Panaflow L1A, M1A, H1A?

BOT_toNka · Post by **BOT_toNka** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:47 am

I know that these models represent Low, Medium, and High.
My question is this:
Are they all the same except the RPMs at 12v?
Obviously more RPM = more CFM = more dB (assuming the fins are the same).
I dont care about the volting on it cause I have a Zalman Fan Controller.
So I can change it from 4v ~ 11v.
I'd like to have great flexability so the H1A is appealing to me.
I can keep it at L1A RPM specs when I'm not doing anything major.
Then crank it up when I'm gaming.
The L1A is rated at 1900RPM, 24CFM, 21dB.
If I take an H1A and bring it down from 2950RPM to 1900RPM can I expect the same CFM and dB?
Or are the motors different.
Which may cause whine and clicking.
I could use the H1A's 40CFM at 32db when playing games because I crank my speakers.
But if the H1A is too loud at lower RPMs it will drive me crazy at night time.
I leave my computer running 24/7 and I sleep but 2ft away from it.
Please help me make a choice.
Oh, BTW, it's for cooling my CPU.
I have the Silent Boost K8.
I plan on ridding the heatsink of the Tt fan (which I know is a Panaflow) for a more flexible fan.
Is it better to blow or suck on this heatsink?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:33 am

B, Its good that you supplied all this information about your system as that makes it a lot easier to talk about. Anyway, the advantage of using a 120mm fan is that it can supply more air at lower rpm's, however the airflow is distributed over a much larger area than that of an 80mm fan. So for you heat sink, I don't think you will benefit from using a 120 instead of a smaller panoflo. At the same cfm the 120 will actually make more noise. Ideally you want the heatsink to match the airflow of the fan, the 120mm can turn more slowly, but the larger heatsink will get more cooling. You would end up cooling some other components like the motherboard, memory, etc.. by using a 120 on a 80 mm heatsink. I would either get a 92 mm med speed panaflo and adapter for the 80 mm heatsink or a 120 mm panoflo and replace the heatsink with a 120mm. I haven't seen anyone mount a 120 mm fan on an thermalright xp-90, but I know people move up to the xp-120 so they can use a quieter 120 mm fan. I hope this answers you question. - FG

wim · Post by **wim** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:17 am

??? frank wtf you talking about

BOT_toNka i have experience only with panaflo M and L, have not tried an H (but it's probably same story). with M and L volted to same rpm/cfm, noise level is not significantly different (or if it was, i couldn't detect it). the only important difference, then, is that the L will give you more room to go lower (and H more room to go higher) for whatever voltages you have handily available

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:00 am

wim wrote:??? frank wtf you talking about

Wim, I'm not sure I follow his post completely either, but lack of this type of reactions is what makes SPCR a nice place IMO. Completely agree on your panaflo bit though.

Frank, I think your statement "At the same cfm the 120 will actually make more noise" (than an 80 mm fan) might be flawed. If I get the gist of the rest of your post right, it is that it's best to use the actual fan size that a heatsink was made for and I concur. However, BOT_toNka never mentioned getting another fan size or heatsink like the ThermalRight XP's.

Since an Panaflo M runs smoothly at 5V and should deliver enough airflow at 12V, it should give you more than enough cooling potential for both idle and cpu-intensive moments, assuming you have decent case airflow. I'd look for the M1BX model, since it has rpm monitoring. More specs would be helpful, like what case you are using, what cpu (assuming A64 because of the Tt K8), what other fans, etc.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:52 am

B,

When I read your post I somehow got the idea that you wanted to use a 120mm fan on top of an 80mm cooler, but you never mention that.
I must have been thinking of another post or person - I don't know. Anyway I agree with you and TJ about what you want to do. - FG

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:13 am

Are you overclocking your CPU? If not, undervolting will allow you to use the tt-branded M1 to cool it sufficiently.

Personally I prefer the sound of the Globe M to the Panaflo M (otherwise same characteristics) but those are hard to come by.

M1 is a pretty all-arounder. If you need the flow of the H1, you probably need to rethink your case airflow OR use a better cooler.

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:38 am

Panaflo L1A and M1A, at least for the 80mm model, are supposed to have similar sonic characteristics. The H1A, however, is a totally different beast. Here's an old post comparing the L1A and H1A, which concludes the H1a is noisier when undervolted to give similar airflow to an L1a.

So... don't get an H1A! And for that matter, unless you are doing serious overvolting or overclocking on your processor, I doubt you'll need more air than a 12V L1A can provide. At least, I think the SilentBoost is a good-enough heatsink to do that... I have an old Thermalright SK-7 (looks a whole lot like the SilentBoost) that can cool my Palomino XP1600+ quite well at 12V (50C load temps), and the 1.4GHz, 1.75V Palomino uses more power than your chip, and so probably generates less heat.

BOT_toNka · Post by **BOT_toNka** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:11 pm

Thanks for all the input.
As for my System, check my sig.
I need to add my case to my sig though.
I have a Sonata.
The only fans in my system are:
CPU Fan Tt
PSU Fan OCZ
Rear Case Fan Antec (5v)
I cut away some plastic in the frot to help it breathe.

wim · Post by **wim** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:54 pm

seems my assumption about H was not good. and now that i think about it, am in agreement with what SometimesWarrior says about 12V L1A - it is plenty of airflow (and noise) and if you have insufficient cooling problems then you're doing something wrong elsewhere.

teejay/frankgehry sorry folks i didn't mean to sound rash and i should have thrown a

in there. try reread it with a bit more humour in the tone. the problem with text is lack of emotion, can end up sounding ways that aren't intended.
embarassing

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:16 pm

W, no offense taken here. - FG

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:32 pm

Same here!

brmecham · Post by **brmecham** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:43 pm

Personally I like the H1 at 5v better than the L1 at 12V. It seems that an H1 at 5v is silent but provides more airflow than a 12V L1.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:25 pm

If you go to Panasonic's website and grab the spec sheets, you'll see they include P-Q and N-Q plots at four different voltages (7, 10.2, 12, and 13.8 ).

There are slight differences -- A L1A 80mm at 13.8V pushes almost the same CFM as a M1A 80mm at 10.2V but it might require slightly higher RPMs.

Panaflo's data suggest that effective CFMs over that range of voltages is better in the M1A than the L1A (like teejay said). The L1A will run lower of course.

velvet45 · Post by **velvet45** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:11 am

I have to agree here with Birmecham. I have the H1A mounted on the XP-90 and it undervolts very nicely. It has a very pleasant sonic signature at 1200-1500RPM and is reasonably quiet over a wide spread from 1000 to 2500 RPM. Your best choice here is M1A or H1A. You can always undervolt them or turn them up if you need to.

BOT_toNka · Post by **BOT_toNka** » Sun Jan 23, 2005 12:17 am

Maybe i'll just buy them all and find out by direct comparison...

wim · Post by **wim** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:09 am

it's always the best way

it seems people here have said polar opposite things anyway (be sure to post your own findings)

BOT_toNka · Post by **BOT_toNka** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:42 pm

Well, I ended up just getting the H1A and here is my conclusion.
I wanted it to be silent at the lowest RPM but a good performer at higher RPMs.
It does just that.
At 5v it is dead silent.
Turning up the volts for gaming and other cpu intensive activity really helps.
Obviously it is very audible at higher volts.
I think it covers both worlds pretty well.
I like having head room for the hot summer days when i feal like gaming

ANyone who says that it is not silent at 5v must have a bad fan.

Panaflow L1A, M1A, H1A?

Panaflow L1A, M1A, H1A?

120 mm fans on 80mm heatsink

What was I thinking?

no offense taken here.

panaflo