Case fans 120mm vs 140mm?

John24

John24

John24

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Joined
25 Oct 2007
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They will be on a controller and I'm after silence, as close to as possible anyway.

7 x 120mm

or

2 x 120mm + 5 x 140mm
 
140mm should be quiter than 120mm at the same RPM, and move a little more air but it still depends on the actual fan. As an example I got the Fractal Design 140mm they're silent for sure, but they spin slower the the 120mm Fractal Design I also have, and so move about the same ammount of air, they don't even need a fan controller.
 
It's a nightmare trying to decide on fans, without trying them all yourself to compare them to each other, you don't know if they will be right for you. Like a pair of gloves.
 
ColonelCage said:
I got the Fractal Design 140mm they're silent for sure, but they spin slower the the 120mm Fractal Design I also have, and so move about the same ammount of air, they don't even need a fan controller.
Click to expand...
I was looking at the 140mm fractals, but decided against because i want the option of turning them up if needed. Is your 140 as quiet as your 120?
 
I've heard good things about the Thermalrite TY-140, xbitlabs gave it a decent write up. Haven't tried one myself, though I'm looking for 3 more case fans - and while my 2 apaches are nice, they're expensive...
 
I'd rate them both as silent more then quiet. I now also have a 140 Silverstone Air Penetrator which is just superb, best fan for intake without a doubt. It's at the base of the case. You can turn it down to near silent or turned up it moves serious air. I combined that with 2x 120mm Fractals in the front which I don't adjust. The 140 Fractal I moved to the top. This has been enough to cool my components, if you're thinking of using 7 fans total, even at low rpm I'd say you'll have plenty of cooling.
 
Thanks ColonelCage, very helpful. I ordered a 120mm fractal this morning along with a D14 which comes with 2 fans, so I'll have 3 fans to compare tomorrow. If the fractal is as quiet as you say it maybe the winner, just depends on the airfow because there's no headroom to turn it up if needed.
 
Yeah the ability to turn one or two up is useful, you can aim more air at say the graphics cards when you need to. I was mad for fan controllers but you get annoyed having to tweak so much, so running a few silent low rpm ones with no adjustment and just putting one or two more powerful ones in key locations simplifies things. At least that's my current strategy.
 
Just trying the 120mm fractal, it would be perfect but there is a clicking noise from the motor, not loud but do they all have this?

The noctua 140/120mm motor noise is none existent, very impressed with those.. twice the price though.

I might get a fractal 140 and an Apache, see what their like.
 
John24 said:
Just trying the 120mm fractal, it would be perfect but there is a clicking noise from the motor, not loud but do they all have this?
Click to expand...

Mine has got this too but it's literally when I put my ear towards it and I don't think I can hear it over my other fans anyway.

I've got the Fractal 140's and there is no clicking noise what so ever so maybe it's just the 120's?
 
The only trouble with 140mm fans is that there is far less choice and the the choice of fans you have are generally quite slow fans. Personally i would go for decent fastish 120mm fans that you can slow down with the fan controller in my head it's better then getting slow 140mm fans and having to run the fan controller at 100% for them to push decent air.
 
John24 said:
Just trying the 120mm fractal, it would be perfect but there is a clicking noise from the motor, not loud but do they all have this?
Click to expand...

I have 3 of those as case fans, 1 clicks, 2 don't. Luck of the draw really, at 500rpm its not to noticable, but when i run them full speed the clicking fan annoys me.

So yeh out of the 3 i got, all same delivery, 1 clicks, but 2 don't.
 
Is always a possibility for sure, my 3 are getting close to a year old soon, and the 2 non clickers are still fine, to be honest i could have sent the clicking one back for replacement at the time, but got lazy lol.

If you have a fan controller id say go yateloons for case fans, and run them via the fan controller, its what im planning to do when i give my machine a overall soon.
 
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