How much cooler can better quality case fans be?

[gcwebbyuk]

I currently have two coolermaster 120mm fans in my coolermaster elite 330 case. One is the standard fan, the second mounted at the front sucking air in over the hard disks is a Cooler Master TLF-S12-EB 120mm Quad LED Silent Case Fan. It has an air flow rating of 42.734 CFM and an air pressure rating of 1.557 mmH2O.

I have given up on overclocking my phenom 965, as soon as I boost the speed, it gets too hot, even though idle temp is at 30c.

So next idea is to replace these two case fans with better ones, but how much of a difference would a higher rated fan be?

For instance if I swapped for two Coolermaster BladeMaster 120mm fans with an air flow rating of 76.8 CFM and an air pressure rating of 3.90 mm H2O.

 

[deadlysyn]

To be honest, you will get the best results from having well planned airflow, rather than more. There will be a point that you are not gaining anything by adding faster fans, except for noise. Also, keeping your airflow somewhat balanced can be helpful. I prefer to use a little positive pressure (2 intake fans on my Antec 900 are on high, 200mm exhaust fan on high and rear 120mm rear exhaust fan on medium), which helps to somewhat keep dust under control. The case is fairly quiet, according to my ears anyway. The big thing is having well planned airflow, with good cable management.

 

[AEternal1]

you need planning, and a good bit of air flow understanding to get anything you will actually notice for a difference. the better cases have actually done testing, and redesigning of their cases for better airflow. you can however totally negate their effort with poor fan placements on your part. get to know how airflow works, and get a good case.

 

[Bobnova]

Planning airflow is much more important, i have totally decent (and very quiet) temps with a single ~1100rpm 120mm intake and no exhaust. The key is that the NB is cooled by the CPU fan wash, the SB is cooled by the GPU fan wash, the GPU and CPU both have big fat coolers and hence are much better equipped to deal with warmer in-case-ambient temps, and i have a very clear airflow path set up that covers each part.

You could gain a lot CPU temp wise by running an intake duct from a couple 5.25 drive bays to your CPU heatsink, that gives it cold air which it would greatly appreciate.


A quick and easy airflow test is to take the side of you case off and aim a room type fan into it. If temps go down a lot, your airflow needs help.
If they don't, you're in good shape.
I spent most of my time refining my cooling to shut it up, the loud coolers and intake/exhaust fans drove me nuts.

 

[Conumdrum]

You might look at replacing the case with something that has TWO 120 intakes and TWO 120mm exhaust. Cases have come a long way and thankfully they have with the heat the components make.

BobNova has a good point about trying the classic house fan into the side test. That will tell you pretty quick if it's case airflow.

If the fan test helps, get some at least 2500 RPM fans. You won't like the noise, but it will help your cooling.

A good review of fans:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=892
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=4122&articID=936

 

[gcwebbyuk]

Have changed case/fan configuration as per:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=627872

Any thoughts?

 

[Conumdrum]

What happened to your temps? Then I'll have a thought.

 

[gcwebbyuk]

It keeps CPU under about 40c doing what I usually do on a daily basis, with the fan noise at a minimum.

Edit: Prime95 on stock speeds is the same. Idle temps seem to be 3c lower than before - so not too much of a difference.

Still waiting for the TIM to "set" though

 

[gcwebbyuk]

GPU now idles at 23c rising to 41c after running furmark at 1920x1080 full screen for 5 minutes. Once again though, thats at 100% fan speed.

With my current low-noise setting, the GPU idles at 30c and rises to 53c after furmark

 

[gcwebbyuk]

Using speedfan, I have setup the system with a core desired cpu temp of 35, and a warning at 58.

I then have both cpu and the case fans to have a range of 40% to 70%.

This keeps the system idling at 29c and max temp in prime95 seems to be 54c
At 100% temps were 24c idle and 50c max.
Before the change around, at 100% I was getting 27c idle and 50c max.

 

[JHG120]

Cooler master cosmos 1000 came with low rpm and low sound fans. They were decent, and I only upgraded to antec led 3 speed fans, which increased rpm and sound, but dropped temps by ~5 C respectively.

 

[xtreeme]

A good review of fans:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=892
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=4122&articID=936

I have mixed feelings about that review ; they somewhat compares apples with pears since they review both low, medium and high speed fans in the same bulk.
As they said themself ; some of the fan's didn't even start at 5V - which is quite natural for lowspeed fans.
Another thing is that sleeve bearing fans almost always are more quiet than ball bearing fans - on the other hand ballbearing fans normally have a longer life span (exept for expensive ceramique sleeve bearings), this is a choice you should take yourself when you buy fans. "Do I want to buy more noisier - and often more expensive ball bearing fans that will outlast - often much more inexpensive sleeve bearing fans - by 10/20000 hours ??"
Another advantage for sleeve bearing fans is that they crave lower start current - and can be run at lower voltage (speed).

But if one read that review with the "flaws it has" in mind it is not too bad

EDIT: it's never motornoise you hear from fans - it's bearing noise (besides the airflow of course)

 

[Bobnova]

The motor doesn't even move

 

[bing]

Certain fan that couldn't start undervolted say like 5 volt, can be fixed provided it gets the kick start at 12 Volt.

Of course this needs "certain" fan controller that capable of high voltage kicking when powering up for the 1st time and then slowly go down to the adjusted level.








.

 

[Bobnova]

Or just flick the fan with your finger when you turn the computer on, once it's rotating it'll keep going. Don't even have to flick it in the correct direction half the time

A fan controller that can flick it for you is much better though.

 

[xtreeme]

Certain fan that couldn't start undervolted say like 5 volt, can be fixed provided it gets the kick start at 12 Volt.

Of course this needs "certain" fan controller that capable of high voltage kicking when powering up for the 1st time and then slowly go down to the adjusted level. .

I only know one fancontroller that increase the voltage when it senses that the fan has stopped or the fanrevolution drops under preset ; Aerocool Touch-2000 Touchscreen, a qualified guess is that Aerocool Touch-1000 Touchscreen also works the same way.

Or just flick the fan with your finger when you turn the computer on, once it's rotating it'll keep going. Don't even have to flick it in the correct direction half the time

Not very practical

 

[bing]

I only know one fancontroller that increase the voltage when it senses that the fan has stopped or the fanrevolution drops under preset ; Aerocool Touch-2000 Touchscreen, a qualified guess is that Aerocool Touch-1000 Touchscreen also works the same way.

That method is quite advance, but I assume it works only with fan that has rpm/tacho line aka 3 pins fan.

Also, click at my sig at "DIY > 5 AMP Fan Controller", that one has the 'auto-flick' feature as Bobnova's term, but you'll have to build it yourself though






.

 

[xtreeme]

I assume it works only with fan that has rpm/tacho line aka 3 pins fan.

jupp