BEST 120mm FAN PERIOD

H

havokator

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
197
From doing some research, it looks like the best 120mm fan in terms of CFM to dbA is the Enermax Magma UC-MA12 120x25mm.

It produces 69.15 CFM at 18 dbA which is a better CFM to dbA ratio than any other fan I could find.

This fan is even better than the much thicker 120x55mm NoiseBlocker TK-121 which produces 61.6 CFM at 21 dbA (and is also much more expensive) which was very surprising to me. It is also better than any of the other NoiseBlocker, Scythe, or Noctua 120mm fans.

Does anyone know of a better 120mm fan than this Enermax UC-MA12?
 
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havokator said:
They are the figures listed by the manufacturer.

You can check them on any site that sells the fans for example:

UC-MA12
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7...chnology_-_BlackRed_UC-MA12.html?tl=g36c15s60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214001

TK-121
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...m_Low_Speed_Fan_-_1200_RPM.html?tl=g36c15s932
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oh, in that case, I make 120mm fans too, mine blow 100CFM at 4db, and they're $5 each, do you want to buy some?
 
86 5.0L said:
oh, in that case, I make 120mm fans too, mine blow 100CFM at 4db, and they're $5 each, do you want to buy some?
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I don't know why you think he's going about this the wrong way, it seems like a logical way to search for the correct fan. I'm assuming manufacturers are required to put the fan under tests and disclose the preoper reading, as a car manufacturer has to put the correct hp/mpg ratio or whatever.
 
HeavensCloud said:
I don't know why you think he's going about this the wrong way, it seems like a logical way to search for the correct fan. I'm assuming manufacturers are required to put the fan under tests and disclose the preoper reading, as a car manufacturer has to put the correct hp/mpg ratio or whatever.
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assuming is where you're wrong, there is no Federal branch of the government that deals with 120mm case fans and their CFM/db ratio. Notice how pictures of fast food hamburgers never look like what you get in the bag?

They probably cherry picked a few fans built a little better then the rest. loosly took tests in a controlled enviorment that favored the fans and isnt realized in a real world setting. the 19db rating is probably at 500rpms and 69CFM @ 1500rpms.
 
its not my logic, its common sense...

you think, a fan with better advertised specs then a proven fan like the Scythe Gentle Typhoons which have been tested by independent sites like Silentpcreview.com to prove their cfm and db numbers has flown under the radar all this time?
 
well has anyone actually tryed these Enermax fans so we can get an actual account of how they perform? Are they really as quiet as they say they are?


EDIT: well after doing some more research, it looks like these fans might not be as quiet as they are advertised to be. it did seem a little to good to be true... what would you recommend for a good quiet 120mm fan? thickness doesn't matter
 
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Manufacturer stats are near useless. That 18dba at 69cfm is pure fiction, no way no how that fan is at 18dba (about the background noise of a room you would say was in silence) while pumping out that amount of air.
 
Proven fans off the top of my head... Noiseblockers, gentle typhoons, and yate loons(certain ones though), what application will these fans be tasked with?
 
can you give me a specific model? I want the best CFM for a noise level around 20 dbA (1000-1500rpm) Will be used for a heatsink, and possibly as a case fan.
 
I use Scythe S-FLEX and nothing else. In fact, whenever I get a new case, the first thing I do after inspecting for defects is remove the stock fans.

With Scythe's 140mm fans that fit on 120mm mounts, I may be moving to those in the future. :D
 
havokator said:
can you give me a specific model? I want the best CFM for a noise level around 20 dbA (1000-1500rpm) Will be used for a heatsink, and possibly as a case fan.
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silentpcreview.com

Im not sure you understand how decibels work, how did you figure 20db is what you want? Keep in mind a recording studio is 25-30db and a library is around 30-40db
 
I like the SFF21E fans. I have one of these in my current system with all the fans running on the lowest setting. Nice and quiet with great airflow.
 
I have 1200 RPM S-Flex mounted horizontally on the top of my A05Nb as intakes, which technically you're "not supposed to do" with these but I have them turned all the way down on a fan controller and I can't hear them and they keep my case nice and cool.
 
My system uses 2 noctua S12-1200 fans which sit at around 900-1000rpm, a Corsair VX450 which has a 120mm fan and a 9800GTX+ which is at 35% at the moment (and is the loudest component) and two 7200rpm 3.5" drives (Samsung F1 and Maxtor 10)

I have it around head height about a metre away and it's audible in a silent room, but it's quiet enough that through double glazing I can still hear the tyre noise on the road about 150m away from my house as a car goes past at 30, and if I turn on my external USB drive that is all I can hear.
 
I'm sorry but the fact the quietest xbit could get was ~30dba makes any of the readings for fans in that region useless as that is plainly the noise floor in the room and I'm also going to guess that the person taking the reading was in the room with the fan and reader again corrupting any results.
 
Noctua SSO .9k-1.1k-1.3k RPM 33-54CFM 13-20dBA adj. speed 17-40dBA fan contr.

Silverstone 2Ball .8k-2.4k RPM Max 110CFM 64CFM 28dBA

Scythe SFF21F Sony Fluid Dynamic 1.6k RPM

CM Long-Life Sleeve .6k-2k RPM 21-77CFM 13-32dBA PWM
 
GentleTyphoon AP-14 or AP-15. The more air you push the louder its going to be. ALWAYS, regardless of brand.
 
