Slim 140mm fans - any experiences?

[Wild Penguin]

Hi all SPCR forum readers!

I have a Noctua NH-C14 in an Antec Fusion case with only the lower fan installed (since there's around 16mm clearance above the heat sink). I'm actually satisfied with the cooling (much better than with a Ninja Mini I had previously). It could be quieter, but the case is constraining my cooling options - and when I got the case 10 years ago, I really needed a HTPC case...

I was thinkin about installing a 140mm slim fan on top of it - just for giggles . I've found the following slim 140mm fans (all, except ThermalTake, are PWM):

• Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14
• Cryorig XT140
• Thermalright TY-14013 - also comes in red
• Thermaltake Luna 14 Slim LED Blue (also available with white and red leds)
• Raijintek Aeolus α (in Red, Black or B&W)
• Silverstone FW141

I couldn't find any measurements for these anywhere. Does anyone here have any personal experiences? Are there any slim 140mm fans I've missed? The USV has already been noted on this forum previously.

There is only barely enough room above the NH-C14 (and case ceiling) for a 13-15mm fan, and hence I don't think it will actually improve things much. But since I like to tinker with things, just for the heck of it I'm consider getting one. Will it resonate with so little space? Will the in 1-2mm clearance cause atrocious turbulence, making the fan sing? Or, will it work without issues despite nearly non-existent clearance - what are the limits for operating a fan?

Of course there's a plethora of 120mm slim fans that I could also try, but since in this case the installation location is not challenged in width, I might go for a 140mm fan... (however, since there is a shallow "pit" on the NH-C14, a 120mm fan might just have enough clearance for airflow, that a 140mm fan does not have - if I manage to mount it in a sensible way).

Also, as my needs and goals for my PC build have changed, I might part with the Antec Fusion some time in the future, and change to a more conventional desktop case - in which case it doesn't hurt to have some extra fans to play around with.

Cheers!

P.s. As a sidenote for any Antec Fusion / NSK2400 or similar users: my preiliminary findings indicate that the NH-C14 is much more efficient than the Ninja Mini I had installed previously. It is a perfect fit into this case - practically all the space that can be is filled with heatsink . It fills so much that depending on the MB layout one might run into problems; on my Asus Maximus VII Gene, there's about 1mm clearance to the PCIe slot from a fan clip (if the NH-C14 is installed so that fins are pointing to the exhaust fans).

EDIT:Added Raijintek's Aeolus α, Silverstone FW141

[Abula]

The only fans i own are the Prolimatech Ultra Sleek Vortex 14, if you have any questions let me know.

[Wild Penguin]

Thanks for your reply Abula, for some reason I did not find that thread previously.

What do you think about the propeller-looking fans such as the Aeolus Alpha? Are they quiet compared to more conventional quiet fan (taking into account airflow / cooling efficiency)?

I noticed some measurements for the Cryorig fan in the C1 Cooler review. But the measurements was dB vs cooling on the specific heatsink.

So I think there is no comparative data for slim 140mm fans. I guess because there isn't a lot of use cases where a slim one would be required - however, a slim/small ITX build could be one. (I don't think my case qualifies as a sensible use case )

EDIT: Corrected Abulas name... sorry Abula!

[quest_for_silence]

Will it resonate with so little space? Will the in 1-2mm clearance cause atrocious turbulence, making the fan sing? Or, will it work without issues despite nearly non-existent clearance - what are the limits for operating a fan?

My experience with the Micro Fusion and the CM Gemini II and the Big Shuriken was totally negative, it was highly self defeating having a spinning fan too close to that top panel.

[Wild Penguin]

I found a nice review of three low-profile CPU coolers yesterday, with some measurements for their fans included - all included in the above list! The review is in Muropaketti and it is in finnish (link). I have no problem with that, but I'd imagine majority of readers here might have. I also believe Google Translate is not that helpfull with Finnish In case anyone wants to know anything specific of the review, just ask since I can translate accross the language barrier.

Their noise measurements are the typical fare of any generic reviewing site, i.e. not SPCR standards by any means. The measurements are on page 5, btw.; still better than nothing.

EDIT:I forgot to mention one important finding on that review that caused me to order Cryorig instead of any of the other two. Both of them, the Raijintek and Thermalright, emit weird buzzing whining sounds when PWM controlled. These sound go away when the same fan(s) are voltage controlled, even so that the difference was measureable on their equipment. Given they are not especially silence -specialized, it could be quite atrocious (I find any tonality, or anything beyond just moving air quite annoying). But they also stated that there's always the possibility that the units they got for testing might be faulty somehow.

I've decided to order the Cryorig fan for testing. I actually found a place to order any of the fans, except Thermaltake, quite easily. Most of the fans were cheaper than the Cryorig (or Prolimatech), but according to some sources I've read, I've concluded that at least this one should be of good quality.

[Wild Penguin]

Just in case anyone is interested, I tried the Cryorig fan in the configuration above. My two findings / conclusions were:

• The fan does not sound bad in this configuration, i.e. no resonance / turbulance sounds are caused by the proximity of the case panel ("roof").
• Cooling performance degraded noticeably after installing the fan and was actually way worse than without the fan.

So: if there is very little space (a panel almost next to the fan on the "sucking" side), a (slim) fan frame may hampers airflow, and / or cause some vertices to form (so that same air is being circulated trought the heatsink and / or fan).

The Cryorig 140mm fan has quite pleasantly sounding characteristics. I didn't notice any extra sounds coming from the circuit in PWM mode, either. So at least after a short test, I can subjectively recommend this one, in case a slim 140mm fan is needed (for a otherwise sensible setup, that is) - but I haven't made any comparisons to other 140mm fans, however, and some of the others might be just as good!