EK has a new fan. It's fast, expensive, really thick and...

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Feb 6, 2013
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loud! - Noise Level: 60.9dBA according to specs. However, EK has stated that ultimate performance was the goal here rather than quiet performance, but 1200 to 3500 rpm is a big range. Noctua Chromax was the last new entry I remember seeing specifically for radiators. It has been a looooong time since I have seen a good fan roundup. Are we excited about these new $30 fans? Here are the links:
https://www.techpowerup.com/264528/ek-water-blocks-announces-ek-furious-meltemi-120-high-speed-fan
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-furious-meltemi-120-1200-3500rpm
 
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Noise level is listed.

Performance characteristics:
- Max Air Flow: 121 CFM = 205 m³/h
- Static Pressure: 7.13mm H2O = 70Pa


- Sleeved cable length: 500 mm
- Noise Level: 60.9dBA
 
Thats ridiculous, I do not see a need for speeds like this in home enviroment. Industry? Maybe, but at home water cooling? Eh, I'd rather wait for black Chromax version of Noctua A12, which is pretty much improved and better version of Gentle Typhoon. Both high static pressure and airflow while still being whisper quiet.
 
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I haven't paid much attention but is 9W still okay for a motherboard fan output or should this also need a separate controller for it?

Also too dang loud for any use in my house lol
 
I haven't paid much attention but is 9W still okay for a motherboard fan output or should this also need a separate controller for it?

Also too dang loud for any use in my house lol

Most headers are rated for 12W/1A but even if that's a safe estimate I'd still use a separate controller.

I'd still take a Gentle Typhoon over this. Quieter, same performance in most setups, cheaper, and double the lifespan (MTBF: 100000 compared to EK's 50000)
 
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Noise level is listed.

Performance characteristics:
- Max Air Flow: 121 CFM = 205 m³/h
- Static Pressure: 7.13mm H2O = 70Pa


- Sleeved cable length: 500 mm
- Noise Level: 60.9dBA
My apologies I missed that op updated.
 
Most headers are rated for 12W/1A but even if that's a safe estimate I'd still use a separate controller.

I'd still take a Gentle Typhoon over this. Quieter, same performance in most setups, cheaper, and double the lifespan (MTBF: 100000 compared to EK's 50000)

Oh for sure, there is no reason for this. If you are needing that much high pressure air, your liquid cooler is likely under rated for what is needed.

This was the norm back like 20 years ago!

Loud delta fan owner here lol.

It was all about having those giant delta fans on a cone adapter so you could have like a 120mm fan over your cpu heatsink. Now a days i have no use or desire for a loud pc. I like my noctua fans on everything lol.
 
This was the norm back like 20 years ago!

Loud delta fan owner here lol.

Prob wont be worth owning even after slowing it down 25-50%.

I remember using the vantec tornado on my very first build in 2001. It sounded like an airplane engine, but I was proud as hell of it. Convinced my friends it was necessary to rein in the awesome power of my rig, baby!
 
Thats ridiculous, I do not see a need for speeds like this in home enviroment. Industry? Maybe, but at home water cooling? Eh, I'd rather wait for black Chromax version of Noctua A12, which is pretty much improved and better version of Gentle Typhoon. Both high static pressure and airflow while still being whisper quiet.

I have three old school Gentle Typhoons in my spare parts bin I am not using because they are anything but quiet.
 
Hahah saw the title and thought this was about a coffee grinder.
 
I have three old school Gentle Typhoons in my spare parts bin I am not using because they are anything but quiet.

The old gentle typhoons with ball bearings are not super quiet, but still quiet compared to how much air they push when you put them in noise normalized test, meaning turn them down (can't escape the sound of ball bearing though). But I was talking about the Noctua A12 which are very much like Gentle typhoons, but with modern improvements and new bearings. They are dead quiet while still pushing a lot of air both in free space and tight high pressure situations.

Your Gentle Typhoons don't happen to be PWM controlled? If they are I do not mind buying them. Mine are all DC controlled and I'd like to have PWM.
 
The old gentle typhoons with ball bearings are not super quiet, but still quiet compared to how much air they push when you put them in noise normalized test, meaning turn them down (can't escape the sound of ball bearing though). But I was talking about the Noctua A12 which are very much like Gentle typhoons, but with modern improvements and new bearings. They are dead quiet while still pushing a lot of air both in free space and tight high pressure situations.

Your Gentle Typhoons don't happen to be PWM controlled? If they are I do not mind buying them. Mine are all DC controlled and I'd like to have PWM.

Nah, they are the old 3pin + molex variety. I used them in my server in the basement for a while, but they have been sitting since.
 
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that immediately thought of Delta Screamers.

These days you can move so much air with surprisingly little noise that I can't see ever wanting something like this.
 
Is there a temp difference where you all would accept the noise? What if cpu/gpu temps dropped by 5 degrees just due to these? I must admit that I am having trouble understanding the audience for these. Aren't competitive overclockers using extreme solutions like liquid nitrogen?
 
Is there a temp difference where you all would accept the noise? What if cpu/gpu temps dropped by 5 degrees just due to these? I must admit that I am having trouble understanding the audience for these. Aren't competitive overclockers using extreme solutions like liquid nitrogen?
I too am confused by these fans, maybe if they start rolling some workstation or server parts? maybe a 2U rackmount 3x3 radiator and a 1U pump/reservoir combo?..... I would love to LC my racks and ditch the AC units quite the cost savings there if it were an option.
 
