Xigmatek Blackline vs Akasa Apache Black

gcaster · 18 Feb 2011 at 18:21

I'm going to get a couple of 120mm fans to mount on my 120.2 rad to give a pull/push setup rather than the current pull from the 2 200mm fans above it.
I've narrowed it down to these 2 but don't know which to go for.
Obviously the Akasa Blacks (I'm not going for the sick coloured ones) are about twice the price of the Xigmateks but do they justify this? The Xigmateks are rated a higher CFM but also with 25% more noise at "<20dBA".
Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Greg

OLDPHART · 19 Feb 2011 at 00:16

Just get the Xigmateks at 20dba they will still be very silent.

chipps101 · 19 Feb 2011 at 10:53

scythe gentle typhoons

generally regarded as the best radiator fans.

OLDPHART · 19 Feb 2011 at 12:00

chipps101 said:
scythe gentle typhoons

generally regarded as the best radiator fans.

There's quite a few fans that give better performance now + a lot cheaper IE: > Xigmatek 120mm 1500rpm just as good if not slightly better, cheaper than the Scythe Gentle Typhoons 120mm 1450rpm for one.

chipps101 · 19 Feb 2011 at 14:10

http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/831994-fan-testing-round-4-gt-vs.html

for noise at a given cfm through a radiator there is still not much that touches a gentle typhoon and their high static pressure makes them ideal for radiators.

gcaster · 19 Feb 2011 at 18:44

I've gone for the Apache's latest younger brother in the end and bought a couple of Akasa Vipers.
They'll be going into either my PWM socket or onto my fan controller (undecided as of yet) so I'll be able to control the output and hence noise. These fans seem to have the best noise:CFM ratio that I could find and go to a much higher RPM than the Apache. At 20dBA they should out perform pretty much any other 120mm fan and if I'm ever doing anything particularly strenuous I have the option to crank it up a bit further.
A review of the EK Coolstream rad on Skinnee Labs seems to suggest that this rad shows significant performance increses at higher CFMs.
Cheers for your input though guys.

OLDPHART · 19 Feb 2011 at 21:38

Just another two example's the Apache beats the 3/ BitFenix beats the 2, of Scythe Gentle Typhoon below, the review you have linked is in 2009, if they got a good selection of fans in a group test now it would be a different story.

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1150 RPM Cooling Fan 120mm
Fan Speed: 1150 rpm
Airflow: 37.1 CFM
Sound Level: 16 dB

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1450 rpm Cooling Fan 120mm
flow, CFM ±10% 50.0
noise level, dB(A) 21.0
fan speed, RPM ±10% 1450

Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 RPM Cooling Fan 120mm
Fan Speed: 1850 rpm
Airflow: 57.6 CFM
Sound Level: 28 dB

Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black Super Silent 120mm Fan - 4 Pin PWM
- Speed 600 -1300 RPM
- Max airflow 57.53 CFM (97.74 m3/h)
- Sound level 6.9 -16.05 dB(A)
- Max static air pressure 2.640 mm-H2O
- Rated voltage 12V
- Connector PWM-4pin

BitFenix Spectre 120mm Fan
- Dimensions (mm): 120 x 25
- Current (A): 0.06
- Speed (RPM): 800-1000
- Air Flow (CFM): 52
- Noise (dB-A): 18
- Air Pressure (mmH2O): 1.64

The OP has made a good choice, but maybe the Apache's would have done. l use X3 Vipers-pull + shrouds on my 360 Rad as l had two Vipers already off my H50. Just use PWM my Vipers just go over 1400 + shrouds.

gcaster · 19 Feb 2011 at 21:46

I managed to get the Vipers from a competitor for only 60p more each than the lowest price on Apache Blacks.
For £11 each I can't really complain. The Xigmateks would have been cheaper but hey, it's only an extra tenner onto a loop that's cost a fair bit!
(The standard Apaches were never a consideration as personally I think they look like vomit.)

liquidex · 19 Feb 2011 at 22:27

OLDPHART said:
Snip

You can't really use manufacturer's specs as there doesn't seem to be a standardised testing method. Most fan reviews show that its very rare that a fan will meet its stated specs.

As chipps101 said the GTs are still regarded as the best fans for static pressure/noise ratio and I would have to agree after changing my own Apache to a GT as its knocked a couple of degrees of my cpu temp.

chipps101 · 20 Feb 2011 at 00:06

OLDPHART said:
the review you have linked is in 2009

the review i linked to was from september 2010 not from 2009, the silverstone air penetrator in that test wasn't available in 2009.

cfm means nothing, i have been doing some tests of my own as i am about to replace the viper i have on my zalman flex as it is too noisy at full speed and have tested the 1850 rpm scythe gentle typhoon against this kaze jyuni - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-022-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=4 and the stock 90 cfm fan from my sunbeantech core contact and the scythe gentle typhoon actually beats the jyuni by a degree in my tests while being the quietest out of the 3 and also quieter than the viper.

the only bad things i can think of about the gentle typhoon are that it is a heavy fan and you have to snap the closed corners so you can fit it to a cooler that uses clips (but then it is designed for radiators).

Squid · 22 Feb 2011 at 14:21

Most reviews show the Vipers manufacturer's specs to be way optimistic , Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 and put it on a controller

Exsurgo · 22 Feb 2011 at 14:26

The scythe gentle typhoon 1850 rpm fans are the only high performance fans I have ever used that are actually quiet on max rpm. I actually think that the quoted figure of 28 dB is a liberal estimate.

I still use San Ace's though, 2.82 mmH20 static pressure

Also Akasa AK-FN058 Apache Black do not have a static air pressure 2.640 mm-H2O. The word max obviously means they have used a very different testing scenario to achieve this figure.