Panaflo vs generic stockers

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 9:43 pm

So, I'm putting together my shopping, er... wish list for quiet cooling parts, and I'm wondering if I should go ahead and include a batch of Panaflo L1As as well. I've got 3 computers I plan to set the fans to either 5V or 7V, dunno yet. I haven't heard much comment on how well a generic 80mm fan behaves undervolted. Trying to figger if I'll be pleased with the noise reduction of stockers at 7V, or go ahead and get the Panaflos now and put them at 7V if that's what I'd most likely be doing in the end.

Zyzzyx
- typing some rambling thoughts

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 11:41 pm

Just get the panaflo L1A, it will probably save you a lot of money in the long run. Many generic fans vibrates like mad even set at low voltages, and also has a lot more bearing and whinning noises. If you go through a lot of generic fans you may find one that is quiet. But is it worth the trouble? You save a lot of time and money if you don't go down that route. Panaflo are not expensive in the US, and in europe it's about twice the price.

Get one of the best I say

ChiefWeasel · Post by **ChiefWeasel** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 4:22 am

I would agree, especially if you can get them for a real cheap price, like a few dollars each, which them seem to be sometimes in the US.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:06 am

BG Micro is still having their $3.19 Panaflo L1A deal. I'd order 10-12 of them if I was you. They really are the way to go, especially at these prices.

loply · Post by **loply** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:30 am

Damn, I wish I could get Panaflo's in the UK for that cheap.

Theyre like £15 here ($20ish).

ChiefWeasel · Post by **ChiefWeasel** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:53 am

loply wrote:Damn, I wish I could get Panaflo's in the UK for that cheap.

Theyre like £15 here ($20ish).

£11.75 from here including free delivery. Not quite $3, but a bit better

Oh its an extra quid for a tail too

I agree tho loply, the UK prices are ridiculous, a few months ago, some European members from here ordered some from California. I got 6 for about £5 each, which included P&P from Cali to Sweden, Sweden to Coventry, then Cov. to me!

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 10:26 am

Ralf Hutter,

Do the Panaflos you buy from BG Micro already come with the connectors shown in the picture below? If so, like the ones on the left or like the one on the right?

Thanks.

DarkLord · Post by **DarkLord** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 11:27 am

Are these definitely the quiet Panaflos everyone is talking about?
It's called the Panaflo FBA08A12L, and i'm really unsure if this would be the correct one.
IF it is the correct fan I seriously consider ordering *several* of them, maybe some for friends. I mean they'd have to ship them to germany, so I'll see how much shipping will cost, but if enough people around here are interested this shouldn't be so much of a problem.

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 11:30 am

Hrrm... guess I'll go ahead and get a batch of Panaflos. Was looking at www.frozencpu.com as I've got a bunch of heatsink stuff to get as well. They've got them at $5 if you buy 5 or more, and add $1.50 for a tail with a plug (m/b or 4 pin).

<starts adding up his list for three computers>

Looks like at least 6. Probably buy 8 to have a couple around to mess with.

Zyzzyx
- looking around for a site to buy heatsinks and fans and goodies from all at once

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 11:56 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:BG Micro is still having their $3.19 Panaflo L1A deal. I'd order 10-12 of them if I was you. They really are the way to go, especially at these prices.

We should get you to order us a batch of 50 or so and ship it to the UK. I would like to have about 5-10 of them.

Anyone else in the UK put your hands up for some?

Wow $3.19 at the current exchange rate that is mere £2. In the UK £11.75 is the cheapest I can find without any tails, but tails only cost £1.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 6:37 am

Dru wrote:Ralf Hutter,

Do the Panaflos you buy from BG Micro already come with the connectors shown in the picture below? If so, like the ones on the left or like the one on the right?

Thanks.

The ones on the left. I just cut 'em off and put on 4-pin Molex connectors.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 6:45 am

ez2remember wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:BG Micro is still having their $3.19 Panaflo L1A deal. I'd order 10-12 of them if I was you. They really are the way to go, especially at these prices.
We should get you to order us a batch of 50 or so and ship it to the UK. I would like to have about 5-10 of them.

Anyone else in the UK put your hands up for some?