The old gentle typhoons with ball bearings are not super quiet, but still quiet compared to how much air they push when you put them in noise normalized test, meaning turn them down (can't escape the sound of ball bearing though). But I was talking about the Noctua A12 which are very much like Gentle typhoons, but with modern improvements and new bearings. They are dead quiet while still pushing a lot of air both in free space and tight high pressure situations.
Ive always wished Noctua would make an "A12x38 PWM" fan (and in the iPPC colors) that was like the normal A12-25, but had a larger scoop design in the fins to grab even more air. I run six of the 2000RPM models on my radiator and I would love to replace them with 38mm thick versions if they made such a thing. As is though, they have been my favorite fans so far, but I havent tried the Vardar's yet which I hear are even better.
 
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I used a ~120-150 cfm Delta fan back in the late 90s to help cool a lapped P3-600 stable at 800Mhz. Had it strategically positioned over both the cpu hsf and gpu. While it did the job, it was LOUD. I mean obnoxiously loud. Good thing I didn't have roommates. It's hard to describe how loud it really was. You could hear it over a vacuum cleaner. I would annoy people at LAN parties with it.

Now I look back at my younger self and mutter "You were an idiot."
 
The spec listing is what I despise from most fan manufacturers.

Is 60.9 db low or high rpm noise level? I'd guess high rpm yet it is unclear on EK's site.

The noise levels should be listed for both the specified operational low rpm and high rpm modes, not just 'one'.

As a former Delta fan user, I wouldn't be interested in this product. Too loud. I ran, briefly, an all Delta fan outfitted chassis around 20 or so years ago. The low temps were nice but the noise wasn't worth the trade-off.
 
I used a ~120-150 cfm Delta fan back in the late 90s to help cool a lapped P3-600 stable at 800Mhz. Had it strategically positioned over both the cpu hsf and gpu. While it did the job, it was LOUD. I mean obnoxiously loud. Good thing I didn't have roommates. It's hard to describe how loud it really was. You could hear it over a vacuum cleaner. I would annoy people at LAN parties with it.

Now I look back at my younger self and mutter "You were an idiot."
Fortunately you probably can't hear yourself mutter due to the hearing loss.
 
I'm not sure who these are supposed to market to, most PC enthusiasts don't want to live in a server closet or datacenter.

I used to use some similarly profiled Panaflo fans back in the day, and even at the lowest possible RPM they were somewhat obnoxious due to motor humming. Even if their PWM + Motor design alleviates this, 1200RPM is still considered too fast for some ultra-silent systems. I've found that even my home rig is only acceptably quiet with the fans spinning at 600 RPM, and that might be overkill for some, but when the room is otherwise dead silent and you're using open-backed headphones, it's noticeable.

I suppose the quality of the noise also matters, so if you can't hear the motor then 1200 RPM might be okay.

Edit: I partially redact my statement, having upgraded to Noctua NF-F12's on my water cooling radiators, they have a much nicer noise profile than the Arctic P12's they replaced, and 1200 RPM is acceptable. Not to say the Arctic's aren't good fans, they're just also about 1/3 the price (great value, just not great outright performance).
 
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They need to put up a video of them running at different speeds and that will help for many to decide if they are obnoxious or not. A decibel reading by itself is not the best gauge.
 
Oh for sure, there is no reason for this. If you are needing that much high pressure air, your liquid cooler is likely under rated for what is needed.



It was all about having those giant delta fans on a cone adapter so you could have like a 120mm fan over your cpu heatsink. Now a days i have no use or desire for a loud pc. I like my noctua fans on everything lol.

Same here. Had a 60x25mm 60dB delta fan on my first build (Athlon XP 1400 FTW); this was the quiet model at the time. The loud model, aka the Delta Screamer, revved even higher at 80dB.

Today the main reason I watercool is that the 140x25mm fans on my radiator are massively quieter than the ~70x10mm fans on a standard GPU cooler.
 
Same here. Had a 60x25mm 60dB delta fan on my first build (Athlon XP 1400 FTW); this was the quiet model at the time. The loud model, aka the Delta Screamer, revved even higher at 80dB.

Today the main reason I watercool is that the 140x25mm fans on my radiator are massively quieter than the ~70x10mm fans on a standard GPU cooler.

Yeah I had that 60X38 delta screamer fan on a 1400 Athlon Tbird, lasted a week before I couldnt take the headaches from it anymore. I upgraded to an alpha PAL 8045 with an 80X38 delta EHE, it was still oud as hell, but no where near as bad as the 60 one.
 
I'm down for a few of these. Just need some longer lines for the watercooling setup so I can mount the rad outside the house. Drive the neighbors nuts, but hey at least I got a 2 degree drop.
 
I have a bunch of Delta 120x38mm fans AFB1212??? (the 5200RPM screamers..).. I forget the models but they are violently loud at full power.. Anyway, with a fan controller I can crank them down to a sane volume level and the amount of air blowing out of my case (corsair 900D) is just phenomenal... At around (estimated) 2000RPM they are however significantly quieter than most fans I've ever used at a similar speed while moving insane amounts of air... They're just purring while most fans would be maxed out and shaking around on their cheap bearings..

Just wanted to add that thought, it's not always about how the fan operates at it's peak power rating. They should graph them out in terms of cfm/db over a curve of RPM so consumers can select their fan based on their performance at a given noise level..

All that said, I just checked and mine are rated for 62db @ 5200 RPM, so 60db@3500RPM makes me a bit skeptical as well

edit: they are Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00
 
sure glad I have an open design case (Thermaltake P3) mounted on the wall away from kids and pets ... no cooling fans required ;)
 
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