I have 3x of those fans in a different color. Same style and rating by Enermax and while I seriously doubt they move the advertised air they are indeed extremely quiet. Not silent ( inaudible ) but very quiet. They are actually quietter @ 12v than my 5v mod'd Yate Look D12's were while seeminlg ymoving the same amount of air ( using the hand behind the fan scientist approved method : )
 
IF you want the absolutely quietest, and most reliable fan get the noiseblockers, they got mad highly superior components, built much more solid, and engineered to much higher tolerance.. made in Germany so you know its gonna be good.., guess what else came from germany.. shamwow..., thats right bitches,, shamwow, possibly the quietest object on the planet, was so quiet i nearly fuc**g went insane trying to hear it, also noiseblockers wont suddenly turn into helicopters, and they are shielded form CIA aerowaves
 
compudocs said:
I have 3x of those fans in a different color. Same style and rating by Enermax and while I seriously doubt they move the advertised air they are indeed extremely quiet. Not silent ( inaudible ) but very quiet. They are actually quietter @ 12v than my 5v mod'd Yate Look D12's were while seeminlg ymoving the same amount of air ( using the hand behind the fan scientist approved method : )
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You are talking about the Enermax Magmas? So they are actually pretty quiet?
 
Quiet is a hard word to define as people have different tolerances. Some people find the corsair H50 loud, while I cannot even hear mine. In my experience, most 120mm fans that run at 1100-1200 rpm are very quiet. They just have different tones for the noise. Around 800RPM, I am unable to hear the fan unless I put my head 6 inches away from the fan.

It also depends on background noise levels. The higher level of noise, the less you notice other things. Unless they are a different frequency, that is when you notice the noise.
 
The other thing that most of those tests don't account for (except for martins and a few selected fans from x-bit labs) is that they measure the fans free air.

Which is not how the fan(s) will be used, and therefore the results are somewhat invalidated by the distinct difference between the conditions of the measurement and how the fan will actually be used. A few things happen when you put the fan behind a grill/filter or on a heatsink/fan, decreased air flow due to restriction and increased harmonics from resonance interaction between the fan and the load.

You can minimize resonance by placing a shroud on the fan, it also has the added benefit of minimizing the deadspot (the area with a smaller amount of air flow due to the hub/motor of the fan).

Further the apparent noise will change depending on where you are in relation to the fan, up close you will hear resonance, motor noise, and a bunch of other things.. once you're 2m away a lot of those noises will fade away b/c they are higher in pitch and don't have the same intensity. For example at a few feet away I can't tolerate my AP-15's at anything over 800 rpm, but at 1.5m they are tolerable at close to 1200 rpm with a shroud. If and only if I have my ceiling fan on med-high. What you are looking for overall is the sort of sound that can fade into background noise.

The other thing of interest is that below 1000rpm fans are more similar than different, and the differences become much smaller.

But the main problem that I have noticed with the fan reviews, is that most of the reviewers don't understand very much about acoustics, and human perception. A few will admit that numbers are not the whole story. Taking a db measurment with out doing a spectrum analysis is basically worthless.

For example (an extreme one at that), a pure tone at 50hz@70db will have a percieved loudness similar to 1000hz tone at 40db. Even though technically, the 50hz tone is 8 times as loud.

Some food for thought (there is no best fan for all applications and budgets btw).
 
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avddreamr said:
Taking a db measurment with out doing a spectrum analysis is basically worthless.

For example (an extreme one at that), a pure tone at 50hz@70db will have a percieved loudness similar to 1000hz tone at 40db. Even though technically, the 50hz tone is 8 times as loud.

Some food for thought (there is no best fan for all applications and budgets btw).
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Isn't that what dba is for as it's a weighted scale?

Silentpcreview also tend to comment on the frequency not simply the measured level and also give sound clips.
 
I used 5 Enermax Magmas in my Coolermaster Stacker Case. They are quiet, but do not feel as though they push 70 cfm each. Not to mention the whole super duper reliable bearing seems to be a load of BS, two of the fans eventually just stopped with no warning signs.

My advice, stick to the brands who know DC Axial fans best. Sanyo, Nidec, Delta, NMB-Mat, Pabst, Scythe, etc.

Every San Ace fan I have owned has been perfect. My Supermicro builds are exclusively SanAce. They are OEM on high end tech such as MRI and CT Scanners (Think spare no expense kind of budget).

Anything made by Nidec also has my confidence as I have a Dell Poweredge 2900 that has been ticking away for several years 24/7 with 6 high CFM Nidec fans churning away.

My current 800D build has nothing but Panaflo (NMB-MATs) throughout, they are one of the few brands that has 38mm thick fans with reasonable low RPMs (<2000). Nice high static pressures for relatively cheap and they are most definitely reliable fans.

I have used Delta fans back when I did not care how loud my rig was, they push air, I mean serious air, but their motors tend to produce more noise at lower RPMs, thus not work undervolting much. More for the computer in the closet if you know what I mean.

I know its anecdotal, but I hope it helps.
 
As others have said, mfg numbers are not to be trusted, unless you are talking about OEM's like Delta and Panaflo etc etc. Most other mfg do NOT list how far the mic is from the fans or direction of the fan. Also, most numbers if you ask someone who knows from the company, the CFM is at full speed while the noise rating is at lowest speed, which is why you get these HUGE CFM numbers and low noise, just don't expect both.
 
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