120mm Fan Choice for X2 and SI 120, Quiet setup

Basically what the title says. I'm pretty close to deciding on an X2 setup cooled by a SI 120. However, I still can't decide on a fan to set on top of it. I'm going for a quiet setup, I've had loud pc's in the past and I know they bug the heck out of me. I'll be getting either a CM Stacker or a TT Armor so I have support for 120mm case fans- I'll probably be using some of these: http://www.svc.com/suf-s12-eb-19.html 22dba goodness.

For my heatsink fan, I do not want to go much above 30dba, if at all. I have a leaning towards 38mm thick fans because of the pressure, but I'm not 100% sure if it matters with this heatsink, and the X2 running so cool. I'm also not entirely sure just how much cfm I need to keep the temps down, and where it just starts becoming too loud for the potential benefits.

I'll probably be running a straight duct from the side of the case to the fan as well for cooler temps- but I'm guessing that this would mean that the fan noise would be less muffled, so quiet = good!

Anyways, here is a roundup of potentials as I see it now. Suggestions outside of these choices would be welcome!

For 38mm thick fans, highest cfm/dba to lowest:

1) Delta Triple Blade low speed, 75.93 CFM @ 2000 RPM, 34.0 dBA. http://sidewindercomputers.com/de12trbllows1.html This is the loudest/most cfm fan out of my choices. Not sure if I want to go this loud. I have a Panaflo medium in my wife's pc, and at 36dba I find it pretty loud (it is a case fan, not heatsink fan.)

2) Panaflo Ultra Quiet, 68.9 CFM @ 1700 RPM, 30 dBA. http://sidewindercomputers.com/pa12ulqu.html

3) Cooler Master AAF-B12-E1, 56.1 CFM @ 1200 RPM, 23 dBA. http://www.svc.com/aaf-b12-e1.html At first glance this looks like a great balance of cfm/dba, but it looks a wee bit too heavy for a heatsink fan- 420g, ouch!



For 25mm fans, again from highest cfm/dba to lowest:

1) Evercool Aluminum 120mm, 79 CFM @ 2000 RPM, ~30 dBA. http://www.svc.com/12aocalframc.html

2) Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm, 78 CFM @ 2000 RPM, 21 dBA. http://www.svc.com/a1928-14.html And no, I do not believe that dBA measurement. Its probably closer to 30.

3) Vantec 120mm Stealth, 53 CFM @ 1500 RPM, 28 dBA. http://sidewindercomputers.com/va12stfan.html

4) Cooler Master 120mm UV Silent fan, 43 CFM @ 1220, 22 dBA. http://www.svc.com/suf-s12-eb-19.html




Hopefully this thread may also help some others who are also seeking quiet air cooling.

Thanks

Panaflo Ultra Quiet.

Give the Big Typhoon a look at as well. Good quiet fan and good cooling as well.

I've seen the Big Typhoon in person and was impressed- the only thing about it is the weight. Its pretty darn heavy.

I have two of the 120mm aluminum evercool fans and I think they are pretty loud at full speed, but at 7v they are very quiet and still push a good ammount of air.
I would be skeptical of that UV Cooler Master fan as well as that Tt Thunderblade because they are sleeve bearing fans and the two sleave bearing fans I've had (a 92mm Tt smart fan II and an 80mm Silverstone) both make funny high pitched noises after not a very long period of time. The ball bearing fans are just much more durable. I never thought that durability would be an issue, but I found out the hard way...
I've had a Panaflo medium flow 92mm and a 35db 92mm Sany Denki and both were fairly quiet when tamed down a little bit, but I'm kinda like you Chaos, I don't really like anything at or above about 30db; just too much noise.
I'd probably agree with Know Nuttin about the Panaflo Ultra Quiet. The Big Typhoon has also yielded good results and has a quiet fan, so that would also be worth a look.

The key with the 120mm fan and heatsinks is to get a fan with enough air pressure (nor air flow) that will cool well. That's why the 38mm thick fans are so popular, they usually have greater air pressure, but are usually also louder.
I would also suggest some kind of a fan speed controller (either home made or store bought) so you can tame the speed and sound of your fan(s), I am really glad I have my fans on speed controllers. That way you are not limited so much as to which fan to get and you can always run it up faster if you need.

