Case Fans

[M4573R]

I've been trying to research what some good case fans are to put on my new case
(when i get it). And there are a few that come up a lot like Noctua, Scythe, and Yate Loon. I want quiet fans just as much as the next guy, but I also don't want little-baby airflow in my case either. Are these brands of quiet fans generally used just because they are quiet? Or are they viable for cooling for the average user. I also don't know which ones are better for heat sinks or cases.

 

[Zuriick]

From what I've read, Scythe and Yate Loon make good products. I've only ever used Noctua and Xigmatek; with Noctuas being my favourite. Although they are expensive, and to many ugly, I think they get the job done while keeping things cool and quiet. They are great for heatsinks too.

 

[MaSsAcRe]

All three of those brands you mentioned are known for their awesome noise to airflow ratios. All of them are quiet, some more than others, but all still manage to offer great amounts of airflow relative to their noise output.

Noctua's are the most expensive at $20 a pop and are probably the most silent of all (assuming their all running at the same RPM's). They're great case/heatsink fans, but they're geared more towards silence than CFM. Also, their hideous color scheme and high price point make me pass on them in my book.

Scythe has some great fans, their most popular most likely being the S-Flex series. These fans can be used for anything and are probably the best fans money can buy. At $15, they're cheaper than the Noctua's and offer amazing overall performance.

If you're on a budget, then Yates are the way to go. $5 will get you one of these, but don't let their low price trick you into thinking they're crappy performers. They make great case fans and can come close to rivaling the Noctua's/Scythe's performance in heatsink/raidiator applications. These fans are notorious for offering better performance then some of the other $15-$20 fans out there. In fact, Yate Loon sells these OEM fans to companies who rebrand them with their own label and then resell them at a much higher price.

To sum it all up, all three brands are great and you can't go wrong with any of them. Since you're looking for case fans though, I'd suggest Yates or if you can afford them, some S-Flex fans.

 

[M4573R]

I heard there was another Scythe version other than s-flex that was used for something else. I could be wrong.

 

[E.T]

Noctua S12 is sure quiet but it can't generate pressure for pushing air through impedance so wire finger guards are pretty much highest impedance that should be on its path.
P12 can push air through impedance but for case cooling its noise just isn't the smoothest compared to airflow... especially considering high price.

Nexus (long time SPCR reference) and Yate Loon are in practise similar. Just don't think undervolting automatically makes some 2000rpm turbocharger version quiet because big undervolting can bring out unwanted bearing/motor noises.
As sleeve bearing fans these don't like horizontal position. (sleeve bearing fans run slower and wear faster in that position)

Scythe S-Flex is that "general fan" pretty much even with Nexus.
Slip Stream/Kaze Jyuni has very high airflow per rpm ratio (1200rpm vs Yate@1600) and undervolts well so good as case fan but has sleeve bearing.
Scythe's newest Gentle Typhoon again has ball bearing (good one) and blade geometry for high pressure so probably good at pushing air through impedance like dense radiators. (considering big hub size probably can't challenge Slip Stream in case cooling)

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page1.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page1.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article832-page1.html

 

[M4573R]

Sounds like I would get some S-Flexes. These will work for both case and heat sink fans right? Does anyone have these on a new i7 system? I'm wondering how cool it stays.

 

[Zero82z]

Sounds like I would get some S-Flexes. These will work for both case and heat sink fans right?

S-Flexes are better with heatsinks because they have good static pressure, but for case fans, Slipstreams are better since they produce less noise.

 

[E.T]

S-Flexes are better with heatsinks because they have good static pressure, but for case fans, Slipstreams are better since they produce less noise.

That depends on heatsink's design. (fin spacing)
In very low impedance heatsink SlipStream has actually better cooling/noise ratio than standard blade geometry Nexus:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article805-page5.html

Again high impedance heatsink like TRUE might favour high pressure designs like Gentle Typhoon/Noctua P12...

But in Noctua's own heatsinks P12 doesn't have advantage over smoother sounding Nexus and SlipStream bested them both:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article846-page6.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article850-page5.html
(SlipStream seems to actually retain performance better to lower speed than Nexus whose cooling/noise performance drops at low speeds compared to P12)