GlacialTech SilentBlade - new contender on 120 mm market?

oakdad · Post by **oakdad** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:15 am

I wish they made a 92mm unit it would so rock to have it on my cpu cooler

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:20 pm

well I got a glacialtech silentblade today.. to replace my stock antec 120mm. I've got the clear blue version.

In my setup, the rear fan becomes an intake, and the grill proes to be a bit of a problem. The silentblade is quiet in free air, and moves quiet a bit of air.

Once it is attached to my case tho, the turbulence/restriction from the grill causes it to have a high pitched noise, which can only be reduced by attaching it to a fanmate. So I've fanmated it till the noise goes down, estimate around 7V. BTW this isn't the fan, its the grill. But one thing to note, this high pitched noise doesn't occur with the stock antecs- rather they make a more low whoosh kinda sound when up against that grill.

The fan feels quite heavy, and construction quality seems pretty good(betta than the stock antecs;). I'm not sure if it rotates at 950RPM, it seems like more thatn that

Zorander · Post by **Zorander** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:52 pm

I'm getting one of these fans too. Is it recommended to undervolt it to 5-7V or is it quiet enough at 12V? I plan to use the fan as a swap for my stock PSU fan.

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:21 am

There was some suspicion towards the Silentblade's bearings as they were made by Evercool. We are starting to see reports of failing bearings (increased bearing noise) in the finnish forums, as a rough estimate these fans have been used for a year.

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:01 pm

I think my Glacialtech fan has some noticeable bearing noise now. It makes clicking noises occsaionally when at full speed.

When you put your ear to it, it sounds like somethings whishing around in a liquid- is that bearing noise?

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:35 pm

Maybe it's having a good stiff drink? There have been rumors that some of those fans have alcoholism. Better take it to AAA stat!

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:02 pm

Does it seem to be the clear plastic, or something to do with the fan/motor itself (wondering whether it'll effect the black solid plastic version as well).

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:04 pm

jermaink wrote:Does it seem to be the clear plastic, or something to do with the fan/motor itself (wondering whether it'll effect the black solid plastic version as well).

If you are referring to me, I think its something to do with the motor itself, not the plastic.

dibek · Post by **dibek** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:45 pm

Well, i have two of the 120mm and one 80mm. The 120mm are great, no bearing noise (not even after two months of non-stop spinning at 5V

), which I cannot say for the 80mm ( I hear clicking at 12V and 7V).

BTW For those of you needing a 92mm Glacial, i think there IS one (oddly enough, this one has 5 blades, comparedto the 9 blades of the silentblade)

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 11:29 pm

I recently bought a couple of their fans to see if they were any good or not.

Was the 80mm you have a ball bearing or sleeve bearing (called "entering bearing" on their packaging

)?

Strangely enough I found the sleeve bearing 80mm to be noisier than the ball bearing one, which was surprisingly smooth at 7v and 5v. Odd, but I suppose it's nice to find a good sounding ball bearing fan for a change.

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 6:09 am

BrianE wrote:I recently bought a couple of their fans to see if they were any good or not.

Was the 80mm you have a ball bearing or sleeve bearing (called "entering bearing" on their packaging )?

Strangely enough I found the sleeve bearing 80mm to be noisier than the ball bearing one, which was surprisingly smooth at 7v and 5v. Odd, but I suppose it's nice to find a good sounding ball bearing fan for a change.

Entering Bearing = Sleeve Bearing?
Anyone tried the entering bearing 120mm GT1225EBDL-1 ?

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 8:15 am

Yeah, what's with the new Glacialtechs?

They're even cheaper in Australia (AUD $7.30 each). They're so cheap, I'm beginning to wonder about quality..

Has anyone given them a go?

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:36 am

And is the 120mm with closed or open corners?
This shows closed while the pdf shows open corners.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 10:46 am

"GT12252BDL-1" - that's the 'old' model, and I think that review's several months old now.

The 'new' one is the "GT1225EBDL", which is disturbingly cheap (AUD $7.30). I might be able to get a few from HB Outlet (Australia) if they've got both in stock.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:15 am

I just ordered 2 of the clear 'old' Glacialtechs, and 5 of the 'new and cheap' Glacialtechs.

I've got 5 nexus fans here which I can compare them to, but some of my nexus sounded like they were ticking when they were in my P180 (which is currently in the process of being replaced under warranty)

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 8:49 am

@jermaink
When they arrive can you share with us whether both new and old are closed or open corners?

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 10:16 am

After spending a fair bit of effort on getting my system quiet, I've noticed that my mouse/mousepad combination is very noisy indeed. It's a Logitech MX1000 and Icemat (standard size).

While the friction and noise is fine when you're using new 'feet' with the mouse (like Hyperglide Skatez), when they wear out (like after 3 or so weeks), the noise becomes pretty bad. The mousepad also get's dirty pretty easily (with small bits of the black gunk which builds up with mice on public computers), and I don't think that helps for easing friction and noise either.

I'm actually thinking of getting a cloth mousepad, as it may be a lot quieter. Anyone got thoughts about this? I'd love to see reviews recording the noise of mouse-to-mousepad (beginning to get rediculous

), but the noise can get pretty loud.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:48 pm

Try slicksurf mouse feet, they've going strong for me and I've been using them a month.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 3:38 am

Yeah..

My Hyperglide Skatez were very good, lasted about 3 months (got annoying after about 9 weeks). I got 8 of them, but I've actually misplaced the other 4...

It's just that I don't like the prospect of continuously buying mouse feet for my mouse...

I'd like to know how the new 'slick' feet on the G5/G7/Razer Copperhead interract with this mousemat.

I realised that I misposted my last post and this one. It was meant to go in a new thread...

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:36 pm

Some very preliminary results (my Glacialtechs arrived).

