Spec me 80mm fans (CoolerMaster CM201 Case)

Devilman · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:03

Its about time I finally replaced my old bargain-basement 80mm fans for some newer, quieter ones, but not too sure what to get now days...

As topic says, my case is a CoolerMaster CM201, which has room for 2x 80mm in the front, an 80mm exhaust in the back, plus an 80mm in the "roof" of the case.

Not sure whether to have the 2 front fans with more CFM than the exhausts, to give a slight ammount of positive pressure in the case, to hopefully stop it pulling dust in from around the panels etc.. given that the PSU Fan is also drawing air out aswell.... Reckon its worthwhile, or just over-thinking the situtation and best to just get 4 of the same fans?

And with that in mind, any recommendations? Im not looking for an ultra-silent PC, but on the other hand, I dont want it to be screaming like a banshee either, so can you good people spec me a good choice of fan(s) with nice airflow, but not too much noise?

Thanks all

cmndr_andi · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:08

I recently put an overclocked q9550 rig into an old chieftec dragon case for my sister. The case also could only hold 80mm fans. I opted for four Noctua NF-R8s.

I'm very happy I did, they keep the whole system very cool and are nice and quiet.

Devilman · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:32

cmndr_andi said:
I recently put an overclocked q9550 rig into an old chieftec dragon case for my sister. The case also could only hold 80mm fans. I opted for four Noctua NF-R8s.

I'm very happy I did, they keep the whole system very cool and are nice and quiet.

Hmm, they do look pretty nice and if the specs are accurate, they are pretty amazing... Have it worked it out right, that 53 cubic meter per hour, is equal to 31CFM? specs on OCuk say 22CFM?

They are pretty pricey tho, for an 80mm fan, would be nearly £50 just on 4 x 80mm fans

Audigex · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:33

Sharkoon silent eagles - should end up more like £25-30 for 4. Push a decent amount of air while being practically silent. Mine are 120mm but are completely inaudible.

cmndr_andi · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:42

Yea - 31CFM is what they should be at 12V 1800rpm, i'm not sure where OCUK got their stats from. I agree, its a lot of money for fans - personally I was considering swapping the case to an antec 300 for similar money (though the stock antec fans aren't exactly noctua standard). However, both of our 80mm cases are very good and with good fans they perform extremely well.

Biffa · 15 Jun 2009 at 00:52

I've got these in my CM201 and they run nice and quiet but push a decent amount of air.
Xilence XPF80R Red Wing 80mm Quiet Fan

Devilman · 15 Jun 2009 at 01:10

Heh, its nice to see Im not the only person that still has this case

Pretty reluctant to change it for another, as it was quite pricey when new and is still in mint condition etc.. though the lack of room for 120mm fans is a bit of a downside, as they generally move much more air for a lot less noise.

Audigex said:
Sharkoon silent eagles - should end up more like £25-30 for 4. Push a decent amount of air while being practically silent. Mine are 120mm but are completely inaudible.

I did actually look at these too, but was a little put-off by the sleeve bearing, as opposed to the fluid bearing in the Xilent fans and the Noctua NF-R8.

LukeTW · 15 Jun 2009 at 01:13

Sharkoon 2000 or 1000

Biffa · 15 Jun 2009 at 01:35

Devilman said:
Heh, its nice to see Im not the only person that still has this case

Pretty reluctant to change it for another, as it was quite pricey when new and is still in mint condition etc.. though the lack of room for 120mm fans is a bit of a downside, as they generally move much more air for a lot less noise.

Well mines in mint condition except for the big hole in the roof with the radiator in

So it has 3 120mm fans, one in the PSU and two in the rad

Looks like this currently:

Audigex · 15 Jun 2009 at 02:04

They have a good quality sleeve bearing, however. :-)

Just a note with the antec 300, you only get 2 fans with it, so unless you move the back fan to the front it's exhaust only - alternatively get two extra fans, but that'll push the cost up.

Skree · 16 Jun 2009 at 04:44

I'm another CM201 stalwart.

I remember when I first built a rig in mine, i was told not to use the top fan as it alters the airflow within the system and makes it less efficient.. never found out for sure as the only really hot rig i've had in it was watercooled, so don't quote me on that.. more on that later..

For mine, i use a 120mm fan psu.. and i've got an 80>120mm adaptor fitted to the rear fan hole.. on the outside of the case, with a YsTech FD1238 120x120x38mm 125cfm fan at ~5v bolted to it, pulling air from the case. got a cheap wire grill on the output side to protect my fingers... Silent, moves way more air than any 80mm i ever put in it. The 38mm thick fan has more power to overcome resistance so the drawbacks of putting a 120mm fan on an 80mm hole are not quite so pronounced.

front fans are two generic, 68 pence green LED fans, with butchered wiring so the fan motor is 7v, the LEDs are 12v. they're getting a bit clicky after 4+ years of constant operation, but other than that, the cooling in that system has always been inaudible at two feet. I've blocked my top fan hole as i noticed my psu was sucking air in through it, then straight through the psu and out.. no good obviously.. tried putting a fan there but it was fighting against the other extraction, didn't do any good at any quiet volume.

Kept an athlon XP1600 cool at 2.7ghz on air, with a Geforce 4ti and later an ATi 9800XT in it.. oh and a minimum of four hard drives

edit: i put water back in when i changed to a 3.2 prescott, never ran that on air, eventually went back to the athlon. Not had an opportunity to run anything more modern in it - i'll be watercooling when i upgrade (from the athlon) next as i'm going for a fairly high power GPU.