Best 80mm case fans?

TheVoice

TheVoice

TheVoice

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Joined
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Hi all, I've recently got myself a Lian-Li PC-A06B case. Very happy with it so far, but the cooling isn't the best and the temperature of the case and my HDDs shows this. It's got one 80mm fan at the back drawing air in, and a 120mm fan on the front drawing air out. Odd orientation, I know, but that's the way it's designed! I'm looking at adding another 80mm fan to the back just to bring some more air in, so can anyone recommend a decent-but-quiet one?

So far I've been looking at this Noctua one:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-002-NC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=819

Or the Akasa Amber which I've always seen to be recommended a lot:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-023-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=819

Any other suggestions? The Noctua is obviously a fair bit more expensive so I'm inclined more towards the Akasa, especially seeing as I could get two for the same price and replace the 80mm that's already in the case.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Went with the Akasa in the end given how often they're recommended. It's quiet in the sense that there's no whining or wooshing sound (despite moving a decent amount of air even at low speed), but there is a noticeable humming/growling type sound, which is arguably more irritating. If it was a single uniform 'hum' it'd be more bearable, but I can actually hear the gaps in the noise.

Might send it back and ask for a replacement (wasn't from OcUK), in case I just happened to get a bad one. Annoying though, my new case is running far hotter than my old one, and now my attempt to cool it down a bit has resulted in a more noisy machine. Eugh.
 
I didnt think new cases came with 80mm. I was suprised the antec solo I bought (parents PC) came with 2x 92mm mounts ( + 1x 120mm).

I have gone a bit extreme to cool my PC, scythe kama bay, drilled holes in the side of case to fit another 120mm, changed over 2 of my original 120mm's. Not to mention changing fan controller with 2 new ones so I can controller all 4 case fans (3.5" controllers).
 
I'm fairly happy with the case (albeit it's a little bit rattly, wouldn't have expected it to be), but I don't think the cooling is particularly ideal for my system. The 8800GTS seems to be spitting out a lot of heat (PC Wizard reports it at 80 degrees, but the fan still stays low for some absurd reason), which is probably adding to the heat inside the case because the top of the case - where the graphics card is - is very warm to touch. Add 4 DIMMs and 3 hard-drives, and it's a fair amount of heat being produced.

When I've got the time I may experiment a bit and try turning the fans around to the normal orientation (front intake, rear extract) and see what that does. I don't think the hard-drives like having the warm air extracted past them, because they're sitting at about 50 degrees. Hoping to cut down to two drives soon though.
 
hi mate i found the acousti fan dust proof to be excellent in 80mm (not so good in 120mm tho)
infact when the rpm was tuned down id say they were nearly silent
as far as your gpu go's down load riva tuner and set the fan to 45 % it will still be quiet but will lower your temps a hell of a lot
mine sits at 45 deg
 
i also have the akasa ambers . a 120mm and two 80mm. great fans though id recommend using a fan controller as on 100% i can hear the hum you describe though if i take it down to 50% i cant hear anything at all yet they still push a decent amount of air.
 
I'm allowing my motherboard to alter the speeds, but even on lower speeds there's still a hum. Don't really want a fan controller to be honest, I like my case looking clean, and I shouldn't need one! :)
 
Right, I've plugged the Akasa back in. The odd humming noise seems to have gone, or at least reduced in volume. System temps are looking a bit better (particularly my HDDs, which were cooking), but still not too happy with this case. Looks like I'll be pulling it to bits to change the fan orientation soon.
 
I found that there's a sweet spot with my case fans, go over it and the hum starts to kick in. I don't mind it when I'm playing games, so I have the voltage set to 12.0V (100%) when under load. Idling I have them at 6.0V, almost silent and still keep the case cool.
 
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