What fans are recomme

RobTi

RobTi

RobTi

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Hi I have been away from pc’s for years now, but was into Overclocking at the time, so son has given me his old rig and before I upgrade I want to get the fans sorted(will be going down the amd route if I catch the bug and start gaming again)So the case is a coolermaster elite 430 usb which can have the following configuration

Top: 120mm fan x 2 (optional)
Front: 120mm red LED fan x 1 (installed), or 140mm fan x 1 (optional)
Rear: 80/90/120mm fan x 1 (optional)
Side: 120mm fan x 1 (optional)
Bottom: 80/90/120mm fan x 1 (optional)

So help on what way to go and Links please ?
Thanks
 
RobTi said:
Hi I have been away from pc’s for years now, but was into Overclocking at the time, so son has given me his old rig and before I upgrade I want to get the fans sorted(will be going down the amd route if I catch the bug and start gaming again)So the case is a coolermaster elite 430 usb which can have the following configuration

Top: 120mm fan x 2 (optional)
Front: 120mm red LED fan x 1 (installed), or 140mm fan x 1 (optional)
Rear: 80/90/120mm fan x 1 (optional)
Side: 120mm fan x 1 (optional)
Bottom: 80/90/120mm fan x 1 (optional)

So help on what way to go and Links please ?
Thanks
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Without knowing what fans you have in your case now and what components / component fans are being used it's really impossible to say what fans you probably need. How much case airflow is needed is dependent on how much airflow components use. ;) Your Coolermaster Elite 430 is maginal at best, but with good front and bottom intakes it might be okay. If you are not using the 3x optical bays a 3rd fan could be mounted there for 2x 140mm front intakes.
 
If you want pure performance and don't care about looks or RGB and don't mind spending a few extra quid per fan, then go with Noctua. If you want performance but something that doesn't look like the upholstery from an Austin Healey and still without RGB then try the BeQuiet Silentwings 3.

For okay to good performance and RGB then have a look at Corsair LL or ML fans. That is my advice and experience anyway.
 
Ask son and he sent me this for spec, HD7870Ghz,965 black edition, and then texted this
“SP fans if you have a hard drive cage right behind the fans. AF fans if it is open space behind fans”
So nothing in drive bays apart from ssd in top bay so no restrictions on front fan, so thought to upgrade the oem 120 to a 140 on the front And then need a 120 on the bottom blowing up and a couple of 120 on the top blowing out, but one of these will be tight against the top of the coolers and finally I need something to supply power to these as I don’t have enough headers
https://flic.kr/p/2bPY4gX
 
I would never use AF fans. They simply do not have a high enough pressure rating to overcome case grill and filter restrictions and flow needed air to components. I always use fans with at least 1.3-1.5mm H2O pressure rating at 1300-1600rpm. That way they will move a good amount of air in the 800-1100rpm range they run at in normal use with more airflow in reserve for super hot weather and/or dirty filters.

Noctua are good fans, but usually they are more expensive than other similar quality and performance fans because people paying over the top for Noctua name. Sure, they have great customer support, but with several other fans easily as good at lower prices from companies that have good customer support as well, Noctua's higher prices are not worth it in my opinion.

Phanteks PH-F120MP 2-pack is £14.99, but is out of stock at this time.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/two-...120mm-fan-radiator-performance-bu-002-pt.html

PH-F140MP 2-pack is £16.26 .. that is only £8.13 per fan.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/two-...140mm-fan-radiator-performance-bu-003-pt.html

Above also come in 3-packs but are out of stock at this time.
 
ttaskmaster said:
But few SP fans shift much air volume anyway, at least until you start bumping up the noise levels.
I find the Noctua NF-A14 and the ML-140 pro are pretty good balances in that respect - Even assuming Mfr's specs to be just rough guidelines, The Noctua cranks out 25dB at 1500rpm, but you still get over 2mm/H20 with over 80CFM... while the ML140 is 36 at 2000, but almost 100CFM for 3mm/H20.

I'd argue that you're paying for the warranty and all those accessories. You get loads of stuff - silicone mounts, screws, a long extension, a Y-splitter, a low noise adapter (all cables are nicely braided/silicone-sleeved, as well), a Molex adapter, silicone corners for both sides, and a silicone gasket for radiators.
But they also do their Redux fans, which are basically the same fans but in black and without all the accessories - They're about the same/cheaper than similar spec fans.
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As resistance increase airflow is reduced. Fans with higher pressure ratings overcome that resistance much more easily thereby maintaining much more airflow. For example if we have 2 fans rated 70cfm free airflow (that is what the cfm rating is) with fan A having a static pressure rating of 0.8 mm H2O and fan B having a static pressure rating of 1.6mm H2O with no resisitance both floiw 70cfm, and we have a resistance similar to 0.8mm H2O fan A with 0.8mm H2O fan will be flowing no air because that is it's static pressure rating, the pressure point it stops flowing air, but fan B will still be flowing about 35cfm
because of it's higher static pressure rating.

