120mm Silent fan comparisions: Antec, SilenX, Nexus

my antec tricools do 78 cfm max(iirc), out class the panaflo M1A in both noise and what the cfm 'feels' like and at medium setting its quiet and at low its perfectly silent, at least on my heatercore YMMV i suppose
 
The TriCool is only worth it's value when used on the low-speed. It rivals the Nexus/Yate Loon combo in terms of bearing noise output. On medium-speed, it becomes noisier and more like a typical 120mm case fan.
 
_Korruption_ said:
The TriCool is only worth it's value when used on the low-speed. It rivals the Nexus/Yate Loon combo in terms of bearing noise output. On medium-speed, it becomes noisier and more like a typical 120mm case fan.
at full speed the tricool was quieter then my 120mm panaflo M1A
 
At the same RPM? Not exactly sure how fast a 120mm Panaflo would run. Anyhow, they're all 38mm thick...
 
_Korruption_ said:
At the same RPM? Not exactly sure how fast a 120mm Panaflo would run. Anyhow, they're all 38mm thick...
panaflo M1A is 2100 rpm 87 cfm tricool is 2000 rpm 79 cfm, extra cfm in the thicker fan, but aparently extra noise too since i doubt 100 rpm is the difference between loud and audible
 
If you are interested in silent fans, the ultimate discussion and thread on the subject is here
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=a9584d9549d17e273b547359a5396cae
Especially read the sticky on 120mm fans.
There are really 3 noise sources for fans, the blade/wind noise, motor noise, and bearing noise. Ball bearing fans tend to tick and click a lot and are not good for silent applications.

Nexus and Yate loon are very good. The Globe 1202512L-3M are also very good when undervolted.
DON'T BUY SILENX fans. Their performance is not bad, but they publish noise specs that are total lies and they tend to be the most expensive fans out there. There is much better at much less cost available.
The CFM numbers on spec sheets don't tell you very much about how the fan will actually perform on a heatsink or radiator because the backpressure reduces the flow rate considerably and this reduction is very dependent on the blade pitch, rpm, and blade coverage area.
The easiest and cheapest way to speed control your fans is with the Zalman FanMates, they can be had for around $4 ea. Just plug it inline with the fan and dial up the speed you want.
 
ferdb said:
The easiest and cheapest way to speed control your fans is with the Zalman FanMates, they can be had for around $4 ea. Just plug it inline with the fan and dial up the speed you want.

I use these and like them. However, their primary weakness, and a real danger, is that many case fans will not start if the voltage is set too low. This seems to be an issue with most mechanical contollers. Their second weakness is locating these inconspicuosly when using several of these for the different case fans and then trying to hide all the wiring.
 
I have received the Black YateLoons... and will post a review once i get around to installing them

Shoot over to Jab-Tech to get your own, as it seems they have a massive stock of them.
 
I have like 5 yate loons from jab comin in o_o... 4 for the case, and 1 for the CPU (which I can't install yet without a motherboard >_<! Hopefully, they can add some more quietness and more airflow to my P180 when I get them.

I think my hard drives make the most noise in the entire system. It's not the seeks, and these are raptors. They're surprisingly quiet in the P180... quieter than my old WD 250 GB IDE hard drive, which makes a noticeable rumbling when I access it. However, the noise seems to be coming from the pure spinning of them. I disconnected all of my hard drives to test the noise, and the next audible thing was the power supply, which is still very quiet when not under load.
 
Yoshiyuki Blade said:
I have like 5 yate loons from jab comin in o_o... 4 for the case, and 1 for the CPU (which I can't install yet without a motherboard >_<! Hopefully, they can add some more quietness and more airflow to my P180 when I get them.

I think my hard drives make the most noise in the entire system. It's not the seeks, and these are raptors. They're surprisingly quiet in the P180... quieter than my old WD 250 GB IDE hard drive, which makes a noticeable rumbling when I access it. However, the noise seems to be coming from the pure spinning of them. I disconnected all of my hard drives to test the noise, and the next audible thing was the power supply, which is still very quiet when not under load.

Silencing a PC is a constant process of diminishing returns beyond a certain point. Until all components are completely passive and there is a decent way of convecting hot air out of a case, there will always be that one component that is making noise. I think that the more you try to silence, the more attuned your ear becomes to any noise.
 
Yes, I believe you're right. Before I got this p180, my sisters' comp seem pretty average. Now when I hear it I say its freaking loud :D. Ah... too bad our ears are good at adjusting to sounds :p. The hard drive used to be one of the quieter components. Hell, I didn't even think it would make much noise at all before now. Oh well, quieter is always better... just gotta draw the line somewhere (in my case, I'm sticking to air cooling).
 
OK, I received my Yate Loons today and now I have 4 of them installed into the case. The top exhaust fan was pretty tricky to install because half the fan is supposed to be supported by metal clips on the case, while the other half is screwed in. Since the Yate Loons design didn't work to well with those clips (screw holes get in the way), I just have the 2 screws holding the entire fan.

Through subjective listening, I think these fans a slightly louder than the Tri-Cools on low, but push much more air. Replacing all 3 Tri-Cools, as well as an addition for the intake, my case is noticeably louder now. With the increased airflow, I think it's worth it.

Anyway I test-installed the 5th fan onto my unused SI-120, and I think cutting off the screw holes won't be needed. The metal clips still seem to hold the fan very well at the tips. I even held the whole thing by the fan, and shook it around a little. Nothing budged.
 
Hey guys,

Are the Yoon fans identical to the Nexus silents besides color?

On the webpage, they both have different specs.

yoon
CFM: 47
dB: 28

nexus
Real Silent, only 22.8 dB(A)
- High airflow level, 36.87 CFM

thanks
 
longhorndude said:
Hey guys,

Are the Yoon fans identical to the Nexus silents besides color?

On the webpage, they both have different specs.

yoon
CFM: 47
dB: 28

nexus
Real Silent, only 22.8 dB(A)
- High airflow level, 36.87 CFM

thanks

I believe they're vitrually identical, but the Yate Loons push some more air and are probably more audible.
 
the best plan is to have your fans running on the most silent mode possible (that is.. if you have really high end parts like me), then overclock later on and increase the noise/rpms/air of the fans to achieve performance for more demanding games later on.
 
Thanks Dtess.

Have you ever used these Loons? If you have, how would you compare them to those Silverstones in cfm and dba... thanx again
 
This is some good info everyone. Anyone know where you can get those clear/orange low db fans in the states?
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Thanks Dtess.

Have you ever used these Loons? If you have, how would you compare them to those Silverstones in cfm and dba... thanx again

i haven;t had a chance to use them yet. I would say they are likely a bit louder, and have similar air flow.

i think what helps the silverstone fans is the 9 blade design.

I like the fact that they are so cheap too, i got 2 on newegg for like $8.00 a few months back.
 
saturnine2 said:
If you think a 120mm Nexus/Yate Loon is quiet, try out a 150mm EBM fan (24V@12V)! They may cost $80 each, but they are dead silent and put out a LOT of air. :)

Yate Loons are the best performance/value fans out there, grab them while you can :)

Are these really as quiet as nexus/loon ? and if there is that much voltage moving that large a fan isn't there some EMI to be expected?
 
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