Advice on best fan?...

[Ctrlaltdenied]

They are no doubt nice fans, but not everything is as written on paper. They are probably going to be fairly loud, so you'll have to run them on low-voltage adapters. And then you get less noise, but also less performance

Still, they are really nice fans

Surely they could be run at lower RPMs, and still be top contenders at cooling either way.

Not sure there would be any major difference cooling wise between the 2k and 3k RPMs.

 

[Dawelio]

How about these bad boys?

Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 120mm High Performance Fan:
http://www.ebuyer.com/663244-noctua...rpm-120mm-high-performance-fan-nf-f12-2000rpm

Those stats though:

Airflow 71.7 CFM
Acoustical Noise 29.7 dB(A)
Static Pressure 3.94 mm H2O

I may seriously get two of these for my intakes, and 2 lesser pressure fans to replace the corsair ones on my H100, just for lols. I would never even need to run those full pelt.

I had 2 of those in my 380T on my H100i. Couldn't literally hear them when idle, browsing the internet, watching movies etc. And I'm quite picky when it comes to noises.

Although, when I first booted my PC, I was like "What is that? ..."... I thought a plane had come into my room, but noticed it was those fans.
At low RPM's they are dead quiet, but as soon as they begin to ramp up, they get very loud. Louder than any of my Corsair fans... but then again, they are meant for Industrial use.

 

[JR23]

Couldn't figure out the best way to word this so i'm quoting all of you!

How about these bad boys?

Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 120mm High Performance Fan:
http://www.ebuyer.com/663244-noctua...rpm-120mm-high-performance-fan-nf-f12-2000rpm

Those stats though:

Airflow 71.7 CFM
Acoustical Noise 29.7 dB(A)
Static Pressure 3.94 mm H2O

I may seriously get two of these for my intakes, and 2 lesser pressure fans to replace the corsair ones on my H100, just for lols. I would never even need to run those full pelt.

The F12's would be equally well suited to your radiator where high static pressure is beneficial. They are good fans, infact I would go so far as to say they are one of the best. I don't know your entire cooling situation and this is Chrazey's thread so i've genuinely no idea what is going on but yes! You probably wouldn't need to run these at full speed unless your going for some mental overclocks but that's true of all 2000RPM fans.

They are no doubt nice fans, but not everything is as written on paper. They are probably going to be fairly loud, so you'll have to run them on low-voltage adapters. And then you get less noise, but also less performance

Still, they are really nice fans

It is exactly as it is written on paper. @12v 100%, 2k RPM, 71.7 CFM and 29.7 dB. That is pretty loud but it's also an astounding amount of airflow for the RPM.

Surely they could be run at lower RPMs, and still be top contenders at cooling either way.

Not sure there would be any major difference cooling wise between the 2k and 3k RPMs.

Indeed. The design of the 2k and 3k RPM fans is identical so they will perform exactly the same at a given speed. The key difference is the range of control, the 2k version will probably run slower so it might just be a little quieter at idle. If you need to run them faster than 2k (and your deaf) then go for the 3k version

I had 2 of those in my 380T on my H100i. Couldn't literally hear them when idle, browsing the internet, watching movies etc. And I'm quite picky when it comes to noises.

Although, when I first booted my PC, I was like "What is that? ..."... I thought a plane had come into my room, but noticed it was those fans.
At low RPM's they are dead quiet, but as soon as they begin to ramp up, they get very loud. Louder than any of my Corsair fans... but then again, they are meant for Industrial use.

I love startup fan noise you get on motherboards so people can hear the mighty awe of my rig firing up. The 2200RPM Corsair fans in my S2.0 sound great right before they simmer down to a silent 700RPM idle. They certainly are intended for industrial use though, I was concerned that may compromise their enthusiast appeal but don't mistake these for Deltas, they are extremely refined. I mean find another fan with a 3-phase motor The 'sticker' is an aluminium plate and I don't mean foil.


There are two fans which I really rate and that is the PWM iPPC F12 and the original Corsair SP120 PWM. I've owned and had a lot of experience with a great number of fans. They both look great, deliver excellent Performance when called upon and will idle very quietly on basically any fan controller. The Noctuas however are another level of quality compared with any other fan i've seen including lesser Noctuas. At a given noise level they deliver great performance and they seem to stay very quiet right up until around 1100RPM which is exceptional. I normally like to get a fan below 700RPM before I consider it silent. (well not silent, nothing is silent but acceptable in a quiet room). They are very expensive, practically stupid but like a lot of things the quality and optimization justify the price tag. They also look stunning if they are within your budget buy them. If value is a concern the Corsair's are a great option.

I'm not just pulling stuff out of my bum from spec sheets, i've had a lot of fans and have very exacting standards when it comes to silence. Two I haven't tried yet and I should, are the EK Vardar's and beQuiet! fans. When I find the right project I will certainly have a play with them. Parvums Alpenfoehn rebrand fans are great if your after quiet too and beautifully styled. I've got a couple just to look at

JR

 

[Dawelio]

Couldn't figure out the best way to word this so i'm quoting all of you!

