Silent Cat 8cm sounds more like a pissed-off angry noisy cat

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:48 pm

In all my wisdom I purchased one of these:
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/comb ... ntCat8.htm
to replace my tiny 55mm stock fan for my 2500+ Barton which was a little too noisy for my liking.

BUT this new Silent Cat (which has words like 'EXTREME silent' & 'Low noise' written all over it) - is the noisiest (spelling?) thing I've ever heard! I checked the fan speed through cmos and it's reportedly running at the correct speed - 2500 rpm.

This noise surely can't be right, any ideas pleeease?

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:50 pm

Thermaltake routinely exaggerates noise ratings of their products (to put it mildly).

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:18 pm

I understand that they can exaggerate the noise ratings - but the noise is insane ...something HAS to be wrong.

cotdt · Post by **cotdt** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:03 pm

this is thermaltake? why am i not surprised?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:13 pm

Most 80mm fans at 2500 rpm are going to be on the noisy side. A typical 92mm fan operating at the same flow rate as an 80mm fan will be approx. 6 dba quieter. - FG

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 7:15 pm

EDIT: just noticed ur post frankgehry about 92mm fan - I can't go larger than 80 since my PSU is in the way. And as I said, this 80mm fan is making way more noise than my previous 55mm fan.

Okay, so I made a bad purchase it seems - still, I cannot comprehend that they could release a product that makes this much noise & call it silent.

I really believe that there must be something that either I'm doing wrong (although seems rather straight forward), or that it's a faulty unit.

Any suggestions?

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:01 pm

Maybe it's a defective or damaged fan? Can you take it back to where you bought it? Maybe they could hook the fan up there and run it to compare with another unit.

I just ran the fan on my Tt Silent Boost (I bought it just for the HS, same fan but black) and while it's not "silent" by any means, it's certainly not as loud as you're describing. Unless you're extremely descriminating of course.

Tt rates it at 21dBA, but I'd say it was somewhere in the mid 20's myself. The two (old) unsilenced computers (yeah yeah, I know

) a few feet away from me almost drown it out even though I'm right next to it.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:18 pm

Thanks Brian! - it must definately be damaged then. (No, you could hardly call me descriminating - I'm not after a supa-dupa-silent PC).

They better return or at least exchange the thing....

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:19 pm

Yes. I guess it could be damaged if its really that loud. I would get another 80mm fan. Probably a panaflo medium speed or other fan with about the same air flow. - FG

darthan · Post by **darthan** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:57 pm

I would really recommend almost any other 80mm fan even if your Silent Cat worked perfectly. That thing looks like it was specifically designed to be bad for heatsink applications. See, the heatsink fan is trying to force as much air as possible through the heatsink which means it needs to be able to produce an increase in air pressure and handle the back pressure from the heatsink (same thing really, action/reaction and all...). This fan has holes all over the sides and bottom which supposedly let air into the fan according to TT's ummm...creative...(oh, alright, flat out lying) advertising. The actual effect will be the opposite, air will leak out the sides and bottom of the fan without traveling through the heatsink and thus waste fan power (and create noise) moving air that does absolutely nothing.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:17 am

Lol - pity it seems to be the ONLY *supposedly* quiet 80mm CPU fan that seems to be listed in New Zealand's online stores.

I'm interested as to what may be good alternatives ...it needs to be quiet remember (that's kinda the point). I'll see if I can source 'em from an auction site or something.

Just had a quick look, I see they've got panaflo's & silenX's and a couple of others there - have any opions on which are good one's to go for?

vertigo · Post by **vertigo** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:13 am

pity it seems to be the ONLY *supposedly* quiet 80mm CPU fan that seems to be listed in New Zealand's online stores.

I looked at some online stores, the fan selection is dire. I found only one I would take a chance on buying (if I chose not to import a fan), "Zalman 80mm sleeve bearing, 1700rpm, 20.6cfm, 20dba in silent mode", for nz$25. I don't know how quiet this fan is, search on the forums here for information on Zalman case fans.

