Quiet fans for a hot country (around 1200 rpm)

asafnn · Post by **asafnn** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:03 am

Hi all
I've been reading around the forum looking for a recommendation for quiet fans, but most refer to lowering the speed of the fans to 800rpm or less. Being in the middle eastern desert ridden country that I'm in, I think I should keep my fans at full power. I don't OC so I don't need anything extreme, but still I wouldn't want to worry about forgetting the windows closed and thus overheating the computer. I can take a bit of noise, I just want that bit to be as small as possible.

I'm looking for 3 1200rpm case fans for the Antec 182 (one in the lower section, one on the top hard drive compartment and one on the back exhaust). What would you recommend?

Also, being in a middle eastern desert ridden country means not all fans are available at reasonable prices, so the Noctua fans are a bit too pricey. Scythe fans are generally available, and I'm guessing I'll pick one of them. I might be able to get the Nexus fans too, if you say it's worth it.

Thanks
Asaf

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Tue May 12, 2009 3:17 am

Imho Nexus fans are still very good and robust. S-flexes might be also excellent choice as Slipstream's are. Sometimes Slipstreams need additional oil as some samples seems to have very little lubricant so they will become audiable in few month's use. But Nexus real silent 120mm, Scythe-Sflex-E 1200 rpm and Scythe Slipstream M 1200rpm are all excellent fans. Scythe's especially when paired with motherboard controller.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue May 12, 2009 5:47 am

Hi,

I think the better solution is to use even better heatsinks, along with ducts and more careful air flow management; rather than cranking up the fans. Check out this article:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article293-page1.html

asafnn · Post by **asafnn** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:27 am

thanks
NeilBlanchard - that is an amazing guide and I might try and implement something like that myself, but nowadays I don't have the time to build and test. I can always undervolt these fans when I try a better configuration, but until then I think I'll take the fans as is and live with the (hopefully) small amount of noise.

thejamppa - Nexus, S-flex or Slipstream are pretty much what I had in mind. Are they all equal at faster speeds?
If so I guess I'll take the Nexus, since it seems to have the least chance of faults. I remember reading that the S-flex have some faulty models, and so does the slipstream. I rather play it safe and go with the nexus.
Another fan I read about here is the Gentle typhoon, and surprisingly enough it's available here. Is it any good?

CyberDog · Post by **CyberDog** » Wed May 13, 2009 4:31 am

Gentle typhoon is quite new model. There is a thread on that somewhere here.

I would probably try those just for the curiosity and it looks promising.

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:03 am

I'm going to say Scythe S-Flex. They have a higher MTBF rating so if you are in a truly hot environment lesser fans may crap out on you.

S-Flex: 150,000 hours
* MTBF of normal ball bearing Fan: 50,000 hours
Slipstream: 30,000 hours

And assuming you buy the RPM you need now and make Torrid Thailand style modifications later you can always use speedfan, hardwire, or use a retail hardware fan controller to lower the RPMs later using the same fans. You can even change your fan RPMs depending on the time of day or season of the year if you so choose.

Its a little more work but if you do it right you can have access to quiet and faster fan speeds without having to choose different fans.

asafnn · Post by **asafnn** » Thu May 14, 2009 5:33 pm

thanks a lot, that is some sound advice :)
I guess the S-flex are the most tried and true fans, at least in this forum. my only reservation is this post viewtopic.php?t=16393&highlight=nexus+mtbf
and I quote:

Scythe S-Flex
Makes use of "Fluid Dynamic Bearing" technology. The Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (800rpm @ 12v stock) could have been the best available choice for those in search of the quietest 120mm axial at standard voltage, but its quality issues gives the nod to the venerable Nexus and now the Slipstream. Good samples are indeed good, but its inconsistency pair with its hight price makes it rather unattractive. The non-800rpm models, however, are excellent albeit noticeably more expensive than the DFs and current siblings, the Slipstream series.

I can't really count on stores replacing my fan because it's a tad noisier than it should be. Is the S-flex model (1200 rpm) reliable enough to supply 3 fans with a low (very low) chance of being faulty?

dhanson865 · Post by **dhanson865** » Thu May 14, 2009 8:12 pm

asafnn wrote:thanks a lot, that is some sound advice
I guess the S-flex are the most tried and true fans, at least in this forum. my only reservation is this post viewtopic.php?t=16393&highlight=nexus+mtbf
and I quote:
Scythe S-Flex
Makes use of "Fluid Dynamic Bearing" technology. The Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (800rpm @ 12v stock) could have been the best available choice for those in search of the quietest 120mm axial at standard voltage, but its quality issues gives the nod to the venerable Nexus and now the Slipstream. Good samples are indeed good, but its inconsistency pair with its hight price makes it rather unattractive. The non-800rpm models, however, are excellent albeit noticeably more expensive than the DFs and current siblings, the Slipstream series.
I can't really count on stores replacing my fan because it's a tad noisier than it should be. Is the S-flex model (1200 rpm) reliable enough to supply 3 fans with a low (very low) chance of being faulty?

I wouldn't worry about it. The people that get the 800 RPM version and then listen for every possible noise are being extremely picky in situations where they are running 1 or 2 fans. You are going to buy the 1200 RPM version and run 3 of them (plus the tricool?). You aren't as concerned about minimum noise as the multiples running will average it out a bit. I doubt you'll pay attention to the variance if you are running 3 or 4 fans in your case.

asafnn · Post by **asafnn** » Fri May 15, 2009 3:06 am

Brilliant. Well S-flex it is, I guess. it's a good thing too because they're the easiest to come by around these parts. Thanks for all the info and help.