Decent 120mm fan?

Smoogels

Smoogels

Smoogels

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I've been looking for a few days but I can't seem to find a fan that I click with.

I was wondering what is seen as a decent 120mm exhaust fan these days? Ideally I'd like a quiet fan which can perform well. I also do not want LEDs and would prefer the fan to be a 3 pin, which does sadly limit the choices :(

The Noctuas seem really good but I can't bring myself to pay £17 for a fan. As a budget I had about £13 in mind but am really struggling with what to get. Some fans have mixed reviews on the internet and I'm now at a point where I have no idea what to go for.

I do also have a question though. If my 3 pin fans are controlled by the motherboard, can I put in a 4 pin/PWM fan aswell? Can you mix and match them? Or do all fans need to be 4 pin or 3 pin?

Any insight or suggestions is greatly appreciated :)
 
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Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at some reviews for them:)

I'm not that drawn to either fans design though, sadly:( Although, if reviews are good I may lump it :)

I'm still confused though about using both PWM and 3 pin fans. After a bit of Googling some people say you can while others say you can't:(
 
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You wont have any issues using 3 pin and 4 pin fans on the same motherboard. 4 pin will just be controlled using pwm instead of voltage.

Those golf fans are epic fans especially for the price.

What is your colour scheme?
 
If you want a good looking and good performing fan, Corsair Air Series. Either the AF or SP range, depending on your needs but for an exhaust, assuming there's no restriction, The AF120 will be the one for you.

They comes with 3 interchangeable coloured rings. Blue, white and Red.

This is my rear exhaust AF120 with the blue ring.
m06R5Vt.jpg
 
Thanks for confirming that both PWM and 3 pins work at the same time, opens up a bit more choice :P I have no real specific color scheme as all my parts are mixed and matched (bronzy motherboard, blue RAM, black cpu fan, black graphics card etc). I might grab a single golf fan to see how good it is, but I'd still like to gather other opinions in the mean time:)

I have used the Corsair AF fans before and while they performed great my motherboard was not able to detect them. I tried all I could to get them detected but for some reason it wont detect it so it wont control it :( It's odd though, since other 3 pin fans work fine. They do look great and I really wish my motherboard liked them as I am not keen on a fan controller :(
 
exhaust isn't as important as intake in my experience any fan will do as exhaust as long as it's 800rpm or more
 
Smoogels said:
Thanks for confirming that both PWM and 3 pins work at the same time, opens up a bit more choice :P I have no real specific color scheme as all my parts are mixed and matched (bronzy motherboard, blue RAM, black cpu fan, black graphics card etc). I might grab a single golf fan to see how good it is, but I'd still like to gather other opinions in the mean time:)

I have used the Corsair AF fans before and while they performed great my motherboard was not able to detect them. I tried all I could to get them detected but for some reason it wont detect it so it wont control it :( It's odd though, since other 3 pin fans work fine. They do look great and I really wish my motherboard liked them as I am not keen on a fan controller :(
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The golf fan is a good one but you're going to have to run it a low speed. At full tilt (2200rpm IIRC) it's quite loud. I have my modified one still sat in the front of my old case.

As for the AFs, mine are on a fan controller purely because I only have 2 fan headers on my board, CPU and SYS. CPU is PWM and has a PWM>DC converter built by Tealc and is running 2 SP120 3-pin fans on my H100i rad. SYS just has the RPM feed from the H100i pump so I've no option other than either a fan controller or running them at 7/12v.

I went for an external controller (NZXT Sentry LXE) because my case has a door and I couldn't be bothered faffing about opening it to adjust the fans and/or check the fans are operating right. With the LXE I've got a nice 5.27" touch-screen display sat right on my desk which I can glance at without hassle.
 
Hi I know that you said the noctuas are a little expensive but you should re-consider them. I have got 4 of them in my system and I couldn't be happier with them. They are unbeliveabley quiet and they don't stall when run at too low an rpm. Also the noctua customer service is top notch.
 
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