Still Haven't Decided on Fans

[MrLarkins]

I still haven't decided on which fans to get for my setup. I will need 2x120mm. I prefer a good balance of cool and quite, leaning to the quite side of things.

I've decided to go with the following parts:

Black ICE Pro II Radiator (purchased)
D-TEK Fuzion Univerals CPU Waterblock (purchased)
XSPC 5.25" Bay Reservoir (purchased)
Tygon Silver 1/2" ID tubing (purchased)
Swiftech MCW60 VGA Cooling Water-block with Ramsinks (purchased)
Swiftech MCP-350 Pump (awaiting funding)
Petra'sTech DDCT-01s Custom Delrin DDC Pump Top (purchased)
2x120mm Fans (undecided)


and i'm tired of looking at all the choices, flow and decibel numbers. who has some experience i can listen to? :confused:

oh, i will be cooling the rig in my sig.

[Maviryk]

Medium speed Yate Loons.

[billb]

I still haven't decided on which fans to get for my setup. I will need 2x120mm. I prefer a good balance of cool and quite, leaning to the quite side of things.With rads, more air = more cooling...period.

Sorry, but without doing the calculations, it's a shot in the dark.
http://thermal-management-testing.com/
'http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77260
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=12581&highlight=optimal+120
http://www.matbe.com/articles/lire/146/comparatif-de-27-ventilateurs-120-millimetres/page1.php

[darkcow]

Medium speed Yate Loons.


true dat, they're quiet, they push air well, and above all you can get 4 fans for the price of 1 of the other kind usually. :thup:


i own 6 and i undervolted the ones in my wooden case to 7v. pure silence. its awesome.

[MrLarkins]

Medium speed Yate Loons.
how reliable are they? i hate it when fans die out after 6 to 12 months
oh, and my setup has fans pulling..i could change it up if pushing works better

[synthetic_fenix]

IM a big fan of my Sanyo Denki's that im using. I have them on a switch board that I can switch them between 7 and 12 volts. When they are running at 7v they are silent. And the only time i have to switch them to 12v is when Im at large lan parties.

[Yuriman]

I bought 18 Yate Loons a while back, the ones with about 50cfm of airflow. At the time, they were the quietest 120mm fan you could get, and at $1.50 each I couldn't resist. Now, you can get Noctua fans that are quieter (and potentially push a bit more air), but about 10x more expensive.

[MrLarkins]

wow, those Noctua NF-S12-1200 fans looks like exactly what I need. i don't mind paying the extra...they look like they are worth the extra $$$.

http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3629

http://www.oskgaming.com/images/Lark/noctua120mmfan.jpg

[JamesXP]

I've never seen anyone use them/reccomend them fans, and i'm calling bs on that noise,

Just get some yate loons.

[Maviryk]

I have used Sanyo Denkis at 7volts. If you're using a thick heatercore, I'd recommend them, but for a BIPII I'd just use Yate Loons. Less motor whine.

[voigts]

Another vote for yate loon d12sl-12 fans. They will work fine with a BIX pro. They are inexpensive, reliable, and quiet. I also call those numbers on those Noctua fans fantasy. Yate loons also undervolt all the way down to 4v with no mechanical clicking but will still start up.

[Otter]

I agree with Voigts on both the d12sl-12's and the Nocturna numbers. The Loon (and most of the other fans) skunked the Nocturna in this test.
Look at this chart: http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2690/picture9xw0.png
from this thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=137832

[QuietIce]

I prefer the Scythe S-Flex fans myself - very quiet fans for what they move ...
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/scsf63cfms12.html

[Weary Memory]

For price & performance you can't beat the Yate Loon's, but if cost is not an issue then go with Scythe S-Flex or Noctua. For me, I'm totally happy with the 3 YL's I have running presently....quiet and efficient.

[Sam__]

i just looked on ebay til a high cfm one came up.....turned out to be a server fan that moved 110cfm lol..:D
i did have to re-wire it tho.

[MrLarkins]

ok,i purchased 2 120mm Yate Loon's from www.xoxide.com.

thanks!:clap:

[Tekko]

Noctua are godly casefan but as soon as you apply resistence they go bust, for a rad I wouls second the sanyo Denki bit hard to find now but with 9 in my case at 7v my Iwaki is still the noisiest part of my loop and it's not that noisy

[Fushyuguru]

ok,i purchased 2 120mm Yate Loon's from www.xoxide.com (http://www.xoxide.com).

thanks!:clap:

Great purchase. I always recommend the Yate Loons (same exact fans as the rebranded Nexus Silent fans for $15).

If you read SilentPCReview (best fan reviews out there), the Noctua's numbers are the real deal. They do say there is some sort of odd noise present that many of the other fans dont have. Barely noticable, but they just couldn't note what it was exactly.

I also always recommend the Scythe S-Flex fans. I use them on my radiators, either the med or high speed on a fan controller. The fluid dynamic bearings are super quiet with a great MTBF. I have yet to have one fail, going on 1.5 years. Then I use the Yate Loons everywhere else.

[C38368]

I third the S-Flex recommendation. They're more expensive than I'd like to admit paying for, but they do undervolt in a very lovely way and are pretty quiet. I use "F" series (the highest RPM) and undervolt them to ~990RPM. On the GTS rad that I have, I could probably get away with an "E", but I like the extra overhead the "Fs" have.

