Case fans (120mm) recommendations

[Sherra]

Any cheap ($15 and below hopefully) and good fans recommendations, quieter the better Need them to be plug and play also, with the cable connected.. some of the good fans are found in SLT, they are not provided with the 3pin/molex cables right?

Currently using the Noctua F12 as front intake... but i feel its rather weak for an intake fan when i put my hand at the harddisk cage where its blowing, furthermore its ex like hell, i feel its not really worth its $

Inside my casing, there are 2 more fans that need changing,
one is the exhaust located at the back of the casing , the other is another fan that is blowing the gfx card, located between the harddisk cage and gfx card, probably a good "push" fan will do good here..
These 2 fans are the stock fans that came with my casing, they are old and dusty, so guess its time to retire them and get in some young blood.


And if the Noctua F12 is better suited as an exhaust fan, i will move its position to the rear instead, and get some better intake fan to take it's spot.


thanks thanks.

 

[leepakleng]

most people will say brands like "Delta" and all other brands.
but personally, i am using Coolermaster SickleFlow 120 2000 RPM Blue LED which has 69.69 CFM, which is sufficient for me, is not noisy and is cheap. I bought them at $10 per piece in SLS, some shops selling at $12, if you do a search, should be still able to find the $10 shops.

Coolermaster has 2 other better 120mm fan, JetFlo and XtraFlo, both higher CFM than SickleFlow, pricing i Believe should be more ex but u can check it out at SLS.

These 3 models is produce for computer casing, they should have the 3 or 4PIN convertor to molex to connect to your PSU.

 

[chong]

According the Noctua, the F12 is designed mainly for heatsinks: Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!

Are u running the F12 at the full 1500rpm?

The Scythe Gentle Typhoon fans are pretty popular here - industrial design with rock solid built. I have the 1850rpm version, and I find it powerful and noisy; I have to reduce the speed to ~1400rpm for my taste.
They cost ~$25 at retail, but always pop up in the buy/sell sections for less than $20. There is a seller at the blue forum now selling 3pcs brand new.

 

[Sherra]

the F12.. i didnt use the pwm thing, i connected it straight to the molex or mobo, cant remember which.. so it should be at full rpm. didnt know F12 was a heatsink fan too, just whacked only ..

yeah delta are pretty noisy right? used to have them, the focusflow though. haha was a beast.

hmmm the Scythe Gentle Typhoon, how did u control the speed? did u have to do some mod to the voltage?

the coolermaster ones.. my previous experience with them is their failure rate is often the highest out of all my fans leh.. die the fastest

the noctua was used to replace the coolermaster one previously..

then i also dont need the blingbling..
but i will consider them though, if their airflow/quietness is recommended.

 

[chong]

the F12.. i didnt use the pwm thing, i connected it straight to the molex or mobo, cant remember which.. so it should be at full rpm. didnt know F12 was a heatsink fan too, just whacked only ..

yeah delta are pretty noisy right? used to have them, the focusflow though. haha was a beast.

hmmm the Scythe Gentle Typhoon, how did u control the speed? did u have to do some mod to the voltage?

the coolermaster ones.. my previous experience with them is their failure rate is often the highest out of all my fans leh.. die the fastest

the noctua was used to replace the coolermaster one previously..

then i also dont need the blingbling..
but i will consider them though, if their airflow/quietness is recommended.

If you connected to the mobo, then it may not be running at full speed because mobos now offer fan control for those fans connected to it. Check the RPM to confirm.

I have a Scythe Kazemaster 5.25" bay fan controller to control my fans.

 

[Cryogenist]

Hi Sherra, if you need an intake fan that blows thru your drive cage, you probably need a case fan that have high Static Pressure, not just high CFM.

I not sure about how many models out there have high static pressure, cause most of them boast high CFM and rather low SP.

I am using the Corsair SP120 as intake. But the price is on the high side, $28 per fan.
But you get what you pay. Good performance, but slightly noiser. But not as noisy as those Delta kind.

 

[hoven00]

Saw a guy selling this Cougar fan (black blades) for $15 each on the forum before..can't remember where. COUGAR CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation - Newegg.com

Specs wise looks quite good, but never try before.

 

[shadow84]

High static pressure wise, can try Akasa Viper... Chamoxa have them... can go try try.

 

[enenyi]

High static pressure, get the CoolerMaster LED 120mm fan (blue). 3.04mmHg static pressure, hardly any other fan can match it.

