Fan Recommendation

whogivesascooby · 7 Jul 2015 at 07:35

Hi all

I was looking for some advice on buying new fans.

My Case is a Corsair Obsidian 350D. I currently have 4 fans in my system (not including PSU and Graphics Card) which are all stock fans.

1x Front intake: Corsair A1425L12S.
1x Rear exhaust: Corsair A1225M12S.
2x radiator fans (push) on my H100i: Corsair 31-002319.

I currently use Corsair Link and use the default quiet mode. I find that if I set it to balanced or performance then the noise is unbearable.

I am hoping replacing the fans will reduce the noise level to the point where I don't need to turn up my speakers so I can hear the voices over the fans while gaming and watching movies.

Thanks to anyone/everyone in advance for any suggestions.

Much appreciated!

Glanza · 7 Jul 2015 at 07:45

For case fans look at the Corsair AF quiet editions.

mods1965 · 7 Jul 2015 at 09:00

If you are interested in aesthetics, you could consider Corsair AF120 LED fans so you get a nice glow at the front.
A standard AF120 at the back with the colour matched ring.
For you RAD, you will already have SP fans, so no need to really change them, unless you are worried about noise at high RPM. In that case, consider EK F1/F2 Vardar and Scythe Gentle Typhoon.

CEUOTC · 7 Jul 2015 at 09:12

Corsair 140mm AF front either LED or non-LED will do the job and Corsair 120 SP's on the rad again LED or non-LED.

I run: 2 x Corsiar 140mm AF white LED front as inlet.
2 x NZXT 140mm AF fitted to the top as outlet.
2 x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop Fan B12-3 on my H55.

All controlled of a NZXT Sentry MIX 2, system is quiet with the PSU set to ECO.

Not sure how well all these fans would play with Corsiar Link

whogivesascooby · 7 Jul 2015 at 17:46

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am going to try the following:

Front intake: 1x Corsair AF140 Quiet Series Low Noise High Airflow
Rear exhaust: 1x Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition Low Noise High Airflow
Radiator: 2x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series High Pressure Low Noise

ttaskmaster · 7 Jul 2015 at 18:18

TBH, the stock unbranded Corsair fans on anything are usually insanely noisy and changing to any other fan will result in similar performance for lower noise, even on full chat.

I personally don't rate the Quiet Editions, unless noise is more important than performance.
Noctua do fans with similar outputs, but higher performance.
If you want to remain with Corsair, the Performance Editions are a touch noisier than the Noctuas, but also slightly better on the performance.

whogivesascooby · 8 Jul 2015 at 18:04

Thanks for the information ttaskmaster. Noise is more important to me than performance at the moment.

My PC was ordered and built by Overclockers and performance has never been an issue. My temps are fairly low (27-32 degree's idle according to corsair link) and I think the overclock was fairly normal (4.2 - 4.4 GHz as far as I remember just now).

My only problem with the computer was the noise which led me to discovering corsair link. Without it the fans seemed to run at max whenever I started up a game and I could barely hear anything.

This is just a quality of life upgrade to explore things. I really want to remove my GPU and start the computer with just my H100i (+new fans) to check how quiet it is. If I am impressed then I would look into a AIO cooled GPU upgrade in the future.

Thanks again to everyone who shared their thoughts.

ttaskmaster · 9 Jul 2015 at 15:36

IMO (and as a user of an H100 myself), AIO coolers are only really worth it under certain conditions:

- You value the aesthetics and smaller footprint
- You find a high-end AIO at an insanely low price

Most AIOs are about as good as air coolers with only the very best being notably better, though even thenm a few air coolers surpass them.
Their pumps can also be noisy, depending on model and your individual case accoustics, as well as personal perspective. If SP fans are bothersome, I suspect an AIO pump would also bug you.

If water really is your thing, you might be better off building in a custom loop.
I have LOVED my AIO, but even I am going custom now (got a GPU block in the sales).

Careful choice of fans matters more with air and custom w/c loops, as they tend to be quieter. But again, remember that w/c is geared around serious cooling for massively overclocked systems, so even some of these pumps can be bloody loud!

whogivesascooby · 11 Jul 2015 at 13:39

Well it didn't turn out well.

I put the fans in and the next day I took them back out.

Not sure where it went wrong. The fans couldn't keep the computer cool enough. Most likely something I did wrong.

First of all I am guessing if I wanted to continue to monitor the fans I should have bought 4 pin fans. After I put the fans in they were no longer detected by corsair link and I couldn't control them (wouldn't have been an issue for me if they were quiet and kept things cool).

This led to me second problem. The fans are apparently capable of 1000+ RPM but they seem to stay around 500 RPM and I am not sure why. Good enough for basic tasks but after 15 minutes of the Witcher 3 the temps were nearing 65-70 degree's. The air the fans were blowing out was abnormally hot.

I popped in the old fans again and installed Corsair Link. After hours of Witcher play the temps were roughly 30-40 degrees (I didnt check while in game, I checked as soon as I exited) in quiet mode. The air coming out of the fans was barely warm.

I am curious to know where I went wrong. I have a couple of questions.

There was an adapter with each fan which I used without knowing what they were for. Might they have been the reason for the low RPM's?

If I was no longer using 4 pin fans should I have removed them from the H100 pump and connected them to the motherboard so it could control them?

ttaskmaster · 13 Jul 2015 at 15:23

whogivesascooby said:
Not sure where it went wrong. The fans couldn't keep the computer cool enough. Most likely something I did wrong.

I'd start by suggesting that this is why I said I didn't personally rate the Quiet Editions. They are quiet, but they are very low performance.

whogivesascooby said:
First of all I am guessing if I wanted to continue to monitor the fans I should have bought 4 pin fans.

4 pin fans are for PWM, which is basically having the computer control them.
Monitoring can be done with 3-pin fans, in that you can get voltage/rpm readings. I do this on my fan controller, although it can also be monitored in various different softwares.

whogivesascooby said:
This led to me second problem. The fans are apparently capable of 1000+ RPM but they seem to stay around 500 RPM and I am not sure why.

CorsairLink can be a bit fiddly and require a restart once you've set it up. It's not the most intuitive of softwares.
Any issues or queries you have regarding CorsairLink try asking Greybeard, a Corsair rep and member here, as he's exceedingly helpful and dilligent!

whogivesascooby said:
There was an adapter with each fan which I used without knowing what they were for. Might they have been the reason for the low RPM's?

Yeah, that drops the rpm, so wouldn't have helped either!
Reattempt, without that cable, perhaps?

whogivesascooby said:
If I was no longer using 4 pin fans should I have removed them from the H100 pump and connected them to the motherboard so it could control them?

Nope. The H100 should work just fine with 3-pin fans as well. Mine does!

whogivesascooby · 15 Jul 2015 at 20:41

Thanks again for the advice.

I am going to try them without the adapters this weekend to see if they are any better. If not then I guess its back to the fan section to try again.

Now that I have experienced how quiet the computer can be the loud fans are more noticeable then ever.

Thanks again for the advice.

Edit: Tried it without the adapters and I still wasn't happy with the temps. I noticed all the Fractal parts coming to Overclockers which I have always been interested in so I am looking at them going forward.

Thanks for all the advice!