Hey all,
I recently purchased a few of the Yate Loon D14-SM12 fans from Jab-Tech for the top panel of my CM Cosmos and am pretty disappointed. While both were fairly quiet and performed well when new, they have both developed obnoxious bearing noise (knocking) that is audible even when the fans are undervolted to ~5v. Since the market for 140mm fans is still fairly small, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the AeroCool SilverLightning 140mm available from Newegg for $11.99. They have 11 blades, which should translate to a relatively broadband noise pattern and moderately good static pressure. I'm planning on ordering a few shortly, so if no one else here has any experience then I suppose I'll be the guinea pig...wish me luck.
-Dom
AeroCool SilverLightning 140mm - Experience?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
-
thejamppa
- Posts: 3142
- Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 am
- Location: Missing in Finnish wilderness, howling to moon with wolf brethren and walking with brother bears
- Contact:
My experience from silver lightning 80mm, 92mm and 120mm fans have been: Quietest led fans I've used. Motor sound is very low and easily covered, even in 12v. Still not the most quietest fan here but very, very quiet fan and perhaps currently best led fan there is in my experience. I am not sure in 140mm section but if its anything like smaller cousins it should be nice and quit and can start at 5v.
Well, I've had some experience with this fan and come to some conclusions about its performance.
The Good:
-Motor performance in horizontal mounted applications appears to be significantly better than my previous experience with the 140mm Yate Loon D14SM-12. There is no obvious extraneous motor noise in any specific orientation, which allows for more flexibility in mounting options.
-Fan noise is mostly inaudible below 700RPM.
-LEDs are not overwhelmingly bright when fan is undervolted.
-Fan is packaged with matching 140-120mm adapter and plenty of screws.
-Extra long 3-pin connection wire allows for use in large cases or concealment without the use of extensions.
The Bad:
-Between 700-1000RPM, the noise is a combination of broadband air movement and motor growl that while audible is not objectionable in a room with other background noise. Between 1000-1400RPM, this fan becomes the primary noise source in the room, although it does draw quite a bit of air through the case. Motor growl and air movement/turbulence remain as the primary characteristics of audible noise.
-Reduced 20mm fan thickness may have negative effects on static pressure performance.
-Eight motor hub arms (4 to frame, 4 for LED wires) may introduce more turbulence/noise at higher RPMs/airflow.
Since these are a bit too loud at full speed, I'm going to look into other options. If anyone knows of other 140mm options that I've missed (other than the Yate Look and Aerocool offerings) please feel free to post.
-Dom
The Good:
-Motor performance in horizontal mounted applications appears to be significantly better than my previous experience with the 140mm Yate Loon D14SM-12. There is no obvious extraneous motor noise in any specific orientation, which allows for more flexibility in mounting options.
-Fan noise is mostly inaudible below 700RPM.
-LEDs are not overwhelmingly bright when fan is undervolted.
-Fan is packaged with matching 140-120mm adapter and plenty of screws.
-Extra long 3-pin connection wire allows for use in large cases or concealment without the use of extensions.
The Bad:
-Between 700-1000RPM, the noise is a combination of broadband air movement and motor growl that while audible is not objectionable in a room with other background noise. Between 1000-1400RPM, this fan becomes the primary noise source in the room, although it does draw quite a bit of air through the case. Motor growl and air movement/turbulence remain as the primary characteristics of audible noise.
-Reduced 20mm fan thickness may have negative effects on static pressure performance.
-Eight motor hub arms (4 to frame, 4 for LED wires) may introduce more turbulence/noise at higher RPMs/airflow.
Since these are a bit too loud at full speed, I'm going to look into other options. If anyone knows of other 140mm options that I've missed (other than the Yate Look and Aerocool offerings) please feel free to post.
-Dom