120mm Fan question

pc-guy · 10 Jun 2020 at 17:11

I need to replace my fans on my rads. they do push a lot of air but i run them fair low RPM for quietness

So I need something that can push a decent amount of air at low RPM and be very effiicient, also I plan on doing push and pull configuration to ensure the air flow is good going into the case as the rads are front mounted.

Noctua AF12x25 is unfortunately out of my budget, can't justify spending £100 on fans.

what are the alternatives? I have been looking at Corsair ML series - reason, one of the existing fan's bearing seems to be going as it is clicking.

pc-guy · 10 Jun 2020 at 18:39

ttaskmaster said:
Noctua NF-F12 is usually the choice for radiators, as a good balance between noise and performance.
I actually switched from them to ML120s* myself, but that was to better match a low FPI set of rads.
Black Noise NB E-loop fans are pretty decent, too.

A lot of people on here rate Arctic fans, mainly for being very cheap.
Vardars perform well with some rads, but tend toward the noisier end of things.

*Original non-RGB versions have higher performance and come in twin packs.

How does ML120 do with low RPM say around 800-1000? In terms of noise?

pc-guy · 10 Jun 2020 at 20:08

ML120 looks weak at low revs

I am gonna give Noiseblocker fans a go....£17 a pop still a but expensive

compared with £22 for a pair of ML fans

pc-guy · 11 Jun 2020 at 16:32

ttaskmaster said:
Dunno... I can't hear them over the noise of my pump and hard drive!
TBF, most fans will be pretty quiet below 1,000rpm anyway.

I did actually put them to 700rpm during a RealBench run last night and water temps didn't even hit 33ºC... That's a 5960X @4.6GHz with a 30mm 240 rad and a 60mm 360 rad cooling it, both high FPI. It beats my Gentle Typhoons.
Dialling them down to 810rpm right now, my SmartTools sound meter app says they're 31dB when I hold the phone mic about 3" away from the air intake, but again that is through an intake grille, mesh filter and a high FPI radiator. I don't have professional sound monitoring kit or anything, though.

Tbh I am more concerned about airflow than AIO temps. Cos my case location (under the desk) I want the case to have decent amount of air in so the exhaust fans don’t “choke”. Also I want to keep positive air pressure inside the case so to keep dust out.

temps wise 1 or 2 degrees is not going to make me wince.

silence, longevity is the game.