Fans and Filters

G

GroovYChickeN 2.o

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Feb 18, 2014
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I'm wanting to redo all the fans and add filters to my Cooler Master half 922. Right now I just have the stock fans in it. I may also want to replace the Antec fans on my Prolimatech Megahalems.

What do you guys suggest as far as fans and filters go?

Oh and the case doesn't have a window so appearance isn't a big deal.
 
I would highly recommend the Arctic F12 series fan for the 120mm. It's unfortunate they do not make a 200mm replacement.
 
sil180sr said:
I would highly recommend the Arctic F12 series fan for the 120mm. It's unfortunate they do not make a 200mm replacement.
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This.

Assuming you have any sort of budget, these are some of the best bang for buck fans.
 
FaRKle0079 said:
Those filters are excellent at filtering... and choking the hell out of your fans...
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Only with fans having low static pressure ratings. With good fans filters are not a problem.. like fans that are used on coolers / radiators. ;)

Many cases, even good cases like Fractal Design Define R4, have intake fans that cannot do the job. ;)
 
FaRKle0079 said:
Those filters are excellent at filtering... and choking the hell out of your fans...
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I'm sure the pounds of cat hair from my wife's Mane Coon is worse for my computer than the filters. Plus, I'm really sick of cleaning out my case every month.

As far a budget I really don't have one. Whatever would be best within reason. Also I would like to get things a little bit more quite as well.
 
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FaRKle0079 said:
Those filters are excellent at filtering... and choking the hell out of your fans...
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Lol. Have you ever used them? Those are some of the least restrictive filters on the market. The only time they choke my fans is when they are covered in dust, which means they did their job. Once a week I simply run them under the faucet real quick to clean them then dry with a paper towel.

I've been using them for years. Exactly 1 degree difference in CPU and GPU temps on my system. I also have a positive pressure case with a pair of 38mm thick panaflo's as intakes, so I already have an abundance of air. I'm willing to trade that 1 degree for less dust and cat fur.
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Lol. Have you ever used them? Those are some of the least restrictive filters on the market.
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I'm surprised you even asked me this... after all you and I have only been commenting on them in the same threads since 2010... They choked the hell out of my Gentle Typhoon AP-15's and later when I put them in front of some San Ace 109R1212H1011 fans they made an awful air turbulence noise.

I recently had an acquaintance who did an FT02 WC build and decided to go with a large demciflex filter on the bottom against my advise. A week later some learning had occurred and he got rid of it.

GroovYChickeN 2.o said:
Also I would like to get things a little bit more quite as well.
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Silverstone filters are much better balanced. They'll let you run your fans at lower RPM while bringing in as much airflow as the demciflex filters. They filter well too.
 
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I do not find demcifilters to be overly restrictive. They will quiet a noisy intake grill also. I still get particulate dust in my case even though I'm using positive pressure with demcifilters on all intakes. Also, they will custom make them to your specifications and ship them direct to you from South Africa. Pretty cool. I like demci a lot--silverstones are probably better in some way but very limited sizing.
 
I use these:

2hfqst4.png


Very effective, very durable, don't cut too much air. I had bought a magnetic demciflex but i ended up not using it, because i am using low rpm fans 1000-1200 and found that it cut down the flow to a minimum. So i got the above aluminum ones, which are perfect. They get clogged, but are easily cleaned without taking them out.

Anyway, i think much of the dust depends on the case design. After various trials, i just avoid those with mesh front and top fans. Specially the front mesh. On my main rig i don't even have a filter for the front fan, but the computer remains remarkably clean inside for more than 1 month. I only use a filtered side fan and and another filtered side grill without fan. A top fan grill, i sealed it with transparent adhesive tape.

Another rig i have, that has CoolerMaster can with frontal mesh, i can't keep clean ever since i ruined the front filter. It just sucks in everything there is, the mesh itself gets clogged and difficult to clean... I hate these "gamers" cases that are made for air, but give such a headache. And those top fans... The case seems full of holes...Terrible...

I 've been looking for a long time for a "non meshy" case with at least 1 side fan, no top fan and big space for cable routing for a reasonable price and can't find any. The market is full of mesh and cases with 2 top fans... Absolute nightmare...Some designs have so much mess that it's impossible to keep positive pressure without running a gazillion of fans and even then i wonder...
 
FaRKle0079 said:
I'm surprised you even asked me this... after all you and I have only been commenting on them in the same threads since 2010... They choked the hell out of my Gentle Typhoon AP-15's and later when I put them in front of some San Ace 109R1212H1011 fans they made an awful air turbulence noise.

I recently had an acquaintance who did an FT02 WC build and decided to go with a large demciflex filter on the bottom against my advise. A week later some learning had occurred and he got rid of it.



Silverstone filters are much better balanced. They'll let you run your fans at lower RPM while bringing in as much airflow as the demciflex filters. They filter well too.
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The reason I ask is because I don't go into this section of the forum too often, so I would have no clue if you have been commenting on them since 2010.

Those San Ace fans run at 2600 rpm, and the AP-15's run at 1850rpm. My Panaflo's (L1 120x38mm) run at max 1600-1700rpm. I also have one in front of a cheap Yate Loon D12SL running at 1200rpm. Both your fans are rated at much higher airflow than the ones I am using. Even if you put them on a fan controller, they probably still move more air than the fans I am using.

I also use these on a custom built case I had built years ago. The fan holes have no grills, and there are fan ducts from the outside of the case to the fans themselves where they are mounted to the frame. Thus there is about a half inch separation between the filter and the fan itself.

I think those are the reasons you are experiencing such problems with them. You are pulling a shit ton of air through them, and doing so with the filter right next to the fan creating the turbulence noise. Your buddy using them on an FT-02 seems a little odd since the FT-02 already has fan filters built into the housings for the 180mm fans. Even if you swapped the 180mm fans and filters out, the case still pulls air from the bottom and if you were using a shit ton of high speed fans like you were they probably clogged in a few days while the case vaccumed his carpet for him. :p

The DEMCI Flex filters have really small holes, but they also work extremely well. They obviously aren't for everyone, but they work well for most people. If OP isn't running a shit ton of high speed fans, he should be just fine using them on his case.
 
I use PWM fans for case fans in all my builds.

Controlling case fans with PWM signal from motherboard CPU fan header and GPU fan header.

There are some limitations:
  • Obviously motherboard and GPU must have PWM
  • Obviously fans must be PWM
  • Motherboard can only support 8-9 fans (PWM signal strength gets too weak)
  • No idea how many fans GPU can support.

Setting up motherboard PWM control of PWM case fans:
  • Use a PWM splitter with molex/sata connector. Gelid and Swiftech are my preferred.
  • http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17923
  • http://www.swiftech.com/8-waypwmsplitter.aspx
  • Plug PWM splitter to motherboard CPU fan header and PSU
  • Use CPU cooler fan as "master" fan. This is the fan that sends rpm signal to motherboard PWM header.
  • Additional CPU cooler fans and case fans will ramp u and down with CPU fan.
  • Can use a second PWM splitter on 3-way & 4-way PWM splitter.
  • Setup fan speed curve with motherboard bios or software. Gigabyte has EasyTune 6 and Asus has SmartFan. I set minimum at 30% fan @ 30c and maximum at 100% @ 65c. Than watch temps and see if you want more or less rpm to keep temperature and noise where you want them. My sig rig idles 24-29c @ 700rpm; 100% all cores is 42-48c :950-1050rpm.

Setting up GPU PWM control of case fans:
  • Obviously GPU fans need to be PWM. Because the GPU PWM header/plug is smaller than normal PWM we need a Mini 4-Pin GPU (Female) to Mini 4-Pin GPU (Male) / 4-Pin Fan (Male) Cable Splitter Adapter is needed-. The blue wire going to normal PWM socket needs to be cut off of mini PWM plug. (You can use this wire to monitor rpm on case fan by connecting it to a normal 3pin fan plug in the rpm position.) Plug a PWM splitter into the normal PWM socket and PSU for case fans.
  • http://www.moddiy.com/products/Mini...)-{47}-4%2dPin-Fan-(Male)-Cable-Splitter.html
  • Case fans hooked onto this splitter will ramp up and down with GPU fans.
  • Use GPU software or Bios to setup fan speed curve
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Those San Ace fans run at 2600 rpm, and the AP-15's run at 1850rpm. My Panaflo's (L1 120x38mm) run at max 1600-1700rpm. I also have one in front of a cheap Yate Loon D12SL running at 1200rpm. Both your fans are rated at much higher airflow than the ones I am using. Even if you put them on a fan controller, they probably still move more air than the fans I am using.
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I like my stuff to run quietly. AP-15s were run at ~1200-1300rpm and the San Aces about 1100rpm. When I saw they were barely bringing in any air I tested higher rpms and unfortunately ran into the turbulence issue. I run my AP182 fans at 900-1000rpm.

CaptNumbNutz said:
I think those are the reasons you are experiencing such problems with them. You are pulling a shit ton of air through them, and doing so with the filter right next to the fan creating the turbulence noise. Your buddy using them on an FT-02 seems a little odd since the FT-02 already has fan filters built into the housings for the 180mm fans. Even if you swapped the 180mm fans and filters out, the case still pulls air from the bottom and if you were using a shit ton of high speed fans like you were they probably clogged in a few days while the case vaccumed his carpet for him. :p
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In the FT02 WC build my acquaintance did he removed the 180mm fan mounts (like I did), cut out the bottom grills (like me), but then he also cut out the two support beams as well so he had one really large hole and put a demciflex filter over it. I took the 180mm fan filters and put magnets on them and stuck them on the bottom of the case. Both our cases are on top of desks.