The GT12252BDL-2 (the clear old model) wasn't particularly impressive. There were noise artifacts (I'm not an experienced describer of noise, but it could be bearing noise). Against my Nexus fans it wasn't particularly great.

The 2 GT1225EBDL-1 samples (new black one) were pretty good. Not many noise artifacts (varied depending on how I held the fan, hope it will be nill when mounted in a case). Extreemly similar to my Nexus in terms of loudness, with a higher tone. Pretty good for AUD $7.30 each.

EDIT: A couple of the GT1225EBDL-1's occasionally produce some noise artifacts. My nexus's weren't perfect in this regard, with a few (3 out of 5) producing a 'ripple' like artifact. One of the glacialtech's sounded produced loud ticking (audible over an 7800 GT's fan, which is DAMN loud, waiting for my AC Silencer 5.3).

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 4:49 pm

jermaink wrote:Some very preliminary results (my Glacialtechs arrived).

Hi jermaink, any chance of an update?

I've got a black GT12252BDL as a front intake and it seems nicely quiet to me running at 12v/1025rpm. It's hard to tell noise accurately when the CPU & NB fans are noisy but all I hear is airflow.

In your opinion does the Glacialtech have similar airflow to the Nexus and (importantly after Christmas spending) is the Nexus worth it when you can get 3 Glacialtechs for the same cost?

Need your opinion due to imminent Scythe Ninja order...

Thanks

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:00 am

Aleksi wrote:There was some suspicion towards the Silentblade's bearings as they were made by Evercool. We are starting to see reports of failing bearings (increased bearing noise) in the finnish forums, as a rough estimate these fans have been used for a year.

Finnish forums.. is this a forum for quiet computing? If so, what's the address?

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:11 am

Hi,

I don't think there is any silent PC forum in Finland. The biggest computer forum in general is http://murobbs.muropaketti.com (the one I was talking about). And it's in finnish naturally. It has the whole range: some silent PC people, many overclocking people and general users asking for help with their cooling, computer components, software help, general electronics help etc.

Why do you ask, out of curiosity?

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:00 pm

Could someone please comment on my questions above (used as undervolted CPU fan & case fan)?

Is the Nexus so noticeably better than a Glacialtech that you would pay $30 for one when a Glacialtech is $10?

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:21 pm

Aleksi wrote:Hi,

I don't think there is any silent PC forum in Finland. The biggest computer forum in general is http://murobbs.muropaketti.com (the one I was talking about). And it's in finnish naturally. It has the whole range: some silent PC people, many overclocking people and general users asking for help with their cooling, computer components, software help, general electronics help etc.

Why do you ask, out of curiosity?

Oh, I've been keeping up the FAQ I made in the newcomers room. I only know of two other non-english sites (German and French). If there was a Finnish one I was going to add that in there. I also need to get around to put in that post about silencing a mouse without having to solder anything.

Otherwise, for the present, I supposed you could say I'm Finnish'ed with it

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:27 pm

Hi,

I don't think there's any sense in putting that in. It's not really silent orientated, it's finnish and finnish users most likely know it anyway.

I'm sending you a PM within a few days regarding the FAQ.

And to stay atleast a bit ontopic... to the previous poster:

No, I don't think there's enough difference to justify that big price difference. The bearings are a bit of an odd ball regarding wear and noise, but still... I'd buy three Glacialtechs over one Nexus and swap in a new one if the old one starts to make a noise.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:59 am

Ok, I've used 5 of these. About 2 were decent while the other 3 had noise artifacts which were pretty annoying. The noise artifacts sound like 2 bits of plastic sliding next to each other.

But the ones I got were cheap enough (AUD $7.50) for me to get a bunch and to cherry pick the best ones.

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:31 am

Tibors wrote:Something else we all know and is made of polycarbonate are CDs. If you have ever tried to bend a CD, heard the resulting crack and seen the splinters of plastic, then you know how brittle polycarbonate is.

Polycarbonate has very high tensile strength and impact resistance and is less brittle than just about any other plastic material. That is why most safety eye glasses are made from polycarbonate, and why opticians in the US have a "duty to warn" parents that polycarbonate lenses are recommended for children.

Obviously, there are materials that are made of rubberized materials that are less brittle than polycarbonate (or any plastic), but they have very poor dimensional stability.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:00 am

I wouldnt say polycarbonate is brittle. I can bend a sheet of 1,5mm PC 180degrees without it breaking or even get white where its bent. Its used in bulletproof glass together with glass, the glass absorbs the energy when it breaks and the PC hold it all together. I´ve also had CDs wich could be bent like a taco without breaking, and bending it back and forth only resulted in it breaking in two not splintering. But i´ve also seen CDs that break very easily, they seemed more like acrylic to me.

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:51 am

jermaink wrote:Ok, I've used 5 of these. About 2 were decent while the other 3 had noise artifacts which were pretty annoying. The noise artifacts sound like 2 bits of plastic sliding next to each other.

But the ones I got were cheap enough (AUD $7.50) for me to get a bunch and to cherry pick the best ones.

Ahhh, thanks Jermaink. Have you used both types:- the Entering Bearing & 2 Ball Bearing Type. At $7.50, I'm thinking you've got the EB version only?
Were your 2 decent ones close enough to the Nexus in noise/airflow performance

m0002a & nici, are the construction materials different between the transparent and black versions or is it purely colour?
From the specs it would appear only the tranparent version has the polycarbonate content (if it IS an issue)
Black = PLASTIC {UL 94V-0}
Tranparent Blue = PC BAYER 2805-SMALT plus PLASTIC {UL 94V-0}

Thanks guys

GlacialTech SilentBlade - new contender on 120 mm market?

Silent mice and mouse pads

Glacialtech

Anyone?