120mm case fan question

BaconTastesGood · Post by **BaconTastesGood** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 5:39 pm

I'm getting a case that has room for a 120mm case fan and I'd like to get something big and slow. The Recommended section doesn't seem to have much information on 120mm -- should I go with the PanaFlo or Vantec, or should I try to get an 80mm in there instead?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 6:41 pm

Having only 4 120mm fans in my possession, I am in no position to really judge yet. But...

- Vantec 120mm -- not that quiet at 12V, blows a lot of air. At 5V it really clatters. Clackety clack. Lots of vibration too. You really feel it in your hand, transmits easily to anything it's mounted on. Not really recommended (and no, i dont have a grduge with Vantec or anything!)

- AVC B1225B12L .27A -- blows more air and spins faster than Vantec at 12V. At 5v, it clacks too, not as badly as Vantec, but enough. Not really recommended either.

- Antec - from Sonata case, no markings at all. Blows more air and spins faster than either of the above. Noisy at 12V. Quieter than either of the above at 5V, but still not at Panaflo 7V level. Not bad at 5V, though, blows a lot of air. Only a bit of clacking. Most of the noise is low freq, which means it should be fairly easily ignored or damped out.

- The last is a high speed JMC you don't really want to know about.

Generalization: a small degree of imbalance will cause a lot more vibration in a 120mm fan than the same degree of imbalance in an 80mm fan.

I'd try a Panaflo 120mm L if I were you.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 7:26 pm

what if you mounted the 120mm fans with something like rubber grommets, or what im considering doing is mounting a 120mm fan to the case with rubber mouse pads.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 7:53 pm

what if you mounted the 120mm fans with something like rubber grommets

The solution to all vibes

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Jan 16, 2003 5:49 am

I have three 120mm fans in my possesion: A few Panaflo L1As, two of the "JMC J120L-2/4" (61cfm @ 26dBa, 120mm x 25mm. This is the special "quiet" JMC from Coolcases.com), and the stock Antec fan.

At 12V the Antec is by far the loudest, followed by the Panaflo, then the JMC.

At 7V the Antec is the loudest, then the JMC and the Panaflo sound about the same.

At 5V the Antec won't spin up (who cares!), the JMC is noticably louder than the Panaflo.

At 7V and 5V the JMC has a slight "whine" to it. These are brand-new and not broken in though. After some running maybe they'll quiet down a little.

At 5V (where I run it as my case fan) the Panaflo has a verryy slight tick-tick-tick occaisionally. This fan is mounted to the case using O-rings for isolation.

JarsOfFart · Post by **JarsOfFart** » Tue Jan 28, 2003 10:43 pm

Someone at Anandtech told me that the 120mm JMC fan from Allelectronics.com is supposed to be quiet at 7v. I have NO personal experience.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jan 29, 2003 5:21 am

JarsOfFart wrote:Someone at Anandtech told me that the 120mm JMC fan from Allelectronics.com is supposed to be quiet at 7v. I have NO personal experience.

Maybe it's the same "JMC" fan that I was talking about in my post above? Can you get the model number?

JarsOfFart · Post by **JarsOfFart** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 3:50 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
JarsOfFart wrote:Someone at Anandtech told me that the 120mm JMC fan from Allelectronics.com is supposed to be quiet at 7v. I have NO personal experience.
Maybe it's the same "JMC" fan that I was talking about in my post above? Can you get the model number?

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/c ... type=store

JMC# 1225-12HBA

How do you make a hyperlink that has a different name displayed then the URL?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:02 pm

Hello:

I'll add the three 120mm fans that I have on hand to the "database:"

Antec (Dynatron, TCP Motor are also on the frame) 120mmx38mm (2600RPM, 105 CFM, 44dBA, 0.52A): pretty loud at 12volts but it blows up a storm, and at 7volts it is quite a bit quieter and it still blows a lot. As others have mentioned, it won't start at 5volts due to the fact it can't overcome the strong magnetic "notchiness" that you can see as it coasts to a stop.

Radio Shack 120mmx38mm (3000RPM, 85CFM, 48dBA, 0.32A, sleeve bearing, cast aluminum frame. Slightly quieter and lower pitched sound at 12volts than the Antec, and it blows noticably less air. At 7volts, it still has a low pitch fairly prominant in the sound and at 5volts it is basically tied for quietest, though it also moves the least air of the three at both 7 and 5 volts. This fan could be great, if it were not for the fact that its 5 blades are curved the "wrong" way -- they are convex on the bottom! This puts the leading edge at a sharper angle than the rest of the blade, and the angle *decreases* towards the trailing edge....silly. It is the smoothest running of the three.