True, if you have a use for all the extra 'stuff' as you put it .. and ever need the warranty. In over 20 years of computers I have rarely needed any of the accessories not included with normal fans, mostly just their mounting screws and have only warrantied a fan once, and it happened to be a Noctua that started leaking oil. At that time Noctua sent me a new fan asking only that I break a blade out of the leaking one before I threw it out. But now Noctua is making owners send the fans in for warranty. I have to respectfully disagree with you about similar quaity fans all being similar prices as Noctua. Phanteks are one such example with 2-pack of PH-F140MP costing £16.26 while NF-A14 are £18.95-21.95 for baby poo brown and-£22.99-26.99 for black. Well more than twice, some more than 3 times as expensive as PH-F140MP in a 2-pack.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Not disagreeing with that part... just pointing out that that high SP fans often have relative low CFM. So yes, they can force air through with some serious push... but they're still only pushing a comparatively small amount of air - For example, the Corsair SP, 3.1mm/H20 but only 63CFM... is there any point??!! I could chuck a Vardar F5 on at 5.8mm/H20 for over 100CFM!
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You seem to be missing the point. The more resistance there is the less percent of maximim free airflow lower static pressure rated fans will flow. This is compounded by the lower the fans' speeds are. So a airflow fan rated 0.8mm H2O & 80cfm @ 1500rpm is only making about 0.35mm H2O at 700rpm and with grill and filter creating 0.4mm H2O of resistance it is flowing no air .. but a pressure fan rated 1.5mm H2O & 70 cfm @ 1500rpm still has about 7mm H2O pressure rating at 700rpm and will be flowing about 30cfm.

ttaskmaster said:
I think the only bits I've never used are the LNAs. Most of them go in machines I built for other people, but it's still nice to have options.
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Probably the most used part is the silicone mount which are availabvle here in packs of 20 for £4.99 and in hundred lots elsewhere for about the same price. But if you want to pay more for Noctua fans that's our choice.

ttaskmaster said:
I didn't say all, although I haven't looked at my spreadsheets much, lately. Been busy.
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But yes, that one particular fan is cheaper than one particular Noctua. I'm sure if I go look around I'll find some Noctuas for around a tenner.
It's £14 for just one of those, in the shop here.[/QUOTE]
They are £12.95 each for black/white and £13.99 for black/black .. that is still several quid less expensive than the Noctuas are. As I already said, PH-F140MP 2-pack is £16.26 here. At least for me when I need fans I need more than one. :p There is also the new Arctic P14 series fan now that sell for about 1/3 what Noctua do .. as well as PH-F140SP, PH-F140XP, TY-147A with similar performance (some are better) all significantly lower priced than Noctua.

ttaskmaster said:
I believe that is more of a 'Banoffee Pie', actually. If your baby is pooing multiple colours like that, you probably need to take it up the doctor's...!! :p
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Edit:
The HardwareLUXX fan review linked below has airflow in m3/h for unrestriced, through wire grill, wire grill & SST-FF143 filter, Cryorig H5 cooler and NexXxoS ST30 140mm radiator respectively. We can see in the bar graphs how as airflow resistance increases the fans with higher static pressure rating maintain higher airflow rates than the lower pressure rated fans do. Please not that H5 cooler is more restictive than ST30 140mm radiator.
https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.p...erspricht-hohen-statischen-druck.html?start=5
 
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ttaskmaster said:
No, the point I'm making is that the 1.5mm/H20 fan is still ONLY pushing 70CFM freely.
My point is not to do with performance, but what it starts with in the first place, and that many SP fans start with a very low free airflow. Few have decent CFM.
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No, actually most have cfm ratings within 10cfm or less of airflow fan specs. But if specs are more important than how your fans perform in use by all means get airflow fans. :p don't care how my fans perform in applications I never use them in. For me if fans don't meet my performance requirements I don't care what their specs are. :p

ttaskmaster said:
I don't have time to trawl the world looking for 5p saving deals on 100-packs of something that I might only ever use 9 or 11 of. I just wanted a decent fan that gave me all the bits I had a use for. It would have cost a lot more if I'd done it with some other brand back then and I suspect it would nowadays too.
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No, you seem to prefer spending an extra 5 quid for each fan to get a half dozen accessories that you will only use half or less of instead of spending 5 minutes finding what you need on the internet. But if that is too much time then by all means pay the extra fiver (or more extra) for our fan.

ttaskmaster said:
So? It was £27.98. I picked up my NF-F120s at £7 each during a sale once. I'm sure the price of these will go up again, too.
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What it was doesn't make any difference now. What it is right now is the key. Every price I've stated is the prices right now.

ttaskmaster said:
Where mehr is besser and the Noctua actually does better than even I expected.
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Many of Noctua's products are very good, but most are higher priced than other brand comparable performing products.

