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What fans do you use?


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Hello all

Although the answer may be obvious, since a majority of setups are built around Scythe Gentle Typhoons, Noctua P14 P12 F12, or Noiseblockers, I'm still interested to see what fans you guys use in your setups, air and water cooled alike.

Additionally, I'd like to break down your responses into categories:

-fans for best air circulation flat out

-fans for best pressure

-fans for best noise

Since not everybody is aiming towards the same goal in their cooling setup.

Personally, I currently keep my system at Idle ~37°. With only 2 fans running at 520 rpm each.

It's quiet.

Hopefully we can make a good information base for others looking for high performance/quiet/efficient cooling setups.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agreed, this would be a great place to start an information pool of fans and their relative performance in different setups. I personally use two Noctua NF-P12 PWM fans on my Corsair H100i CPU closed loop cooler, and have seen decent results so far. They are indeed extremely quiet, even at full RPM, and still push a decent amount of air through the slim 240mm radiator. I am kind of wishing that I had gone with the F12 fans instead, due to their higher static pressure, but these P12 fans still work good enough and I'm pretty satisfied regardless. I use some miscellaneous Enermax fans for case intake/exhaust, and they've been doing great for me as well so far. Decent temps all around, and super quiet when need-be too!

As for the differences between the Noctua P12 and F12 fans, the F12 editions will have the best performance under high pressure loads (heatsinks, rads, etc) while the P12 editions will be a better all-around performer, having both decent static pressure characteristics and good open air flow (for use as case fans).

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For my Silverstone Raven2 i use 3x AP 182 in the bottom - thoose create a good amount of airflow even if there is a 360 radiator above. At full speed they are really noisy, but i just get them to work @ 5V and its quiet enough. All other 120mm fans are Noiseblocker (older and newer, but all quiet ones).

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in my newest water cooling setup i decided to try the Cougar 120mm Fans available for about 5$ each or 20$ for 4.

I found they perform really really well. coming from NF12's they are 1/4 the price and work basically as well as far as i can tell.

Good static pressure and in recent test's were proven to provide nearly identical static pressure / airflow at same RPM level's and comparable noise levels aswell.

considering how they are performing i will buy more in the future.

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I use EK-CoolStream RAD XTX (480) with FA60RE1220 Hiditec bajo ruido - Red Series Fans. I have two of those rads with a push-pull setup using these cheap and surprisingly quiet fans. For cooling of a 1200 Watt setup. Yes I am an amateur.

I am thinking of upgrading the fans but so far I am quite happy about performance and not molested too much by the sound.

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I use 2 x Noctua NF-A14 ULN in Define R4 (there is 3rd installed to, but isn't needed :) and 1 x Noctua NF-A12 ULN on Noctuas radiator NH-D14. It is silent (thats the point) and cool enough :)

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It may seem strange, however I use 12 x 140mm phobya black silent fans for my wc setup and 3 of the 120mm ones and this cools my trifire 290x and 5930k OCd perfectly with minimal noise. Not to mention how cheap the fans were (only $10 AUD a piece)

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My PC has a few Noctua 12cm one whirring around. They sure move a lot of air compared to the original Antec ones my Sonata had. Had to remove the grills though, they were too restrictive. They also include resistors in the package, so you can make it even quieter if you want.

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<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> First you can either buy labeled fans (commonly sold in stores) or manufactured OEM fans (sold usually in Commercial Electronics Outlets). The later is the best if looking for bulk purchase of high quality.

What to look for in your fan?

How will it be positioned (ie horizontal or vertical)?

How much air does it need to move?

What is the sound pressure (noise) limit?

Ball Bearing Fans will out live any fan as it offers several benefits. However, they will produce the most noise. Unlike sleeve bearings, a ball bearing motor can be turned on and off with no issue of metal expansion/contraction from heat as the bearing/s have a grease/oil reserve packed inside to constantly lube as well as transfer heat with little friction. Sleeve bearings however, rub constantly on a machined surface and rely on the perfect balance of the shaft in the sleeve with little oil. In the mechanical world, sleeve bearings must be mounted horizontally so the little oil doesn’t seep out and dry up as well as to avoid shaft wobble which would also wear the bearing surface out faster.

Ball Bearing motors can operate in any position.

Ball Bearing fans will tend to generate more noise because of the greater mechanical parts within their bearings.

Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB) came out and is very close to a gravity bearing by using a pressurized sleeve with “O” rings at each end of the bearing to retain the fluid. So the bearing shaft nearly rides on a film of oil making it exceptionally quiet. The only problem is the seals tend to wear out on some models and then the motor becomes a sleeve bearing but with an imbalance do to the space originally made for the oil. Sony was the first to start making these on a much small motor.

The best bearing to look for is a magnetic bearing, but these are expensive. The motor shaft tempered aluminum with steel sleeves on the shaft that hover on magnetic journals. These bearings are currently limited to precision devices for aeronautics and space, where gravity can be an issue with lubricated bearings.

The number of blades and their curve will dictate the air flow. The more blades, the greater the air generally.

Another type of fan is a squirrel cage sometimes called a blower. These are found on some video cards and server CPU coolers. These are somewhat loud, but moves lots of air. Blowers are actually designed to suck up air better than any other fan.

The bigger the circumference of the fan rotor (spinning blade assembly), the more air it can move as well. Reason why the push to 120mm to replace the aging 80mm design.

As for brands, two companies that will retail reliable fans are EverCool (sold under Startech name sometimes) and Cooler Master. EverCool is the number one choice in the industry of electronics and electrical panels. So they make fine, long lasting units. Evercool lifespan are usually around 8 to12 years.

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  • 4 weeks later...

i use silenx and corsair, i really like silenx because they are completely silent and push a good amount of air, they dont look that great but they work fantastic, i have 5 of them in my HTPC and i cannot hear it, i have Corsair Air Series 120mm fans in my desktop, they are pretty loud. i will probably replace them soon i may try enermax

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