Fan Orientation & Good 120mm Fan (excl Pabst, Panflo, Ne

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:25 am

Hi everyone, this is my first post here, yah!

I will be attempting my first case mod soon, and in doing so add 2 (and cut holes for) 120mm fans. one at the back and one in the front. Plus i'll be ducting air from the side of the case directly to the zalman 7000 HSF that i have, the fan on the heatsink will suck in the air, so no addtional fan on the side.

So i will have a 120mm and 92mm(zalman HSF) sucking air in and a 120mm and a 80mm(PSU) sucking air out, which should result in a slight positive case pressure which to my understanding should prevent dust being sucked in through other places.

I'm just looking for any comments about the setup and 120mm fan recommendations. I live in south africa and haven't been able to source any Pabst, Panaflo or Nexus fans, but i do have the following available to me:

Vantec Stealth SF12025L (1500rpm ; 53cfm ; 28dba ; 2 Ball)

Thermaltake Thunderblade A1926 (2000rpm ; 78cfm ; 21dba ; Sleeve)

Coolermaster LF-S12-EB (1220rpm ; 43cfm ; 22 dba ; Sleeve)

Antec TriCool (2000/1600/1200rpm ; 79/56/39cfm ; 30/28/25dba ; 2 Ball)

I would prefer case fans with LED's so i'm not so fond of the stealth. Also i don't believe Thermaltakes dba is realistic. I'm leaning toward the coolermaster, anyone know what rpm/dba it runs at 7v and 5v?

Thanks

Bob

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:41 am

Hi Bob,

from your list the Antec should be OK. Coolermaster has atleast one proper fan model, just don't remember if that's the one, someone else will probably fill in here. Stay away from Vantec and Thermaltake fans!

A bit offtopic, but... Have you thought about buying fans from europe or north america, is that an option? Silencio has Yate Loons, Globes and Papst (+Noiseblocker and Aerocool) to pick from. He ships all around the world for a cheap price and you also get an SPCR discount from him.

EDIT: Sorry! Forgot the WELCOME TO SPCR!!!

EvilNick · Post by **EvilNick** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:36 am

The Coolermaster LF-S12 should just be the LED version of the SUF-S12 which is the exact same fan in UV form without LEDs. From what I've read here and from my own experience with one that I'm using on my XP-120, they are pretty good. There's no bearing noise, but there is a tinny bit of air noise. That's at 12V tho, ramp it down and most of it disappears.

Although I will admit it could be drowned out by my noisy WD800JB, so don't take my word for it 100%.

Btw, if Coolermaster products are available in your area, it might be worthwhile to look for their new aluminium fans. A friend of mine who recently bought 2 to use says they are even quieter than the SUF-S12 fans. They're about 2-3 times more expensive tho. :Shock:

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:27 pm

Hey thanks for the larger than usual font size welcome!

I'll consider buying from overseas, but it just seems a bit silly when i can gets fans at my local pc shop. I do actually need, or rather want some other stuff which i can't get here, like fan insulating grommets and case insulation. So maybe, i'm not in a rush.

Any specific problems with the vantec and thermaltake fans?

A company here called Rectron are the sole distributers of Cooolermaster products in sa. There's no mention of the alu version on their pricelist, so i doubt i will see that soon. and 3 times the price! ouch.

@EvilNick: What rpm does your coolermaster spin at, at lower voltages?

I also wanted to ask about the difference between ball and sleeve bearings, i've read that sleeve bearing fans must be mounted vertically, or something like that. Can someone pls clear this up for me.

Thanks for the replies

Bob

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:36 pm

If you search the forums for user comments for the Vantec and Thermaltake fans, you will see they are not what they are marketed to be. Clicks, whines, snaples, cracks and pops.

I'm off to bed (0:42AM), if no one hasn't answered you and your questions , I'll write a proper respond tomorrow.

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:44 pm

Aleksi wrote:If you search the forums for user comments for the Vantec and Thermaltake fans, you will see they are not what they are marketed to be. Clicks, whines, snaples, cracks and pops.

Just add milk and u got yourself a nice breakfast

Cool, thanks.

[edit: coolermaster go on about how bright their LED fans are. Now i'm worried that it might be a tad bright and it'll be distracting. My case sits under the desk at home, but when i go to a lan, it might annoy me or other people - it's impossible to judge from pictures. Anyone have these fans and is the brightness an issue?]