The F12's would be equally well suited to your radiator where high static pressure is beneficial. They are good fans, infact I would go so far as to say they are one of the best. I don't know your entire cooling situation and this is Chrazey's thread so i've genuinely no idea what is going on but yes! You probably wouldn't need to run these at full speed unless your going for some mental overclocks but that's true of all 2000RPM fans.

I love startup fan noise you get on motherboards so people can hear the mighty awe of my rig firing up. The 2200RPM Corsair fans in my S2.0 sound great right before they simmer down to a silent 700RPM idle. They certainly are intended for industrial use though, I was concerned that may compromise their enthusiast appeal but don't mistake these for Deltas, they are extremely refined. I mean find another fan with a 3-phase motor The 'sticker' is an aluminium plate and I don't mean foil.

There are two fans which I really rate and that is the PWM iPPC F12 and the original Corsair SP120 PWM. They both look great, deliver excellent Performance when called upon and will idle very quietly on basically any fan controller. The Noctuas however are another level of quality compared with any other fan i've seen including lesser Noctuas. At a given noise level they deliver great performance and they seem to stay very quiet right up until around 1100RPM which is exceptional. I normally like to get a fan below 700RPM before I consider it silent. (well not silent, nothing is silent but acceptable in a quiet room). They are very expensive, practically stupid but like a lot of things the quality and optimization justify the price tag. They also look stunning if they are within your budget buy them. If value is a concern the Corsair's are a great option.

JR

Hehe, even though this is "my thread", I think and thought it had gone into a general thread about people having thoughts and questions about fans, and wanted to ask them. Hence a bit of the threads name, but I can understand where you're coming from though.

And yes, I completely agree with you... I've actually over time now changed my cooling, in terms of fans... I've gone with what you've recommended me before and after I've tested most of them. I'm thinking of going all out Corsair SP120 Quiet and Performance Edition PWM's. PWM is a must in my opinion now, as I noticed that they seem to be a bit stronger, in the sense that the motor doesn't start making noises, like the "standard", 3 pin fans does.

I'm gonna go for 2 x PE PWM in the front as intakes, due to the fan filter on my case isn't the most fine filter there is, so think they will be better suited there than AF ones.

Going for a QE PWM one in the back, not sure wether on exhaust or intake (with filter then).

And then on the rad 2 or 3 x QE PWM's, as had the S36 cooler with 3 of them and wow, they were quiet.

Not that much of a interesting information here... but eh

 

[JR23]

Yeah the 4-pin Corsairs are a little nicer than the Quiets, there used to be quite a price difference hence i'm running 12 3-pin QE's in my main rig, they are fine at about 5v or however stupidly slow I run them. In a 'normal' rig PWM's are the way forward.

I once modded AF blades onto an SP PWM and didn't make any difference to Performance really, with or without a restriction (550D with filters and cover plates) the difference in the temps of my air cooled GPU's was negligible. May as well just buy all SP's for the PWM control.

JR

 

[Dawelio]

Yeah the 4-pin Corsairs are a little nicer than the Quiets, there used to be quite a price difference hence i'm running 12 3-pin QE's in my main rig, they are fine at about 5v or however stupidly slow I run them. In a 'normal' rig PWM's are the way forward.

I once modded AF blades onto an SP PWM and didn't make any difference to Performance really, with or without a restriction (550D with filters and cover plates) the difference in the temps of my air cooled GPU's was negligible. May as well just buy all SP's for the PWM control.

JR

Yeah true that... but somehow I've sort of gotten the philosophy that SP's will perform better, in overall. Don't know why though, plus they aren't that expensive at all... the price difference between a normal, 3-pin fan, in comparison to an PWM one, is like £2. Atleast here, so to me I'd rather pay £20 more to go all out PWM, rather than 3-pin fans

And yeah, I remember you mentioning that... but overall I like the SP PWM's more, as yourself have mentioned earlier to me, they are better in an universal usage. Ie, can be used as both intakes and as rad fans

 

[MadShadow]

Yeah true that... but somehow I've sort of gotten the philosophy that SP's will perform better, in overall. Don't know why though, plus they aren't that expensive at all... the price difference between a normal, 3-pin fan, in comparison to an PWM one, is like £2. Atleast here, so to me I'd rather pay £20 more to go all out PWM, rather than 3-pin fans

And yeah, I remember you mentioning that... but overall I like the SP PWM's more, as yourself have mentioned earlier to me, they are better in an universal usage. Ie, can be used as both intakes and as rad fans

To be fair, AFs can be used for rads as well (check out Skunkworks by Jayztwocents). Anyway, I'd rather not bother with Corsair's AF/SP nonsense and get some Noctua IPPCs

 

[Dawelio]

To be fair, AFs can be used for rads as well (check out Skunkworks by Jayztwocents). Anyway, I'd rather not bother with Corsair's AF/SP nonsense and get some Noctua IPPCs

Absolutely mate, but I was just stating their original purpose in terms of their design mate. But of course, Noctua's are the leader in terms of fans.

