus. Their fans are very cheap, and they use the same quiet bearings and IC units as the nexus. You can get them with all different connectors if you look around. They don't come in orange, though.
Antec - most people wouldn't recommend these. They tick and have noisy bearings.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:38 pm

For low noise I would avoid Sunon. They make very reliable fans which move a decent amount of air, but they are definitely not quiet.
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Re: Quality case fans?

Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:06 pm

I have a 92mm Antec TriCool. At my distance with the case I can't hear them when it is at medium or low. They are cheap and available if your noise threshold is not as low as others (somehow they seem to be stocked at more places around here).
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:38 am

I run Sycthe S-Flex E, SilenX iXtreme, and ADDA 120's all are excellent, very low noise fans, and each move approximately 45-60 CFM @ 1200 rpm. None have an annoying whine or harmonic. Only issue is price, all run around $15 -$18 ea on the egg or frozen cpu.
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:02 am

Ned: how do those fans compare to the stock Antec TriCools? I've got a P182 too and am quite happy with all of them set to low, but I'm wondering if it can't become even quieter.
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cegras
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:03 am

Yate Loon
Scythe Minebea
Scythe S-Flex
Nexus
Noctua

All are good fans that will be quiet and move a lot of air.
 
Mithent
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:17 am

Note that 'Panaflo' is the old name; modern 'Panaflo' fans are sold by NMB-MAT.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:18 am

Captain Ned wrote:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

I'm using the Scythe S-Flex SFF-21Fs in my P182, controlling them with the mobo BIOS.

SilentPCReview and Madshrimps have great information about the quiestest fans.

I have the S-Flex F (1600 rpm @ 12V), and it is definitely audible whenever its turning. I really like the Global Win NCB fans (~1300rpm @ 12V), which were cheap and great when undervolted/fan controlled. I have two of them swapped into cheap In Win 300W power supplies, and they work great with the built in fan speed control in the power supply. The Global Win NCBs are much quieter than the S-Flex F at the same airflow. The lower speed S-Flex fans might be better. A good 120mm fan becomes pretty much inaudible around 800rpm--which is plenty of airflow for the best heatsinks.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:36 am

I am going to add Papst and Noiseblocker, but good luck finding them in North America.
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mongoosesRawesome
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:59 am

Arctic cooling makes a real nice and quiet case fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186018
 
SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:27 am

mongoosesRawesome wrote:
Arctic cooling makes a real nice and quiet case fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186018

They don't make their own stuff, I wonder who the OEM is on that.
 
GodsMadClown
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:41 am

SpotTheCat wrote:
yate loon - best option IME. ... They don't come in orange, though.


I agree.

http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3851
YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12 Black / Orange
(BACK AND NOW IN BLACK)
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:44 am

The problem I've been having with Scythe's is that they're really not very consistent. I'll get two or three that are great, and then another will stand out above everything else. So I've been using Noctuas. You have to be careful, because they don't do well with resistance to their flow, but they're noise character is as smooth and even as Nexus, and I think they're even quieter. They have a new P12 model, too, which is supposed to handle resistance better. I have a few sitting here that I'm going to try when my S80 gets back from an RMA.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:37 am

http://www.xoxide.com/enermax-marathon- ... 120mm.html

Enermax's Marathon fans with the "Enlobal" bearing are QUIET, and they push good air. My company has been using them, and their 80mm little brothers, to provide extra airflow in our dual-clovertown (first typed cloverfield...whoops) servers. The fact that you can pop the blades off to clean it of dust is REALLY nice.
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SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:13 pm

GodsMadClown wrote:
SpotTheCat wrote:
yate loon - best option IME. ... They don't come in orange, though.


I agree.

http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3851
YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12 Black / Orange
(BACK AND NOW IN BLACK)

heh, the nexus fans are solid orange, including the cases. These are half-there impostors!
 
gerryg
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:35 pm

I've heard some talk about the Tri-cool case fans lately, but manually switching speeds if your needs change throughout the day (ie, web browsing followed by playing the latest 3D shooter while encoding a movie) doesn't seem reasonable. Whatever happened to termally-controlled fans? I got a few (I think Antec?) for a case several years back, probably 80mm fans, and I liked the fact that I only heard them when the system was really pushing it, which was usually while gaming so the audio and music usually drowned it out anyway.

Are there any good thermally-controlled variable speed fans out there? For 120, 92, and 80mm? Or are they not recommended because they're not reliable or something?

Something like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835110014 or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999145

Is what I'm thinking of. I'd certainly pay a few extra dollars for a thermally controlled fan.
 
SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:29 pm

I've never been a fan of the thermally controlled fans. They just never seemed to get it right, and were always on way too high. Most of the thermally controlled fans I have used would only control the top 1/4 of its range. The slow idle speed just wasn't there, which is what a quiet computer needs.

