Good & Quiet 80 x 80 x 15mm fans?

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:21 pm

ugh, UGH, UGH!

There seems to have been a kink in my masterplan

So basically, there's room for 2 80mm fans on the side of my case...

...the fans fit on like this...

...and will look like this from the outside...

...and serve the purpose of exhausting the heat from the lower heatsink of the video card, while the rear end & PSU fans exhaust the upper heatsink. All is going well and good, until I try to put the side panel back on the case, and lo and behold, THE FANS ARE ~5MM TOO THICK TO CLOSE THE CASE! Small enough that I was able to force it closed, but the side was bowing out in a small arc, which obviously will not work.

This is really irritating, partially because I fell in love with the Nexus fans the second I plugged them in and turned them on, and partially because what I'll have spent on quality cooling once I am able to order decent 80x80x15's could have gotten me 2 750GB drives instead of 2 500GB drives.

Now I just need to know, what are good 80x80x15mm fans that would at least come close to these Nexus 80mm models? I've seen this Sanyo Denki San Ace recommended, but that price is just absurd and I'm already over budget as-is.

For what the fans would do, they really don't need to be high powered or quick speed, especially with 2 of them side-by-side. I don't know how to make my own undervolts, probably can't be arsed anyway, and hardly have money for manufactured fan controls. The Nexus 80x80x25mms were fine out of the box; something rivalling them in 80x80x15mm format would be great. Any suggestions?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:48 am

Look....this is an unusual sized fan, so there are a limited amount of choices. That Sanyo is the best I've ever heard/owned. I have two in daily use....one for three years so far.

The alternatives.....mostly cheap sleeve bearing fans which don't last very long, and make noise. Many fans of this size can be found in HD cooler devices, like this Scythe. Undervolted, you can live with these things.....that's about it. Zalman makes one with ball-bearings and a a rpm sensor. Not too bad.

There are some other solutions....there are 20mm thick fans in 120 or 140mm size. They might fit. Scythe makes a 100x12mm fan that's very nice, but only comes on a CPU heatsink for $30.

Me? I'd come up with some other airflow configuration. Side case fans are always too noisy.....

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:28 am

Well, I can't do much about airflow configurations without getting a whole new case. Even if I could afford one, it took months to find this one, so either way it's gotta stay.

Why do you say side case fans are too noisy? Compared to what, front or rear fans? Because in that third image, I was testing noise/vibration, and they were so quiet I wasn't even going to worry about undervolting, not to mention I'm using the same fans whether on the front, back, or side.

Anyway, I guess I'll see about RMAing some of these other fans so I can cover the cost of the Sanyos if I have to get them. I also saw these Evercools, which don't have the same good dB/CFM stats but are actually affordable. Seems like they'd require a slight undervolting though. I also see SilenX has a 14dB/24CFM model and an 11dB/18CFM model, but IIRC that isn't the best brand and the price is hardly cheaper.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 7:29 am

Heh....with a tin-snip you can have any size hole in a few minutes. Since the side and the front of a case directly faces your ears, intake fan noise from either place is usually noisier than from the bottom or rear of the case.

For the price, I'd try that Evercool.....never heard one though. I have heard the SilenX 80x15.......noisy P.O.S.

fjf · Post by **fjf** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:15 am

I agree...open a hole with a tin snip and put a good 80x25mm fan outside the cage. I have a 15 mm fan (from a VGA cooler) and it is a noisy beast. Dont try those. Bad idea.

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:35 am

Heh, well I don't have tin-snips (or if I do I don't know what they are), I don't intend to do a bunch of cutting up, I just want stuff to work as it comes, but to that extent I suppose I could just mount the 2 current fans on the outside. Honestly I had considered that but the idea seemed a bit silly and would look dumb, though I don't think it would get in the way and I suppose the end result of the airflow would be the same whether they're inside or outside.

I can probably use that as a temporary fix for now, and deal with 15mms later. Birthday's in a month, hopefully I can rake in a bit of money then

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:14 pm

D Incorporated wrote:Heh, well I don't have tin-snips (or if I do I don't know what they are), I don't intend to do a bunch of cutting up...

All you need is a hole large enough to pass the 3-pin fan connector (use a drill). If you can cut and then splice and solder, the fan leads will pass thru the existing holes.

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Oh now I see what you're saying, somehow I thought it was being suggested that I cut that entire side fan grill off

Well, my current toolkit consists of a phillips and regular screwdriver, 2 mini-screwdrivers, 2 wrenches for bolts, 1 for pipes, pliers, 2 hammers, a tape measure, scissors, and a shovel. Beyond that, I'm screwed

But the wires could also easily reach through an open PCI slot and plug into the rear exhaust fan there. It wouldn't be pretty, but neither is external mounting.

Eh, that'll have to work for now.

Or I could just leave the side off.