Good 120mm Fans.

qdemn7 said:
I don't reccomend Vantec Stealths for this reason: Thye develop bearing chatter after a while when used in the Vertcial position.

i have yet to experience this. I will try and see if it happens, i've had a few running in systems for over two years and i haven't run into this problem. I'll have to take a closer look into that.
 
dtess17 said:
i would say it should be somewhere in the 30+ dba...and i'm trying to be nice. Their fans have never impressed me. what's the point about posting false numbers...someone is bound to catch on and then your product becomes a joke.
I tried that 120x120x25 fan and it was very loud...i thought i'd be getting a quiet fan. Made a bad impression on me from there on out...and i did not base this one just one fan i had bought three.

I really appreciate the info. You're not the only one who warn me on this. I'll stay away from Thermaltake. Too bad no other manufacturer made 130mm silent fan w/ the usage of 120 mm slot hole.
 
Superfly3176 said:
Uhhh quick question. How exactly do you undervolt a fan?
Nice tutorial. Be warned that if you try this without anything else hooked up to the PSU, it'sll shut it down. That's why it says:

When you perform the 7V trick, 5V has to go somewhere right? Yes, it may end up going back to your PSU and damaging it. For best safety you should use your passthrough molex connector and put something else on the same power line such as hard drive or CD-ROM. These devices are capable of taking the extra power. It is not absolutely vital you do this but i would recommend it.
 
Many people are underestimating the appeal of the Old Ones....

My personal favourite fan and PSU maker is Delta Electronics. They're not as high-profile as they used to be, instead focusing on the OEM and electronics market. But you can still source their products via the electronics industry, and they make really really good stuff.

I once had a set of 120mm 220V Delta fans, and they moved a LOT of air but were whisper quiet. I had them set up to switch on via a 12V relay connected to the PSU.

Ah, the nostalgia.
 
Superfly3176 said:
Uhhh quick question. How exactly do you undervolt a fan?


They sell little converters. You simply attach it to your fan.

they make a 12v to a 7v which seems to be the most popular...i think they also make a 12v to 9v and a 12v to a 5v.

i try and stay away from the 5v converters because some fans will not start at such a slow rotational speed.

and if you want a lot of control...Zalman fan mate.
 
PhyberOptic said:
Many people are underestimating the appeal of the Old Ones....

My personal favourite fan and PSU maker is Delta Electronics. They're not as high-profile as they used to be, instead focusing on the OEM and electronics market. But you can still source their products via the electronics industry, and they make really really good stuff.

I once had a set of 120mm 220V Delta fans, and they moved a LOT of air but were whisper quiet. I had them set up to switch on via a 12V relay connected to the PSU.

Ah, the nostalgia.

Problem with delta now is their fans sound like a jet taking off.
yeah it's great to have 100+cfms being pushing around...but 44 +dba is a a little insane in terms of noise.
 
Yes, I agree, their fans certainly don't make any compromises. Voltage control is most definitely indicated. :)
 
im about to order 3 x Silverstone FN121 - (26.6 dba/53.24cfm) what do you guys hear with this fan motor noise or just air moving? does it humm?
 
It is a nice fan. Pretty quiet. You won't hear anything unless you're rigth next to it. Pushes decent air while fairly quiet...


BTW yate loons are not hard to get. They are easy now, look around SVc and other stores.
 
mista ting said:
im about to order 3 x Silverstone FN121 - (26.6 dba/53.24cfm) what do you guys hear with this fan motor noise or just air moving? does it humm?

I had four of them in a Coolermaster Stacker 810. I could definitely hear them at about 3-4 ft from the case. They are quieter than most fans, but far from silent. The only silent fan I've heard thus far's the Antec Tricools on low. But they move about half as much air...if that. I'll let you guys know if I agree with dtess17 and Brad1011 about the Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E's reputation when they arrive on Thursday.
 
mista ting said:
im about to order 3 x Silverstone FN121 - (26.6 dba/53.24cfm) what do you guys hear with this fan motor noise or just air moving? does it humm?