Yate-Loons are my favourite ambient case fans, though. Cuz they're CHEEP! :)

[billb]

This test (and any others I can find) seem to indicate that higher CFM fans yield more cooling...period.

http://www.thermochill.com/PATesting/

While lower CFM fans may provide enough cooling to keep temps "reasonable" for typical desktop users, for high end, overclocked, gamming, or benchmarking systems, a little attention to fan selection will go a long way towards assuring acceptable (maximum?) cooling.

If you want to believe posts that say "Yeah, get XXXXX fans, they work great" without any data to back that up, I say wake up and smell the roses.

[Fushyuguru]

If you want to believe posts that say "Yeah, get XXXXX fans, they work great" without any data to back that up, I say wake up and smell the roses.

Data is always nice. Though theres always more constraints involved than raw performance (otherwise we would all rock overly expensive, 60dB boxes). Lets face it, for items like fans, fan/rad combos, the data just doesn't exist. You're pretty safe taking the somewhat opinionated concensus when it comes to fans. As long as the price/performance curve fits your needs.

Again, some of the best fan reviews can be forund at SilentPCReviews if you want reliable scrutiny. Their results seem to back up the consensus. Go figure.

[Weary Memory]

I agree that data is nice as well, however isn't the whole idea of being members of a forum such as this is to share our direct experiences? Nothing beats hands on experience with the equipment. I like good cooling capabilities from my fans as much as next person, but I don't want to be sitting next to a build that sounds like a jet engine. For many of us it's all about balance.

[billb]

For many of us it's all about balance.And that's the point.
Deciding what you want and then getting it.
I take " XYZXYZ fans are the greatest" to be a foolhearty statement. Greatest for what?

[ARCJr]

I have both Noctua and Scythe fans in my PCs. As has been said before the Noctuas are great case fans for silence (yes, they really are as quiet as you've read) but they aren't very good at all for rads or heat sinks. I'd recommend the lower speed Scythes for a rad for airflow with very low noise, if you want to pay the money. I have no first hand experience with Yate-Loons, so I can't say.

[Yuriman]

I realize you've already bought the fans, but here's something to consider. While the Yate Loons are plenty for my rig, they probably lose half of their CFM when you stick them on a radiator. My Panaflo 38x120's, however, don't lose nearly any CFM at all... though I still use the Loon's for noise reasons.

[PearlJammzz]

How good would some of the high-cfm fans (110cfm 120x38mm fans for example) work when hooked up to a fan controller?

I guess my question is, will this high output/loud fans be a lot more silent when turned down yet still push decent amounts of air for their noise? Almost sounds like THE way to go to fine-tune your setup...

[Otter]

Check out this test of 26 fans, PearlJammzz.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=137832

Also keep in mind, though, that some fans make odd and annoying noises when undervolted, or just won't start, and many make clicking noises on PWM. One of the reasons the Yate Loons are so popular with silencers is that they'll start at 4 volts and don't hum or click at all.

[QuietIce]

Yeah - my Delta's make some odd noises on the PWM but it's the first time I've under-volted fans. Maybe I need to try a rheostat ...

[Sam__]

my tornado is fine undervolted.

[PearlJammzz]

Very nice read, I am looking at a fan controller and a 120x120x32 FM122. Wonder how loud 3 of them would be though, haha.

[billb]

How good would some of the high-cfm fans (110cfm 120x38mm fans for example) work when hooked up to a fan controller?

I guess my question is, will this high output/loud fans be a lot more silent when turned down yet still push decent amounts of air for their noise? Almost sounds like THE way to go to fine-tune your setup...Be carefull. alot of those high output cans draw alot of power, more than some controller can supply. Check the specs of the fan(s) and controller before you buy.

Read this to find the answer to your second question.
Use Google translate:
http://www.matbe.com/articles/lire/146/comparatif-de-27-ventilateurs-120-millimetres/page1.php

Generally, no. The CFM/dB ratio of undervolted high output fans is not as good as that for those fans specifically designed for quiet operation.

But, if you want 150+ CFMs, then a high output, noisy fan is the only option, and when you're not benchmarking/gamming, a rheostat becomes you ear's best friend

[PearlJammzz]

Thanks for that link, it seems there is a 5-10 percent increase in dB on most fans that are higher power, but under-volted.

I am looking at this to control my fans:
http://www.petrastechshop.com/surhfanspcob.html
Looks good, anyone have any thoughts? I looked at the Lian-Li one due to me having a V1200 but they don't appear very good in controls or anything.

I am basically looking to turn it down when it's not needed, drop it to 7v or whatever, then of course when gaming and whatnot the extra noise shouldn't be a problem. Would 3x120x32 110CFM fans be a little overkill on just a CPU cool? It's a Q6600..

[billb]

http://www.petrastechshop.com/surhfanspcob.html

Would 3x120x32 110CFM fans be a little overkill on just a CPU cool? It's a Q6600..Yeah, that's OK. You could do it with just a rheostat or two though.
http://www.cpemma.co.uk/rheo.html

Sorry, but without doing the calculations, it's a shot in the dark.

[PearlJammzz]

Hmmm I'll have to look into it, thanks for that link. Still sounds like that buying a bunch of fans and testing it out for myself is the way to get the best noise/performance ratio.