Quietest 120mm fans

koolpc

koolpc

koolpc

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Guys, what, is the quietest 120mm fans that you have ever used?

I have not bought a fan for years and wanted to know the quietest and most efficient 120mm fan. Ta
 
The slowest one. Fans don't really make any noise any more. Most of the sound is the air going through the fins or mesh.

Buying Noctua or Noiseblocker or anything like that is just a waste of money.
 
I'd agree with Disco_P - large (140mm), slow (<800rpm) fans ftw.

I'm not sure it's worth spending silly amounts on the "high end" brands like Noctua!

Su
 
Sumanji said:
I'd agree with Disco_P - large (140mm), slow (<800rpm) fans ftw.

I'm not sure it's worth spending silly amounts on the "high end" brands like Noctua!

Su
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I used to be a huge noctua fanboy. But then I needed 8 fans, bought cheap (£3 each) and found they were just as good as the noctuas.

And noctuas at full pelt are loud. No way around it.
 
There are no doubt some very fine nuances in fan design, but if you slow something right down and still keep it big enough to push air, it's gonna get the job done :D

The last fans I bought were a pair of Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition fans for about $25 (16 quid), and they're pretty darn quiet at 5V!
 
Well like I said, I can vouch for the Corsair fans I mentioned, but you definitely want to run them at 7V or less to cut the noise out :)
 
chroniclard said:
Mine are not. :)
Click to expand...

They are, you just find them not to be due to various reasons.

This is the whole problem with fan recommendations. Noise is so subjectively perceived that any recommendation is basically 100% worthless.

Someone will say a fan is 'silent' at >1000RPM, when in practice that is basically impossible. But maybe they have a room with higher ambient noise, or maybe they have worse hearing, or maybe they just don't can't about noise that much?

It's such a minefield that without full detailed analysis of noise level and noise quality (frequency spectrum) all these comments put you in no better position at all. The only way to really get low noise is to set a fan to as low a RPM as you can get away with. Someone mentioned <800RPM, but even that is too fast if you really want really low noise. My 2 Noctua's are definitely audible at ~800RPM. Personally all mine run at 550-570RPM during idle and only increase while gaming (To around 700-900RPM depending on load).

This should be given some perspective. The room my PC is in is currently showing a noise level of ~20dB with the PC running. By all accounts an extremely quiet room. Some people could easily have a room 10dB+ higher than this even with a PC off during the day (this room increases to 24dB during the day). That 10dB would buy you a lot of room for a fan to sound 'silent' to one person, but be actually loud to someone like me.
 
DarkBahamut said:
They are, you just find them not to be due to various reasons.

This is the whole problem with fan recommendations. Noise is so subjectively perceived that any recommendation is basically 100% worthless.

Someone will say a fan is 'silent' at >1000RPM, when in practice that is basically impossible. But maybe they have a room with higher ambient noise, or maybe they have worse hearing, or maybe they just don't can't about noise that much?

It's such a minefield that without full detailed analysis of noise level and noise quality (frequency spectrum) all these comments put you in no better position at all. The only way to really get low noise is to set a fan to as low a RPM as you can get away with. Someone mentioned <800RPM, but even that is too fast if you really want really low noise. My 2 Noctua's are definitely audible at ~800RPM. Personally all mine run at 550-570RPM during idle and only increase while gaming (To around 700-900RPM depending on load).

This should be given some perspective. The room my PC is in is currently showing a noise level of ~20dB with the PC running. By all accounts an extremely quiet room. Some people could easily have a room 10dB+ higher than this even with a PC off during the day (this room increases to 24dB during the day). That 10dB would buy you a lot of room for a fan to sound 'silent' to one person, but be actually loud to someone like me.
Click to expand...

Brilliant explanation.
 
DarkBahamut said:
They are, you just find them not to be due to various reasons.

This is the whole problem with fan recommendations. Noise is so subjectively perceived that any recommendation is basically 100% worthless.

Someone will say a fan is 'silent' at >1000RPM, when in practice that is basically impossible. But maybe they have a room with higher ambient noise, or maybe they have worse hearing, or maybe they just don't can't about noise that much?

It's such a minefield that without full detailed analysis of noise level and noise quality (frequency spectrum) all these comments put you in no better position at all. The only way to really get low noise is to set a fan to as low a RPM as you can get away with. Someone mentioned <800RPM, but even that is too fast if you really want really low noise. My 2 Noctua's are definitely audible at ~800RPM. Personally all mine run at 550-570RPM during idle and only increase while gaming (To around 700-900RPM depending on load).

This should be given some perspective. The room my PC is in is currently showing a noise level of ~20dB with the PC running. By all accounts an extremely quiet room. Some people could easily have a room 10dB+ higher than this even with a PC off during the day (this room increases to 24dB during the day). That 10dB would buy you a lot of room for a fan to sound 'silent' to one person, but be actually loud to someone like me.
Click to expand...

Yes and no.

The quote was "And noctuas at full pelt are loud." which is just not true(for the ones I have at least).
 
I find the Arctic 120 PWMs to be effective and quiet. Every Scythe fan I have is also excellent. The Nanoxia Deep silence fans are also good but get very rattly at full pelt.
 
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