Replacing a fan on a 212 Evo

[UberGerbil]

So I have a CM 212 EVO HSF that is about a year old. Recently it has developed a faint chatter -- not the whine of a bearing going bad, more like a rubbing of a blade or the hub. This isn't consistent -- sometimes it goes away after a power cycle -- but this fan has always been the noisiest in the case (the only one I can actually hear). So I'm planning on replacing it before it gets really annoying. A while back in this thread flip-mode mentioned replacing the stock fan with a Noctua NF-P12. I'm wondering if anyone has done with any other fans they'd recommend -- I have nothing against the Noctua, but I'd prefer a PWM fan so that the BIOS can control it.

Incidentally, I think part of the reason I noticed this was because the fan controller running all but one of the case fans died (I was rather surprised when I opened the case and saw only one case fan spinning). This was the "stock" fan controller that comes with some Fractal Design cases (an Arc Mini). Not a big deal -- I'm not overclocking and I currently don't even have a discrete GPU in that system so the fans were overkill anyway -- but with less airflow in the case I imagine the heatsink fan was spinning at higher RPMs and thus the noise was exaggerated. And rather sad that what amounts to a pot and a few connectors couldn't last a little longer.

[auxy]

You definitely need one of these! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835213001

I have four of them in my case. ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

I'm also deaf!
^{(No, not really. I mean, I'm not really deaf. I really do have four of those in my case.)}

[Krogoth]

Just get any low-RPM 120mm fan with a PWM header and be done with it.

If you want more reliability at the expense of noise-level, get a ball-bearing fan. Sleeve bearing fans are more quiet, but are more prone to failure.

[Flying Fox]

Too bad Scythe is out in USA, but there are still some available if you look hard enough.

[Arclight]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835103069

Should be about the same....but it's 10 bucks, you can't argue with that. Buy 2 for the price of a single Noctua. Highly unlikely that none of them will work as advertised.

If you want an upgrade though, there is no way around it and you need to spend more for a Noctua or w/e. I haven't read fan reviews in a while so idk which one is the best for heatsinks at 2000 RPM or lower. Usually it's recommended to buy bigger fans (140mm) with 120mm frame but idk if the clamping mechanism of your cooler allows that.

[auxy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069

76 CFM?! (ﾟДﾟ;)ﾉ Garbage!
Go Delta or go home. (◡‿◡✿)

[Arclight]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069

76 CFM?! (ﾟДﾟ;)ﾉ Garbage!
Go Delta or go home. (◡‿◡✿)

The Delta fan you recommended would short the mobo. Not to mention that it has a thickness of 38mm which would make it incompatible with the fan retetion mechanism of the CM Hyper Evo. Sure you could improvise something, but would you trust that beast on the CPU cooler with a makeshift retention clip?

[JohnC]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069

76 CFM?! (ﾟДﾟ;)ﾉ Garbage!
Go Delta or go home. (◡‿◡✿)

Well, San Ace also makes pretty powerful fans... Might be a lil' bit noisy, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sioHeb4JBE&sns=em

[JustAnEngineer]

Choose one of these 120x25mm PWM fans with a top speed between 1300 and 2000 rpm.

You could get a Noctua NF-P12 PWM or NF-F12 PWM.

[auxy]

Well, San Ace also makes pretty powerful fans... Might be a lil' bit noisy, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sioHeb4JBE&sns=em :wink:

Hehe, not bad. That requires 36-60VDC tho; won't even spin up with 12v, lol. ┐(￣ー￣)┌

The Delta fan you recommended would short the mobo.

It uses 4-pin molex connector. It won't "short" the mobo anyway, because the 3pin connector only has one wire for fan monitoring.

Not to mention that it has a thickness of 38mm which would make it incompatible with the fan retention mechanism of the CM Hyper Evo.

I haven't seen the "Hyper Evo", but the Hyper212 I've used had the rubber peg type which doesn't care how thick the fan is.┐(‘～`；)┌

[Arclight]

It uses 4-pin molex connector. It won't "short" the mobo anyway, because the 3pin connector only has one wire for fan monitoring.

Would you consider the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 a good motherboard?

Well then let's have a look in the User's Manual. At page 22 it says:

The CPU_FAN connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power

Power specs for the Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 120mm Case cooler:

Input Current : 2.45 Amp

Input Power : 29.4 Watt

I'm not an expert but at full tilt that fan will not have enough juice. That said, i'm no electrician so idk what would happen in this situation but after googling a bit many claimed they have fried their motherboard headers because of this.

Feel free to bring arguments as to why i'm wrong.

I haven't seen the "Hyper Evo", but the Hyper212 I've used had the rubber peg type which doesn't care how thick the fan is.┐(‘～`；)┌

If you haven't seen it, then please do

[just brew it!]

It uses 4-pin molex connector. It won't "short" the mobo anyway, because the 3pin connector only has one wire for fan monitoring.

Would you consider the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 a good motherboard?

Well then let's have a look in the User's Manual. At page 22 it says:

The CPU_FAN connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power

4 pin Molex. The fan in question doesn't plug into the motherboard, it connects directly to the PSU.

[Arclight]

It uses 4-pin molex connector. It won't "short" the mobo anyway, because the 3pin connector only has one wire for fan monitoring.

Would you consider the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 a good motherboard?

Well then let's have a look in the User's Manual. At page 22 it says:

The CPU_FAN connector supports the CPU fan of maximum 1A (12W) fan power

4 pin Molex. The fan in question doesn't plug into the motherboard, it connects directly to the PSU.

Oh, guess i feel stupid now. Fair enough, but can the fan clips of the Evo keep it in place due to the extra thickness? It also costs $30. OP didn't say much about budget but that's not exactly a cheap fan.

[Captain Ned]

What're ya'll talking about? OP needs one of these!
http://www.aikencolon.com/assets/images ... 1000-2.jpg
2hp, 8350CFM @ 50Pa!

[vargis14]

I picked up 4 of these just a few months ago. Build quality is fantastic, I bought mine in black. Orange too tacky for me
COUGAR CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation
as for lasting 300,000hrs or 25+years i do not know about that but they work great on my h60 type closed loop water cooler in push pull along with 2 in the side panel as intakes for cooling my GPU's and motherboards VRMs etc.

They are also 4$ cheaper then when i bought them. They now cost $13.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835553002

They are very quiet and push a decent amount of air. With 4 at 100% I hear a very low pitch airflow noise. At 60% and under they are silent. In a HAF 922 case that is pretty good since they have only 1 solid panel on the whole case, the front of the case is mesh and the side, top and rear is very large honeycomb design. Great for airflow Bad for sound dampening.

[derFunkenstein]

At some point I guess I felt like I didn't have enough fans so I bought two 4-packs of Cooler Master R4's. They're only 3-pin, so depending on your mobo it might not control the speeds all that well, but they're fairly quiet and they move as much air as my Hyper 212 Plus (which I got before the EVO came out)

[GeForce6200]

For a different seletion than newegg I go to Frozen CPU as they carry some brands Newegg doesn't, such as Scythe: http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g36/c36 ... o=title_az

[flip-mode]

You could get a Noctua NF-P12 PWM

This is what I put on my 212 Evo. The fan that came with the 212 Evo was too loud from day 1. I'm too damn sensitive to PC noise. The NF-P12 is a great fan, though. With a little bit of fan speed control applied, it cannot be heard.

[auxy]

Tested just now; the fan that I suggested does fit on a Hyper212 with the plastic clips.（・∀・）I think I was thinking of a different heatsink (Xigmatek?) with the rubber peg design.

THAT SAID, it was only a HHOS ("ha-ha, only serious") suggestion, a bit tongue-in-cheek.（⌒▽⌒）It doesn't have PWM control after all, which was one of the OP's requirements. (Although with a fan that powerful, you should really be using a fan controller anyway...)

Some years ago I bought a few dozen IPCQUEEN 120mm PWM fans from Newegg with a nice bulk discount. (My brother and I have a small home business doing PC maintenance and repair). It appears they don't carry the model anymore; it's actually a ball-bearing fan and pretty cheap, too. I usually use those for customers' PCs; it's pretty quiet for a cheap fan, but the Noctuas will be quieter.

[Starfalcon]

I used one of these delta screamers http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/del80ffb08123.html on my on my rig for nearly 4 years. Kept my barton XP nice and cool, but it was an extremely loud dang fan.

[auxy]

Kept my barton XP nice and cool, but it was an extremely loud dang fan.

Hehehee! (*≧艸≦) The 120mm fans don't *seem* as loud as the old 80mm, but that's probably because the pitch is lower. They're still pretty freaking loud. ヘ（。□°）ヘ