Wow $3.19 at the current exchange rate that is mere £2. In the UK £11.75 is the cheapest I can find without any tails, but tails only cost £1.

According to this page, BGMicro will sell to and ship to Third Wor.....er, countries other than the USA

as long as you pay with US funds (can't you do that by paying with a credit card, doesn't the CC's bank convert the local currency into dollars?). They also have a $15 "minimum" International shipping charge but if you're going to order a bunch of them maybe that will average out.

If I were to consider ordering a bunch of them and shipping them to you, how would you handle the transaction?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 3:58 pm

eztoremember wrote :

We should get you to order us a batch of 50 or so and ship it to the UK. I would like to have about 5-10 of them.

Anyone else in the UK put your hands up for some?

Wow $3.19 at the current exchange rate that is mere £2. In the UK £11.75 is the cheapest I can find without any tails, but tails only cost £1.

Im up for that. Anyone else ?

Come on guys - you know you want to....

Tim

Oricom · Post by **Oricom** » Sat Jan 11, 2003 7:00 am

How much would it work out per Panaflo fan after post and tax costs?

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Sat Jan 11, 2003 10:24 am

I found something interesting for people in the UK. I have found fans that are so cheap, these prices are kind of unheard of in the UK. I have bought a batch of 5 of them and will compare it with the panaflo's as soon as I get them.

These are unknown makes but according to the statistics it looks good. The ZDL 80x25mm fans cost only £2.29 inc vat and delivery is free if you order over £5 or +£1.50 if less.

5 fans cost me only around £11 so I said what the heck just give em a go and see how good or how bad they are.

Hey Mike what do you think about the stats?

http://www.thecoolingshop.co.uk/tcs/com ... &curPage=2

loply · Post by **loply** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 9:47 am

Interesting. Let us know how quiet these ZDL fans really are.

Ofcourse, Ebuyer sells fans for £1.20 each! But I suspect theyre nasty BB's and not sleeve bearings like these mystical ZDL's... When are they arriving?

Bat · Post by **Bat** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 4:33 pm

I like the look of that!
To save people the trouble of looking it up, here are details:

ZDL 80mm Quiet Fan Kit (Sleeve Bearing) £1.95 + VAT = £2.29
80x80x25mm
12V, 0.10A, 1.2W
2100rpm (anticlockwise when viewed from intake side)
26.17CFM in free air, 0CFM at 1.82mm water
23.5dbA
Tolerance: ± 0.1 % (I suppose this applies to physical dimensions?)
Life time 35000 hours (almost 4 years) (temperature not specified)
4 pole (in case this matters to anyone... perhaps more poles mean smoother running at low speed?)

Bat · Post by **Bat** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 4:54 pm

I found the Panaflo FB08A12L1A (24cfm, 21dBA) for £10 inc. VAT (£8.51 ex VAT) from www.koolnquiet.co.uk
They say, "Note: These fans are tailed with a non standard two socket plug, which has been modified to fit the standard 3 pin header."

Also, they sell a Zalman FB123 kit of fan + bracket etc. which claims 40cfm, 20dBA, 1600rpm, 12V for the 92mm x 25mm fan. If you believe the numbers then this is wonderful (much better than the Panaflo) especially at the price of £9.49 inc. VAT.

Is this the Zalman fan that people say is noisy, though?

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 5:29 pm

loply wrote:Interesting. Let us know how quiet these ZDL fans really are.

Ofcourse, Ebuyer sells fans for £1.20 each! But I suspect theyre nasty BB's and not sleeve bearings like these mystical ZDL's... When are they arriving?

I placed the order yesterday, I guess they don't work until Monday. They said it takes 1 to 3 days, so I am estimating they will come between Tuesday and Thursday.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Sun Jan 12, 2003 5:39 pm

Bat wrote: Also, they sell a Zalman FB123 kit of fan + bracket etc. which claims 40cfm, 20dBA, 1600rpm, 12V for the 92mm x 25mm fan. If you believe the numbers then this is wonderful (much better than the Panaflo) especially at the price of £9.49 inc. VAT.

Is this the Zalman fan that people say is noisy, though?

That setting is not 12v, that is for silent mode 5v you get 1600rpm, 40cfm?, 20dBA. If you go to the Zalman webboard they claimed earlier it produced 40cfm, but has now lowered their figures slightly. At 12v it is 36dBA, which sounds like a plane engine of those tiny fans.