Hmm that's interesting about the sleeve fans. I have a bunch of what is basically the 80mm version of those CM UV fans in my "Megatron" pc, and they've been very quiet. No weird high pitched sounds here. Must be luck of the draw. I'll definitely keep your warning in mind though!

Actually, if I were to not use those as case fans, do you happen to have a suggestion for other quiet 120mm fans that have a similar cfm/dba level? Or a good fan controller? I haven't tried using one before, wouldn't want to buy something that was junk (unlikely though, with the amount of research I usually do before a purchase...)

Back on subject, sounds like the Panaflo Ultra Quiet is preferred so far.

Chaos_Being said:

(unlikely though, with the amount of research I usually do before a purchase...)

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Yeah, I hear ya, I research products SO much before every purchase. It's just a habit I think.

Anyway, I went with the Sunbeam Rheobus and it works GREAT. The LED's are infact pretty damn bright, but I have a case door so it's not bad for me. Plus there is an article on overclockers.com showing how to mod the LED's with a resistor to dim them down to an acceptable level
Product Links:
Black
Silver
I also made my own fan speed controller using this guide:
http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2001/12/10/adding_fan_speed_control/1.html
and this 25 ohm, 3 watt rheostat:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?cp=&productId=2062299&tab=summary

The rheostat gets a little warm sometimes but it can easily handle two fans at the same time. The Sunbeam Rheobus can also handle two fans on the same channel. The nice thing about the Sunbeam is that you can turn the fan completely off if you want and the LED's change color when you hit 7v so you know where your fan is at if you can't actually see the blades moving.

As far as fans, the ones you listed were prettymuch most of the same ones I narrowed my 120mm fan searches down to.
But this Nexus fan is prettymuch completely silent, but as a result doesn't move much air:
http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/d12sl-12.html
This Thermaltake SmartFan has some good specs too and it claims to be 2 ball bearing:
http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/a2029.html
^^That comes with the fan controller which I've used before and works great.
This 38mm thick cooler master fan is also another one I would consider:
http://www.svc.com/aaf-b12-e1.html
also found at performance pcs where they have a nice selection of fans and custom sleave all wires!!:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=3102
I've ordered hundreds of dollars from Performance PC's and every order was very smooth and thier product quality and workmanship is top notch!

Wow, thanks for all the great links! You really went and did your homework

The Sunbeam rheobus looks nice, and at 10 bucks the price is right too. I actually have a spare Panaflo 120x38mm medium speed fan lying around, it would be cheaper to get that rheobus and just 7v the fan I already have it looks like. That should make it similar to the Ultra Quiet model I would think. It would definitely be cheaper to just mod the fan myself with that guide you linked.

Whoo, I've got some new ideas cooking now

I have 4 of the cooler masters. They are pretty quiet even at 12V. And they move a decent amount of air. I have one intake, one exhaust, and one on my XP120. The 4'th is a spare, lol.

This setup keeps my 3200+ @ 2.6 at about 38 idle, 44 load. Maybe you need a bit more for an x2.

edit: correction, 32 idle, 44 load. sorry

Yeah, I probably would need something with a bit more CFM for an X2. Now I have some data to compare to though, thanks!

there are no standardized testing for all the fans. so the ratings of cfm and dba are meaningless. silenx brand kicks the heck out of all the competition if you compare thier numbers to everyone else's. i use them. i can vouch for them being quiet in comparison to panaflo's deltas and thermaltakes. as to how much air they really push who knows. this forum is the last place youll find an answer to whats the best fan. cause there is no way to tell at the moment.