 

[MadShadow]

It is exactly as it is written on paper. @12v 100%, 2k RPM, 71.7 CFM and 29.7 dB. That is pretty loud but it's also an astounding amount of airflow for the RPM.

JR

Okay, technically it is as written on paper, but the average person will look at the CFM, be impressed, and then be dissapointed with the noise. Im just saying what looks amazing on paper may be "too good to be true" to most people who expected more. I know its not the most scientific post ever, but it does apply to many people

 

[JR23]

Okay, technically it is as written on paper, but the average person will look at the CFM, be impressed, and then be dissapointed with the noise. Im just saying what looks amazing on paper may be "too good to be true" to most people who expected more. I know its not the most scientific post ever, but it does apply to many people

It's so wrong on so many levels though, I don't care if idiots are idiots, it wasn't a review, all of the original stats given were under the same maximum speed scenario Noctua normally give @7v stats too like many other manufacturers. One needs to compare fans (especially PWM fans) at a given speed rather than maximum really but it's difficult to do. If I had the equipment required i'd love to test every fan independently at 1000 RPM or even better at the same noise level as that is what really counts.

JR

 

[MadShadow]

It's so wrong on so many levels though, I don't care if idiots are idiots, it wasn't a review, all of the original stats given were under the same maximum speed scenario Noctua normally give @7v stats too like many other manufacturers. One needs to compare fans (especially PWM fans) at a given speed rather than maximum really but it's difficult to do. If I had the equipment required i'd love to test every fan independently at 1000 RPM or even better at the same noise level as that is what really counts.

JR

Yep one should compare fans at the same RPM, but unfortunately thats not what most people do. Most just go "50 CFM vs 70 CFM, okay this one's better".

 

[Dawelio]

Yep one should compare fans at the same RPM, but unfortunately thats not what most people do. Most just go "50 CFM vs 70 CFM, okay this one's better".

Isn't that kinda like comparing an apple with an pear?...

 

[MadShadow]

Isn't that kinda like comparing an apple with an pear?...

Exactly

 

[NeverBackDown]

The only way you can see if a fan is any good is buying it and trying it out yourself. There's no standard on how fans should be measured in CFM/dbA/Static Pressure/etc. It's literally whatever the manufacture tests is the thing they market. Give that same fan to some other company and it's pretty much going to be different results. This is why Noctua are renown for having amazing fans. They are consistent with their measurements and therefore, consistently praised as being amazing and each new fan backs that statement up. They don't even have the best stats on paper. But people buy them and see why other's are in love with them. They are pretty much always quiet(reasonably obviously) and move a lot of air compared to other fans.

 

[MadShadow]

The only way you can see if a fan is any good is buying it and trying it out yourself. There's no standard on how fans should be measured in CFM/dbA/Static Pressure/etc. It's literally whatever the manufacture tests is the thing they market. Give that same fan to some other company and it's pretty much going to be different results. This is why Noctua are renown for having amazing fans. They are consistent with their measurements and therefore, consistently praised as being amazing and each new fan backs that statement up. They don't even have the best stats on paper. But people buy them and see why other's are in love with them. They are pretty much always quiet(reasonably obviously) and move a lot of air compared to other fans.

Yeah, thats a great point. For now, we just have to look at reviews it seems as, like you said, stats like CFM mean next to nothing.

 

[Dawelio]

Exactly, like for instance... I bhought an BeQueit! Silent Wings 2 1000RPM PWM fan and dude, it sucked so badly... the amount of air it moved, were like nothing at all, couldn't barely feel any airflow at all from the fan lol.

So yeah... NBD is correct in the sense that you most likely have to buy it yourself and test it. The good news is that you can most often than not, return if you don't like. That's what I've done lately and have made me come to the fans of Corsair SP120 Quiet & Performance Edition PWM

I didn't used to return them, which has made me have about 30+ fans in my box lol... which I don't even use haha! :lol:

 

[JR23]

Yep one should compare fans at the same RPM, but unfortunately thats not what most people do. Most just go "50 CFM vs 70 CFM, okay this one's better".

Exactly, like for instance... I bhought an BeQueit! Silent Wings 2 1000RPM PWM fan and dude, it sucked so badly... the amount of air it moved, were like nothing at all, couldn't barely feel any airflow at all from the fan lol.

I now see where you were coming from Mad, who lets these chrazey people build PC's!

JR

 

[MadShadow]

I now see where you were coming from Mad, who lets these chrazey people build PC's!

JR

Haha ^+1

 

[Dawelio]

Ahh JR, so much love being given from you... thank you

 

[JR23]

Ahh JR, so much love being given from you... thank you

One day your going to walk into your PC store, buy something new and shiny, have it handed to you and walk to the door. The guy at the counter will call you back and say.. "Sir! Sir! Do you want to return that right now to save you the trip home?"

JR