Fans, fans and fans.

King Damager

King Damager

King Damager

Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2010
Posts
16,511
Location
Swimming in a lake
Ok, basically, I'm considering replacing the stock fans on my a70. Whilst at the moment my 480 is the loudest thing around, hopefully that'll be sorted soon.

I've got them on the low noise reducer anyway, but yeah am looking for some options....

  • I want something 'silent', well as quiet as possible as I'm aware silent isn't possible....
  • Cost isn't too much of an issue to be honest.
  • I want reasonable performance, but it doesn't have to be the best as there's no overclock on my 2500k as stability is more important right now.
  • Want to get two fans obviously.
  • May upgrade to a h100 or similar in the future, so fans that I can move over to that, with effectiveness would be useful.

So far I've got four ideas:
  • noctua nf-f12, from what I gather these are pretty good, and come with a low noise adaptor if I need it.
  • Enermax t.b. silence. I've got one of these in the rear of my case at the moment and it's definitely silent. However I'm concerned that it won't push enough air for CPU/Rad cooling
  • GT1850 - from what I gather, these are the king of performance/noise ratio, but to be honest I'd rather take a slight hit on performance and get an alternative fan if the fan is quieter but still has good solid mid level performance...
  • GT 1450 - possible alternative to gt1850, and alternative to the nf-f12

Remember people, I'm aiming for quietness.... At the moment am leaning towards the noctuas....

kd
 
Oh yeah, don't care if they're PWM or not, I'll probably be putting them on a set voltage anyway...

I did consider the apaches or vipers but thought both the GTs and Noctuas were better generally speaking.... Enermax are in there purely for silence perspective...

kd
 
spankingtexan said:
I can however recommend the apache black, they are whisper quite at full pelt.
Click to expand...

I bought and Apache after recommendation on here for them being 'whisper quiet'. It just illustrates to me the difference in what one person considers quiet and what I consider quiet. At full pelt the Apache is really quite loud and completely drowns out my whole system. The most I can tolerate out of it is about 900rpm before it annoys me. I dread to think what a Viper or a GT1850 sounds like at full speed.

I'd go for the Noctua. Horrible colouring as usual from them but supposedly good air penetration and lower noise characteristic. The voltage drop cables are also quite useful.
 
Tealc said:
I bought and Apache after recommendation on here for them being 'whisper quiet'. It just illustrates to me the difference in what one person considers quiet and what I consider quiet. At full pelt the Apache is really quite loud and completely drowns out my whole system. The most I can tolerate out of it is about 900rpm before it annoys me. I dread to think what a Viper or a GT1850 sounds like at full speed.

I'd go for the Noctua. Horrible colouring as usual from them but supposedly good air penetration and lower noise characteristic. The voltage drop cables are also quite useful.
Click to expand...

Yeah I kind of thought this... Definitely sounds like my interpretation of 'whisper quirt' is the same as yours...

Kind of why I was wondering if the tb silences would be ok for performance because I know from experience that they are 'whisper quiet'...

kd
 
Vipers as well are very loud fans, once above 1300 rpm theyre very loud. Used to have two on a supermega cooler, noise was too much.
 
I have a couple of the Enermax t.b. silences but wouldn't use it as anything more then a exhaust case fan, only when temps/performance are not top priority. I didn't use them in my 120mm comparison video for that reason.

I have 7 Noctua NF-F12's (future videos coming) and think they are worth every penny. You can actually see/feel the years that Noctua have been put into designing them.

Have you considered the Silverstone AP121, It's a good alternative.
 
TastyPC said:
I have a couple of the Enermax t.b. silences but wouldn't use it as anything more then a exhaust case fan, only when temps/performance are not top priority. I didn't use them in my 120mm comparison video for that reason.

I have 7 Noctua NF-F12's (future videos coming) and think they are worth every penny. You can actually see/feel the years that Noctua have been put into designing them.

Have you considered the Silverstone AP121, It's a good alternative.
Click to expand...

Hm, ok, I'll have a look into them. Thanks. Just saw your YouTube link as well, I'll take a look at that later to. Is that you in the video?

kd
 
I agree with the previous comments here. Apaches and Vipers are not quiet at full speed, in fact above 1000rpm they are pretty loud.
I also agree with not using the T.B. Silence fans as they are quiet because they move so little air and don't spin very fast (900rpm if memory serves).

I've never used Noctuas due largely to the price and the fact they rarely seem to justify this price in fan tests. I do use some AP15s but have dialed them back to 1000rpm. I'd say they are a little quieter than Aaches/Vipers and probably have a slightly better performance-to-noise ratio. But I've got nothing close to scientific to back that up.
 
Have you considered 140mm fans with 120mm mounting holes? Seems like they will fit on the A70. This will allow you to get Thermalright's TR TY-140 which are the best in terms of performance/noise.
 
Helios1234 said:
Have you considered 140mm fans with 120mm mounting holes? Seems like they will fit on the A70. This will allow you to get Thermalright's TR TY-140 which are the best in terms of performance/noise.
Click to expand...

It would probably work, I've considered it, but would mean if I wanted to move over to a h100 at a later date I'd have to get another new set of fans. I'd also have to check the clearance. I remember staying away from the phanteks due to case clearance, so would probably have to check that out as well...

kd
 
gt 1850 moves a crapload of air but at 12v they are anything but quiet.

Someone mentioned akasa apache, they're alright I guess. Have some blacks in my roof for colour scheme. They seem to have quite a high starting voltage though. Quite quiet, a sort of low hum + air turbulence but not sure how they'd perform on a heatsink/rad.

I'd go for the focused airflow if you're pushing (mainly) and pulling through, so the Nf-f12s would probably be best. I'm looking to get one to replace my gt1850 intake because it's developed a squeal.
 
Last edited:
Phantek's PH-F140TS fans are excellent 140mm with 120mm fittings, they shift about 80CFM at 1200rpm so a bit less than the 1400mm Akasa Vipers 110CFM at 1500rpm but they are also much quieter 19db noise output VS the Vipers 27db
 
Last edited:
King Damager said:
It would probably work, I've considered it, but would mean if I wanted to move over to a h100 at a later date I'd have to get another new set of fans. I'd also have to check the clearance. I remember staying away from the phanteks due to case clearance, so would probably have to check that out as well...

kd
Click to expand...

What case and RAM do you have?

Ghøst said:
Phantek's PH-F140TS fans are excellent 140mm with 120mm fittings, they shift about 80CFM at 1200rpm so a bit less than the 1400mm Akasa Vipers 110CFM at 1500rpm but they are also much quieter 19db noise output VS the Vipers 27db
Click to expand...

The Phanteks fan perform very well but they aren't as quiet as the Thermalright or Noctua fans.
 
Helios1234 said:
What case and RAM do you have?



The Phanteks fan perform very well but they aren't as quiet as the Thermalright or Noctua fans.
Click to expand...

K62 and xms3. But may upgrade to a shinobi xl and put a h100 in the roof in summer, this is more an interim solution. Hence why any 140mm fans might result in me buying a set of 120mm fans anyway...

kd
 
Helios1234 said:
The Phanteks fan perform very well but they aren't as quiet as the Thermalright or Noctua fans.
Click to expand...

And does the amount of air they move in CFM reflect the fact they are quieter because I spent a fair amount of time searching for 140mm fans the other day and went for the Phanteks because they were the best balance of of high air displacement and low noise emissions on the CFM-db ratio that I could see.

Oh and they also look really nice in Blue & White, unfortunately I just stood on one of mine and broke it like a klutz thankfully the RMA insurance covered it for accidental damage on installation, best 25 pence I've spent in ages. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom