Making my K58 silent

Infam0us · 31 Mar 2013 at 15:13

Hi guys,

I'm after a new 140MM intake, 120MM exhaust and a heatsink for a AMD FX CPU for my current case a K58.

I'm looking to spend around £60 in total for this unless there's a good reason why I should spend more.

My main aim is to have the fans as quiet as possible whilst still offering excellent cooling.

I've looked at the Corsair fans and I quite like them, and also the CPU coolers that Corsair provide look quite good but I'm unsure as to what I should be looking at as this is a new field for me.

Can anyone please help?

doyll · 31 Mar 2013 at 16:18

I'm afraid you will have a hard time getting a cooler and 2x case fans for £60. Is your AMD FX 95w or 125w? I'm guessing you have approx 160mm CPU clearance in the K58? Really need to know as coolers range from 145mm to 170mm tall.

A very good quiet cooler is the
Thermalright HR-02 Macho £39.98 Length 140mm x Width 102mm(w/fan128.5mm) x Height 162mm
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=hs-082-tr&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2352

have you considered using pwm fans for your case fans and running them with your pwm signal for cpu fan socket on motherboard along with the cooler fans?

120mm fans click on fan you want to see on graph.. click on one that are highlighted to remove from graph move small window to see ratings
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/874-35/recapitulatif-db-a-vs-cfm.html

!40mm fans. same click graph
http://www.hardware.fr/marc/ventilo3/graph.htm?140#

Infam0us · 31 Mar 2013 at 17:46

Was looking at getting the following ...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-006-CS&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=1816

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-002-CS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-042-AR

Comes to £61.97 and they all have great reviews.

The clearance is: CPU Cooler height: : 160mm As reported on the OCUK website.

Jut noticed that cooler height is 161mm so a 1mm difference, that should just fit should'nt it? Or will it to be tight to close the side panel?

beasty6 · 31 Mar 2013 at 17:50

i have two corsair AF120 quiet edition fans, and they are amazing.

i cant hear them at all (remember i have a 6990 so that's loud lol)

they shift loads of air and they also come with 3 different colour plastic rings that you can clip onto the fan.

the corsair fans are a good buy

doyll · 31 Mar 2013 at 18:40

Infam0us said:
Was looking at getting the following ...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-006-CS&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=1816

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-002-CS

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-042-AR

Comes to £61.97 and they all have great reviews.

The clearance is: CPU Cooler height: : 160mm As reported on the OCUK website.

Jut noticed that cooler height is 161mm so a 1mm difference, that should just fit should'nt it? Or will it to be tight to close the side panel?

Do you have a piece of styrofoam you could cut 161-162mm to check with?

Still if you can squeeze 162mm in I would wring another £7 out of your pocket and get the HR-02. Will cool better and quieter.

Thermalright Macho 120 is a little better than A30 and is only £29.99
Length 120mm x Width 102mm(w/fan127mm) x Height 150mm
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-102-TR&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2352

As for fans I would go Noctua NF-F12 PWM £15.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-009-NC

Corsair has .5mm H2O to Noctua 2.61mm H2O.. meaning the Corsair can't compete against a light breeze and Noctua can push against a good wind's worth of resistance.... or is this your exhaust fan?

Or save a few quid and get
Zaward Golf II Fan 140mm PWM ZG2-140B for £8.99 Come in black or white.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-034-ZW&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=1816

and
Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 for £7.99 Come in black or white
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-045-ZW&groupid=701&catid=2331&subcat=4

Check your case and if you can squeeze 162mm in use a little of what you can save on fans to get the HR-02.

Infam0us · 31 Mar 2013 at 19:05

Well the 140 will be the intake and the 120 the exhaust.

Like I said my budget isn't that strict I can't move around a couple of pounds but if I do get something more expensive there has to be a good reason

Are these fans a lot better than the Corsair ones then? I'm just looking for the best value for money fans that are cool and quiet ... So not much really

doyll · 31 Mar 2013 at 19:28

It's a pound to performance ratio. Zaward fans are pretty good fans. Very good fans for what they cost. We are talking fans with a price range from £2.40-8.99 each compared to £13.99-14.99 each.

I'm not familiar with the K58. If you could put a couple extra Zaward fans in and still spend less money. Now more fans do make more noise, but we can move more air with 2x 120 fans at 900rpm than 1x 120 fan at 1200rpm (just grabbing number for examples) and 2x fans at 900rpm are still quieter than 1 fan at 1200rpm.

Here's the specs on the Zaward fans. I take the specs with a few spoons of salt but Zaward aren't as far off as many.

I can get Zaward The ZG3-120TL fans for £2.40 each.
Bearing Type - Duro bearing
Max.Air Flow - 52.85 CFM
Noise Level - 30.9 dBA
Static Pressure - 3.48mmH20
Operation Voltage - 12V
Life Expectancy - 60,000 Hrs
Net Weight - 125g

Zaward Golf Fan 120mm AFNS-C025L-R420 £7.99 each
Rated Voltage - 12V
Rated Current - 0.25A
Input Power - 3.00W
Fan Speed - 1200 RPM ± 10%
Max.Air Flow - 48.48 CFM
Noise Level - 17dBA
Life Expectancy - 26,000 hrs

Zaward Golf II Fan 140mm ZG2-140D for £7.99
Fan Speed: 900±200 rpm
Bearing Type: Duro bearing
Max.Air Flow: 62.14 CFM
Noise Level: 13.9 dBA
Operation Voltage: 12V
Life Expectancy: 60,000 Hrs

Zaward Golf II Fan 140mm PWM ZG2-140B for £8.99
Fan Speed: 300±250rpm ~ 1200±250 rpm
Bearing Type: Duro bearing
Max.Air Flow: 74.14 CFM
Noise Level: 10.1 ~ 20.3 dBA
Operation Voltage: 12V
Life Expectancy: 60,000 Hrs

These are OcUK prices.

Infam0us · 1 Apr 2013 at 00:38

Would you recommend these over the Corsair ones then?

doyll · 1 Apr 2013 at 11:52

I would buy them before I would buy Corsair ones. They are good fans that nobody knows about so there is on markup for the name. When buying Corsair a lot of the ££ is for name. Are they better than Corsair? Don't know for sure as I haven't tested both to see. My guess is they are about the same, but evenif they were not quiet as they good they are half or less the price... and still very good fans.