CaptNumbNutz said:
The DEMCI Flex filters have really small holes, but they also work extremely well. They obviously aren't for everyone, but they work well for most people. If OP isn't running a shit ton of high speed fans, he should be just fine using them on his case.
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It's funny how you recommend lower speed, less airflow fans yet doyll posted how you need to use fans with high static pressure to get good airflow lol.
 
FaRKle0079 said:
It's funny how you recommend lower speed, less airflow fans yet doyll posted how you need to use fans with high static pressure to get good airflow lol.
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It actually makes sense considering how tiny the holes are on the filters. I believe the flexible nature of them is what causes the turbulence noise so they need some support behind them with more airflow.

In my case I used both. My Panaflo L1's were both low speed, but they had higher static pressure (relatively speaking). They had no problems sucking air through the DMCI filters. I have no doubt total airflow was lowered, but at the same time, the total amount of airflow wasn't lowered enough to make a drastic difference in cooling performance.

These filters have small holes on a very thin material. Doyll is somewhat right, you have to have a decent enough airflow to suck air through them. What isn't clear is just how little it really needs, and I think Doyll's description can be construed into a gross exaggeration as to how much power you need to suck air through them. By decent airflow, you can't have the shittiest of fans running on a fan controller on lowest settings. I also run those filters on a yate loon d12sl fan that barely puts out anything, but it still pulls air through it.

What your running into in your setup is the equivalent of sucking up a towel with the hose attachment on a vaccuum cleaner. As I said before, you are running a ton of much better fans than I am, and even on the lowest speed settings would still suck a metric fuckton more air than my setup would. You and your friend also cut out the fan grills leaving massive holes for these flexible filters to get sucked through. If they didn't get sucked into the fans outright (I doubt because I believe you knew what you are doing), I'm willing to bet that the small indents that formed because the material is so thin and being sucked towards the fan is what was causing the turbulence and subsequent noise. I've noticed these indents also on my setup, but again I wasn't sucking as much air through them as you were so I don't notice it as much. I do hear a faint "whoosh" noise as my fans pull air through them. I can't imagine how bad it is with more air volume.

I think between us we have enough data to get a good idea of the best use case for the DMCI flex filters. They seem to work best with somewhat regular setups with decent quality fans. These filters are too restrictive for higher performing setups.

-edit-
You've got me curious. I'm going to try to replicate that turbulence noise when I get home. I've got an old 200+ CFM Delta sitting in a box I'm going to try.
 
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Maybe this will help.
Think of more static pressure as a more powerful engine in your car. This increased power is what higher static pressure is. If you are driving along at 50mph in a 300hp car you loose very little speed going up a hill, but if you have a 60hp car you loose lots of speed. Now think of a fan moving 40cfm at 1000rpm through an open vent and than putting a filter on it. The higher the static pressure rating of fan, the less airflow will drop with the filter, or the less rpm will need to increase to maintain the same airflow.
 
I'm a bit skeptical.
Here's my modded front panel with a custom DMCI:
IMG_0280_zpse44b1127.jpg~original
IMG_0286_zpsf854ddd1.jpg~original
IMG_0283_zps45b6815e.jpg~original


No turbulence. Good airflow. These aren't shitty fans but they are quiet. Quite easy to test the incoming air current and it is substantial. I did the cutouts to improve airflow but not to try to get rid of any noise. I have found that on intake fans with mesh grills a DMCI can actually mute whistle and noise.
 
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Woah. Heh didn't mean to start this big of a debate.

I picked up some of the magnetic ones from FrozenCPU. We will see how they work once I get everything cleaned and back together. I can see how these could restrict air and cause noise with the wrong setup.

As far as fans go I'm still not sure what I want to get. I've been kicking around the idea of trying to build a water cooling loop but I really don't have the money right at this moment. I would like if I could to get fans that I can use later with a custom loop. I'm guessing that really any high end fan will work.

I really like doyll's PWM splitter idea. That may be better than trying to get a dedicated fan controller.

Thanks guys. I'll post an update as soon as I can.
 
So got everything cleaned out and put back together with the filters in place.
I did flip the fan in the top to be an intake instead of a exhaust.
It actually seems that the filters make the case a little bit more quiet then it was so that's cool.
I did some quick testing and didn't see any big difference in temps with the filters on or off (290x was a 1 deg change and cpu didn't change at all).

One bad thing that happened is one of my fans now has a whine to it.

Due to that fact I'm thinking about replacing all of my fans in it now. I know some people suggested the Arctic F12 series fan for the 120mm. Any suggestions for the two 200mm?

Also I don't mind spending some extra monies for nice fans. I would like to try and keep stuff reasonably quiet. and would like to try and stick with PWM fans.
 
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