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Need a 120mm fan software controllable to near silent

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WeaponX6X

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Location
UT
I'm looking for a 120mm fan that I can control through my motherboard using Speedfan. No rheostats or any of that goodness. I'ld like the fan to be near silent(under 30 dB maybe?) if desired. Any ideas of what can do this?
 
nexus is the way to go or voltmod the one you have already. 7volt should lower noise a bit. Also Papst if you can find them are great.
 
If your going to connect it to your motherboard, the only thing your really limited by is the amperage output of the motherboard. I would find that out, then buy a fan based on that. Also, the fan is probably going to need an rpm wire.

I would stay clear of the vantec stealth. Nexus would be a good choice, or Papst. I would reccomend a Panaflo low, but most don't have rpm wires.

Is this for your case or cpu? I would try and get a 38mm deep fan, as they usually create more pressure than 25mm deep fans.
 
Generally, you don't need RPM wire for Speedfan. All silent fans seem to be low-power, so there's no risk of connecting them to mobo (let's say, 4W). And even if you have something more powerful, it's easy to do a simple mod to allow any fan be controlled by speedfan (controllers guide).

Some fans give pretty nasty noise, when Speedfan is used to lower their speeds. A bigger capacitor should do the job.
 
Lan_Of_Malkier said:
How would it determine how to lower the fan if it is using speed fan with NO rpm wire, unless you can manually adjust voltage?

It's not needed:
- Speedfan controls fans using PWM (perhaps some newer mobos have better possibilities)
- manual settings are quiet obvious
- auto settings are strictly temperature-related

There's no check for fan speed.
 
yea, many fans report the wrong rpm anyway when undervolted. to find rpm, a current passes through two metal plates in the fan, one on the fan chassi, and one on the rotating part. the number of passes in a given period of time tells rpm, however at lower voltages, the fan sometimes cant pass the current. (just read this on the speedfan website last night :)) I have no reccomendations for you, but personally, i'd just get the cheapest 3 pin fan available.
 
it depends on your definition of silence - for a real silent computer, nexus is the only option you should consider. other possibilities are glacialtech (hard to find) and coolermaster (led or uv, but sometimes have bearing noise), neither are as consistently quiet as the nexus.

if you're looking for a ~30 dba system though, any old fan will suffice when the rpms are lowered. find the cheapest 3-pin 120mm fan you can that's not over 2400 rpm or so at stock, and see how it responds. the only problem with the nexus is how much it costs.
 
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