Suggested fans for a Megahalems Rev B

Bradmax57 · 11 Jan 2011 at 09:47

What fans would folks suggest using for a Megahalems and i7 860? They will be put on a fan controller to keep the noise undercontrol but would still like a highish cfm?

Also is using 2 fans in push pull worth the extra cost?

Josh P · 11 Jan 2011 at 09:54

Akasa Apaches, Sharkoon Silent Eagles. Prolimatech even make a few fans themselves, might be worth a shot?

I have Apaches in push pull, I think the second fan normally drops the temps by a couple of degrees. I am going to be going back to one fan in the next day or so, so if I remember I'll let you know how I get on.

DBT85 · 11 Jan 2011 at 10:05

I went for Akasa Vipers. Same fan as the Apache with a higher top speed if you want it but the Apache has dust and moisture protection which the viper doesn't. Got the last one in stock and wanted 2 but nm. I'll see what temps are like first.

Sycho · 11 Jan 2011 at 11:05

Had Apaches then switched to dual Vipers and glad i did as the noise difference is very small but the load temp difference was a fair bit which could have been something else though as Apaches seem to perform decent.

Usually around 60c max load temps on the cores gaming or just over which is good enough for me.(this is in BFBC 2/JC 2/Crysis etc)

I should imagine a 2nd Viper fan would knock about 3-5c off load temps compared to one.

Bradmax57 · 11 Jan 2011 at 11:09

Cheers guys!

szABOi · 11 Jan 2011 at 11:13

I've been doing a lot of reading on cooling systems lately a lot of people are moving over to the yellow side of life and going with the new ultra quiet vipers

DBT85 · 11 Jan 2011 at 11:21

Bradmax57 said:
Cheers guys!

remember that while the Viper does offer a faster sped and therefore more air it'll be noisier. But at least you have the option there to use it or not. Maybe in the winter you can run it slower and just crank it up if you need it in the summer.

gillie · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:09

Anyone tried the Megahalems with the Silverstone SST-AP121 Air Penetrator fan?
Just thinking that the focussed airflow of the Penetrator fan would be ideal for cooling the fins on the Megahalems.
Considering this setup for new Sandybridge solution with 2600K in Silverstone Fortress FT02B-W.

setter · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:26

Im using dual vipers on a super mega, very good fans, though they are loud above 1600 rpm, thankfully though they only go over this speed when running stress tests on the cpu.

Steves1982 · 17 Jan 2011 at 18:57

gillie said:
Anyone tried the Megahalems with the Silverstone SST-AP121 Air Penetrator fan?
Just thinking that the focussed airflow of the Penetrator fan would be ideal for cooling the fins on the Megahalems.
Considering this setup for new Sandybridge solution with 2600K in Silverstone Fortress FT02B-W.

Have a look at this.

I will be trying the Thermalright Silver Arrow passsively when I get my ft02 through. Then will try with 1 fan and 2 fans and see the difference.

gillie · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:05

maximusmi2 said:
Have a look at this.

I will be trying the Thermalright Silver Arrow passsively when I get my ft02 through. Then will try with 1 fan and 2 fans and see the difference.

Thanks maximusmi2. Great article. Never even considered the option of running in a passive config although as I'm aiming for a 4.8GHz or 4.9GHz Turboboost overclock out of my 2600K I'm not sure whether passive will be a good idea.

Is there any way a fan could be attached to CPU heatsink but be off until temps increased significantly whereby the fan would then kick in. So in normal operation fan would be off and silent, but when gaming or encoding video then fan would be on and providing the necessary cooling. Would PWM handle this?

setter · 17 Jan 2011 at 22:41

I think that PWM will only lower the speed of the fan, not stop it completely.

Steves1982 · 18 Jan 2011 at 02:55

I've never used a fan controller before but might be worth looking at one. It may do the job though not sure that you can just turn the fans off, possibly though.

DBT85 · 18 Jan 2011 at 08:13

gillie said:
Is there any way a fan could be attached to CPU heatsink but be off until temps increased significantly whereby the fan would then kick in. So in normal operation fan would be off and silent, but when gaming or encoding video then fan would be on and providing the necessary cooling. Would PWM handle this?

Certainly on the Asus boards you can change the fan profile to do whatever you want. However I think there is a lower limit at which it will allow you to run the fans which might be 20%.

My Vipers are silent at 40% though so I've set that as a minimum. Shouldn't need a fan controller with the Asus boards at least.

What I have done is order a PWM fan splitter from OCUK. That way I can run both my CPU fans from one PWM header and then the two chassis fans from the two chassis ports on the board. Only 3 or the 4 fan headers on the Asus P8P67 Pro (and probably others) are able to be throttled. The Power Supply header runs at 100% at all times which is just baffling.

shadow_boxer · 18 Jan 2011 at 09:30

I changed the original stock fan of a Titan fenrir to an akasa Apache and its virtually silent even at high rpm. Temps are not too.different but is a little quieter.

Simaomacaco · 18 Jan 2011 at 10:56

Do the vipers always run at 1600 without attaching to mobo for control? I.e. as a case fan.

bainbridge · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:02

Simaomacaco said:
Do the vipers always run at 1600 without attaching to mobo for control? I.e. as a case fan.

Yes, unless you provide something to regulate them.

Like setter I also have 2 Akasa Vipers on a Super Mega, connected to the MOBO via a pwm splitter. They're set in BIOS to run at 50% speed when cpu temps are below 50c & 100% speed when above 50c. Really should tweak these settings a bit more but this is acceptable, nothing I do other than gaming or benchmarking puts temps above 50c.

setter · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:08

Todge said:
The Power Supply header runs at 100% at all times which is just baffling.

The last three asus boards i had were like this, s939 a8n sli deluxe, s775 p5q deluxe and my current p6t deluxe v2. You can run 4 pin pwm fans off the other chassis fan headers and speed control them, the fans are notched in such a way that the pwm pin will hang loose over the edge of the 3 pin chassis header, however i personally wouldnt use expensive fans such as vipers as case intake/exhaust. Better off with a few yate loons at 5 quid a pop.

chipps101 · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:21

i must be the only person not impressed with the vipers

they are loud at full speed so the ultra quiet bit is a joke and i need to run it at full speed to get any temp gain over the enermax cluster i had on my zalman flex before it

and the auto fan control on my p5k is useless, it doesn't up the fan speed to more than 1200rpm until my cpu is cooking

so i have to run full speed all the time

i have a scythe junji 1900 here that i'm going to fit eventually in the hope that at least it will be shifting more air than the viper on the auto settings.

setter · 18 Jan 2011 at 23:28

What software are you using to speed control the viper? I use asus ai suite, good for fan control, rubbish for anything else though. 2 x vipers currently running at 690 rpm ono, turbo profile set in bios and in ai suite.