Which fan meets these requirements?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:33 am

Ok. I need some fans for my system. First, I need four fans. They will all be mounted on a radiator. Onre radiator is a Swiftech MCR320 and the other is a Black Ice Stealth 120. The fans on the Swiftech rad will be horizontal. Right now, I have three 800rpm S-Flex fans on the Swiftech rad and a 1200rpm on the Black Ice.

There are times when I want more performance out of my WC system, so I'd like faster fans. However, I'd also like the fans to be quiet when I don't need the performance. (So they need to undervolt to quiet levels) I think my limit on noise is a little above the noise level of my current 1200rpm S-Flex. So I think I'm looking around 1500 rpm-ish.

I don't have money to burn. The cheaper the better. If somebody wants to buy my 800rpm S-Flex fans, send me a PM. I really don't want to spend a net of around $40 or so.

Also consider that these fans will be going on a radiator, so static pressure is important. But don't stress about it too much though, it's just a consideration. I have other requirements also.

The largest issue I've had so far is the issue of sleeve bearings and being horizontally mounted. I don't know how much life and performance I would lose and if it's significant or not.

Suggestions? The best option I've found is the 1450rpm Scythe Gentle Typhoon. But it's kinda on the expensive side.

Parappaman · Post by **Parappaman** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:38 am

Daisy-chain some Arctic Cooling F12 PWM. They're cheap, have FD bearing and the ability to be controlled off a single PWM header on your motherboard to be ran at equal speed depending on the temperature. Pretty powerful at full speed and pretty quiet at minimum speed. There might be better fans out there, but these are unbeatable at their price!

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:12 am

Not that I'm opposed to the F12 idea, but are there any other opinions?

I'd like to place an order before Monday. Thanks.

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:28 am

angelkiller wrote:Not that I'm opposed to the F12 idea, but are there any other opinions?

I'd like to place an order before Monday. Thanks.

The f12s are good. An equivalent would be the Akasa Apache with the PWM splitter. They are probably a bit more expensive than the f12s. But I think you will find they have a bit more of the upper end punch you are looking for. Definitely more than your sflexes.

Instead of placing one big bet on the F12s, I think you should do two of each. It will cost a bit more, but you are less likely to make a big mistake. You don't want to buy 4 fans and find out they don't work. This will give you more options.

Are you using two water cooler radiators on the same computer?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:29 am

ces wrote:The f12s are good. An equivalent would be the Akasa Apache with the PWM splitter. They are probably a bit more expensive than the f12s. But I think you will find they have a bit more of the upper end punch you are looking for. Definitely more than your sflexes.

Instead of placing one big bet on the F12s, I think you should do two of each. It will cost a bit more, but you are less likely to make a big mistake. You don't want to buy 4 fans and find out they don't work. This will give you more options.

Are you using two water cooler radiators on the same computer?

Thanks for the suggestion. The fan has nice specs and all, but they're... brown. Ew.

Also purely for aesthetic reasons, I would like to get 4 identical fans. If they aren't what I need, I either modify them to fit my needs or sell them. But I'm pretty sure they'll work ok.

Also, PWM isn't necessary. I will probably hardwire the fans and have a switch to go from full speed to around 900rpm.

And yes, I have to radiators on the same computer. One is a 3 fan rad and the other holds 1 fan. I knew I was going to be using quiet fans, so I added as much radiator area as I could.

Keep 'em coming!

ces · Post by **ces** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:50 am

angelkiller wrote: Thanks for the suggestion. The fan has nice specs and all, but they're... brown. Ew.

The apache comesm in black as well as green Khaki camouflage .

But if you aren't going to use PWM, you probably shouldn't get a PWM fan.

Try getting a 1900 rpm Sliptream 7 volts will give you 21cfm at 630 rpm and 18 db.

When you kick it up to 9 volts it will give you 54 CFM at 1340 RPM and 26 dBA@1m

Now the above are free air numbers. You need to buy one fan and see what happens when they are installed in high impedance radiators.

Probabaly you should get a high end Gentle Typhoon at the same time and experiment with different voltages with that. The high end G will downvolt to about 500 rpms with 5 volts.

If the impedance is too much for the slipstream, it will not be so for the GTs. They will hardly notice the impedance. So while their published free air performance doesn't look impressive compared to the Slipstream, in high impedance situations I would expect them to easily pull ahead of the sliptreams.

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 3:15 pm

Sorry to bump an old topic. I got busy.

That said, I'm still not sold on one fan yet.

Everything I read says that I should get some Gentle Typhoons. But I don't want to spend that much unless I really have to. So my ultra cheap option is to get some Yate Loon Mediums. I may be being a cheapscape here. Tell me if I am.

My biggest concern is having a sleeve bearing fan mounted horizontally. How bad is this?

faugusztin · Post by **faugusztin** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:25 pm

Actually, what you probably want is Enermax Magma. I'm unsure about their performance on RADs, but they run at 1500RPM with incredible airflow, yet undervolt well (they work with no problems at 3.8-4V - 500-600RPM, unsure about starting voltage). No the cheapest ones, but neither expensive.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=23806

QuietCat · Post by **QuietCat** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 1:47 am

You might have seen this before, but if you want to drown in rad fan data visit: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... 391&page=1
Bottom line, the Gentle Typhoon was the noise to cfm winner.
Although his YouTube recordings sound like they were made with cardioid mics in the nearfield and have way more bass than they do live.

And if you can't get enough fan testing and who can, then xbit has a 57 fan test at: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... undup.html
Again the Gentle Typhoon makes another top 3 finish.

This might hold you over until the spcr 1000 fans in 1000 minutes test is released and keep you from making an impulsive purchase.

FYI: Coolertek sells the GT fans for 13.49, not cheap, but not the most expensive either: http://www.koolertek.com/computer-parts ... 4p1389.htm

If I hadn't just bought 3 800rpm S-Flex, I'd grab yours.