I've used these fans a few times before, and i find them to be pretty quiet. There can be a slight hum from the motor, but it is very low pitched, and can be inaudible with a case door on.
 
thanks, also does the Silverstone FN121 motor humm goes away when undervolted?

right now im running 2 x Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F and there motor humm is increadably loud for my tastes even with my vantec controller turned all the way down the motor hum is very noticeable (closed case 5ft away)
 
mista ting said:
thanks, also does the Silverstone FN121 motor humm goes away when undervolted?

right now im running 2 x Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F and there motor humm is increadably loud for my tastes even with my vantec controller turned all the way down the motor hum is very noticeable (closed case 5ft away)

Well it wasn't loud enough for me to need to undervolt...but yes i would assume that undervolting would get rid of any motor noise.

i'm very interested to hear that the F model S-Flex fans are not working out to be as good as the E model. it's good to know...i'll make sure not to use them anymore, i've only used them once or twice, and they were not "quiet" but i didn't feel they were much louder than most other case fans, and i didn't notice much motor noise...perhaps there is a bad batch?
 
Loud, I have the Sony ones and I would almost say that they are as loud as the TT blue led 120mm... maybe.. yuk.

I'm thinking of buying a lian li case and it comes with 120's in them. Let's see how they go.
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Loud, I have the Sony ones and I would almost say that they are as loud as the TT blue led 120mm... maybe.. yuk.

I'm thinking of buying a lian li case and it comes with 120's in them. Let's see how they go.

which sony fans?
 
Scythe, Sony... same thing :D Sorry :(

21F... didn't like at ALL. Loud woosh sound. I had to turn it down to 1000rpm
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Scythe, Sony... same thing :D Sorry :(

21F... didn't like at ALL. Loud woosh sound. I had to turn it down to 1000rpm

ah. Yeah it seems people don't like the F model too much.
Oh well...the E model seems to be working just fine :p
 
I did the undervolting thing to a 120mm Sunon. It worked out extremely well. The fan is still audible, but it no longer sounds like a jet. I replaced a thermaltake 120mm fan with it. The Sunon is slightly louder, but it definately pushes more air.
 
feels like the list is getting a little old...anyone have anything new to add?
 
I don't like them. Let me qualify that. I cannot hear the Antec Tricools on low. I can hear these Scythe SFF21E's quite well. Now part of this may be the air going through the rear vent on the P180 as it's a waffle pattern. When compared side by side, the Antec Tricools on low are quieter than the Scythes. When the Antec Tricools are on medium, they sound just as loud as the Scythes and push just about the same amount of air.

And just like a n00b, I never tried the Tricools on medium in my case. I honestly think if I would have tried that, I would not have ordered the Scythes. I believe the noise that I'm hearing now is the air coming from the waffle pattern on the rear of the P180. It's not that bad tho. And the temps are much better. Here's a snapshot.

idle.jpg
load.jpg
 
very interesting.

I found that the scythe fans were just as if not more quiet than the tri cool on low, and push about the same amount of air as the tri cools on med.

the thing about fans is they are very subjective to each user...and from my personal experience can vary from fan to fan within any company.

you did see a temp drop which is good, and i dare say your system is still quiet, so that seems like a win to me.

I'm sorry you are not as happy with the fans as i have been.
 
They're going back. I just don't need them. I thought if I could gain more airflow and keep it quiet, life would be good. But they make noise.

Going from silent to quiet is pretty disturbing imo. I can hear the constant nagging "hummmm" in the background where I used to hear nothing.

I'm just bummed I wasted an hour and 45 bucks on this...
 
MC FLMJIG said:
Scthe fans over-rated ....???

some people hail the xp-90 as the greatest heatsink ever made, others know it was good but there have been much better since.

many of the review sites seem to think the scythe s flex fans are damn great fans. In my own open air testing i found them to be the most quiet of all the fans i was testing that day.

The nexus fans have been called very quiet before too, but some people also feel those are overraed.

Point being noise is an issue that will always be highly debated. What is good for one person may not always be good for others.

to be fair i have also been very fond of the antec tri cool fans. and those are getting mixed feeling from the [H] community.
 
I guess.

The yate loon is super quiet. If the Nexus is even more silent it is absolutely inaudible. Xp 90? It a decent heatsink but I understand what you're saying.

I didn't like the scythe... too each his own.
 
