My Phanteks case fan has started to fail! Spec me the quietest 140mm fans?

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 14:34

Today I came to my PC after hearing a clicking noise and feared a HDD failure but turns out it's just one of the 3 Phanteks 140mm fans that has bearing failure. Rather than replace just that one I have decided to throw them all i the bin and get nice new ones designed to have a long MTBF with quietness in mind.

The case is an Enthoo Evolv ATX and I have 2x front intake and 1x rear exhaust configuration. A H115i sits at the top for CPU cooling with 2x Nanoxia Deep Silence series fans PWM controlled to silent running.

All the case fans are running in silent smart fan profile in the BIOS anyway so hover between 590 and 720rpm.

I'm after 3x quiet fans that do push decent air still if anyone can recommend something? I don't need/want RGB lighting etc, just black fans and if they have red accents then that's a bonus as it will go well with my interior decor

Cheers!

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 15:36

Cheers guys!

Haven't had any issues with airflow I don't think, all these years the 6700k has been running at a fixed 4.4GHz without a hitch! But blocking off those extra holes etc around the front of the case frame seems like a good shout as I did clean out a layer of dust from the inside of the fan blades today even though the dust filter on the front was caked and doing its job so it's clear there is dust getting in then circling back onto the blade walls through those open gaps over time.

I was going to buy the Noctua ones off OcUK but they're out of stock and then came here to spec me lol. I see Noctua now do black fans but they are industrial models with high noise levels so not my bag really.

I really like the idea of daisy chaining those PST fans, sounds like a genius idea and frees up some headers on the mobo. Will fanspeed monitoring still be relayed this way correctly to the OS so I can keep an eye on speeds/temps etc? I use Open Hardware Monitor with a desktop widget to keep an eye on things.

As for the Be Quiet! fans, ocuk sell pure wings and shadow wings, are those the ones you guys meant? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/air-cooling/fans/pwm-fans?ckSuppliers=71&ckTab=0&sSort=2

Edit*
Found the Silent Wings model elsewhere!

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 16:12

Ah thanks, I did think about moving the exhaust to the front but I would still like to have an exhaust fan of some kind anyway as my case does not have top mounted exhaust as the H115i sits up there with the Nanoxia blowing onto the radiator so not really much of an exhaust as such.

Also if 1 Phanteks is now failing after 4 years then the others can't be far off so thought I'd just replace them all as they all came with the case.

I'm wondering now though since the static pressure of the Nanoxia isn't as high rated as maybe I'd like, should I just replace all fans with something like the Be Quiet ones for better cooling and better noise. The high speed version is not a problem as I'll be running them all via the BIOS silent profile anyway which ramps up when needed. I don't mind ordering 5x silent wings pwm high speed if it will be of good benefit and last a long time!

Dust filter does get cleaned, though not every month, every couple of months although I do try if I've got time once a month!

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 16:41

I'll admit I have not looked into the warranty for either so wasn't aware of the 10 years on offer, that is actually really compelling and makes a solid case for itself.

Found a 5 pack of PWM PST for £29 (ocuk not in stock) so think for this price it's a sensible option for what looks to be great cooling and low noise

Edit*
Ordered the PWM PST. Cheers all.

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 17:51

Delivery isn't expected until start of August but yep I will update!

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 18:05

I've had single fans start to show similar symptoms before. The Corsair Air fans I had on the 115i before the Nanoxia were installed went through a similar fate hence the change to the Nanoxia. After that point I stopped considering Corsair fans as they seemed expensive without really adding much in the way of real world performance or reducing noise.

The 10yr warranty on the Arctic swung it really with that kind of price. As mentioned above it shows their confidence in the product so I'm all for that. If they turn out to be poor after say 2 years then I've only spent £30 so no major wallet smashing endured!

I have no problem paying for a name brand. My previous fans were Corsair Air series and before that the previous gen Noctuas before I did a rebuild and chose to keep colour scheme consistent instead of black, red, BEIGE and BROWN!!!

I won't immediately be daisy chaining the PSTs though since I have 4 pin fan headers already available, but if I change things around in the future it's good to have options already available.

I'll post a little OHM screenshot comparison before and after the swaps once installed to see how much difference the PSTs make to temps due to the better static pressure/airflow.

mrk · 19 Jul 2020 at 21:34

What have I started!

For reference on startup etc, I virtually never shut this PC down. Only when a driver or Windows update is installed and a restart is needed. Otherwise the system stays on 24/7 really so any concern for fan header surge has never really crossed my mind.

mrk · 20 Jul 2020 at 08:14

It's all cool! I got the gist of what everyone was saying and normally I'd not need to post a spec me as I'd know what I needed but this time round having tried expensive fans in the past and it being years since I last bought fans I figured maybe the field has changed and it's best to ask here :cool:

I'd have never found the Arctic by myself though as I'd have seen the price and disregarded them as cheap fans of low quality but then weeks later might have come across a review showing how good they are then kicking myself lol.

Either way everything said had been considered and a choice was then made based on a few factors so we got to a decent conclusion I reckon!

Just now have to wait a couple weeks for delivery

mrk · 31 Jul 2020 at 22:32

Fans arrived today, value packaging indeed, 5 fans, a bunch of screws all in one brown little box

No need for fancy packaging anyway.

Quality seems fine, better feel than the Nanoxia ones anyway which were much more expensive.

I chose not to daisy chain them as every fan header on my mobo is 4 PIN anyway and I have them available right by the fan locations so a no brainer really and the BIOS is still set to the silent smart fan profile for a 4 step ramp up based on various system temps. The CPU fan header is set to 100% though as I am letting the H115i manage both the PST fan speeds attached to the radiator. By default it's also running them in silent it seems which is nice.

Before > After:

Note that 1 fan is missing in the before screenshot as I disconnected the rattling Phanteks one which made zero difference to normal running temps so this can be ignored.

With the BIOS fan profile set to normal the CPU temp drops to around 33 max normal running and fluctuating with various loads.

The noise difference is evident. I can now hear my 2 4TB HDDs spinning over the fans lol.

Very impressed, cheers!

mrk · 1 Feb 2021 at 18:56

Sack them all off like I did and get the above, world of difference!