120mm Case Fan which is better?

[Darkherow]

I'm looking for a really good 120mm case fan. I have narrowed it down to either the Noctua NF-F12 PWM or be quiet! Shadow Wings 120mm Mid Speed, which do you think is better? The Noctua is £15.79 but the be quiet! is only £10.94. Plus the noctua has a 6 year warranty while the be quiet only 3 years. Someone else suggested that I get a Cougar fan but the one they suggested wasn't available in the UK except for a £12.99 one, apparently moves more air in CFM than the other 2. This is for an important build and I will be very greatful if someone can help thanks.

The spec for my new machine is-
Asus Sabertooth x79
Intel Core i7 3820, S 2011, Sandy Bridge-E
Thermaltake SP-750M power supply
1GB Quadro 600
16GB (4x4Gb ) Corsair Jet Black 1600
NZXT Havik 120 CPU Cooler

 

[jamesriley94]

I personally wouldn't buy something like a noctua as a case fan.
It's a bit of a waste IMO.
And the BeQuiets aren't great. Expensive for what they are, and quite loud too.

Forget warranty, it really doesn't matter.
And assuming they aren't going to be running at full speed, CFM isn't really measurable either, and I personally don't think it will make much difference at all.

I'd get something like a Bitfenix Spectre or Spectre Pro.

I personally use Silverstone Air Penetrators, because I like the looks, and they are very good fans. But I doubt you'll see any difference between those and the Bitfenix options, and the bitfenix are cheaper...

 

[Xayer]

Or try the NZXT 120mm fans, cheap and effective.

If you have a larger budget get some Corsair SP120 fans there are 3 diffrent kinds.
The High Performance, the quiet and the standard ones.
IMO that'd be the best solution.

 

[airdeano]

question about a case fan, but dunna know what case?

need more input!

 

[Izeorus]

I haven't used the other fans mentioned but I was happy enough with the first couple NF-F12 fans I bought for testing with I bought a full set of 9 of them for my 9.120 radiator. However I'd probably never buy that specific model as a case fan for generic air flow.

 

[Bonz]

Cooler Master make solid fans

 

[Darkherow]

Thanks for you're reply guys.

In terms of the case, it's a server case that they don't even make any more and I can't afford to buy a new one, since all the money will go to the components. The case is called SR506 5U Pedestalby by Enlight Corporation. I should really explain that I'm replacing the components in my existing build, keeping the case, Hard drives and the optical drive. Back when I got the computer I didn't really know better, as I specified to my local computer technicians to build me a computer with certain CPU, Ram and OS , so they put it all together for me.

Anyhow, the case cooling only has space for one 120mm fan for the back that's why I was thinking of getting a powerful fan for the back, as that's the only air flow in the case.

 

[Xayer]

Go for the SP high performance Corsair fans

 

[Lystfiskern]

I must ask...... what are u using the rig for?
Based on your systems components and the amount of air pushing through the Havik alone - u really want a case with both good intake and exchaust capabilities!

If your case is leaking air like a food-strainer than u may not have any problems, but then again u wont have to worry to much about ecxhaust fan choices either.....

My advice is to postpone the upgrade and save up the needed funds for a new case.

 

[B3rni3]

Go for the SP high performance Corsair fans

Wouldn't the AF series be more suited to his needs. The SP's are more for static pressure where it would be best used for rads and hard drive cages where as the AF's would be better at circulating air around a case.

It would depend really on how much of an obstruction there is around where the fan would be but the AF is what I would recommend as case fan.

Also as far as I am aware there is only really two types of corsair fans performance and quiet editions there is no standard edition.

The other variants would be fan size ie 120mm or 140mm and single or twin packets. See here

http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-cooling-kits/air-series-fans.html

The Corsair fans are good fans.

 

[jamesriley94]

Wouldn't the AF series be more suited to his needs. The SP's are more for static pressure where it would be best used for rads and hard drive cages where as the AF's would be better at circulating air around a case.

It would depend really on how much of an obstruction there is around where the fan would be but the AF is what I would recommend as case fan.

Also as far as I am aware there is only really two types of corsair fans performance and quiet editions there is no standard edition.

The other variants would be fan size ie 120mm or 140mm and single or twin packets. See here

http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-cooling-kits/air-series-fans.html

The Corsair fans are good fans.

I personally don't think it makes much difference which fan you get.

Although, as there's only one fan in the case, depending on case construction, the extra pressure may be better if there aren't a lot of vents in the case... But again - I really don't think it will make a lot of difference.

 

[B3rni3]

I personally don't think it makes much difference which fan you get.

Although, as there's only one fan in the case, depending on case construction, the extra pressure may be better if there aren't a lot of vents in the case... But again - I really don't think it will make a lot of difference.

Agreed, it really depends on how the case is constructed and as you said since its just one fan it may not make much of a difference.

 

[Darkherow]

I must ask...... what are u using the rig for?
Based on your systems components and the amount of air pushing through the Havik alone - u really want a case with both good intake and exchaust capabilities!

If your case is leaking air like a food-strainer than u may not have any problems, but then again u wont have to worry to much about ecxhaust fan choices either.....

My advice is to postpone the upgrade and save up the needed funds for a new case.

The computer will be used for creating 3D in Maya and Rendering in Mental Ray. I won't be overclocking the CPU for stability reasons and want the CPU to last longer.

Unfortunately due to circumstances, if I don't upgrade now I might not get another chance to do so.

I've found the spec for the case after some searching and has an image of it here, its the one with the door shut-
http://twe.enlightcorp.com/Product/Product_Detail.aspx?ID=177

If I got time I'll photograph the front and back of the case and prob upload it tomorrow.

Well the corsair fans are only slightly cheaper than the noctua but do they perform better?

 

[ArthurDnB]

Cougar Turbine, i kinda like this one