Yes I have them, 3 of em to be precise, and they are noisy compared to the panaflo 80mm L1A fan (can't comment on other models) which hardly makes any noise at low voltages. The Zalman however are even noisy at 5v, but it is much better than say a standard PC you buy with those tiny fans that whines like a plane engine.

Stick with the panaflo you are much better off.

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Tue Jan 14, 2003 5:12 am

MY £2 ZDL FANS HAS ARRIVED.

They come with standard 4 pin molex plugs. I have compared these fans at 12v, 7v, and 5v. On first impression I was disappointed with the amount of vibrations these fans made at 12v and the sound produced was not very smooth. But this dramatically dropped at 7v and I found it best at 5v.

So how do they compare to say the panaflo, hmm they don't quite match up, I still prefer the £10+ panaflo 80mm L1A which feels like it blows more air and is quieter overall. But at £2 they are suprisingly good at low voltages. They still vibrate a little more than other fans at these voltages and sound is not as smooth. But there is hardly any bearing noise or highpitch screeching/whinning noises even with my ear right next to it. I find them much better than my Zalman 92mm fans, but they seem to blow a lot more air at low voltages. I also have a chieftec 92mm fan which is smoother but has a lot more bearing noise.

So if you don't want to spend £10+ on the panaflo's in the UK and only plan to run these fans at low voltages then it is pretty good, it really depends how sensitive you are to noise, which I am very.

I would still recommend a whole set of panaflo's to quiet your PC, but these fans are not bad! Mount them with something soft, or you could have your whole PC vibrating like a jet engine. hahaha

So how would I rank em with the fans I have.

1. Panaflo 80mm L1A
2. Chieftec 92mm (just edges ahead with it's smoother broadband sound)
3. £2 ZDL 80mm fans
4. Zalman 92mm fans

jeffreylee · Post by **jeffreylee** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 1:42 pm

I'm in desperate need of the silent treatment!
I have 2 (TWO!

) 80mm Vantec Tornados in my Antec SX1030B...
Overclocking is now such a bore, and I regret wasting all that money on high end cooling.

Anyone know where to buy Panaflo fans (the quiet ones) in Vancouver, BC?
I'm going to replace the Vantec Tornados first, then I'm going to hope someone gives me a Zalman HSF for my birthday.

I'm starting to value my ears..

Justin_R · Post by **Justin_R** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 8:10 pm

jeffreylee wrote:I'm in desperate need of the silent treatment!
Overclocking is now such a bore, and I regret wasting all that money on high end cooling.

I don't mean to put a cloud over your new-found quest for silence, but you'll probably still be spending lots of money on high-end cooling solutions (i.e. SmartDrive, Thermalright SLK-800, Zalman ZM80A-HP, etc.). I know I've certainly spent enough money (and time!) trying to quiet down my once overclocked systems. But the payoff is that I can now use my PC without feeling like I'm standing on a runway at the airport.

Anyway, best of luck on your silencing efforts!

SilentButDeadly · Post by **SilentButDeadly** » Mon Jan 20, 2003 11:12 am

Jeff,
I did the overclocking thing and still am, although I don't push everything to max with monster fans anymore.

My box still runs multiple intake fans (Panaflo L 92mm) with the old reliable 92mm Sunon blowing out. The giant Thermalright SK-7 copper heatsink sits there per usual overclocking standards but runs a Vantec Stealth fan at 1,550 RPM and is almost silent.
Overclockers and silence freaks have a lot of parts in common if you think about it. The heatsinks are the same, the fans are different. Sometimes the fans are the same, but as in my case, the voltages driving them are much lower.
My silence project was a pretty simple one, get an Antec Truepower 430 watt PSU and use the fan headers on it to run the case fans. My internal temps jumped 3C/5F with this trick but coupled with the low speed CPU fan, I am very, very quiet.

The old Athlon 950 used to be overclocked to 1120MHz (1.85v) with a Volcano7 running the fan at full speed. The temps were 38C with the case temp at 24C. Dropped the voltage down to stock and backed the clock down to 1064MHz and slapped on the SK-7 with the Vantec Stealth fan (I want RPM info)
The interesting thing about the change was my case temps only went up 3C and my CPU temps rose 3C with it.