It was available at tradepc.co.nz, however I wouldn't buy from that site, and here's why. Go to this page, which is where I found the fan, and click one of the 'more details>>>' links. You will see it gives an error, showing the SQL query, the query string, etc, all internal information that no user should be allowed to see. Imagine if it had an error connecting to the database, it would probably show the connection string, so anybody could connect to the database and cause trouble.

The error was 'insufficient disk space'. If that's how they run their site/server, you can be damn sure I won't trust them to keep my credit card details safe.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:35 pm

Yeah, thanks - they don't even have product details. I'm quite happy purchasing from an auction site though - seems I have a better choice there too.

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:00 pm

darthan wrote:The actual effect will be the opposite, air will leak out the sides and bottom of the fan without traveling through the heatsink and thus waste fan power (and create noise) moving air that does absolutely nothing.

Yes, I did notice some air leaking out the sides when I ran the fan... not as bad as you might think looking at it though. Most of the air was still exiting out the bottom.

CrazyBob, I guess they don't sell Coolermaster there either? I think those may be okay too (search around). Panaflos are supposed to be good, but only if you get ones made in the last year. If they could tell you the serial/production number of the ones they're selling we could probably say.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:47 pm

Thanks Brian,

So I did some digging on the auction site and here's what I've found:

New Coolermaster (but no details on it so I've left a question)
New SilenX 80mm Fan * 9dBa * 15CFM (dunno if it's specifically a CPU fan, does that even matter?)

Used 80mm Panaflo Fan FBP-08B12HB
Used Panaflo FBM-08A12M

These last 2 seem loud ...so probably not for me
Used Panaflo Fan Model FBK-08A12M 29db 36.6 cfm
Used Panaflo FBA08A12H 32db 39.6 cfm

I've tried to get more info on those panaflo's but can't seem to find anything helpful.

quizzicus · Post by **quizzicus** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:21 pm

Here is a list of some supposedly quiet fans that you might try to find locally. I believe a fan only needs to be labeled as "quiet" to make the list, so do your research, but I think this is a good place to start.

The Panaflo FBA08A12L1A in particular is very popular on this site, and seems to be Mike's favorite fan:

The Panaflo FBA08A12L is by no means the quietest DC fan available. It is, however...

* quite widely distributed,
* fairly quiet,
* moves a decent amount of air at full voltage (more than specified),
* becomes virtually silent at under 7V while still providing a decent amount of airflow,
* starts consistently at 5V or even less,
* appears to have consistent quality (although less so than when this article was first written),
* is inexpensive, and
* is widely known and used by many PC quieting enthusiasts.

Such traits make this Panaflo an ideal reference fan for our purposes.

Also, get yourself some sort of voltage controller, whether it's a little black box you plug into the fan line, or a "fan bus" that goes in an external drive bay and controls multiple fans. This will allow you to customize the fan speed to your noise/airflow preference.

Good hunting.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:18 pm

Thanks quizzicus.

I'm not much of a slient PC enthusiast - all I'm after is a fan that's pretty quiet and I don't really wanna be buying a volt modifier or messing with such things.

That list you showed - those seem to be mostly case fans, would it be okay to use a case fan on my CPU? If so, then there's a whole heap I can choose from

I can't find the Panaflo FBA08A12L1A locally, but if the general consensus is that that's the one to go for, I'll source it abroad then

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:30 pm

CrazyBob wrote:That list you showed - those seem to be mostly case fans, would it be okay to use a case fan on my CPU?