 

[sharkapl]

YATE LOON & CORSAIR FANS, PCI SLOT FANS, GRILLS, FILTERS, CPU COOLERS, THERMAL PASTE

consider the deepcool fans, wont go wrong with either one

mythmaker bro did a review back when he was active
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/p...ep-cool-120mm-1300rpm-fan-review-2910610.html

CM fan which people mention here, LED die fast and its pretty noisy at full speed

 

[Sherra]

hmmm ok..
will take note of static pressure as well.
If static pressure is good for intake fans, what makes a good exhaust fan?

so many choices now

 

[Sherra]

YATE LOON & CORSAIR FANS, PCI SLOT FANS, GRILLS, FILTERS, CPU COOLERS, THERMAL PASTE

consider the deepcool fans, wont go wrong with either one

mythmaker bro did a review back when he was active
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/p...ep-cool-120mm-1300rpm-fan-review-2910610.html

CM fan which people mention here, LED die fast and its pretty noisy at full speed

the deepcool fans... their website never list their static pressure

 

[Sherra]

High static pressure wise, can try Akasa Viper... Chamoxa have them... can go try try.

Fan speed 600 -1900 RPM
Max airflow 83.63 CFM
Max static air pressure 2.98 mm H2O
Noise level 6.9 -28.9 dB(A)

their fan specs not bad hmm..

 

[shadow84]

Fan speed 600 -1900 RPM
Max airflow 83.63 CFM
Max static air pressure 2.98 mm H2O
Noise level 6.9 -28.9 dB(A)

their fan specs not bad hmm..

Watch this video... quite good info...

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcQVOEq47E]120mm Fan Comparison UPDATE: Fog/Smoke Test Inc Akasa Apache, AP-15 & More - YouTube[/URL]

 

[Sherra]

Saw a guy selling this Cougar fan (black blades) for $15 each on the forum before..can't remember where. COUGAR CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation - Newegg.com

Specs wise looks quite good, but never try before.

indeed look good too ..
Speed 800-1500
Air flow @ 12V (CFM, m3/h) 70.5 / 119.8(max.)
Air pressure @ 12V (mm H2O) 2.2
Noise 17.9dB

wah . so many choices with abit of variations here and there..

but the enermax one above , i saw the specs its noise is around 30+db though :/ think its on the high side already

 

[Ark Law]

Specs are one thing, real world performance is another. CM is known to over-spec their fans. Otherwise, just get a GT. It blows my NZXT FN-120RB to shreds (even with a dust filter attached)

Edit:

i saw the specs its noise is around 30+db though :/ think its on the high side already

Note that a 30db low hum perceptively more quieter than a 30db higher pitch. Different fans have different noise signatures...

 

[shadow84]

Specs are one thing, real world performance is another. CM is known to over-spec their fans. Otherwise, just get a GT. It blows my NZXT FN-120RB to shreds (even with a dust filter attached)

Edit:


Note that a 30db low hum perceptively more quieter than a 30db higher pitch. Different fans have different noise signatures...

Does the GT make any noise when the intake part is close to a fan grill/mesh?? i saw that on a silverstone ap121 video, whereby they compare with the AP-15, and by putting a fan grill on top of it to simulate being mounted onto the case, it created a noise, as compared to the ap121.

 

[Sherra]

the noise issue is quite important as well to me though..

Using the Noctua C14 as HSF.

so most of my fan components are already quite low in db.
dont want to introduce 2 monsters inside and bring the db up to the roof.

hmmmm
but looking at the Scythe GT specs web page,

they seem to have many makes of the 120mm version.
perhaps the AP-14 will be good enough then..?

 

[shadow84]

the noise issue is quite important as well to me though..

Using the Noctua C14 as HSF.

so most of my fan components are already quite low in db.
dont want to introduce 2 monsters inside and bring the db up to the roof.

hmmmm
but looking at the Scythe GT specs web page,

they seem to have many makes of the 120mm version.
perhaps the AP-14 will be good enough then..?

You should head down and test out the AP-14 and AP-15...Use your ears as the judge.. Also, I think not many places sell the AP-14...

 

[Ark Law]

hmmmm
but looking at the Scythe GT specs web page,

they seem to have many makes of the 120mm version.
perhaps the AP-14 will be good enough then..?

Best you just get AP-15 then use ur mobo/external fan controller to undervolt the thing to AP-14/AP-13 speeds. Cybermind sells the 1850/1450/1150rpm GTs all at the same price anyway. I'm personally looking at the NF-S12A to include as my next case fan to experience the difference in sound signatures

@shadow, I currently use my single GT in pull config with my Antec 620 rad in the rear exhaust of a phantom 410. AFAIC, I can only hear the low-pitch "swooosh" sound, and it becomes less noticeable when I undervolt it to around 1100rpm.