SPCR

Hey there everyone,

This forum was incredibly helpful in the past in helping me to quiet my room when I built my current PC. Compared to my old Athlon system with a couple of Panaflo fans, this system was dramatically quieter.

It's been a few years, and I'm about to do a few upgrades here and there, and I figure it might be a good time to upgrade/replace some fans that might start dying soon. Before I start making purchases though, I was curious if there were any new and good fans out since the last time I looked around. I know there are quite a few more 140mm options that can fit the 120mm frame now, but from some xbitlabs reviews, they don't seem particularly awesome. Are the "best bets" still the Nexus real silent and Scythe S-Flex E?

For reference, my current system contains:
Case: Antec P182 (Front fan grills modded) + 2x Scythe S-FLEX E
PSU: SeaSonic X650
CPU: Scythe Ninja Heatsink + Scythe Slipstream
GPU: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev2 + Nexus @5v

In particular, the Slipstream has given me some trouble, and though I've replaced it with another Slipstream I had handy, I think I'm just going to replace it entirely with another S-FLEX or Nexus.
If there aren't any good, new fans, then I'll just replace all those fans with a Nexus or Scythe. Which one, I don't know yet.

I'm also looking at what I can carry over to any upgrades.
As far as the CPU goes, I don't know if there are any adapter kits available to mount the Ninja onto a new CPU (SB 1155/2011 or IB at this point.) If not, I'll have to do some research on a new, low-airflow CPU heatsink as well.
For the GPU, I'm currently heavily considering the ATI/AMD 6950/6970. To go with it, I can either try to re-use my existing Accelero, or get the newer Accelero Xtreme Plus. My only concern is the row of 3 fans on it; it even LOOKS loud. Can anyone share any experience with this thing? Is it quiet enough, or would I be better off strapping my own Nexus/Scythe onto it instead?

Along with installing some new fans, I also thought about using those rubber/silicone fan mounts, but I don't know how they work, nor how much they'd really help in my case. Quieting fan noise and vibration would probably be helpful, but considering I have 6 hard drives as well... That said, Windows7 will probably help here as it spins down idle hard drives (will install this when I replace my Raptor with an SSD.)

For reference, I'm taking a look at SVC since they seem to have everything in one place.
The two fans for $13 each,
http://www.svc.com/sy-fan-sff21e.html
http://www.svc.com/d12sl-12-bw.html
Some large assortment of anti-vibration stuff (not sure what to get yet, if any.)
http://www.svc.com/antivibration.html

And finally, for undervolting, I don't know if I should go with a handful of these http://www.svc.com/4to3ad.html and mod them myself, or buy a bunch of these http://www.svc.com/fsa-75.html and call it a day.

Sorry for such a long-winded post, but I've been thinking about all aspects of how to go about this for a while. I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks!

The Scythe "Gentle Typhoon" fans have been getting some good reviews. I haven't used them myself. Besides that, and the Noctua fans, I don't think there has been anything remarkable in the last couple years.

Thanks, I'll check out the Gentle Typhoon again.

I remember reading about it before, but I seem to recall something bad about them. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll go find out.
I remember Noctua was another good contender, but which one specifically?

Thanks!

DarkScythe wrote:I seem to recall something bad about them

Some people don't like them. They seem to have significant sample variance... a common problem I understand with real ball bearing fans. The GT are the only real ball bearing fans readily available for PCs.

You just can't go wrong with Nexus... or Scythe.

Noctuas are good. Their 92mm is in my opinion the best 92mm. As long as you run them slow they are as good as any fans. Seems like a lot of people run them at a full 12 volts and then are not quite satisfied with them.

Fan technology doesn't seem to advance all that quickly. What was good 5 years ago is still good today.

I like the Noctua NF-S12B ULN. They run at about 700rpm at 12v, at which point they are inaudible from 1m and likely much closer as well. They're design lends to them being more of a case fan than a HSF. They don't move a lot of air, but just one of them as an exhaust for my modest system keeps it cool and stable over long load times.

I like them in particular for two reasons; one being that their noise character is very pleasant (if you're close enough to even hear it), and two being that since they run at such a low rpm on 12v you don't need to fuss with fan control. Simply plug it into a fan header or 4pin molex and you're set. They are on the expensive side of things being around $20 each, but I got a pair of them from NCIX for $25 with this bundle, making them much more appealing.