I find the b & w nexus 120 @ 12v a bit loud because of mostly air turbulence that is caused by the extra airflow. It kind of sux because prior to SPCR I had a horrid, leafblowing, as-loud-as-an-airplane-taking-off system. This new system is quiet but once you've tasted a bit of silence you want everything to be silence. I can't stand the nexus on 12v now that's why I keep that around 7v and this sounds nice and quiet. Sadly my hope of having an 80cfm fan at below 22 dBa is hopeless because the air turbulence alone causes so much noise!
 
computergeek22 said:
I find the b & w nexus 120 @ 12v a bit loud because of mostly air turbulence that is caused by the extra airflow. It kind of sux because prior to SPCR I had a horrid, leafblowing, as-loud-as-an-airplane-taking-off system. This new system is quiet but once you've tasted a bit of silence you want everything to be silence. I can't stand the nexus on 12v now that's why I keep that around 7v and this sounds nice and quiet. Sadly my hope of having an 80cfm fan at below 22 dBa is hopeless because the air turbulence alone causes so much noise!

i think you hit the nail on the head...once you start to get some things quiet, everything else seems loud. i know from my last build that my new one is much quieter, but as i listen to it, i hear new things i want to fix...it's a never ending battle.
 
Jodiuh said:
Haha, like a first gen 74gb raptor. She's so loud...

raptors can be rather loud true, i think the 36 might have been the loudest of the bunch.
my 150 is ok, nothing to bad, but the 250ks i have is def. less noisy.
The other day my girlfriend asked if she could turn on my computer to use it, i said hun it's already on...she said "no it's not, i'm standing right here" i walked over turned on the monitor and blam there was my desktop...i said how in the hell could you not hear the computer, i could hear it across the room, can't you hear the fans or the hard drives...her comment "no"

that;s when i know i've become a little obsessive about this stupid thing.
 
dtess17 said:
that;s when i know i've become a little obsessive about this stupid thing.

Lol! I know what you mean. I like to have a quiet machine too, but I'm in AZ and the apt complex I'm in currently has the loudest AC. It overpowers absolutely everything. And I complain about a small fan, lol!

I'll probably leave the Scythes in just because I'm tired of messin' with it. And the hassle to RMA and ship...
 
you know what is real funny though, i nit pick about little things in my computer, and i am always looking for something to make it more quiet...but if it's not on at night, i have trouble sleeping...the average person might not even hear the machine, but for some reason i need it now.
 
Jodiuh said:
They're going back. I just don't need them. I thought if I could gain more airflow and keep it quiet, life would be good. But they make noise.

Going from silent to quiet is pretty disturbing imo. I can hear the constant nagging "hummmm" in the background where I used to hear nothing.

I'm just bummed I wasted an hour and 45 bucks on this...

Just had a Scythe S-Flex SFF21E develop really bad 'bearing chatter' (more like a constant loud, click noise though) that I just installed on a SI-120 just 2 weeks back (I'm noticing that this has happened to a few other users over at the silientpc forums...). I thought this thing was rated for something like 15k hours?! Very disappointed after paying this much for a fan. I bought two at the time, so I've replaced the first, clicking fan with this second one, hoping it was just a bum fan. So far OK...though I just ordered a Coolermaster SUF-S12-EB (22dba/42cfm) to try and have as a backup in case this S-Flex E decides to go click-click on me...

If the Papst 4412F/2GLL (18dba/41cfm) 120mm fans weren't so hard to find or so expensive to import, those would probably be my first choice instead of the Coolermaster.

- Kusanagi
 
Well, that is really odd to me...perhaps i should pick some more up and see what's going on here. I had my fan almost before they were out...maybe the quality control isn't up to par?

very very weird...i wonder how a fan that was so kick ass for me is letting other people down.
 
dtess17 said:
Well, that is really odd to me...perhaps i should pick some more up and see what's going on here. I had my fan almost before they were out...maybe the quality control isn't up to par?

very very weird...i wonder how a fan that was so kick ass for me is letting other people down.

Do you have it plugged into a 3-pin motherboard header or using the adapter and have it plugged into a 4-pin molex from the power supply? I had mine into the 3-pin mobo header (used as a CPU fan for my SI-120) and I'm hearing reports that I should try it on the normal, 4-pin molex connector connected straight to the PSU using the adapter (and plug the 3-pin connector on the adapter into the mobo header for rpm sensing). I've already installed the second/backup Scythe S-Flex E fan I had on my SI-120 and connected it directly into the 3-pin CPU fan header and closed up my box, and seems to be running fine, so I probably won't test the above theory any time soon (unless this one decides to start clicking on me). Just curious if these fans like to be connected straight to the PSU...

- Kusanagi
 
He did say the F which is the loudest. You had the E which is medium... no? Again I couldn.t tolerate teh F. A lil too loud for me.

And like you. Most ppl can't hear the PC. I on the other hand can. Also evertime you lower something u hear something else. The loudest thing in my system is the AC Silencer. I have to splice wires to fan contrloller. :
 
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