Best fans for radiators ?

CONSOLE_BUTCHER

CONSOLE_BUTCHER

CONSOLE_BUTCHER

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What are the best kind of fans for use with radiators in watercooling loops? To me atm the only difference in all the fans available to buy at OCUK is the size of them .

What i want from them is best cooling and silence.
 
You might get a broad range of answers on that one. Generally aswell, Rads with Low fin density like Alphacool Rads are able to be used with very low RPM fans where as High FPI rads such as Koolance need higher RPM fans ( 16 vs 30 FPI in that example).

I like to use Silent Wing 3 fans for silence and Performance, non high RPM version, can run at 80% and its almost silent with a high air flow rate and static pressure.

also used Wing Boost 2 Fans for low FPI radiators , as they have high air flow, can run 100% silent , static pressure is higher then standard High air flow fans , but is a Combo fan design.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £28.98
(includes shipping: £0.00)



​
 
Been many years since I looked at fans but the main difference (or at least one contributing factor) in radiator fans is static pressure.
 
orbitalwalsh said:
You might get a broad range of answers on that one. Generally aswell, Rads with Low fin density like Alphacool Rads are able to be used with very low RPM fans where as High FPI rads such as Koolance need higher RPM fans ( 16 vs 30 FPI in that example).

I like to use Silent Wing 3 fans for silence and Performance, non high RPM version, can run at 80% and its almost silent with a high air flow rate and static pressure.

also used Wing Boost 2 Fans for low FPI radiators , as they have high air flow, can run 100% silent , static pressure is higher then standard High air flow fans , but is a Combo fan design.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £28.98
(includes shipping: £0.00)



​
Click to expand...

So the fans you mentioned would work well with these radiators

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xspc-ex360-120mm-radiator-black-wc-085-xs.html?sAction=notify
 
CONSOLE_BUTCHER said:
So the fans you mentioned would work well with these radiators

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xspc-ex360-120mm-radiator-black-wc-085-xs.html?sAction=notify
Click to expand...

i believe that one is End of life but in theory with Low FPI both should work fine, again, im more towards the Silent Wings but they do cost a bomb ! sure others have other good fan suggestions to

In theory you could use the above fans, they do push a high rate of air. if you have HDD brackets infront etc, high pressure does help get through them.

lot of users like Corsair fans. and noctua is another cracking brand but costly !
 
orbitalwalsh said:
state side! PWM version :D just a shame the £ has fallen so much :(

swiftech Helix is a cheaper version is that takes your fancy
Click to expand...


I have a load of Gentle Typhoons in my spare parts cupboard. You some times see them pop up on ebay from time to time or as you say you can get the Dark GTs from the USA but this is not cheap.
 
In general, any fans that have a high Static Pressure.
On the manufacturer's stats page, this is usually measured in mm/H20. A reasonable average for a home system is 2.5-3.5, but some of the more industrial ones go as high as 10!

However, a lot depends on a combination of the airflow spread of the fan and the fin density of the rad.
If the rad's fins are widely spaced, you're OK but with narrowly spaced fins, you'll want a fan that has a narrow airflow. If the fan blows air in a wide spread, it will buffet around between the fans too much... and if wide enough can cause compression, stalling the airflow and resulting in more noise and less cooling. You can theoretically damage the fan too, though it's not as likely these days.

EK Vardar F4 120-ER fans, for example, are very noisy on high FPI (fins per inch) rads like the XSPCs and they don't cool so well... but they are very good on medium and low FPI rads, like EK's own and Hardware Labs' Black ICE rads.

Unfortunately, I don't know of anywhere to check and compare what kinds of spreads each fan has, so it's a bit of trial and error.
Personally, I use Noctuas as a good reduction in noise for a small reduction in performance, but would happily go for Vardars, Noiseblockers, possibly Corsair MLs. Gentle Typhoons are still king IMO though... just harder to get hold of.
 
CONSOLE_BUTCHER said:
What are the best kind of fans for use with radiators in watercooling loops? To me atm the only difference in all the fans available to buy at OCUK is the size of them .

What i want from them is best cooling and silence.
Click to expand...

How long is a piece of string, is your question.
Tell us the radiators you need to use them on and we could tell you the fans you need.

Not all radiators are the same, or operate with same fans and speeds.
eg Nemesis 360Gts is not the same as the EK XE 360.
The later is great at 1850+ rpm Vardar's but its performance tanks bellow especially at 750-1500 range, while the former is not that good to use above 1500rpm fan, but shines at low speeds and is far better than the EK EX.
 
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