Best 36mm Radiator Fans (or thicker)

A

Arcygenical

Fully [H]
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Jun 10, 2005
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Hello all,

Doing a new Ryzen or 8700k mITX build.

It's been quite awhile since I bought any 120mm fans.

I'm looking for a few of the best CFM : dBa fans on the market.

I need fans at least 38mm thick, or thicker.

Any recommendations?
 
Well since they're radiator fans you want static pressure not cfm.

Gentle Typhoons get my vote
 
I've never seen a 38mm thick 120mm fan...? I thought they were all pretty much standardized to 25mm. Why the thickness requirement?

I second Gentle Typhoons and would add Corsair's ML120s to the lineup of contenders.
 
I've used Gentle Typhoons, and they're decent. I'd also recommend the EK Vardar fans, they're very comparable, no flashy LEDs, just good solid fans.
 
If you want to lose a finger

https://www.ebay.com/p/Delta-AFB1212SHE-120mm-x-38mm-4-pin-PWM-fan-Server-Case-Watercooling-151-CFM-/901938920?&hash=item2ef379fe5e:g:Jy4AAOSwyQtVxTIN&_trkparms=pageci:0e7bebcd-7621-11e7-8a8b-74dbd1803b4b|parentrq:99fbc66015d0aa1348d66607fff87046|iid:2&trdt=0&rdtsrc=vi&iid=201653354078

I have a few of these, they will f*ck you up if you don't have grills. The sound exactly like a jumbo jet taking off lol

VanGoghComplex said:
I've never seen a 38mm thick 120mm fan...? I thought they were all pretty much standardized to 25mm. Why the thickness requirement?

I second Gentle Typhoons and would add Corsair's ML120s to the lineup of contenders.
Click to expand...
 
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86 5.0L said:
Well since they're radiator fans you want static pressure not cfm.

Gentle Typhoons get my vote
Click to expand...

Right, fair enough. My point remains, though. I'll likely get the Typhoons, they're just hard to find in Canada. Static pressure is even more important than CFM in the application I'm using them in.

VanGoghComplex said:
I've never seen a 38mm thick 120mm fan...? I thought they were all pretty much standardized to 25mm. Why the thickness requirement?

I second Gentle Typhoons and would add Corsair's ML120s to the lineup of contenders.
Click to expand...

Because I'm mounting two radiators together in a Sandwich, which is notoriously impossible to achieve with 25mm fans :p. And there are many standard thicknesses, 19, 25, 38, 48, 56, 72(!)mm fans. Though most of the thicker fans are AC110v, and 200cfm+/3200rpm+ fans. The thicker the fans, the better the static pressure:dbm ratio... And since I need to modify the radiators to operate in parallel, the extra 12mm or so is very important for making sure I have clearance for soldering.
 
Arcygenical said:
Right, fair enough. My point remains, though. I'll likely get the Typhoons, they're just hard to find in Canada. Static pressure is even more important than CFM in the application I'm using them in.



Because I'm mounting two radiators together in a Sandwich, which is notoriously impossible to achieve with 25mm fans :p. And there are many standard thicknesses, 19, 25, 38, 48, 56, 72(!)mm fans. Though most of the thicker fans are AC110v, and 200cfm+/3200rpm+ fans. The thicker the fans, the better the static pressure:dbm ratio... And since I need to modify the radiators to operate in parallel, the extra 12mm or so is very important for making sure I have clearance for soldering.
Click to expand...
Your [H]ardness has expanded my mind.

ModMyMods is a New York based watercooling shop that carries Gentle Typhoons in many flavors. I dunno if getting them shipped to Canada is a huge expense or not, but they keep good stock and the guy that runs the place is pretty awesome.
 
I did it a very long time ago and saw about a 40% improvement per radiator unit... with an additional noise reducing benefit as both sides of the fan had some passive noise reduction/filtering.
 

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Arcygenical said:
I did it a very long time ago and saw about a 40% improvement per radiator unit... with an additional noise reducing benefit as both sides of the fan had some passive noise reduction/filtering.
Click to expand...

