whats the best fan?

nick_lerwill · 19 Feb 2006 at 15:43

ok i need like 3 80mm fans i think i only have 1 3 pin connector so can anyone recommend a good powerful quiet fan with alternative connection? oh and are those exhaust fans that go into pci slot effective?

Dirk · 20 Feb 2006 at 02:48

Most fans you buy these days come with a 3 pin to molex converter cable so that you can use any spare 4 pin molex connectors to plug them into.

Install your fans and see how your temps are then. If they are configured well for the best possible airflow you probably won't need any superfluous pci fan rubbish.

AWPC · 20 Feb 2006 at 13:15

The Asaka Amber fans are very quiet but also low CFM. Vantec Stealth are a little better but can hum @ certain RPMs.

Its always a tradeoff between noise & performance on air cooling.

Lot depends on your case layout and whether or not it has any grills/vents near the front.

Those PCI exhaust fans are quite noisy as ball bearings and usually designed to extract the hot air from your gfx card. Even then they usually fail as recent gfx cards can do the same job with their stock cooling system.

Dirk · 20 Feb 2006 at 20:47

I want to hear more about these Vantec stealths as i've got 4 on order for my new case. (Along with some fan gaskets). I was hoping that they gave a good balance between noise and cfm. Now i'm worried! :rolleyes:

Street · 20 Feb 2006 at 21:28

Ive used the Vantec Stealths before and changed to the Akasa Ambers. I found the Akasas shifted more air than the Vantecs and were also quieter.

Meetgrinder · 20 Feb 2006 at 22:37

Another "don't bother" with the pci exhaust fans from me - make far more racket than any benefit you might (but probably won't) gain from putting them in!

AWPC · 20 Feb 2006 at 23:34

Dirk said:
I want to hear more about these Vantec stealths as i've got 4 on order for my new case. (Along with some fan gaskets). I was hoping that they gave a good balance between noise and cfm. Now i'm worried!

They do compared to the Akasa Ambers which on the same volts give very poor CFM but are totally silent. Some Vantecs hum a little depending on whether or not you use a fan controller or other device to cuts volts down. My 92mm one hums @ 7 volts but is silent @ 5 volts.

mattup · 20 Feb 2006 at 23:40

Dirk said:
I want to hear more about these Vantec stealths as i've got 4 on order for my new case. (Along with some fan gaskets). I was hoping that they gave a good balance between noise and cfm. Now i'm worried!

Ok, currently I have 2 ambers and 2 Vantech stealths cooling my rig.
The fans are connected to an AKASA pro controller.
The ambers give out a high pitched buzz when @12v and don't shift much air.
The Stealth’s are in my mind less noisy but shift more air and that is all you can hear the whoosh of the air.
I prefer the Stealth’s to the Ambers.
The latex gaskets don't make much difference...
Don't worry.

Matt

Hades · 21 Feb 2006 at 01:02

Dirk said:
I want to hear more about these Vantec stealths as i've got 4 on order for my new case. (Along with some fan gaskets). I was hoping that they gave a good balance between noise and cfm. Now i'm worried!

I found my Vantec Stealths to be quite noisy and replaced them.

ToLearn · 21 Feb 2006 at 03:52

SilenX fans do a search for these if your after 80mm ones very quite with good airflow ambers are good and quite at 120mm but dotn match the silentx at 80mm

geiger · 21 Feb 2006 at 03:55

PCI exhaust fan can be good in an otherwise poorly vented case but a cheap one will make a lot of vibration & noise even at its low rpm/cfm

I have a Thermaltake Smartfan II that is 80mm, it comes with thermistor and manual control and goes from fairly quiet to delta noise and airflow. I had it installed as a case fan on a computer where the cpu fan failed, it just took up the slack and turned into a jet turbine to keep the cpu cooled.

Thermaltake Smart Fan II Specifications:
Fan Dimensions: 80x80x25mm
Rated Voltage: 12V
Started Voltage: 6V
Rated Current: 0.04 ~ 0.50A
Power Input: 2.40W ~ 8.40W
Max. Air Flow: 20.55CFM @ 1300RPM
75.70CFM @ 4800RPM
Noise: 17dB @ 1300RPM
48dB @ 4800RPM

Its not 17db, it clicks too much to be called that quiet, its pretty quiet not close to silent

geiger · 21 Feb 2006 at 03:57

ToLearn said:
SilenX fans do a search for these if your after 80mm ones very quite with good airflow ambers are good and quite at 120mm but dotn match the silentx at 80mm

Theres some in MM now

Specs from that thread are:
IX-12025-14B and the specs are:

14dBA
Dimensions 120x120x25mm
RPM 1500 ±15%
CFM 64CFM
Voltage 10-14v
Current Draw 0.24A
Power Consumption 2.4w
Bearings Hybrid Sleeve

Too expensive for me but if its that quiet, that'd be seriously impressive. Adapters can be had for 120 to 80mm

p4radox · 21 Feb 2006 at 14:36

There's no way SilenX fans are only 14dB. The way the sound levels are measured are totally different with SilenX, so the specs are a little 'optimistic'. The same goes forThermaltake fans. They're still good, but not quite that good.

ACPCUP · 21 Feb 2006 at 15:20

Nexus fans are the best, by far. Done a lot of research on different fans as i wanted a quiet but cool PC. Nexus came out on top for me.

Mark A · 21 Feb 2006 at 15:32

try noiseblocker fans, Ive got an 80mm and its very quiet. Ambers are quiet but the one that came with my CPU cooler was quite noisy at 2000 RPM and clearly audible outside the case, the retail amber fans will be quieter than that one though as they're rated speed is 1500rpm. your better off getting a higher rpm fan and volt modding it to suite, then you can get a good balance between performance and quiet, if you get an amber rated at 1500rpm @12v you have no control. The vantec fan gaskets are useless but the Acusti fan gaskets are good, they're 2.5mm thick as appose to 1mm vantecs, plus the rubber is a lot softer.

Mark