New Question (for CPU fan)

Rory B. · Post by **Rory B.** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:31 am

I am finally going all-out to silence my computer and I need to find a good silent CPU fan. I'm a tad leery about sticking a Panaflo on my CPU which will be running 24/7 when I'm up at school. I have heard that Panaflos tend to wear a bit faster than ball-bearing fans (being that their design is not a ball-bearing, but more of a modified sleeve bearing) so I am looking for a good ball bearing fan that can be silent when used with a Zalman Fan Mate.

Just to give you an idea, right now I have a Vantec Stealth 80mm on my Volcano 9 at 12v. I'll be ditching the Volcano 9 for a more efficient heatsink like the SLK900U or Alpha PAL8045T. Right now I have an AMD Duron 1GHz, but if I get money I'll be upgrading it to at least a XP2800+.

One interesting-looking solution would be the Noiseblocker S1 or S2. The ball bearings make it an attractive choice for this use, and the colors are cool. I remember reading somewhere that a US source started carrying the Noiseblockers.

Looking at Directron, I found a NMB 80mm 3-pin fan that looks like it has a thermistor on it, but I heard that the actual fan does not have the thermistor control, making it good for CPU use. With a Fan Mate, I think I could make this fan silent. Model 3110KL-04W.

I also found a JMC DaTech that can spin at 5000 RPM, but has a thermal probe. Not exactly silent CPU fan material, but probably good for something.

For a long time, there were some really well-known NMBs that only put out something like 19dBa or something, and they were carried at Silicon Valley Compucycle, but the stock ran out. Does anyone know where I might find some of these with the three-pin connector?

Thanks to you all for being so helpful so far.

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:35 am

I'd trust a panaflo any day over some no-name CPU fan.

Rory B. · Post by **Rory B.** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:44 am

Also, I just discovered my board can't fit anything bigger than my Volcano 9 heatsink. Should I be able to get decent cooling with that heatsink (which has a copper base and aluminum fin heatsink)?

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 7:49 am

I use the Speeze FalconRock cpu cooler on my AMD 2k+. $14 @ Newegg.com . Copper core too.

Very quiet, since I put an 80mm Panaflo on it.

My cpu runs 24/7 and it folds all day at work. I am not afraid.

Rory B. · Post by **Rory B.** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 3:37 pm

How do you think the FalconRock compares to the Volcano 9 heatsink (which is fairly hefty)? Could I just stick a FanMate on the fan I already have on there, or some other type of speed control? Or should I get rid of the Vantec Stealth and go to Panaflo? I still wonder about motor bearing life. The last test I might try is to see if the fan works better in "blow" mode than "suck" mode, making it a good candidate for a particular type of thermal control I am exploring in another thread.

Keel · Post by **Keel** » Wed Jul 30, 2003 9:45 pm

Rory B. wrote: Looking at Directron, I found a NMB 80mm 3-pin fan that looks like it has a thermistor on it, but I heard that the actual fan does not have the thermistor control, making it good for CPU use. With a Fan Mate, I think I could make this fan silent. Model 3110KL-04W.

I have four of those exact thermosister controlled NMB fans directron is selling. Overall the fans are quieter than L1a's. They don't have the slight whine @12v but they do have a very light but very annoying bearing noise...sounds like sputtering clicking (best description i can come up with

)

Airflow wise, the L1a dominates this thing. I can bearly feel the air being blown and what I can feel is spread EVERYWHERE, nothing like the perpendicular cone from L1a's.

I'm not sure if the thermosister works b/c I can't tell the difference in noise when my room is 25deg C or 35deg C. The tails are kind of nonstandard (unless you have a Dell). They'll fit on a standard 3 pin connector without any trouble...not sure about the fanmate.

Post by **Rusty075** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 2:42 pm

Realise that when they say that a sleeve bearing fan wears out faster than a ball bearing one, they mean it has a lifespan of 30,000 hours instead of 50,000.

Unless you're going to be gone to school for 3 and a half years without ever coming home.....

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 7:18 pm

hahahahaaaa

Good one Rusty!!!

TheJTrain · Post by **TheJTrain** » Fri Aug 01, 2003 6:56 am

Rory mentioned mounting CPU fans in "suck" vs. "blow" mode - what is the opinion of the board regulars regarding these two configurations? I would assume that different heatsinks are affected differently (I believe MikeC's heavy heatsink roundup mentioned the difference on the Swiftech/Alpha design) - so I'm interested in the three main configurations - vertical fins like the SLK900; vertical pins like the Swiftech/Alpha; and block-style like the AX7.

Jason

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Aug 02, 2003 4:29 am

TheJTrain wrote:Rory mentioned mounting CPU fans in "suck" vs. "blow" mode - what is the opinion of the board regulars regarding these two configurations? I would assume that different heatsinks are affected differently (I believe MikeC's heavy heatsink roundup mentioned the difference on the Swiftech/Alpha design) - so I'm interested in the three main configurations - vertical fins like the SLK900; vertical pins like the Swiftech/Alpha; and block-style like the AX7.

Jason

The Alphas are designed to have the fan "sucking" air off the MoBo, most others are designed to have air "blowing" onto the MoBo. It's perfectly safe to try doing it both ways on your own system, just to see what actually works the best for your configuration. Worst case scenario is that one way runs a little hotter than the other. Just flip the fan back over the other way and you're back in business.

New Question (for CPU fan)

New Question (for CPU fan)

Re: New Question (for CPU fan)