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Top fans fail so quickly

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I

istari675

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Joined
Jun 7, 2014
I have Aerocool DS 140mm fans in my case, 2 in the front and 2 on the top attached to a radiator. I have had both of the fans on the top fail within a year of buying them, and I believe the entire reason I bought these fans are because the stock fans I used also failed quickly when I had them in the top. Is there some reason a fan would fail just because it is placed at the top of the case at that angle? They perfectly suit my needs but they start quietly rattling and that kind of kills the entire point of having a quiet system.

Processor-----4790K @4.0Ghz
Motherboard----------------Maximus Hero Vi
CPU Cooling----------------H240x + x2 AeroCool DS 140MM
Video------------------------ASUS GTX780-DC2OC-3GD5
OS Drive--------------------Samsung 850 Pro 500GB
Storage Drive---------------WD Green 1TB
Power-----------------------Corsair AX 760 PSU
Memory---------------------x2 G.Skill Ripjaws
Case-------------------------Corsair Graphite Series 760T + x2 AeroCool DS 140MM
 
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Yes. Sleeve bearing, and some poorly made fluid bearing fans do not like being run horizontal. for horizontal mounted fans, you want either a quality fluid bearing fan like a noctua or something with dual ball bearings. Yate loons (sleeve bearing) when run horizontal for me were noisy within 6 months and often dead within a year. My dual ball bearing gentle typhoons are about 3 years old now and still spin as smoothly as the day i got them.
 
I figured it might be something dumb like that. The top fans are supplying air for my CPU radiator so air pressure is the priority. I would prefer them move slightly less air for speed than the Aerocool fans, because I am trying to keep a positive pressure system in place. I really need them to be as quiet as the Aerocools at minimum RPM since I built this system specifically for quiet gaming.
 
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I wanted to keep it quiet so I looked at AP140, but these fans will be pushing air through an H240x radiator, so woulden't that become a performance issue? At the moment I am kind of stuck at SP140s, but I really wish there was a quiet edition so I could keep the volume as low as possible in my case.

No the Aerocool DS are not PWM, but my motherboard can still control their speed even if I put them in a 4pin header.
 
The Aerocool I have now I have on a temp curve already. Min speed is around 700 RPM, and they usually stay around there to keep things quiet. I dont know how Noctua will compare noise wise at the lower RPMs, since I am having trouble finding reviews that tested them at multiple RPMs.

Noctua are better fans, but they might be a bit costly. At that price point I would prefer still have LEDs on the fans.
 
If you want LED's, get a strip. The Noctua fans will be MUCH quieter, especially when run on PWM.
They're top-notch fans, they'll last you for years on end.

Keep getting LED fans and you'll keep getting cheap crap that'll fail quickly.
 
Fair enough. So the Noctua would be a better choice than SP140 for sure? I could get the SP140s in my case for almost half the price, but I do understand that Noctua are superior by far. If they were quieter than my Aerocool, while still maintaining good performance, I would probably go for them, but Its hard to find a review that tested both fans with the same test rig.
 
They'll be quieter while performing better than either your current fans or any Corsair fan.
 
Premium radiator fans are Noctua, AP-53s (Rebranded AP-15s), eLoop B12s, Vardars and for budget fans the Swiftech Helix or some Yateloons.
 
Considering I have the Swiftech Helix that came with the H240x I am considering putting them in and testing out them for a while. I am worried they are going to outperform my Aerocool DS fans and throw off the positive pressure system I have going on. They are listed as having a 8 decibel min volume so that wouldn't interrupt anything sound wise. My H240x was also designed to also mount the fans horizontally, so I imagine they are designed well enough not to fail so quickly.

Obviously in the long term I want to get a full case of noctua fans, but I cant drop almost 100 USD on fans at the moment.
 
The Swiftech Helix fans are nice as well.
If you're worried about them throwing off the pressure, mount them as intake and keep the rear as exhaust.
 
ATMINSIDE said:
The Swiftech Helix fans are nice as well.
If you're worried about them throwing off the pressure, mount them as intake and keep the rear as exhaust.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately my case will not allow that kind of configuration. I have 2 front intake fans, and 2 top exhaust fans. The hose on the H240x is not long enough to mount it in the front to make the Swiftech fans intake. I would need to rig up 3 inch extenders between the fan and the case, which I would not want to do unless there were brackets specifically designed for that. If anyone knows anything like that I would love to have my radiator be in the front.
 
Why won't it work with front and top intake and rear as exhaust?
 
Theres only hole for a fan in the back. Also im fairly confident that would be very inefficient if it did fit.
 
This isn't making sense at all. You can setup your top fans as intake as I have and front/bottom and have the whole back as exhaust with the assistance of the rear fan and that will give you the positive pressure you're looking for. The side with the fan with no grill is intake. Just have that end facing up on the top.

I use 9 in total Helix 120 PWM rad fans.
 
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