The idea behind the tricool fans is that you can just leave them once you've tuned your system. I don't really like this either, I like to thermally control all of my fans with my bios. I've set up a few p180 computers with the rear case fan on medium, and the front and bottom fans on low. It worked, but the fans tend to be rough at any speed.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:32 pm

Papst fans are great--they last long, run strong and they're pretty damn quiet.

For a cheap 120mm fan, the Antec Tri-Cool fans are nice.
 
SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:04 pm

herothezero wrote:
Papst fans are great--they last long, run strong and they're pretty damn quiet.

For a cheap 120mm fan, the Antec Tri-Cool fans are nice.

The yate loon fans are cheaper and perform better. The lack of 3 speed manual control isn't really worth the worse quality of the cheapo antec fans.

If only antec didn't always feel like putting mediocre fans in their nicest cases.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:35 pm

morphine wrote:
Ned: how do those fans compare to the stock Antec TriCools? I've got a P182 too and am quite happy with all of them set to low, but I'm wondering if it can't become even quieter.

I've got 6 of the F model in my case ticking over at 900 RPM or so and all I hear is a little white noise. I can hear seeks over this noise.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
todd
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:12 pm

I notice newegg doesn't sell many of the recommended fans. The scythe, nmb-mat panaflo, the arctic. That's about it. Where can I get a better selection?

I see the rated noise levels vary considerably. Guess you can't go by the manufacturer's own ratings?

Also, what rpm fan should I use for intake in the front of the case? 800-1000 rpm? More?
What about the rear exhaust? Side?

My cpu idles at 34 C. Case temps 30-35.
 
SpotTheCat
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:51 pm

If you can, I suggest you buy models in the 1200-1400 rpm range and throttle it with your motherboard. At full tilt these models tend to move enough air to keep things cool, but the ICs are designed to be quieter at lower power levels than their high speed siblings.

Use price search engines to find the yate loon fans, they're normally about $4 a piece, and their low speed is about 1300rpm, IIRC
 
mattthemuppet
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:16 pm

SilentPCreview is a very good source of quiet fan info, as mentioned above.

My first preference is Yate Loons - either DS12SL-12 (~550-1200rpm) if your case or if you need a bit more headroom the DS12SM-12 (~650?-1600rpm) would work as well. I can't hear either over ambient at minimum volts (controlled via Speedfan) and up to ~1000rpm they're noticeable but unobtrusive. Bloody loud (to me) at 1600rm though :) For reference, the loudest component in my PC is my suspended 7200.7 IDE HDD, which I can just hear with the case side off. Cheap fans too.

After that, I'd look at the S-Flex range and perhaps Sharkoon fans (the ones with the dimpled blades). I personally wouldn't pay the premium for Nexus and I'd avoid Noctua for case fans as they really struggle with back pressure.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:31 pm

Another vote for Yate Loon. I've got a handful running between two cases.
 
DrCR
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Re: Quality case fans?

Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:44 pm

I went from the "Mad Dog" YLs @5v to the D12SL-12s @5v to the SFF21Es (@ 6v) for my builds, with one rennet Scythe DF in one rig. I haven't tried the Minebea yet, but I consider the quality of the S-Flex over the YLs worth the extra money.

SpotTheCat wrote:
GodsMadClown wrote:
SpotTheCat wrote:
yate loon - best option IME. ... They don't come in orange, though.

I agree.
http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3851
YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SL-12 Black / Orange
(BACK AND NOW IN BLACK)

heh, the nexus fans are solid orange, including the cases. These are half-there impostors!

Here you go. :)
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm ... -3472.html

DrCR

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todd
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Re: Quality case fans?

Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:55 pm

Thanks for the help guys.

Think I'll go with the loons for one box, scythes and artics for another. Mix n' match.
 
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Re: Quality case fans?

Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:00 am

Image
 
Voldenuit
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Re: Quality case fans?

Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:29 am

todd wrote:
Also, what rpm fan should I use for intake in the front of the case? 800-1000 rpm? More?
What about the rear exhaust? Side?


The consensus seems to be to run your case on negative pressure. That means running your exhaust slightly faster than your intake. Since most exhausts are at the back of the case, this also helps with the noise profile, as the rear fan noise is less pronounced to the user.

I'm using two Scythe S-Flex SFF21-E fans in my Silverstone TJ-08 case. Intake runs at 800 rpm w/mobo speed control, and the exhaust runs at 1200 rpm. CPU idle temp 34, load 54C, E8400 overclocked to 3.6 GHz @ 1.325 V (vdroop would drop the Vcore below 1.15 during load at stock voltages :/ ) System NB temp 40C (G35).
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