AcoustiFans better then Papst and Panaflo?

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:34 pm

Ok I'm looking into purchasing probably three 120mm fans, at least one 92mm fan, and MAYBE a 80mm fan.

I'm wondering if AcoustiFans are actually better than Papst and Panaflo in terms of noise and CFM ratio?

Maybe someone who has all three types of fans can let me know their experience.

Thanks!

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:47 pm

from what i've read, the acoustifans are better fans but aren't worth the price premium. i say this without any proof or justification.

but i have to ask: why do you need to buy 4-5 fans?? i hope they're not all for the same computer

if they are, then you probably have some airflow problems to solve first rather than just banging on a fan here there and everywhere.

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 10:57 pm

chylld wrote:from what i've read, the acoustifans are better fans but aren't worth the price premium. i say this without any proof or justification.

but i have to ask: why do you need to buy 4-5 fans?? i hope they're not all for the same computer if they are, then you probably have some airflow problems to solve first rather than just banging on a fan here there and everywhere.

Hehe alright thanks.

Why I need 4-5 fans? Well preparing for a new case I'm wanting to buy. I would like the SLK3700AMB but in a dark metallic grey color like the review here at silentpcreview! They have 2 free 120mm fan holders and then the powersupply I may get a Seasonic Super Tornado or Fortron Source 400W PSU with 120mm fan so that makes 3 120mm fans. The 92mm Fan would be for my Thermalright SP-94 and the 80mm fan is just a spare which I probably wouldn't bother getting.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:43 pm

ok..

u can probably scratch the front case fan, in the antec 3700's they do next to nothing apart from cool down the hard drives.

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:48 pm

chylld wrote:ok..

u can probably scratch the front case fan, in the antec 3700's they do next to nothing apart from cool down the hard drives.

Yeah I'm waiting for a pair of Hitachi 7K250 80GB hard drives and planning to use the fan on them... think it's necessary?

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:50 pm

a 120mm fan just to cool the hard drives is definitely overkill. a 92 or even an 80 would suffice.

back when i first got my BQE, i had a panaflo 80L on the front to cool down the hard drives and it did so by about 3c. when i put a 120mm fan there, the hdd temps went back up to normal as if there wasn't fan there

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 12:00 am

chylld wrote:a 120mm fan just to cool the hard drives is definitely overkill. a 92 or even an 80 would suffice.

back when i first got my BQE, i had a panaflo 80L on the front to cool down the hard drives and it did so by about 3c. when i put a 120mm fan there, the hdd temps went back up to normal as if there wasn't fan there

Well the point of getting these fans was for silent operation and larger fans move more air so the better. So even if I did get the 120mm fan I'd run them at extremly low rpms.

The BQE I noticed has the HDD rail turned 90° where the metal is blocking a lot of airflow vs the regular 3700 where there is no restriction I believe. This is one reason why I'd rather buy the regular 3700 but if I can't get one in the dark metallic grey color like the one in the review at silentpcreview then I'd have no choice and get the BQE version.

ChrisH · Post by **ChrisH** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 4:51 am

All of the AMB models are that same dark grey color.

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:23 pm

ChrisH wrote:All of the AMB models are that same dark grey color.

Yeah just found that out ealier in another post.

Though my thread question still hasn't came to a final answer

I think there should be a review on a roundup of some of these fans and other major well known fans for the best noise/cfm ratio and see who is king!

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:30 pm

definitely.

time for an spcr roundup: panaflo 120L vs papst 4412fgl vs acoustifan 120mm.

my money's on the acoustifan

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:34 pm

Hopefully the upcoming Nexus 120mm will arrive ASAP, so it could be included too!

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:35 pm

chylld wrote:definitely.

time for an spcr roundup: panaflo 120L vs papst 4412fgl vs acoustifan 120mm.

my money's on the acoustifan

Yeah I'm going for Panaflo thanks to their hydrowave bearings.

But they should do a roundup on the three major size variations: 80, 90, and 120mm

That would be something many people could look forward to I think!

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:51 pm

yeh nexus as well

and throw in a few nmb's while we're at it

we seriously need a table like this:

Code: Select all

dBa @ 5v    | 80mm        | 92mm        | 120mm
------------+-------------+-------------+-------
Panaflo L   |             |             |
Papst L     |             |             |
Acoustifan  |             |             |
Nexus       |             |             |

edit: and another table for performance, obviously

v3n · Post by **v3n** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:58 am

chylld wrote:yeh nexus as well and throw in a few nmb's while we're at it

we seriously need a table like this:
Code: Select all
dBa @ 5v    | 80mm        | 92mm        | 120mm
------------+-------------+-------------+-------
Panaflo L   |             |             |
Papst L     |             |             |
Acoustifan  |             |             |
Nexus       |             |             |
edit: and another table for performance, obviously

agreed, roundup needed cos i want to purchase some fans for my new bqe

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:02 pm

I just got an email recently today and here is what they had to say:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm wondering if AcoustiFans are actually better than Papst and Panaflo in terms of noise and CFM ratio?

Curiously, we did tests on all 3 (80mm) this week in our R&D lab.

Here are our conclusions:

Papst : essentially noiseless. Long life time 80k hours, we choose this one.

Acoustifan; similar to the Papst, difficult to differentiate noise level between Ac. and Papst. This one includes gel fan mount taht help reducing the noise. Life time 36Khours, we choose the Papst for the lifetime reason

Panaflow: very quiet but not as quiet than the 2 others. CFM higher. If operated at 9-10 volts noise could be very close than the 2 others

As I said we choose Papts.

Regards,

Sylvain Pelletier, Ing. PMP, P.Eng
Directeur Materiel et Integration
Director Hardware and Integration
Extenway Inc
[email protected]
418-523-4474 #235

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I am guessing that Papst is the king of 80mm Fans?

Kemokim · Post by **Kemokim** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 1:57 am

I just tested my 92 acousti and papst.. (acousti modded with no temp probe)

at full speed 12v 2000rpm the papst has a mechanical sound, where as the acousti is alot nicer to listen to..

at 5v they both doesnt really make any noise, i have to stick my big fat head down to the fan to hear it.

this is why i choose the acoustifans cause i like the design they have.

hightower · Post by **hightower** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 5:07 am

Did you try any noiseblocker fans? (kemokim see vcore.dk) Im not too impressed by my papst at 7v running in my nexus 3500....

slimeballzz · Post by **slimeballzz** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:24 am

Kemokim wrote:I just tested my 92 acousti and papst.. (acousti modded with no temp probe)

at full speed 12v 2000rpm the papst has a mechanical sound, where as the acousti is alot nicer to listen to..

at 5v they both doesnt really make any noise, i have to stick my big fat head down to the fan to hear it.

this is why i choose the acoustifans cause i like the design they have.

Hey do you have a fan rhoebus or something to regulate how fast the fans spin? If you do can you get them to spin approximately the same RPM's and then measure the noise from there?

Having two different fans running at the same voltage changes the point of what I'm trying to figure out. It's really more of a mechanical quality I'm looking for in the fans. So if you were to measure two fans at the same voltage one fan could be rated to run at a higher rpm than the other fan on the same voltage which is why I suggest trying to get both fans to run if possible at exact same rpms and then measure noise and airflow from there.