I am using a high speed Delta Tri-blade on my XP-120 and I am using 2 120mm Evercool aluminums (one intake and one exhaust) in my P4 system in my sig. I have the Evercool's running at full blast and all I can hear is a fair ammount of air rushing through the case, no fan noise. I have the Delta Tri-blade running at 7v and I cannot hear it over my Evercool's. I have used 92mm panaflo's and they are pretty quiet. I would go with the Delta Tri-blade and undervolt it for the best noise/performance ration. Due to the Delta's high ammount of pressure. If you just want quiet and a little less cooling performance I'd say go with a panaflo.

there are no standardized testing for all the fans. so the ratings of cfm and dba are meaningless

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Oh I know that, some of the first fans I bought for my first pc build were TT smartfans. "Those don't seem like they'll be that loud!" I said to myself. Then I assembled my case, and it sounded like a hair dryer. Since then I'm leery of believing any cfm/dba claims from any company- so I'd rather ask here and get answers from people who have actually used the fans in question

I would go with the Delta Tri-blade and undervolt it for the best noise/performance ration. Due to the Delta's high ammount of pressure

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Now that I'm thinking of investing in a rheobus, that idea has already crossed my mind. Thanks for the input!

Alchemy1 said:

I have the Evercool's running at full blast and all I can hear is a fair ammount of air rushing through the case, no fan noise.

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Yeah, I have an intake and an exhaust evercool 120mm and at full blast they do sound kinda loud, but I guess you're right, it is prettymuch just the sound of a TON of air being moved!

The 120x38mm CoolerMaster works great on the SI-120 (on another system that I setup) - moves a good amount of air and is very quiet, no need to undervolt.

Chaos_Being said:

Now that I'm thinking of investing in a rheobus, that idea has already crossed my mind. Thanks for the input!

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You should get a rheobus, they are not that expensive and give you a great ammount of control. You can get a sunbeam for $10 + shipping now a days.

gvblake22 said:

Yeah, I have an intake and an exhaust evercool 120mm and at full blast they do sound kinda loud, but I guess you're right, it is prettymuch just the sound of a TON of air being moved!

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Yeah, when I first got mine I hooked them up outside of the case just to see how loud they were. I had heard A LOT about how silent they were from all the WC'ers. All I heard was air moving...not a hint of motor noise. They are great fans and UNBEATABLE for the price I got them at. I got both for $11 total in the classifieds here.

The 120x38mm CoolerMaster works great on the SI-120 (on another system that I setup) - moves a good amount of air and is very quiet, no need to undervolt.

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That's interesting, I saw how much the fan weighs and figures it would be too unwieldly to mount on a heatsink. Guess I was wrong

Anyway, I went with the Sunbeam Rheobus and it works GREAT. The LED's are infact pretty damn bright, but I have a case door so it's not bad for me. Plus there is an article on overclockers.com showing how to mod the LED's with a resistor to dim them down to an acceptable level

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I actually looked for that article last night and could not find it. You wouldn't happen to have a link would you?

I may also (or instead) replace the blue LED's with green ones.

I personally like the ThermalTake Smart Case fan it comes with a controller that you can adjust it from 36cfm/17db up to 94cfm/45db. It's nice and light and if I wasn't already using elsewhere in my case, it would be on my SI-120.

Chaos_Being said:

That's interesting, I saw how much the fan weighs and figures it would be too unwieldly to mount on a heatsink. Guess I was wrong

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Wow with that fan om my HSF it would go to like 1100 grams total

Intresting thread, Im in process of doing something about the cooling in my case also, and I am in need of 2 x 120 mm case fans and one 80 mm cpu fan. At the moment I am using a very slow moving ADDA fan on the cpu and 2 x Papst 4412FGL (55 CFM, 26db). I dont think the papst fans move enough air compared to their sound level. I cut away the fan grilles but the loudest noise by fair from my comp atm is from these 2 fans.

About sleeve bearing fans: I used alot of fans over the years, and had many break on me. But never did a papst break, and they were all sleeve bearing. My mom is using a comp I built almost 10 years ago, it has 2 papst case fans in it and they still sound like a whisper.

Chaos_Being said:

I actually looked for that article last night and could not find it. You wouldn't happen to have a link would you?

I may also (or instead) replace the blue LED's with green ones.

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Yeah, it's kindof an old article, found in the "Miscellaneous" section:
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1141/

I looked in that section, my eyes must have skipped over it...

Thanks!