Holy shit that's........beautiful! :cry:
 
Arcygenical said:
I need fans at least 38mm thick, or thicker.

Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Why though? 38mm is getting into very serious noise profiles. In any case check Delta, Panaflo, Scythe, etc etc.

Arcygenical said:
Because I'm mounting two radiators together in a Sandwich, which is notoriously impossible to achieve with 25mm fans :p. And there are many standard thicknesses, 19, 25, 38, 48, 56, 72(!)mm fans. Though most of the thicker fans are AC110v, and 200cfm+/3200rpm+ fans. The thicker the fans, the better the static pressure:dbm ratio... And since I need to modify the radiators to operate in parallel, the extra 12mm or so is very important for making sure I have clearance for soldering.
Click to expand...

You're doing it wrong... er unless you're trying to overcome the inherent disadvantages of sandwiching with sheer cfm? Still I highly doubt its worth it. I'll assume the latter and would still tell you to not bother.

The first, shocking realization is this: The stacked rads almost always perform worse than the solo rad with the same number of fans. The rest of the data is as expected: Two separate rads perform best, more fans are always better and the airflow going from warmer to cooler rad is slightly worse than the other way around.
Click to expand...

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress....ghs-radiator-sandwich-testing/comment-page-1/
 
One would never stack radiators using a single fan. There are a few brands, such as Sanyo Denki, and Panaflow which actually have favorable low-frequency profiles, high static pressure and a low 1ft/dba value around the 32 db(a) weight rating. The grand majority, though, do not.

I used to have 3 of the SD, but sold em all off. Just wondering if there was anything better.

When I previously used the setup, before swiftech even sold stacked radiators, I was able to cool a 300w load to a 10c delta while keeping the noise under 28~dba, or about room ambient. Since this is an mItx, I am looking for the same thing, no overclocking, just near silence. I want a louder pump than the fans.
 
VanGoghComplex said:
I've never seen a 38mm thick 120mm fan...? I thought they were all pretty much standardized to 25mm. Why the thickness requirement?
Click to expand...
Really? Plenty of 120x38mm fans out there. Dell uses them a lot. And the three blade Deltas are a classic.
 
Arcygenical said:
One would never stack radiators using a single fan. There are a few brands, such as Sanyo Denki, and Panaflow which actually have favorable low-frequency profiles, high static pressure and a low 1ft/dba value around the 32 db(a) weight rating. The grand majority, though, do not.

I used to have 3 of the SD, but sold em all off. Just wondering if there was anything better.

When I previously used the setup, before swiftech even sold stacked radiators, I was able to cool a 300w load to a 10c delta while keeping the noise under 28~dba, or about room ambient. Since this is an mItx, I am looking for the same thing, no overclocking, just near silence. I want a louder pump than the fans.
Click to expand...

First, fan specs are rubbish and 99% of the time they are meaningless because there is nothing to keep manufacturers from printing whatever they want.

A 300w load at 10c delta is NOT hard to achieve, the issue are the limitations in surface area, fan speed, noise, or flow speed/head pressure of any given scenario. Any medium thick to thick 360mm rad with half decent fans can maintain a 10c delta with average fans at acceptable noise levels. The question is a 300w @10c delta using what equipment? What are the parameters or limitations. Imo, using a rad sandwich is bad. Read the data linked above.

And I find it hard to believe you achieved all that while under 28dBA when a GT AP15 at 900rpm is measured to 34dBA.

 
Susquehannock said:
Really? Plenty of 120x38mm fans out there. Dell uses them a lot. And the three blade Deltas are a classic.
Click to expand...
Nope, had never seen one.

I've been on a long hiatus in the PC building realm, only having gotten back into it in the last few years. Plus, I'm not an IT guy, so I really try not to touch Dells ever, at all, if I can help it. :D

Learn something every day, I guess. =)
 
i cant believe anyone still uses delta fans, I remember using some of those like 15 years ago on a system, so ungodly loud
 
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