Anybody try the Nexus "Real Silent" Case Fans yet?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 5:30 am

Riffer wrote:I have recently given up on computer audio and am going to get an amp and some half decent speakers.

That's how I listen to MP3's. I don't use computer speakers at all. I got an external USB D/A converter and run the USB out of my computer, into the converter and out into the AUX input of my preamp. I play MP3's right on my super-duper high quality stereo rig. This setup sounds a million times better than any computer audio system I've ever heard but of course it still sounds 300 gazallion times crappier than an LP.

kesv · Post by **kesv** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 9:15 am

silvervarg wrote:Have you tried to undervolt the Nexus?
If so, how does it behave?
Any clicking or buzzing?
How low does it go before stalling?

I just aquired one of these and happen to have the proper equipment to feed it any voltage between 0 and 14. I made the following observations:
- The Nexus is reasonably quiet at 12v. There is a slight rustle from the bearing, but it can only be heard from up close.
- The airflow drops to almost nothing when run under seven volts.
- The fan does not stall until the voltage drops under 3 volts. However it does not start reliably under 6 volts.

So I would suggest not to run this fan with less then 7 volts because of the problems in starting and the low airflow. Since these observations were made with a single fan, the starting problem might not apply to all Nexus fans.

Other than that I was impressed with the quality of the fan and will be using them more in the future.

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 12:09 am

Is this fan a great alternative to the Panaflo?

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 1:35 am

I consider the Nexus to be, by a not insignificant margin, the quietest 80x25mm fan available, period. Quieter than anything from Panaflo, Papst, Adda, NMB, PCP&C, Vantec, or Zalman.

All the standard disclaimers apply.

David

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 5:16 am

haysdb wrote:I consider the Nexus to be, by a not insignificant margin, the quietest 80x25mm fan available, period. Quieter than anything from Panaflo, Papst, Adda, NMB, PCP&C, Vantec, or Zalman.

All the standard disclaimers apply.

David

I must agree.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 6:47 am

al bundy wrote:
haysdb wrote:I consider the Nexus to be, by a not insignificant margin, the quietest 80x25mm fan available, period. Quieter than anything from Panaflo, Papst, Adda, NMB, PCP&C, Vantec, or Zalman.

All the standard disclaimers apply.

David
I must agree.

About the fan or the disclaimers?

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 8:56 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:About the fan or the disclaimers?

Both, of course.

Likif · Post by **Likif** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 9:05 am

I just got three Nexus fans, and I am very impressed. They DO beat the L1A Panaflo. I'm running the Nexus fans at 12 v now, the quality is that good, so I'm not worried about start-up voltage.

however, I only have China-produced Panaflos to compare with. Still, thumbs up.

subaru · Post by **subaru** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 8:40 am

After I've read this thread, I've got myself only one Nexus real silent fan to test. The first silent fan I have bought is a Noiseblocker S1 which is suppose to be 11dba and it simply isn't, it has an annoying mid frequency buzzling sound and in my custom made wooden box it resonated... And this Nexus fan don't have the annoying mid frequency range buzzling sound at all voltage. But it didn't move as much air as the noiseblocker did, so I wouldn't use it as a cpu cooler. One thing is for sure, this one stays in my custom 24/7 server.

this one is bought @ A-tembo te Delft in The Netherlands. 9 euro a piece. Noiseblockers were bought @ perfect-systems.nl.

haysdb · Post by **haysdb** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:11 am

The Nexus fan is only 1500 RPM at 12v. This makes it quieter than any other fan at 12v, but makes it a bit "iffy" for use as a CPU fan, and it doesn't move any air at 5v. I love this fan, but it would have a bit broader application if the speed at 12v were a little higher. But as a case fan, I know of no quieter fan.

David

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 2:29 pm

haysdb wrote:The Nexus fan is only 1500 RPM at 12v. This makes it quieter than any other fan at 12v, but makes it a bit "iffy" for use as a CPU fan, and it doesn't move any air at 5v. I love this fan, but it would have a bit broader application if the speed at 12v were a little higher. But as a case fan, I know of no quieter fan.

David

The 1500 RPM may not sound like much for a cpu cooler, but how about comparing that to a Panaflo L1A 80mm undervolted to say 9 volts? I believe the Panaflo runs at 1900 RPM at 12 volts. Anyone know how many RPM's at 9 volts?

kesv · Post by **kesv** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 6:25 am

JVM wrote: The 1500 RPM may not sound like much for a cpu cooler, but how about comparing that to a Panaflo L1A 80mm undervolted to say 9 volts? I believe the Panaflo runs at 1900 RPM at 12 volts. Anyone know how many RPM's at 9 volts?

Oversimplified straight calculation gives 1900 * 9/12 = 1425.
It sounds plausible. I'd figure anything between 1400-1700 rpms are possible.
Since I don't own any Panaflo fans I can't really test it here.

On the other hand, more important than straight rpm is the cfm rate.
Nexus claims to produce 20 cfm at 12v. It would just be enough for a
CPU cooler.

frosty · Post by **frosty** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:02 pm

Darn if I had just waited instead of buying all those panaflo's the nexus are kinda pricey though but hec by the time you put a zzalman for 6.oo on a 80 L for 6 you got 12.00 anyways, oh boohoo me {:.

acompeau · Post by **acompeau** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:21 pm

Just another data point. I've got 3 of these, and they are definitely more quiet than the Panaflo and Papst fans I've tried in the past. Quiet enough that I haven't bothered undervolting them at all yet.

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 6:32 pm

Seems to me that everyone here is praising this fan. Looks like the only bad point for this fan is the higher price and slightly lower CFM compared to other fans.

subaru · Post by **subaru** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:10 am

engseng wrote:Seems to me that everyone here is praising this fan. Looks like the only bad point for this fan is the higher price and slightly lower CFM compared to other fans.

If you live in the Netherlands, there is no bad point at all. The Nexus fan is avaible for only 9 euro and the papst is 15-18 euro. So you basically get two nexus for the price of one papst

. BTW it's because nexus is from the Netherlands

.

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 5:31 pm

Yes, Nexus is from Holland, but the fans could be made elsewhere. At that price, the Nexus fan is a great bargain.

Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon 64 processors are made in Malaysia, and we don't get it any cheaper!

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 6:44 pm

The Nexus Real Silent Case Fan is made in China.

josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 9:09 pm

My 3 Nexus Real Silent fans just arrived! They are now running. Definitely the best fans I have ever bought.

dfi · Post by **dfi** » Tue Dec 02, 2003 11:19 pm

So what if someone decided to take 2 of these nexus fans, mount them onto the fan bracket of a zalman (would it even fit?), and used them to cool the cpu. Any takers? :p

dfi

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:10 pm

I think the Zalman FB123 bracket can fit 3 80mm fans, if I'm not mistaken. But they won't be pointing at the same spot though.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 4:35 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
al bundy wrote:
haysdb wrote:...The question is, do the rubber sticks work as well? I'd be willing to bet the EAR isolators are more effective at damping vibration because they are a softer material, an "elastomer", whereas the rubber sticks appear to be made out of plain old garden variety rubber...
I wondered the same thing for a while. I'm noticing that the rubber sticks seem to hold the fan a little more securely and with less contact area between the fan and the casemount -
Huh?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but if you mount the fan correctly with the EAR mounts you will have "zero" contact between the fan and the case. The fan will be spaced away from the case by .075".

What is the correct way using the EAR isolators?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 6:30 am

JVM wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:
al bundy wrote: I wondered the same thing for a while. I'm noticing that the rubber sticks seem to hold the fan a little more securely and with less contact area between the fan and the casemount -
Huh?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but if you mount the fan correctly with the EAR mounts you will have "zero" contact between the fan and the case. The fan will be spaced away from the case by .075".
What is the correct way using the EAR isolators?

Like this:

They go through the case wall first:

Then you pull them through the flange of the fan. There's a shoulder on the isolator that keeps the fan spaced away from the case about 1/16" so no part of the fan is actually touching the case, only the rubber isolator touched the case:

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Thu Dec 25, 2003 9:21 am

Thanks for the pictures and instruction. I'm always amazed at how you guys produce such beautiful pictures. What kind of camera did you use?

