120mm case fans - recommendations?

F

fleggett

Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
546
I swear, I don't think I've ever struggled with anything like this in all of my (numerous) computer purchases (and that includes cases). I would post this in the O&C forum, but it seems to cater more towards desktop systems.

I'm looking for 120mm fans to go into a Norco 4220 using a revised fan assembly that will accept such a size. I'm obviously trying to balance noise with airflow. I know people like Panaflos and Scythes and a few others, but I just cannot make a decision amongst the 100+ makes/models that Newegg sells. I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money on these things, but if the fan is worth it, I don't want to cheapen out, either. I guess that means I'm willing to shell out $20/fan, which should give enough headroom for a pretty decent one. Apart from the noise constraint, the only other is that it must come native with 3-pin connectors. Oh, and that it should provide enough airflow to adequately provide cooling for a fully-populated 4220 (20+1 hard drives).

So, please, fire away. Thanks in advance.
 
fleggett said:
I'm looking for 120mm fans to go into a Norco 4220 using a revised fan assembly that will accept such a size. I'm obviously trying to balance noise with airflow. I know people like Panaflos and Scythes and a few others, but I just cannot make a decision amongst the 100+ makes/models that Newegg sells. I don't want to spend a crazy amount of money on these things, but if the fan is worth it, I don't want to cheapen out, either. I guess that means I'm willing to shell out $20/fan, which should give enough headroom for a pretty decent one. Apart from the noise constraint, the only other is that it must come native with 3-pin connectors. Oh, and that it should provide enough airflow to adequately provide cooling for a fully-populated 4220 (20+1 hard drives).

So, please, fire away. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Yeah I am interested as well. I keep looking but nothing jumps out at me. At the same time I normally stick with stock fans but I couldn't take the whine of the stock Norco fans. I just don't want to waste money on fans that end up not pushing enough air.
 
+1 for yate-loons

Jab-tech has the best price i could find... bought 5 120mms and 5 80mms to replace my Norco 4020 fans

:)
 
Three low-speed Yate-Loon fans from Jab-tech installed in the midplane of my Norco 4020 are more than adequate to cool 12 WD Greens down to cool-to-the-touch temperatures.
 
There has been some discrepancy about the Yates sold at Jab-tech and the ones sold at Petras. Someone did a breakdown that showed there where completely different that that one was of vastly better quality. I'm not sure which vendor it was though.

I thought it was the Petra Yates that where better, could be mistaken.
 
I think people were saying that the Petra ones were the higher quality ones that come directly from Yate Loon while Jab-tech sold what may be 'fakes'. Honestly though, I think the low-speed Jab-tech ones are perfectly fine for the price.
 
Panaflo's are pretty much the way to go as baseline. These are also rebranded by Scythe as the S-FLEX line. The manufacturing differences I've personally seen between "genuine" Panaflo (NMB-MAT) and Scythe are limited to frame, mounts, and control. Typical for the OEMing process. The actual bearing and motor are identical.
I'm not particularly a fan of the Yates, but they aren't bad fans. I'm just not particularly thrilled with them at the prices I find them at. You won't be unhappy with them, and they won't let you down. It's just a personal preference.
Delta's still pretty much the best you can get for high static pressure. I use a lot of Deltas. They actually have some pretty quiet fans, and the tri-blades are extremely powerful for their noise level. (It's something about the surface area of the blades increasing pressure with the reduced number of blades lowering noise through less air disruption.) The only steady source I've found for the EFB1212LE is Sidewinder Computers, who's out of stock right now.
 
i have had good success with yateloons... all from jab-tech...
they are like $3... hard to pay $15 per fan when there are viable $3 models around
 
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