Fans....not having much luck with finding quiet ones.

Grandmaster Fap!

Grandmaster Fap!

Grandmaster Fap!

Soldato
Joined
10 Jan 2004
Posts
9,977
Location
Poland
So im looking for some recommendations for quiet 120mm (preferably LED) fans. Ive just tried some ID-Cooling, very nice looking and move decent air but hate low rpm so are still noisy at the point of stalling.

Also tried some Bitfenix Spectres and they seem to be making ticking noises which is odd as ive used the non LEDs before and they are fab. At a bit of a loss as to why the LED versions would make so much racket at low rpm.

I'm trying to stick to an £8 per fan limit as im needing six and as much as they are sexy im going nowhere near RGBs till they are sensible money.

What should i look at people? :)
 
There are good LED fans and there are good airflow & pressure fans, but there are few good LED airflow & pressure fans regardless of price. :p

Honestly, if I was getting a couple of new case fans the PH-F140MP are what I would get. Not that Arctic F are not good. I've used them several times and had no complaints, but from what I've seen some people have had defective ones.
 
doyll said:
There are good LED fans and there are good airflow & pressure fans, but there are few good LED airflow & pressure fans regardless of price. :p
Click to expand...
Bling bling is challenge at any price point.
Good acoustics needs vibration damping properties from materials and some bling bling plastics are really bad for that.
Then add cheap bearing and you have fan which keeps bearing noise at low speeds and at higher speeds whole fan has "ringing" resonance competing with turbulence noise.


Steampunk said:
Noctua. The oil bearing makes them quiet, and they have a good air noise profile even at speed. No LED though.
Click to expand...
One of the most overpriced fans for their performance.
Because snake oil doesn't make anything quiet.

Or while NF-S12 fan is actually quiet that's because it has **** poor pressure and basically any impedance makes airflow collapse badly.
And if it has same bearing/motor as NF-P12 and NF-F12 even that won't realize without soft mounting.

I've gotten both NF-P12 and NF-F12 with heatsinks and besides mediocre acoustics (no doubt designed to fool dB meters) those are horrible vibrating rollers.
When SPCR first got heatsink with NF-P12 fan they thought they had airplane flying somewhere in area the way those PR BS notches cause noise at some speeds.
Neither NF-F12 has the smoothest acoustic signature, no doubt because of those hub supports coinciding with angle of trailing edge of blades.
And if you put them on table or any hard surface vibration induced noise is horrible.
While at the same time fans costing one third have very smooth rotating at all speeds!
 
Grandmaster Fap! said:
Also tried some Bitfenix Spectres and they seem to be making ticking noises which is odd as ive used the non LEDs before and they are fab. At a bit of a loss as to why the LED versions would make so much racket at low rpm.
Click to expand...
Are you using linear voltage control or PWM chopping of 12V?
Don't think PWM would cause ticking noises...
But some fans certainly keep extra noises with square wave AC with DC-offset input voltage and it certainly won't help.
 
Whereas I've had great performance and low noises from my Noctuas, including ones I bought second hand.
A lot depends on what grilles, meshes, filters, rads and heatsinks you use, how close to these your fans are, what case you have, what components you're bouncing the internal airflow around, and so on.

About the only fans I've found to be any quieter are the Corsair ML120s and some old Gentle Typhoons, the latter of which still aren't that much quieter.
 
Cougar vortex hdb fans, I have 18 of them spinning 2 feet from my head at their lowest setting and they are inaudible except in total silence.
 
EsaT said:
Are you using linear voltage control or PWM chopping of 12V?
Don't think PWM would cause ticking noises...
But some fans certainly keep extra noises with square wave AC with DC-offset input voltage and it certainly won't help.
Click to expand...

I had six spectres hooked up to my Lamptron FC2, the air noise was typical Bitfenix; brilliant but at least four of them had ticking which changed tempo with the fan speed so i assumed the bearings were causing it in some way.

I dont mind air noise, i just hate drone and the motors making 'some' sort of noise, i seem to be really sensitive to it as my mates who have seen my pc think its broke as to them its 'silent'!
 
BitFenix Spectre are nice fans.

drone and motors noise can sometime be down to the type of grill sitting next to the fan and the way air pass's it.
 
Finding quiet fans is a pain - I had an Akasa Apache Black which was for all intents and purposes silent at a low speed - but on subsequent buying I found it very mixed - some of them performed the same others were noticeably noisier and I've found similar story with most other brands - depending on individual examples and situation used in, etc. the story can be completely different :(

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-vegas-x7-rgb-led-fan-120mm-fg-07c-ak.html might be worth a look a little above your budget and airflow is only moderate but by all reports mechanically run silent and air noise minimal - there are fixed colour LED versions of it inside your budget as well.
 
Last edited:
P4Clock said:
BitFenix Spectre are nice fans.

drone and motors noise can sometime be down to the type of grill sitting next to the fan and the way air pass's it.
Click to expand...

Yeah i eliminated grill noise by just having them outside the case too, held in hand some of them still had motor noise/ticking :/

Rroff said:
Finding quiet fans is a pain - I had an Akasa Apache Black which was for all intents and purposes silent at a low speed - but on subsequent buying I found it very mixed - some of them performed the same others were noticeably noisier and I've found similar story with most other brands - depending on individual examples and situation used in, etc. the story can be completely different :(

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-vegas-x7-rgb-led-fan-120mm-fg-07c-ak.html might be worth a look a little above your budget and airflow is only moderate but by all reports mechanically run silent and air noise minimal - there are fixed colour LED versions of it inside your budget as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Rroff, i'll have a look at some vids :)
 
P4Clock said:
@Grandmaster Fap!, i just remembered seeing this item the other day, sombody on here posted a photo of his system with a few fitted and i have to say in his case they looked nice.
i would think its a good way to get a silent fan and still have RGB option.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-halos-120mm-rgb-led-fan-frame-black-ca-070-pt.html
Click to expand...

Thats a good shout mate, i saw them but was so obsessed with finding a good led fan i discounted them. But now its an idea to get some quality fans and put these on later! Plus with led fans when you turn down the rpm you dim the leds, with this i could have my fans on low rpm and still have very bright rgb :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom