A new SilenX fan, this one 1.5" deep "11dBA"

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Felger Carbon
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A new SilenX fan, this one 1.5" deep "11dBA"

Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:10 am

Using the GW NCB exhaust fan, it sits 1.5" from my Ninja, with the PSU fan 0.75" from the "passive" Ninja. Well, I've said before that the Ninja works very well passively if it's sitting close to two screaming 120mm fans. :D

I'm well aware of the reputation that SilenX and iXtrema fans have here. But I have 5 of their 92mm models (from when I had two Z720 cases) and they work very well and very quietly. They are far quieter than any other 92mm fan I've had, and that includes the Nexus. As I reported in a user review yesterday, their 120mm "11dBA" model is very quiet on rubber fan mounts.

I just ran across, and placed an order for, a 1.5" thick version of the "11dBA" fan here. When I get it, the exhaust fan will be a half-inch closer to my "passive" Ninja. :D

This model is so new that the last time I looked (yesterday) it wasn't even on the SilenX site!

qviri
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Post by qviri » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:43 am

$28.99
:shock: and I thought the Nexii were expensive.

jaganath
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Post by jaganath » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:13 am

They are far quieter than any other 92mm fan I've had
Do they also push less air than any other 92mm you've had?

Felger Carbon
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Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:46 am

jaganath wrote:
They are far quieter than any other 92mm fan I've had
Do they also push less air than any other 92mm you've had?
Absolutely not. These are very good fans in every respect except that they don't have the tach (RPM) signal. And my understanding is that leaving the tach signal off improves the noise level (see the 80mm PanaL) - and these fans most certainly have low noise levels.

Alas, they are 92mm fans, and 120mm fans push the same CFM with less noise. So I don't use them any more (sigh). But those fans were very good to me.

frankgehry
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Post by frankgehry » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:40 pm

All nexus models have tachs and they are some of the quietest fans out there.

Felger Carbon
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Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:05 pm

frankgehry wrote:All nexus models have tachs and they are some of the quietest fans out there.
I absolutely agree with you. My Nexus 92mm was second only to my iXtrema (SilenX) 92mm fans in noise level. It has now, along with one of my XP-90s, found a new home and will soon continue its usefulness.

ckolivas
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Post by ckolivas » Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:44 pm

I agree too. The 92mm (old style) SilenX fan is the quietest thing I've owned.

Mar.
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Post by Mar. » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:51 pm

I'm not sure how having a wire that senses the speed of the fan, would change how much noise it makes.

Now if you're talking about connecting the fan to a PWM signal vs. connecting it to a regular DC signal, then yes, the noise could potentially be very different.

Felger Carbon
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Post by Felger Carbon » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:12 pm

Mar. wrote:I'm not sure how having a wire that senses the speed of the fan, would change how much noise it makes.
Always happy to help a fellow SPCRer out. You should recognize the style of this? I copied it off the internet using a search engine back when I was learning about tach signals and such:
----------------------

o Only a few Panaflo are available with 1BX option code
---- 60mm in H noise-spec, 80mm in M noise-spec, 120mm in H noise-spec
---- 92mm in L noise-spec
o The 1BX option code uses a different PCB & motor-ic
---- the 1A motor-ic is generally slightly quieter for silence-addicts
-------- it uses soft-edged microprocessor switching for low-noise
---- the 1BX motor-ic has the caveat of higher switching noise evident
-------- however some applications will not run without a tacho signal
--------------------------

The answer is, as you can see from the above, that with no tach signal soft-edge switching is possible, hence lower noise. That's why the 80mm PanaL, with no tach signal, is such a quiet fan. Gee, I wonder who wrote the above? :D

Aleksi
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Post by Aleksi » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:36 am

You're using a specific manufacturer's specific models as a basis for explaining how tacho works, sounds and what kind of switching it forces? I would understand that (well, not actually, but lets pretend I would) but on top of that, you didn't get what Dorothy wrote.

All Panaflo FB fans use soft edged switching (whether it's 1A 1BS 1AS 1BX 1AZ 1BO 1CX). Having tacho does NOT count out having soft edged switching. Using a chipset allows using both hard/soft edge switching, regardless of tacho.

Transistor driven fans (like Nexus) use hard edge switching, but simply because you cannot make soft edge switching with them!

Panaflo basicly uses two ways to create tacho on a chipset controlled fan. Having a Hall-effect sensor (basicly silent) OR having the chipset sense rotation in reaction to it's control "signature". That signature can be audible.

New 60, 80 and 92mm 1BX fans chipsets apply a signature (which can be acoustically different on each). The new 120mm 1BX fan chipsets use a Hall-sensor and sound like 1A fans.

Felger Carbon
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Post by Felger Carbon » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:50 am

Aleksi wrote:All Panaflo FB fans use soft edged switching (whether it's 1A 1BS 1AS 1BX 1AZ 1BO 1CX). Having tacho does NOT count out having soft edged switching. Using a chipset allows using both hard/soft edge switching, regardless of tacho.
Dorothy wrote: "o The 1BX option code uses a different PCB & motor-ic"
and then notes that the tach-less 1A is quieter, having already pointed out that the IC and PCB are different.

I'm having a difficult time assimilating what you're saying with Dorothy's info. I don't know enough about the subject to say you're wrong; but there seems to be an inconsistency here as I understand things. Perhaps someone with more specific knowledge can chime in here?

Aleksi
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Post by Aleksi » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:58 am

Felger,

I probably should have been clearer.

Tacho has nothing to do with the type of switching. As a general rule the FB fans have soft edge switching, with or without tacho.

Yes, fans that were/are made to OEMs can have hard edge switching, for example the 80L1BX. But as usual, the OEM models are an exception. They can have a range of different combinations, like tacho and hard switching OR tacho and soft switching etc.

Like Dorothy said, the BX uses a different chipset, but she did not say it uses different switching. It can although have different "signature" in the switching (no, I don't mean soft vs hard) causing acoustical differences. Also keep in mind the possibility of the "signature feedback" tacho.

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