A fan is a fan. If you were really in a bind, you could even aim a hairdryer set to cold or a leafblower at your CPU. A real leafblower that is, as opposed to a delta/tornado/etc "leafblower".

ckolivas · Post by **ckolivas** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:39 pm

CrazyBob wrote:I can't find the Panaflo FBA08A12L1A locally, but if the general consensus is that that's the one to go for, I'll source it abroad then

If you're going to source something from abroad then your choices increase dramatically. Check the recommended fans section of this website.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:20 pm

CrazyBob wrote:Lol - pity it seems to be the ONLY *supposedly* quiet 80mm CPU fan that seems to be listed in New Zealand's online stores.

Krome Technologies, in New Zealand, is selling the Nexus 80mm fans for NZ $32.69 + GST.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:12 pm

Okay, cool - so a fan's a fan then - just that a mate of mine told me case fans are generally of lower quality. But you guys are the experts

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:15 pm

mathias wrote:A fan is a fan. If you were really in a bind, you could even aim a hairdryer set to cold or a leafblower at your CPU. A real leafblower that is, as opposed to a delta/tornado/etc "leafblower".

Okay, cool - so a fan's a fan then - just that a mate of mine told me case fans are generally of lower quality. But you guys are the experts

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:40 am

CrazyBob wrote:Okay, cool - so a fan's a fan then - just that a mate of mine told me case fans are generally of lower quality. But you guys are the experts

Well, actually there are quality trends for fans in different roles. Video card fans and northbridge fans are probably the worst, but that's mainly because they spin overly fast and maybe also because they're so small. And some CPU fans are very similar to those: small, very high RPM, and thin. Panaflo and Papst fans, which are said to be very sturdy, are probably almost always sold as case fans.

I don't remember hearing any accounts about dead fans here(except GPU fans), that's probably mainly because we run our fans slowly.

quizzicus · Post by **quizzicus** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:43 am

CrazyBob wrote: Okay, cool - so a fan's a fan then - just that a mate of mine told me case fans are generally of lower quality. But you guys are the experts

Yes and no. Quality has nothing to with whether it's a case fan or a power supply fan or a heatsink fan. People here at SPCR swap fans about as often as they change their underwear. But there are differences between fans. A Delta and a Papst are both designed to run on 12V, but they will run at very different speeds. Some fans buzz or click. Some fans won't run at <7V. But the properties of a specific fan remain the same no matter where it's used.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 7:59 am

I'm unusual here as I've never bought a fan. I use scavenged 80mm fans undervolted to 5v. Undervolting to 5v is a very easy trivial modification.

It's simply a matter of ripping out 80mm fans from EVERY piece of computer junk I can get my hands on. A typical ancient Pentium junker has at least two 80mm fans (one in the PSU and one in the case). I test them out to see if they reliably run at 5v and see how quiet they are at 5v. (My fan testing "rig" is an old AT power supply with the fan removed.)

I find I can get pretty far without spending any significant money at all.

Of course, I also tend to use only one fan per system, so a handful of silent 80mm fans goes a long way for me.

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:23 pm

Thanks for all the info guys, you've been most helpful

I've had a look at the recommended fan list, and it seems the Nexus Real Silent is the one to go for as Slaugh said. A bit pricier than the rest, but then you get what you pay for huh

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:24 pm

CrazyBob wrote:..... A bit pricier than the rest, but then you get what you pay for huh

Sometimes.

People on SPCR like Nexus fans because they don't exaggerate noise specifications very much (they're realistic) and they are pretty consistent, as sometimes noise quality can vary from batch to batch with fans. As a result they are most often recommended when low noise is the first priority.

SilenX has a poor following here partially because their noise level ratings are sheer lunacy and they are almost always hugely overpriced. I believe that some models actually are quiet, but few people seem to use them unless they have little choice.

quizzicus · Post by **quizzicus** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:01 am

BrianE wrote:SilenX has a poor following here partially because their noise level ratings are sheer lunacy and they are almost always hugely overpriced.

Among other reasons...

CrazyBob · Post by **CrazyBob** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 2:42 pm

They do have a cool (if not misleading) name going for them

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:42 pm

Of course, a name stolen from the owner's previous employer's product line...