Looking for 120/140mm fans with low starting voltage DC

[mmaenpaa]

Hi,

I have started a new test build with semi passive setup.

I plan to use following components:

X-400 PSU
HR-02 CPU heatsink
SSD drive
Final CPU will be propably a Intel 95W or 65W variant, but I will test with AMD at various multipliers (to get certain TDP W)
GPU will be AX6850 1GBD5-S3DHG which is fully passive also.
Optical drive is external USB (connected only if needed)
I will be testing Fractal Design cases.

So in principle this setup is fully passive with no moving parts. In practice I need fans when CPU&GPU usage gets high. I will be using mCubed T-Balancer bigNG fancontroller.

I am looking for fans with low starting voltage and for example be quiet SilentWingsUSC 140mm seems to be a good starting point. But I am not sure if the auto-restart function fits in my plan.

I hope to achieve a completetly silent setup in "normal" operation (office/internet/videos/music editing etc.) and near silent in high usage scenario (gaming/encoding). Fans should start at a very low speed and ramp up slowly to prevent overheating.

So currently I have know only those be quiet fans in my shopping list, other recommendations gladly accepted,

Best Regards,

Markku

[Arbutus]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... html#sect0
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... html#sect0
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... html#sect0

[kuzzia]

Scythe Slipstream 120 mm 800 rpm. According to SPCR's review it has a starting voltage at only 3.2 volts.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article83 ... .html#SS-L

Puget System uses these fans at 5 V in some of their systems, and SPCR's testing of their systems has shown that the fans run virtually silent.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1223-page3.html

[pet]

If you can find the BeQuiet SilentWings USC, it runs at 300 rpms with 3.5 V. And they are amazingly quiet, I have 6 (!) of them in my modded case and can't hear them.
The 12 cm BeQuiet SilentWings USC is very, very good too: it starts at aprox. 3.5 V, but it is a bit faster, reaching 1500 rpms at 12 V.

Both fans are deadly silent, more so than the Nexus recommended by spcr or any other fan I have tried.

[Lithium466]

Both fans are deadly silent, more so than the Nexus recommended by spcr or any other fan I have tried.

Mmm, I don't totally agree about that part