Anyone for tennis? 120mm fan comparison

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 4:43 pm

OK, with the ongoing saga over Seasonic 120mm power supplies I have become the owner of a reasonable collection of 120mm fans, and in my psu investigation mode thought it would be worth comparing some of them. At the outset I advise attention to MikeC's repeated wisdom that a single sample of a fan does not necessarily represent all it's siblings. However I only have 1 sample of each, will 'publish', and stand to be damned. If your fan(s) are different to mine then both Mike & I told you so

The measurements were set up comparing pairs of fans using two different, highly discriminatory, stereo sensors. The first has been calibrated for approximately 400k hours, the second for around 160k hours. (Mine and my daughter's ears respectively

) The fans were first compared at 12V then at 5V. These voltages were chosen as easy to get from a spare psu, and 5V was hoped to be close to the start voltage needed for a Seasonic psu cooling fan. Each fan was hand held at the corners during listening to eliminate any mounting surface issues. The tests were done in a quiet room in my house. No measurement of cfm was taken - the first 4 are allegedly fairly similar.

The basic fan specs are (noise is dBA):

Code: Select all

Brand     Model               cfm   noise  Power   rpm

Papst     4412FGL             55.3  26.0   1.25W  1600
Yate Loon D12SM-12            56.0  39.0   3.6W   1650
NMB Tech  4710NL-04W-B10-P00  58.6  27.0   1.44W  1550
SuperRed  CHB12012AS          61.0  32.0   2.3W   1700
Evercool  EC12025M12S         79.1  30.0   3.4W   2000
Dynaeon   DF1212BB            87.0  39.0   4.6W   2200

These are taken from manufacturer specs. The SuperRed is a bit unclear as their website doesn't have a fan with a final "S" in the part number: it could be a Silent version for Seasonic?

Summary results at 12.12V (quietest first, voltage as per multimeter)
Papst & NMB equal
Yate Loon
SuperRed
Evercool
Dynaeon

[Full results: Yate Loon bt Evercool, SuperRed bt Dynaeon, NMB bt SuperRed, Papst bt Yate Loon (just), Papst tied NMB, Yate Loon bt SuperRed (just), Evercool bt Dynaeon]

Summary results at 5.14V
Papst
Panaflo FBA08A12L1A
SuperRed
NMB
Yate Loon

[Full results: Papst bt Yate Loon, SuperRed bt NMB, NMB bt Yate Loon, Papst bt SuperRed]

OK - some explanations are in order (all against the 5V results).

First - threw in the 80mm Panaflo to try give some point of reference to those who know it. It lost against the Papst because it (this particular sample at least) has motor clicking - not loud, inaudible at 12V above the air, but definately distracting at 5V. The airflow noise was too similar to distinguish a difference - the Papst we could only hear air and a very smooth motor.

Equally discerning a difference between the Papst and the SuperRed demanded several "this or this" retries without a clear winner. Except the SuperRed suddenly developed a 'rubbing' sound and so was eliminated. The rubbing was only audible with the SuperRed in a vertical orientation: in a horizontal orientation (as per Seasonic psu) it vanished, but in a horizontal orientation the younger (less experienced?) judge felt the Papst was almost definately quieter anyway!

The NMB did poorly at 5V compared to its placing at 12V: again like the Panaflo it has a clearly audible ticking at 5V. It lost its match against the SuperRed easily.

I didn't bother with the Evercool & Dynaeon at 5V: these are clearly higher cfm fans. But clearly from results at 12V the manufacturers published dBA are not necessarily comparible: on paper the Yate Loon should be terrible at 12V, yet it easily beat the Evercool and just beat the SuperRed.

I did decide to measure the start and run current for some of the fans, again somewhat to try understand Seasonic fan control behaviour.

(all figures mA, first is peak during start, second is stable running current)

Code: Select all

Papst     180/100
Panaflo   120/72   (80mm)
SuperRed  198/124
NMB       180/93
Yate Loon 290/210
Evercool  440/310

Again there is a lesson that manufacturers specs are not comparible!

