Updated 120/140mm intake fan suggestions?

[jcdavis]

Long time lurker but first time poster here:

I'm looking to get some quiet intake fans for my build in a Corsair 400C. Its not exactly a quiet case to begin with, but does have pretty good airflow, so a low static pressure fan running at lower rpms seems like it should be fine. I've done some searching around but it seems like most of the threads I could find were several years old, have recommendations changed? I'm looking for probably 2x120/140 (could fit 3x/120 but seems unnecessary) that is fairly quiet at idle and not unreasonably loud during gaming. The stock 140mm intake fan (A1425L 12S2) is actually not too bad, but I'm sure there are better?

Relevant components:
Corsair 400C
Asus Z170A
i6600k + Cryorig H7
MSI Gaming X 1070
EVGA Supernova G2 650W
850Evo 500gb (No spinny disks)

[tempo]

I'm looking for this info too

[Abula]

For 120mm PWM
Noctua NF-S12A PWM (as long as you like the brown tan, can drop around 250rpms).
Nocuta NF-S12B PWM (doesnt drop as low as the above, around 400rpms is their lowest)
Scythe Glidestream PWM (Low Medium, drops around 225rpms)
Scythe Slisptream PWM (low medium, drops around 350rpms)

For 120mm DC
Nocuta NF-S12B 700rpms (my favorite atm on 3pin for 120 case fans, undervolts well)
Scythe Glidestream (chose the rpms you want)
Noiseblocker M12 (s1 for 850rpms or s2 for 1200rpms).

For 140mm PWM
Noctua NF-P14S PWM 1200 (pretty good overall, drop around 250rpms)

For 140mm DC
Noctua NF-P14S 900rpms (similar to the above, undervolts well).
Antec True Quiet 140 (drops around 200rpms as long as your motherboard can start it higher).

Your Asus should be able to do either PWM or DC, as long as you enter the bios and set each header, up to you what you prefer. And btw i would run FanXpert, i still dont like Asus bios fan control, i revisited an H170 Pro gaming build over the weekend, and while some fans are tested and recognized correctly there are some that dont, in this case the Scythe Glidestream included on the Ninja4, FanXpert can take it to 0% pwm and end up with 400rpms but the bios lowest can reach in the the test was 800rpms, i still think Asus needs to tweak the bios Qtunning some more, but the fanxpert is still running well.

[jcdavis]

For 120mm PWM
Noctua NF-S12A PWM (as long as you like the brown tan, can drop around 250rpms).
Nocuta NF-S12B PWM (doesnt drop as low as the above, around 400rpms is their lowest)
Scythe Glidestream PWM (Low Medium, drops around 225rpms)
Scythe Slisptream PWM (low medium, drops around 350rpms)

For 120mm DC
Nocuta NF-S12B 700rpms (my favorite atm on 3pin for 120 case fans, undervolts well)
Scythe Glidestream (chose the rpms you want)
Noiseblocker M12 (s1 for 850rpms or s2 for 1200rpms).

For 140mm PWM
Noctua NF-P14S PWM 1200 (pretty good overall, drop around 250rpms)

For 140mm DC
Noctua NF-P14S 900rpms (similar to the above, undervolts well).
Antec True Quiet 140 (drops around 200rpms as long as your motherboard can start it higher).

Your Asus should be able to do either PWM or DC, as long as you enter the bios and set each header, up to you what you prefer. And btw i would run FanXpert, i still dont like Asus bios fan control, i revisited an H170 Pro gaming build over the weekend, and while some fans are tested and recognized correctly there are some that dont, in this case the Scythe Glidestream included on the Ninja4, FanXpert can take it to 0% pwm and end up with 400rpms but the bios lowest can reach in the the test was 800rpms, i still think Asus needs to tweak the bios Qtunning some more, but the fanxpert is still running well.

Thanks for the suggestions! I have been playing with FanXpert a bit, but still need more tuning.

Curious why the preference for the P14S over the A14, is it just price/color options? On a pure stats basis the A14 looks superior - higher airflow & static pressure with slightly less noise at the same RPM. Or is there a subjective noise angle to this that isn't easily reflected?

[Fire-Flare]

I second those Noctua recomendations.

I'm running 4 140mm PWM Nocutas on my system and I never hear them except for the initial spin-up when I press the power button.

[Button_Mash]

I have the bigger Corsair 600Q and also was not fond of the stock fans. In the end I replaced them with Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 fans.

I went with the HP-14 fans because they received better reviews than the high airflow version (HF-14). Some people recommend static pressure fans for your intakes if you are going to keep a dust filter in place to overcome any resistance. The HPs are also PWM controlled which any modern ASUS motherboard should be able to handle no problem. The smaller HP-12 did not do as well in the reviews though so I did not try those.

Fractal Design also has the non-PWM GP-14. I have not tried them personally but SPCR has and they said that they are at least as quiet as the Antec TrueQuiet 140 (link).

[quest_for_silence]

Scythe Slisptream PWM (low medium, drops around 350rpms)

JFYI

SY1225SL12LM-P.jpg

[lb_felipe]

Luca, i'd like to make two questions:

1 - Does Slip Stream 120 PWM produce any relevant clicky noise?

2 - Does it suffer from any bad noise if it is mounted with its bearing in vertical (helice in horizontal) and upfire (for exemple, on MK-26 inside a standard case)?

[quest_for_silence]

1 - Does Slip Stream 120 PWMou meant produce any relevant clicky noise?

If you meant noticeable clicking, no. If you meant if it may click at low speeds, your mileage may vary but it definitely has a tendency to tick: most of times you won't be able to notice it, but at very close distance.

2 - Does it suffer from any bad noise if it is mounted with its bearing in vertical (helice in horizontal) and upfire (for exemple, on MK-26 inside a standard case)?

Oh, that's probably one of the best ways to try to kill it (it's a sleeve bearing: BTW, to answer to your question, usually it does not suffer any strange noise running that way, albeit that's something you might hear more frequently in the long run).

I guess you need a more robust design to run a fan with such an orientation, maybe an FDB like the Silverstone AP123.

[mikeb]

1 - Does Slip Stream 120 PWM produce any relevant clicky noise?

I just purchased a pair of brand new SlipStream 120mm PWM and one of them has quite a rattle, which I think is a bearing noise? I can hear it from 5 feet away. The other has the same sort of noise but it's hardly noticeable even with my ear right next to the running fan.

[quest_for_silence]

I just purchased a pair of brand new SlipStream 120mm PWM and one of them has quite a rattle, which I think is a bearing noise? I can hear it from 5 feet away. The other has the same sort of noise but it's hardly noticeable even with my ear right next to the running fan.

I'm not sure what "rattle" means, but there's a chance that it may just be damaged (perhaps due to a shipping/handling abuse).

With those fans, if you put your ear onto the frame, at any speed you may hear a cyclic, low pitched tick of the bearing/motor, which fades faintly at just a few centimeters away from the frame at most.

As you experienced with the other sample, usually you are not able to notice it: so, providing that "rattle" is the quoted ticking, if you can hear such a cyclic sound at more than 1 meter away, I guess there's likely something wrong with that specimen.