Best fan EVAR!!

[-Ice]

I've just finished building my new rig and boy, is it quiet!! Then again, I've not really been pushing it so there's only a very, very little bit of hum from the case.... and that's with the case still open and on the desk right beside the monitor. I'm assuming it'll be even less noticeable once the case is closed and further away from me.

I'm ashamed to admit that it's only now that I've realized that the fans will blow air towards the logo/hub of the fan assembly.... previous builds would have me turning on the fan and holding a sliver of 1-ply tissue to determine which way the fan was blowing. DUH!!

I really like the new NF-A15 fans which I assume are running at 1500rpm as I've not used the LNAs. Because of this, I'm wondering if I need more airflow in my Corsair Carbide 500R. I currently have the stock fans that came with the case which is two 120mm intake (front) fans, one 120mm exhaust (rear) fan, one 200mm intake (side) fan, and an old Scythe SY1425SL12L 140mm 500rpm exhaust (top) fan. What annoys me is that the two front fans and the side fan are controlled via a low-medium-high switch on the front of the Corsair case but this is taking power from the PSU via an old MOLEX connector, meaning I need to plug in the "Peripheral" cable in my PSU in order to power the fans. If I could replace these with PWM, then that's one cable less on my PSU and less clutter at the back of my case. I wonder if it's possible to connect 2x120mm fans and 2x140mm fans onto one motherboard fan header?

I'm also looking to pick up a fan or two for my son's Antec 300 case of the 120mm variety. He currently has the stock fans which is just a 120mm exhaust (rear) fan and a 140mm exhaust (top) fan.

I'm looking for recommendations for quiet fans at the 120mm and 140mm varieties for both myself and my son's PC. I'm leaning towards the Noctuas at the moment simply because I am very impressed by the NF-A15 fans but I wonder if there are better alternatives.

Thanks in advance for any help and recommendations!

 

[don256us]

I really like the fractal brand for my 140s. I have two of them on the front of my full tower and one on the bottom. I also have a 120 in the back and a 200 on the top. I don't think that they sell the model that I have but just about any from Fractal are good for my $$$

P.S. If you look at the fan frame, there is almost always a set up arrows to show both "up" and direction of air flow. They are very hard to see as they are molded into the plastic. They are usually raised and if you hold the fan up in the light to look at the outside edge of the frame, you will find them. This would be a better indicator than the "towards lable" method.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Once you've gone Noctua, you don't go back... LOL!

 

[-Ice]

P.S. If you look at the fan frame, there is almost always a set up arrows to show both "up" and direction of air flow. They are very hard to see as they are molded into the plastic. They are usually raised and if you hold the fan up in the light to look at the outside edge of the frame, you will find them. This would be a better indicator than the "towards lable" method.

Definitely nothing of the sort for the Scythe and the 200mm fans on my case. I think this is a new thing as I've only noticed it on the Noctuas. The Scythe is about 5+ years old and the Corsair case is.... 3?

- - - Updated - - -

Once you've gone Noctua, you don't go back... LOL!

I'm taking that as further recommendations for the Noctua?

 

[wagex]

Once you've gone Noctua, you don't go back... LOL!

gentle typhoon?
eh? eh?

no idea how hard they are to find these days.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

gentle typhoon?
eh? eh?

no idea how hard they are to find these days.

These days, EK Vardar are the current GT. Scythe ended their agreement with Nidec and EK grabbed it.

Also, honestly, the GT was never that great of a case fan. Sure it worked very well, but it always shined on radiators.

 

[wagex]

These days, EK Vardar are the current GT. Scythe ended their agreement with Nidec and EK grabbed it.

Also, honestly, the GT was never that great of a case fan. Sure it worked very well, but it always shined on radiators.

ah always thought it was a great case fan just pricey for such a use. but its been a minute since ive seen them around so idk lol.

 

[donuts]

wagex, GT is still available, just got, (couple weeks ago), 3 to replace the wore out Yate Loons on my radiator.

 

[wagex]

wagex, GT is still available, just got, (couple weeks ago), 3 to replace the wore out Yate Loons on my radiator.

yeah i found some on amazon they have rose to like $20 a pop

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Yeah, they rose that much because what's left seems to be old stock.
Unless I've missed something the only true new stock is through EK.

 

[-Ice]

Okay.... lost me on the discussion guys. I take it the Gentle Typhoons/EK Vardar is a good fan? It seems to be listed as a good SP fan... how does it compare to Noctua?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The Noctua you referenced will have better airflow in low pressure situations. (read: case fan)
The GT/Vardar will have better performance in high pressure situations than the Noctua you referenced. (read: radiator fan)

That said, Noctua makes higher pressure fans than the one you listed also that are darned near the GT/Vardar performance.

 

[-Ice]

Thanks for that explanation. Although I'm not using radiators, won't I want some high-pressure fans for the front intake? I will have to have at least the bottom "cage" for the hard drives. Is a radiator "obstruction" much different from an HD cage "obstruction"? I know with rads, I'll want a strong fan to push air through the small spaces to dissipate heat, but won't a good rad fan also mean it's a good fan for moving air through HD cages?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Radiators are much higher pressure than a case front and HDD cage.

 

[bassnut]

Nidec still makes the GT's ...... below is a link to DazMode which brought them back and also supply them to modmymods . ......

https://www.dazmode.com/store/product/scythe_gentle_typhoon_2150rpm_69cfm_30db_fan
https://www.dazmode.com/store/produ...radiator-fan-2150rpm-68cfm-black-edition-pwm/

Not cheap but keep in mind this is Canadian $

Note .....To the best of my knowledge EK Vader fans are made by EK similar but not GT's

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Never said Nidec quit making them, just that Scythe ended their contract with Nidec.

Looks like the links are still to Scythe... maybe they just had a lapse? I know they were literally down to single digits at all stores for a while.

 

[-Ice]

Can anyone confirm for me that these adapters will allow me to use one of my SATA power connectors to give current to the case fans that take power via a MOLEX connector?

Link 1
Link 2

Thanks!

 

[JrClocker]

Can anyone confirm for me that these adapters will allow me to use one of my SATA power connectors to give current to the case fans that take power via a MOLEX connector?

Link 1
Link 2

Thanks!

I use Link 2!

 

[ehume]

When I used 120mm intake fans, they hovered between 800 to 1000rpm. I tried various things, always came back to my GT 800's. Simply the best at 900 rpm (they ran faster than their ratings) and 120mm.

But now I have an R5. It uses 140mm front fans. I replaced my Fractal fans with a pair of NF-A14 ULN's, nominally rated at 800 rpm. When Thermalright comes out with square-framed TY fans, run them at 800-900 rpm for the tied-best case fans.

So, based on personal use, I recommend slow-speed fans for casework. Nidec GT's for 120mm, Noctua NF-A14 ULN's or TR TY-14x for 140mm fans --if the latter ever come out with square frames.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Personally I use these as case fans:
Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM
Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 PWM

Then I control them all off of the CPU fan header with one of these:
http://www.swiftech.com/8-WayPWMsplitter-sata.aspx

The 2x 120mm in my Hadron Air do a great job pulling air through the case to get heat out from both the CPU and GPU.
Here though the added bonus is that they idle down automatically and you control all your fans off the motherboard's fan curve.