P180B Fan Choices and Improving Air Flow

H

hazard_one

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
257
My specs are in my sig.

The harddrive is located in the lower bay so it is isolated from the main bay.

So far there are 4 fans in my P180B. The 3 Stock Tricools and the Scythe S-Flex SFF21F for my TRUE120.

Im running the Tricools on LOW and my temps are as follows @ idle:
Core1: 45c
Core2: 43c
Core3: 39c
Core4: 39c
CPU: 32c
GPU: 50c

and my LOAD temp on my highest core (running small fft's) is 69C

and thats with the processor running at [email protected] (According to uGuru)

The goal is to lower the temps so i can overclock higher and keeping the temps under 70C

I need help choosing fans to replace the Tricools in my case.

Ive done some research and ive narrowed it down to these fans:

Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F

1600RPM 28.0dBA 63.7CFM


Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E (Medium Speed)

1,200rpm 20.1dBA 49.0CFM

Scythe Slipstream SY1225SL12M

1,200 rpm 24.00 dBA 68.54CFM

Scythe Slipstream SY1225SL12H

1,600 rpm 33.00 dBA 88.11CFM

Noctua NF-S12-1200

25 dBA@1m 1250 RPM 63 CFM



What the difference between the S-flexes and the Slipstreams?
 
Slipstreams suck, they use sleeve bearings. The Sflex uses fluid dynamic bearings, much better. The Noctua NF-P12 is better than the NF-S12 1200, higher CFM and higher static pressure; dBA is about the same using the adapters.
 
oh wow. thanks for that. Ive never ran into the NF-P12 yet. Definitely gonna note that.

edit: oh its brand new! SWEET!
 
I run Slipstreams in my case, they definitely don't suck (sleeve bearings just don't last as long), but for a heatsink like the ultra 120, you should go for something like the Noctua NF-P12; they'll actually push air through the thinly spaced fins better. Even then, I'm not sure how much more you can drop temps.
 
Any updates on this?

Or am I gonna be the guinea pig, cuz I just ordered the TR 120-E + Noctua P12 last night. I obviously wasn't going to run the Scythe SFF21F at full speed, since I generally like my CPU coolers at 24dba or lower (which is wear they blend into case noise). OTOH, the SFF21E wasn't enough CFM for me...so here we are.
 
According to your sig, you have an IP35 Pro. That motherboard has a built-in fan controller that will independently control all six fan headers based on [selectable] cpu / chipset / case temperatures.

SilentPCReview measured the Antec TriCool 120mm @ 12dBA on low, 27dBA on medium, and 36dBA on high. Since you find the TriCool too noisy on high, you probably want to avoid anything close to that. By comparison, the S-Flex SFF21F was measured at 31dBA at stock 12v voltage, 23dBA at 9V, and 20dBA at 7v. Note a 10dB difference is generally perceived as a doubling of sound volume to the human ear.

What I would do

(1) Cut the grill off the rear exhaust mount.
(2) Replace heatsink on EVGA 8800GT with Accelero S1 and Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E.
(3) Enable AAM on Hitachi 1TB drives using the Hitachi Feature Tool boot disk.

Ultra120 Extreme: Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F (31dB @ 12v, 20dBA @ 7v)
Intake fans with dust filters: Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E (23dB @ 12v, <19dB @ 7v)
Exhaust fan: Scythe Slipstream SY1225SL12M (26dB @ 12v, <15dB @ 7v)

Connect them to the fan headers on the motherboard. Set the Antec IP35 Pro to use 6v while at idle temps and 9-12v when at load temps.

Through the bios, I believe you can only set a minimum of 8v. But you can reduce that to 6v with the Abit software. You can uninstall the Abit software once you've configured the built-in fan control like you want.
 
As a follow up to my post above, you will want to make sure you exhaust more than you intake to maintain negative pressure. Configure the fan control as appropriate to do that.

For example, at idle, you might run the rear exhaust fan at 10-12v while the other headers are running at 6-7v. Or you could step up from the SY1225SL12M to the SY1225SL12H for the rear exhaust and run that at 6-7v when idle and 9-10w at load.
 
AndyM said:
How would this affect cooling?
Click to expand...

Negative pressure implies that more is being exhausted OUT vs. pulled in.
However, if you have more air being pulled in instead of exhausted (positive), you have air swirling around your case - that air is usually warm (if it has been pulled across HDs, or other hot components).

Some say positive pressure reduces dust b/c of the extra air swirling around inside, but who knows. As always, depends on your case and thermal situation on an individual basis - you won't know until you've tried it yourself.
 
I have a very similar setup and went with the slipstream 1200rpm because of their very low dB and their cost...and now i wish I had went for somethign with more airflow. They are very quiet, but I have noticed that I simply need more airflow.

My temps rise 3-8c when I shut the front door.

I think I am going to get 2 1600 or 1900 RPM Slipstreams. The main reason is that for half the price, you get about 20% more airflow with about 5dB more noise. The Slipstreams are raited 30,000 hours thats around 3 years...and I wont have this pc in 3 years anyway...

Slipstream Model Number: SY1225SL12H(1600 rpm version)
Fan Speed: 1,600rpm
Noise: 33.0dBA
Airflow: 88.11

Scythe S-FLEX™ SFF21F (1600 rpm version)
Fan Speed: 1600 RPM
Fan Noise: 28.0 dBA
Air Flow: 63.7 CFM


Slipstream Model Number: SY1225SL12SH(1900 rpm version)
Fan Speed: 1,900rpm
Noise: 37.0dBA
Airflow: 110.31


Couldnt find a S-Flex at 1900rpm(I have heard rumours that one will be coming out in the summer)
 
You know anything about the Ultra Kazes? Ive been looking into those to replace my S-Flex on TRUE120. Theyre 120x38 but provide static pressure and i believe it pushes ~110cfm! :eek:
 
Doesn't feel like much is going through the TR120-E, but then again, this my first and only experience with that heatsink. Regardless, doesn't feel like much air, but it is quieter than my Panaflo 80mm L's.
 
24/35 (core 0 and core 1). I didn't do the penny mod, but I'm too lazy to move it now. Probably not the best temps, but meh.

Load is 40/44. e8400 is notorious for not reporting temps right, who knows then. CPU socket area (if that's what it means), is 39C's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top