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 2:21 pm

I would normally have stayed out of this discussion, but since you mentioned sleeve bearing fans must be mounted vertically I thought I should explain as I have posted some information that I found on the web about that. You can find a number of articles that compare sleeve and ball bearing fans and when ball bearings are preferred. Just google sleeve vs ball bearing fans and you'll get more information that you'll want to read.

Of course at spcr noise is really more of a concern than if a ball bearing fan will last longer in a high temperature environment. While it is clear that manufacturers like seasonic have moved to ball bearing fans as recognition of the fact that ball bearing fans last longer, have fewer rejects off the assembly line, and in general represent a good move from an engineering perspective. I have an antec sp 2.0 that has sleeve bearing fans, however.

Each manufacturer has a few ball bearing models that are almost if not as quiet as a nexus in my opinion. And a nexus in some cases does not provide enough air flow. Coolermaster sources fans from different manufactures like bi-sonic and delta. The aluminum fan that sells for $20 here is made by bi-sonic. The three bladed coolermasters are made by delta. I have the delta 120mm version as well as a few of the bi-sonics. They also use a delta on the hyper 48? heat sink and the fan was reviewed here as being very quiet. By the way, they are all double ball bearing fans.

The coolermaster sleeve bearing fan you mentioned is reviewed here - http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=20005 (actually the non led version). Sleeve bearing fans lack the quality control of a good ball bearing fan, so there are mixed reviews of the coolermaster you mentioned, however the one I have is excellent. Nexus fans have very good quality control and they are sleeve bearing fans however. The coolermaster you mentioned would be fine, but forget about the vantec and stealth. I will look to see if anything is new at coolermaster.com as far as fans go. - FG

The main thing to remember is not to run a 1200rpm fan at 1200rpm. Most fans over that speed will be on the noisy side if only for the amount of air they are moving.

If you can get this fan at this price get it. - http://www.svc.com/tbf-b12-e1.html

EvilNick · Post by **EvilNick** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:43 pm

I can't tell you the RPMs since when I connect the fan to a 5V line, it's no longer attached to the mobo, so no RPM readings.

frankgehry: Are the 120mm CM tri-blades quieter than their 120mm UV models (SUF-S12)? From the specs, it spins 100rpm or so faster, but its rated at 19.8 dBA which is lower than the UV I think.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 10:36 pm

I have both fans so I will have to listen to them as I just remember both as being very good. My triple blade is a delta and its rated at 1950rpm. http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12trbllows.html

I'm not sure what coolermaster does to limit the top speed, but I suppose it could be a 24v model or there is a resistor that drops the voltage. The relationship between voltage and rpm is linear so (5/12)*1950~810. I will post something about them tomorrow. - FG

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:00 pm

I listened to both fans a various speeds and the coolermaster suf-s12 is the clear winner with no bearing noise and just smooth air flow. The triple blade has some bearing rumble if you listen closely. So I would stick with the suf-s12's. - FG

EvilNick · Post by **EvilNick** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:08 pm

Ah, that's a great fast reply, thanks.

The Delta is rated for about 11CFM more than the SUF-S12 tho.

Oh and since you just enlightened me on RPMs and voltage being linear, the SUF-S12 is 1250rpm at 12V, so it must be 520rpm at 5V.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:46 pm

This document from intel has a lot of information about fans in parallel, fans in series, rpm/cfm/voltage...
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/ap ... 802702.pdf

I used the triple blade on my xp-120 for a while and thought it was great. I just noticed a little puttering at 5 volts that is covered up over 1000rpm. I still think its a good fan, but I've never compared it directly to the suf-s12. - FG

agus_c_o · Post by **agus_c_o** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:20 pm

The speeds of my COOLERMASTER A12025-12CB-5BN-L1 are
5v….540
7v.…780
12v...1200
I have another coolermaster but is a A12025-12CB-4JN-L1 and has no rpm monitoring.
both of them are very quiet at 7 or 5 volts, at 12v when I'm playing they are louder but not disturbing most is air noise with out motor sounds

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:40 pm

Nice to see this threads been busy in my absence

Any thoughts on the Antec TriCools's? I think the CoolerMaster might not move enough air at 5v. 520rpm is really slow, my bro's got a Antec TP2.0 with a 120mm fan that runs at about 800rpm, and thats inaudable against the cpu fan. I could run the coolermaster at 7v but i've read that can be bad for the psu.