Fans for SI-128?

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Slartibartfast

Supreme [H]ardness
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Sep 25, 2004
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I'm looking at switching my heatsinks to the thermalright SI-128, and I'm wondering how powerful a fan I should be using with it. I have some nice silent fans but they only push 30cfm. Would that be enough airflow, or should I be looking for something more powerful?
 
30cfm is fine for the SI-128 unless you're going to try hardcore overclocking.
 
The si-128 has a very tight fin layout so you generally want a lot of air travelling through those fins for optimum temperatures...I'd say, shoot for a fan that pushes at least 70. Here's a great fan that isn't too loud either:

http://sidewindercomputers.com/pa12mesp.html

If you're looking for a heatsink that doesn't need a lot of air being pushed through it, check the Scythe Ninja...it has a very loose, spread out fin design, and thus it needs very little air being pushed across it...
 
Thanks for the reply. I already have one of those fans lying around so maybe I'll use them. Is the weight going to be an issue? It's for a dual opteron system. Right now I'm using thermalright ultra 90's and the cpu's are running rather warm (~50c idle).
 
m3ta1head said:
The si-128 has a very tight fin layout so you generally want a lot of air travelling through those fins for optimum temperatures...I'd say, shoot for a fan that pushes at least 70. Here's a great fan that isn't too loud either:

http://sidewindercomputers.com/pa12mesp.html

If you're looking for a heatsink that doesn't need a lot of air being pushed through it, check the Scythe Ninja...it has a very loose, spread out fin design, and thus it needs very little air being pushed across it...
Click to expand...
The SI-128 is the same basic design as the SI-120 except with a little more surface area on the fins....the reviews I've seen for the SI-120 and SI-128 indicate they perform very well with quiet, low cfm fans.
 
more fins means less air needed, but you need a fan that can handle a higher pressure head across the fan. Speed is great but without a powerful motor you won't hit the CFM rating on the fan anyway. The panaflo fans do have strong motors, and I doubt you will have a problem. just my 2cents

- Gyr
 
joemama said:
The SI-128 is the same basic design as the SI-120 except with a little more surface area on the fins....the reviews I've seen for the SI-120 and SI-128 indicate they perform very well with quiet, low cfm fans.
Click to expand...

The reviews also indicate that performance is improved significantly simply by swapping the fan out for something twice as powerful :p
 
I've got an SI-120 running with a 64CFM fan and it performs excellently. The design does lend itself better to high-airflow fans, especially since the SI-128 has a noticeable increase in fin density over the SI-120, so it would be better to have a fan that pushes 50-70CFM.
 
Ok, I know of a Scythe fan that does 60cfm at <30db, I'll probably go with those. Thanks for all the replies :)
 
If you want a good one and dont mind doing occasional maintanence to it. Go with one of those hydro bearing ones. They seem to have an excellent CFM to noise ratio. The only downside is that they are more expensive and require occasional maintanence to remain as quite as when you first get them.

Iv also been doing research on this same heatsink for my own rig (i have the cnps7000b right now) and it appears that it reaches peek performance around 80CFM according to people in the forums here.
 
I'm not 100% certain I will be purchasing these, mostly in the research stage. Right now I'm running opteron 248's with Thermalright Ultra 90's and ~55 cfm panaflo's, and my idle temps are mid-high 40's. I'm going to be transplanting to a new case w/ better airflow, and if that doesn't help much I'll probably go for the 128's.
 
I just saw these fans in another thread. SilenX, they aren't out yet. But there is a 72cfm at 14dBa version. Man 90cfm at only 18dBa, I can't wait to get my hands on atleast one of these. If not four of them. :D
 
Anavel0 said:
I just saw these fans in another thread. SilenX, they aren't out yet. But there is a 72cfm at 14dBa version. Man 90cfm at only 18dBa, I can't wait to get my hands on atleast one of these. If not four of them. :D
Click to expand...

Sign me up! I have a 90cfm Sunon fan that runs at 44db, unbearably loud.
 
Holy shit, those silenx fans have a really good performance to noise ratio!
 
I know! They cost more than your average fan though. :( This site has them on pre-order for $19.95. But most have them for $24-25.
 
Anavel0 said:
I just saw these fans in another thread. SilenX, they aren't out yet. But there is a 72cfm at 14dBa version. Man 90cfm at only 18dBa, I can't wait to get my hands on atleast one of these. If not four of them. :D
Click to expand...
I think I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that until Frostytech or somebody does a good dba measurement..

If it's true then I'll take two. :D
 
joemama said:
I think I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that until Frostytech or somebody does a good dba measurement..

If it's true then I'll take two. :D
Click to expand...

Well let the search for SilenX fan reviews BEGIN!!!! But yeah I suggest using caution, I haven't seen any real reviews, just their own website and the sites that sell the fans. I'd love to see some reviews though. I hope it is atleast close to what they claim. Hell I'd still get one for 80cfm at 25dBa.
:p
 
Yeah for real, but $25 per fan, thats just seems really ridiculous.
 
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