Addendum 21 December

Updated summary results at 5.14V
Papst
Panaflo FBA08A12L1A
SuperRed
NMB
Yate Loon
Evercool

[Additional comparisons: Papst bt Evercool, Yate Loon bt Evercool, NMB bt Evercool]

Comments on the Evercool @ 5V: no 'nasty' motor noise although possibly a bit growly; a bit of a flutter/flap occasionally (like it is rubbing). Not possible to reliably cause/stop (the flap). But the Evercool is moving much more air and despite a (mostly) smooth motor noise, is definately louder than even the NMB tick. The Evercool can be easily heard from 50cm (and probably even 1m): the NMB tick can only be heard from about 20cm. Note in the earlier tests the Papst, 80mm Panaflo, SuperRed & NMB were mainly discriminated with ears at about 10cm from the exhaust side of the fans.

Also measured Evercool current and inserted in table above.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:40 am

Very good comparison Dukla!

We do really need lots of good 120mm fan comparisons, and I think this one is among the best comparisons of 120mm fans I have seen so far. Very good that you included so many different fans that are all claimed to be fairly good by SPCR standards. I do miss the 120mm Panaflo L1A in the test, but I guess you couldn't get hold of that one.

Could you post all the info on the label of your Papst fan?
(including where it was manufactured).

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 2:49 am

silvervarg wrote:Could you post all the info on the label of your Papst fan?
(including where it was manufactured).

Typ 4412 FGL
12V DC 105mA 1.25W
(7 - 14V DC)
+RED -BLUE
US-PAT blah blah
GB-PAT blah blah
SG-PAT blah blah
ASSY. BY PAPST IN HUNGARY 40/02
PAPST MOTOREN
D-78106 ST> GEORGEN

Probably the key one I put in bold - the numbers are presumably week 40 in 2002 for date of assembly.

Something I meant to included:
The Papst & NMB each have about 5000 hours of use 'on the clock'
The SuperRed has about 1400 hours
The Yate Loon is brand new
The Dynaeon has maybe 500 hours
The Evercool is effectively new - < 100 hours

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 4:36 am

Awesome work dukky. And i like ur testing methodology - pure facts, letting us decide which one is right for us.

One thing I am curious about, however, is how the evercool performs at 5-7v. If i buy one of these (which might be soon) I'll be undervolting it and using it as a rear case fan in my BQE.

luap · Post by **luap** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 5:39 am

i have an 120mm evercool aluminum fan , rated at 2000 rpm at 12v,
mounted as rear case fan in an antec sonata. its connected to a zalman fanmate, turned all the way down. mbm says the fan is turning at 1050 rpm, more or less, and its noise level is low, no weird noises, and starts
at 5v no problem. I think you should have given it a chance in your 5v testing. Likely not the quiestest at 5v, but an effective combination of noise reduction and adequate case ventilation.

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 6:32 am

Yeah - I really must get the Evercool current and comparison at 5V. Have a plane to catch so will have to wait a few days

sorenbro · Post by **sorenbro** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:53 am

Could you perhaps try and fit the quietest fans in a Seasonic PSU model that utilizes a 120mm fan, and report if there is any difference in noise.
I'm not familiar with the way the fan in the SS PSU's get power, do you have to cut wires in order to replace the stock fan, or is it a simple 3pin connecter?

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 6:28 pm

I'm pretty sure someone already swapped an Evercool 120 into a ST 300. Maybe they can tell us how the swap went? I'll try to find that post.

[Edit]

Here's the post http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=8234

You still out there, FJC?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 7:19 pm

Hello:

Maybe you could add the Enermax? The built in pot is only good for about a 25% reduction, but the two I've used ran *very* quietly at 5v minus about 12%. Smooth and no clicking with only a gentle *whoosh*...

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 3:28 pm

Updated my initial post with Evercool @ 5V.

sorenbro wrote:Could you perhaps try and fit the quietest fans in a Seasonic PSU model that utilizes a 120mm fan, and report if there is any difference in noise.

This is not as easy to compare. As per my post in the psu thread the voltage the Seasonic sends to the fan is dependent on the fan, so the Papst is running at 6V compared to the Evercool at 3.8V.

But anyway have rebuilt my system with the Papst in the Tornado on the Seasonic fan controller. Is definately shifting more air (palm test at rear of psu) than the original Yate Loon - not sure if it is louder/quieter. (My main noise now is the CPU fan.)

Neil - sorry dont have an Enermax to compare. And my therapist says if I buy any more fans this year they will have to restart the treatment

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 8:28 pm

there's also the Panaflo FBK-12G12LH and maybe Nexus will come out with a 12cm quiet fan soon.

C'mon, imagine if one were just a little quieter.