Suggestions for 140mm case fans & possibly one for a CPU

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FrostyToast
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:37 pm

Suggestions for 140mm case fans & possibly one for a CPU

Post by FrostyToast » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:14 pm

I'm in the middle of upgrading my PC and since my new case will be able to support 3 140mm case fans, I would like a suggestion for what can offer me the best performance while also having good acoustics maintained through the 400-900 rpm range. If there are any odd noised produced throughout any models within this range, I can still restrict my fan curve, but the main point is that won't need to go anywhere beyond 1000 RPM.
I'm not doing any watercooling so I just need some good airflow fans which can provide good cooling for a 7600k which will likely run stock or close to for the best silence, and an MSI Gaming X GTX 1070.
I've gone through the reviews on the official SPCR website, but it's just too difficult to find a fan that will work for me.
The Phanteks PH-F140HP seems good, but it is now discontinued and very hard to find. The NF P14s is recommended by many here, but there are also others who have mixed opinions on them.
The Antec TrueQuiet 140 was recommended in the second 140mm roundup for its very pleasant sound, but since the roundup is still missing many of the other offerings, I don't know how it compares to them.
This article said that the Noiseblocker e-loop series is extremely good, and I have the 120mm 1300rpm model that was also recommended in their 120mm roundup which I quite enjoy. However, SPCR didn't seem to like how the 120mm model sounded, and even less so for the PWM model. The dba level seems low, but SPCR quotes some odd frequencies and other oddities in the sound profile. Since I do want to control my fans via PWM, I'm thinking there must be something better. Furthermore, the 140mm model was never covered and there can be major differences unknown to me between the 120mm and 140mm models.
The previously mentioned fan roundup also mentioned the Noctua NF-A15s, but since their testing methods aren't as sophisticated as SPCR, I still can't trust that recommendation either. Moreover, I don't want an ugly as sin Noctua fan, so I would have to go for the industrial version which may have too many dissimilarities to be comparable.

TL;DR Need 140mm case fan as silent as I can reasonably expect for an aircooled gaming PC and suggestions for a 140mm heatsink fan are also nice.

lodestar
Posts: 1683
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:29 am
Location: UK

Re: Suggestions for 140mm case fans & possibly one for a CPU

Post by lodestar » Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:26 pm

If Noctua are not your thing then you could consider the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 140mm BL067 fan, see the manufacturers web page here.

FrostyToast
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Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:37 pm

Re: Suggestions for 140mm case fans & possibly one for a CPU

Post by FrostyToast » Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:51 pm

lodestar wrote:If Noctua are not your thing then you could consider the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 140mm BL067 fan, see the manufacturers web page here.
It's not that Noctua aren't my thing necessarily. I don't mind the price, and they do have their redux and industrial lines which aren't ugly.
However, I do want to know if the redux and industrial versions are actually good in comparison to other options.

I also never mentioned this, but price is of no issue. Unless something is out of production and its price is over-inflated, I can justify buying whatever fans at whatever price.
I've heard good things about BeQuiet having very good silence, and especially impressive price-performance, however I don't know if the SPC reviews have given them an outstanding rating versus other offerings. I think I read that they get outperformed in both noise quality and cfm at very low RPMs. Low RPM performance might not be relevant when my PC is under load, but if I have 3x 140mm case fans + a CPU fan, it shouldn't be unheard of to be able to run sub 600 RPM even at load.

Abula
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Location: Guatemala

Re: Suggestions for 140mm case fans & possibly one for a CPU

Post by Abula » Fri Aug 18, 2017 5:01 pm

For case fans, i second loadstar suggestion, i think the BeQuiet! SilentWing3 are pretty good, i own 4 PWM atm on my SimMi build, their range is 250-1000rpms, if i were to pupulated another 140mm it would be it, unless on a budget where the True Quiet 140 are a good option also. I had a good experience with the PWM version, BL067, but there are 3pin versions if thats your thing.

For the CPU cooler, i would go Thermalright TY147A, tonally to me its very good, and overall performance is decent, i have used them on multiple builds, atm on GamemiV3 and SimMi, and i have nothing bad to say, the only thing is they are limited to 300rpm min and 1300rpm max, if you need more TY143 can give you 600 min and 2500 max.

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