Lastly, I have a Philmore (Bi-Sonic Technology Corp.) 120mmx25mm (0.38A, sleeve bearing): it is the quietest at all voltages, and it moves more air than the RS at 7 and 5volts (and maybe also at 12volts). I also have a ball bearing version which cost about $8 more (local retail), and it is *slightly* more noisy than the sleeve bearing model.

I would love to be able to recommend the RS, and it is very quiet at 5volts especially, but it simply doesn't blow as well as the thinner Philmore. So, I would use the Antec at 7 volts if I needed a lot of air, or the Philmore at 7 or 5volts for lower noise, but still with a significant amount of air.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Feb 01, 2003 6:22 am

JarsOfFart wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:
JarsOfFart wrote:Someone at Anandtech told me that the 120mm JMC fan from Allelectronics.com is supposed to be quiet at 7v. I have NO personal experience.
Maybe it's the same "JMC" fan that I was talking about in my post above? Can you get the model number?
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/c ... type=store

JMC# 1225-12HBA

I guess it's not the same model. The model number of my JMCs is 122--12LB, DC12V - .15A. So if MikeC's fan type theory is correct, the 12LB is probably a quieter version than the 12HBA, plus the site where I got these fans (Coolcases.com) says that they're not even the normal version of the 1225L, they're special order items.

According to this chart from the JMC website, the 1225-H is 45dB, 2600rpm, 88cfm and the 1225-L is 32dB, 1600rpm, 54cfm.

JarsOfFart wrote:How do you make a hyperlink that has a different name displayed then the URL?

Format goes like this: (but replace these brackets: { } with these brackets: [ ] )

{url=www.SilentPCReview.com}{u}Silent PC Review{/u}{/url}

That format gives you an underlined url. If you don't want it underlined just omit the {u} and {/u} part of it.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 7:37 am

I have a 120mmx38 Datech JMC fan I think its 118cfm at 46dB. Anyone know aproximately how much cfm and decibel would be at 5 or 7 volts? Is there a formula for finding that out?

hyum · Post by **hyum** » Tue Feb 04, 2003 8:18 am

i have the JMC 1225-L (120mm x 25mm). it's not quite at 12V- far from it. it's not close to being silent at 7V, but quiet, and at 5V, it starts clicking softly (5V is below spec however). not recomended.

besides, if you have the space and want more airflow, go with a 120mm x 38mm size, or 120mm x 32mm. all 120mm fans i have tried so far are not close to being silent at 12V, except for the papst varioflo (4312MV) at low exhaust temps. i run my fans at 5V, or on some type of fan control (5V-9V range), and several fans are near to silence at that range. i'd recommend a panaflo L1A or papst 4312NGL. the varioflo runs at 1150 RPM at low temps, but this fan is very expensive in the US since it has built in fan control and is shipped in the US in low retail volumes.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 6:17 am

GamingGod wrote:I have a 120mmx38 Datech JMC fan I think its 118cfm at 46dB. Anyone know aproximately how much cfm and decibel would be at 5 or 7 volts? Is there a formula for finding that out?

According to this pdf chart from SPCR's main site, at 7V you get about 58% and at 5V you get about 41%. I don't know if those are real numbers or just an extrapolation from 12V numbers.

Gxcad · Post by **Gxcad** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:29 pm

Ralf, do you think you could go into more detail about the JMC fan at 5v? Specifically it would be very useful to me if you can compare it to the panaflo at 5v as I am familiar with them.

And to add my entry, I've had experience with a duet of the 120mm panaflos. At 12v they are very loud and blow a LOT of air, they also vibrate like crazy which translates into a repetitive low frequency hum transmitted by your case (brrrrumm.....brrrrummm....). At 7v they are much quieter and push what seems to be decent air (but not lots). There is a clickety click at this voltage and at 5v and a low motor hum that is fairly quiet (rrrrrrrrr...). At 5v it is more of the same as at 7v but even quieter and pushing even less air. Once again the clicking is present and the low low hum of rrrrrrrr... I find it very quiet at 5v but still not quiet enough to be considered "inaudible at 3am from listening position (~2 meters from the source, and through the case)" which the 80mm L1A IS at 5v. I believe Papst 4412FGL had a good rep from fellow silent pc enthusiasts, I believe rusk has used them. Perhaps he can comment.

-Ken

120mm case fan question

120mm case fan question

I have 3 120mm fans...