With Prime95 rolling for 12 hours, my temps were case 27C and CPU only 44C

Gaining those last few degrees of coolness for a couple of MHz is not worth it. The GOOD thing is all that overclocking gear (except the fans usually) is great for making quiet PCs!
Now to replace that 50mm Delta 6,250 RPM fan on that 1U PIII copper heatsink on my video card.

I wonder if it will run off the fan header of the Antec? Hmmmmm....

jinu117 · Post by **jinu117** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 11:21 am

SilentButDeadly wrote:... Vantec Stealth fan at 1,550 RPM and is almost silent... Now to replace that 50mm Delta 6,250 RPM fan on that 1U PIII copper heatsink on my video card. I wonder if it will run off the fan header of the Antec? Hmmmmm....

1) 1550 RPM is threshold of Vantec fan (I am guessing you are using 80mm?) for drastic reduction in bearing noise, etc. (minus the vibration... highly recommend EAR grommets for this fan... or any fan to begin with). You will notice even quieter system at say... 1200-1300 RPM range by decent margin. (900 RPM on this fan is inaudible pretty much and still produces decent airflow... probably not enough for modern CPU though)
I had to run mine around same with P4 2.53 for precautionary measure. I keep my CPU temp at 55c max if possible. However, with some underclocking, your temp will go even lower. (right now I am using 1.30 instead of 1.50v and difference is dramatic. Folding will get my system up to 49c at 1300 RPM) Being a little conservative here I know.
My goal here is to get it to 900 RPM under 55c folding. (900 RPM is how my case fans & PS are running) The funny thing is the HDD noise is getting more pronounced (talking about idle noise... gave up on the seek part of it) and I have IBM 180GXP. (Cuda looks cute but the performance was big turn off for me, especially with RAID) Gotta figure out if the suspender idea will work well.

2) I HIGHLY recommend Zalmans GPU cooler series. Very quiet... (no active cooling here). As long as you have decent airflow in case. it does wonders. (43c at idle, 45c at full load with R9500PRO)

simmers · Post by **simmers** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 11:09 am

ez2remember wrote: So how would I rank em with the fans I have.

1. Panaflo 80mm L1A
2. Chieftec 92mm (just edges ahead with it's smoother broadband sound)
3. £2 ZDL 80mm fans
4. Zalman 92mm fans

Interested to hear your comparisons with Panaflos, as I have been thinking along the same lines. I've ordered some £1.50 Evercool and ARX fans at www.quicklyshop.com, thanks to a fellow SPCR member! Once I get my 80mm cheapos I can experiment with different setups!

I also have a Chieftec 92mm case fan which I have always disconnected cos it was so noisy. But now I've 5-volted it thanks to tips from the forum and it is quite quiet. Up close I can hear a 'bumping' noise, bearings I guess. It's the D90-SM12, is this yours too? Made by Chieftec, or an OEM model?

I also have a Zalman 92mm on my flower cooler and agree that it is definitely audible at 5V, more high pitched than the Chieftec.

I find them much better than my Zalman 92mm fans, but they seem to blow a lot more air at low voltages. I also have a chieftec 92mm fan which is smoother but has a lot more bearing noise.

Do you mean that the Zalman or the ZDL blows more air at low voltages?

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Wed Feb 12, 2003 2:06 pm

It feels the Zalman and Chieftec fans both of which is 92mm, blows a little more air than the 80mm ZDL fans at 5 volts. The ZDL fans at 5v can make a very quiet system, but the panaflos has a smoother sound.

When I made the comparisons above, I should of mentioned the low voltages they were at. I reach close for silence so I usually go only 5volts to all my fans, unless it's impossible then I regard 7volts as jus bearable but that is me.

I found that modding my generic PSU with a 7v panaflo made a huge difference. But I redesigned my intake fans completely, read my post somewhere else about it. I look for it later..

UPDATE: HERE U GO
http://forums.silentpcreview.com//viewtopic.php?t=3220

Panaflo vs generic stockers

Panaflo vs generic stockers

Fans from UK suppliers

Re: Fans from UK suppliers