But enough of this. You like Noctua and that is all well and good. We are all different and the world would be a very boring place if we all liked the same things.:D
 
ttaskmaster said:
Nope.
Firstly, you said - "I would never use AF fans. They simply do not have a high enough pressure rating to overcome case grill and filter restrictions and flow needed air to components".
So by your own logic, SP fans would still lack sufficient CFM anyway, which simply is not true... in many cases, anyway.

Secondly...
Around the 2mm/H20 mark fans tend to average around 70CFM.
Down around 1.5mm they tend to be lower, but we do still see 70CFMs and even a few 90s. We also see some ridiculous values from some Quiet Edition fans around 1.2 with just 36CFM.

So yes, many SP fans do have comparatively low airflow, while fewer have quite a high value, and it was the latter I was advocating.

If ignoring what I actually said lets you think you're successfully arguing a different point altogether, then go ahead...

It seems you completely missed the bit where I explained exactly how many of them I had actually used...

It would likely cost me more in search time, price comparisons, waiting and in additional postage than I would feel like I'd saved, especially when nice quality versions of that stuff is already provided in the Noctua boxes.

Prices can change. Specs don't. Or would you suddenly start singing the praises of Noctua if they halved in price?

Most are quieter too, but you seem to prefer splitting pennies rather than even mentioning noise performance...

Noctua are one of those I like. Others mentioned above. I also have some GTs, but the jury is still out on those.
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You need to read and understand what I post. My reply was to you saying " many SP fans start with a very low free airflow. Few have decent CFM."
That is false.
Most fans with good static pressure ratings have good airflow including their free airflow specification.

Aslo, and I'm guilty of doing it in this discussion, there really isn't any "static pressure fans" or "airflow fans" All fans have both airflow and static pressure. If you understand what creates airflow you know that it is pressure differential .. air moves from higher pressure area to lower pressure area creating airflow. Fans create a low pressure area on their intake side thereby drawing air to them and a high pressure area on the exhaust side where the air move away from fan into lower pressure area.

Also, you are confusing manufacturers' fan specifications and what the fans will actually do when we are using them. Specifications are almost always at maximum speed. Of companies have 2 fans of identical design but with one having a top speed of something like 1600rpm and the other having a top speed of something like 1000rpm. Both will perform the same at 1000rpm. NF-A14 series is a good example of this. Look at their airflow and static pressure ratings at all the different rpms and maybe you will see what I mean.

Actually, could you post some popular airflow and static pressure fan specs and links to same to back up you claims? Please do not post Corsair fans because they are notoriously mediocre or bad except for ML series.

For example here is PH-F140SP & PH-F140SP LED specs:
Speed = 1200 ± 250 rpm
Airflow = 82.1 CFM
Static pressure = 1.33mm H2O​

And here is PH-F140XP
Speed = 1200 ± 250 rpm
Airflow = 85.19 CFM
Static pressure = 1.52mm H2O​

And PH-F140HP
Speed = 1300 ± 250 rpm
Airflow = 88.6 CFM
Static pressure = 1.64mm H2O
​
And PH-F140MP & PH-F140HP_II
Speed = 1600 ± 250 rpm
Airflow = 68.1 CFM
Static pressure = 1.62mm H2O​


Which of these is a 'low pressure fan' and which is 'airflow fan' ? This is Phantek's entire lineup of fans. To me all of the above have high enough pressure rating to do a decent job on almost all applications.

Noctua has some good fans, although most have peers that are better and lower priced.
 
Most of your reply I'm skipping over.

The SP means nothing as far as static pressure .. obviously because it has the lower rated static pressure of of any Phanteks 140mm fans.

Many people rave about RGB LED fans, doesn't mean they are in fact fans that perform good or even average. Most users don't know what they are buying but base their purchases instead by looking at advertising and reviewers' hype.

Actually the PH-F140MP is the best of their line. What it's specs don't show is it's pressure curve is much higher in the middle rpm range meaning better airflow through normal resistance at normally used speeds than the others.
 
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