Case Fan Selection

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board2death986

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
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I'm about to pull the trigger on a new i7 build, but I definitely don't want to stick with the stock cooling. I also need to get a 120mm fan for the HR-01 I'll have cooling down the CPU.

I want the case to be decently quiet but it doesn't have to be whisper quiet. I need a 120mm fan for the heatsink which should be the biggest performer, then I need another 120mm and 80mm to replace the case's stock fans, hoping for the type of fans that move big air without much noise, but if you guys have any suggestions that would rock. Also for the 120mm and 80mm if there is an LED variant that would be cool since i'm looking to use this thing as a night light :p just kidding, but since this will be a LAN rig there should be some visual bling. and room is tight so I would rather not go the Cold Cathode route since that would mean more wires and hardware to cram into an already cramped case.
 
Yate Loon makes LED fans that are cheap, quiet, and move a decent amount of air.
 
Why the HR-01 over the TRUE? For case fans the Slipstreams are hard to beat, most "bling bling" fans sound like crap. The S-FLEX fans are liked for using on HS's, I am running the IXP-76-18 on my TRUE and it works great at 900RPM. Are you going to be using a controller or will you need/want a PWM fan for the HS?
 
Well to fit the HSF I will have to do some modding to my case to make it fit, and I've seen it done with the HR-01 and I already have the steps laid out. I think the TRUE is about 20mm wider which would make the fit unlikely. To adjust for the heatsink I will have to cut out part of the hard drive rail and create new mounting holes for the existing hard drive cage, from what I've seen there isn't any more room to move the hard drive cage forward meaning a wider HSF is out of the question.

Oh and to answer your last question I would like a PWM fan for the HS since running more wires to a controller is not preffered.
 
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Oh yea another question, what is a tolerable decibal level for noise? The HS fan I imagine can be a bit louder being inside the case and having the duty of cooling CPU, but the case fans should be a bit quieter I imagine being closest to the outside.
 
The fan on the HS will make the most noise, as it is having to blow through something (turbulence), to me, I don't like case fans over 1000rpm, I use the 1,200 rpm slipstream fans with a controller to keep them under 1000, but the 800rpm fans are great if you don't have a controller. Another note, is do not go my the fans ratings, they are all bullshit, all of them fudge the numbers. Read up here, for some good info and reviews of fans, along with the slipstreams. What case do you have?
 
Well I haven't purchased the rig yet, but I'm throwing the Asus i7 board with a 920, GTX 285, 6GB DDR3 1333, 600w Silverstone ST60F and various HDD's into the Apevia X-QPack 2. I like the case layout and it's the only SFF I've had experience with that really lets you cram some big boy parts in without getting too bulky ( like the Lanbox, which is spacious but has poor internal layout).
 
My experiences are :
  • Nexus (=Yate Loon) - relatively silent, but there are better options
  • Scythe = i personally hate them, each and every one of them had a noisy clicky sound once i lowered their RPM. Not a silent click, but very loud clicks.
  • Noctua = silent, but comes at premium price.
  • Enermax Magma = brutal fans, they move a lot of air, the usable silent range is from 3,8 to 6V, so make sure you have a good fan controller, like Scythe Kaze Master, or T-Balancer bigNG which can ha
    4V or lower.
  • Gelid Silent = comparable to Noctua, but for very low price, even lower than Nexus fans. The only question is how long will they work silently.
  • Noiseblocker = silent, but way too expensive, more expensive than Noctuas, comparable in price with some Papst fans.

I would choose in Magma, Gelid, Noiseblocker, Noctua order, depending on your pocket and other requirements. But for X-Qpack2, i would personally suggest Enermax Magma due one simple fact - you have only 1 fan, so you probably would like to push maximum air when needed. But be aware that Magma at 12V moves lot of air, and i really mean lot - in my PC-V350 the sound of air moving in my case was louder than anything else.
 
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