120mm Fans for radiator?

[Theblaze973]

Hi, I am currently running an i5-3570k cooled by a Zalman LQ-315 AIO and I need advice on a better/quieter fan than stock because the noise is killing me (~50 dB from where I sit, ~65 dB from beside my fan, and its whiny so it pierces through my headphones). I have looked at the roundups/recommended fans on here, and the noiseblockers are crazy overpriced/inaccessible so sadly I cannot get any of those. I am also not sure if I should get "radiatior" or "heatsink" fans because of the fin density of my AIO.
Here is a picture of the fins:

Here is a picture of my current setup:


Here is my list of fans, please make any suggestions if I have missed something good:
GT AP-14
Cougar Vortex
AP122 (AP123 is $30, 121 is $10)

Thanks

[Abula]

Scythe gebtle typoons have been consider among the best for watercooling, even today, they are still consider many ocing comunity among the best in performance. SPCR reiviewed the ap12 and ap14, both came well.

That said to me there is no quiet fan above 1k rpms, the ap14 is rated 1450rpms, I have ap15 and ap11, and both drop to 350rpms eaisly, so I think the ap14 should aswell or close to that. But consider undervolting them, they won't be quiert at 12V, but up to you and your cooling needs.

I have no experience with cougar fans, and I didn't like silverstone 120 that came on ps07, so I'm not going to recommend either over sycthe gts.

[Theblaze973]

I decided on the Gentle Typhoons since they are basically recommended anywhere, and the Cougar fan is uglier (IMO).

The only interesting one was the AP122 but I couldn't really find anything about it.

How do you have it undervolted? I undervolted all my case fans to 5V with the molex connectors, but that seems like it would be counter productive noisewise based on reviews I have seen.

[Abula]

How do you have it undervolted? I undervolted all my case fans to 5V with the molex connectors, but that seems like it would be counter productive noisewise based on reviews I have seen.

I used to undervolt with an fan controller, a Scythe KM03-BK Kaze Master Pro 5.25 inch Fan Controller, i also have undervolted with Zalman FanMate2, and lately with Asus motherboards and FanXpert2, here is a run on an Asus Maximus VI Gene on a CHA_FAN header (fake 4pin, aka voltage controlled) of the Scythe GT AP15, you can see in the bottom square that it idles at 323rpms even though its a 1800rpm fan, it undervolts very well,



SPCR did find a zone on the AP14 that had some noise, i cant say that i have notice on my GT15, but if you can get the 1150rpm, i think thats a good range, above 1000rpms are very noticeble imo, below 700rpms they start to get very good, but will depend on your cooling and your intentions.