The EAR Isolators must be kind of difficult to get through the flange at first to support the fan when doing the installation? Do standard screw holes like in Antec Sonata and 3700 work?

I noticed in the picture you mounted the Panaflo upside down to get the fan wire on the right side - true? I've often wondered about this in the sense that fan wire on right side is closer to the motherboard and PSU and why should manufacturers make it coming off on the left side? I considered installing with wire coming out on left side so that the name of fan is correctly positioned but then who is looking? Some of us can be so vain at ridiculous times. I mean, I really didn't want to install fan upside down because I didn't want anyone to see the name of the fan upside down and think I installed the fan incorrectly.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 5:58 am

JVM wrote:Thanks for the pictures and instruction. I'm always amazed at how you guys produce such beautiful pictures. What kind of camera did you use?

Canon G3.

JVM wrote:The EAR Isolators must be kind of difficult to get through the flange at first to support the fan when doing the installation?

Yes, they're a bit of a pain. I lubricate them with a bit of soapy water first. Then you kind of push the fan towards the case while simultaneously pulling the isolator through the flange of the fan.

JVM wrote:Do standard screw holes like in Antec Sonata and 3700 work?

Yes, as long as they're around 3/16" diameter.

JVM wrote:I noticed in the picture you mounted the Panaflo upside down to get the fan wire on the right side - true?

Yes, that's right.

JVM wrote:I've often wondered about this in the sense that fan wire on right side is closer to the motherboard and PSU and why should manufacturers make it coming off on the left side? I considered installing with wire coming out on left side so that the name of fan is correctly positioned but then who is looking? Some of us can be so vain at ridiculous times. I mean, I really didn't want to install fan upside down because I didn't want anyone to see the name of the fan upside down and think I installed the fan incorrectly.

I'd rather have the wiring out of the way rather than the label rightside up. BTW, there is no "upside down" when mounting a fan although I do remember someone (here at SPCR, I think) claiming that if you mount a Panaflo in a certian orientation it's quieter. Sounds like BS to me but I never have tested it for myself.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:24 am

Sounds tricky pushing fan to case and pulling isolator through flange simultaneously. One hand is pushing isolator from back end and one hand is pushing fan to inside back over isolator and some other hand is pulling isolator through? But that takes three hands. Do you place the case on it's back end so the isolator doesn't come out while pushing the fan?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 11:41 am

JVM wrote:Sounds tricky pushing fan to case and pulling isolator through flange simultaneously. One hand is pushing isolator from back[/q] end and one hand is pushing fan to inside back over isolator and some other hand is pulling isolator through? But that takes three hands. Do you place the case on it's back end so the isolator doesn't come out while pushing the fan?

No. one hand doesn't have to push the isolator from the back, they're held in to place on the case wall by a groove in the isolator.

Look at the picture of the isolators on this page. The narrow groove nearest the flat head of the isolator is what goes through the case wall. The wider groove is where the isolator fits into the fan flange and the raised section inbetween them is the amount of space that separates the fan from the case when it's all put together.

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:55 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
JVM wrote:Sounds tricky pushing fan to case and pulling isolator through flange simultaneously. One hand is pushing isolator from back[/q] end and one hand is pushing fan to inside back over isolator and some other hand is pulling isolator through? But that takes three hands. Do you place the case on it's back end so the isolator doesn't come out while pushing the fan?

No. one hand doesn't have to push the isolator from the back, they're held in to place on the case wall by a groove in the isolator.

Look at the picture of the isolators on this page. The narrow groove nearest the flat head of the isolator is what goes through the case wall. The wider groove is where the isolator fits into the fan flange and the raised section inbetween them is the amount of space that separates the fan from the case when it's all put together.

Thanks, Ralf, all is clear now.

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 7:59 pm

SiliconAcoustics.com says that the closed corner of the 80mm Nexus Real Silent Case fan is incompatible with the fan isolators you guys mentioned?

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 8:27 pm

I should have read this before i ordered some Papst fans? how bad are they?

Anybody try the Nexus "Real Silent" Case Fans yet?

Nexus Real Silent Case Fan - really quiet

Re: Rubber Sticks vs EARs