Looking for silent fans with magnetic air pressure bearings

S

sirgallium

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
336
I used to buy the 'enlobal' bearing fans from Enermax.

11-999-199-07.jpg

But now their new ones are all ugly looking to me. Funny shaped 'batwing' blades and leds all over the place and "enermax" written over and over around the inside of the fan shroud...

fan_uccl12n_productInfo.jpg ;-;

Noctua or one of the other major brands have a magnetic air pressure fan but it's expensive.

Enermax still makes the 80mm so I'm set for that size:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4..._Marathon_Case_Fan_UC-8EB.html?tl=g33c165s356

I'm looking also for a PWM fan with a bearing like this to replace my CPU fans.

This bearing style doesn't have a widespread accepted name yet so it's very hard to shop for them. I'm going to be looking for 1 96mm, and several 120 and 140mm and possibly 2 even larger ones.

This right here is pretty much exactly what I want: PWM Magnetic bearing fan. If only it wasn't so ugly!
fan-1310_4.jpg
 
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Corsair make some although Scan.co.uk cant spell
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/120...-magnetic-levitation-fans-af-sp-combi-400-240
They call it Magentic.
£25 for a 120mm dual pack, not too bad considering these could last longer than you!

Or £30 for 2x 140mm
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/140...-magnetic-levitation-fans-af-sp-combi-400-200

Strangely if you search their website it only throws up results for single fans, I got the dual link from google.
No doubt they will be cheaper in the US.
 
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Reading reviews, some people get a hum from the none pro version.
ie the pro has rubber corner mounts.
You could use a slice of cycle inner tube and save $.

Your prices of normal versions are about the same as most retailers here, but Amazon have a sale on with the 120mm version at 2 for £22.
I am tempted. I dont really need any more fans though...
 
Maglev are a good bearing design, but how well the Corsairs last remains to be seen. The ML 120 seem to be good, but I've heard a few complaints about the ML 140's. They all seem to have some motor noises.
 
doyll said:
Maglev are a good bearing design, but how well the Corsairs last remains to be seen. The ML 120 seem to be good, but I've heard a few complaints about the ML 140's. They all seem to have some motor noises.
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That's ironic given the frictionless bearing.
 
doyll said:
I guess. But my experience is with most fans it is motor noise and impeller noise that I hear, not the bearings
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That's the point, there's not supposed to be motor noise since it's floating on air ie. the bearings... there are no bearings. What you hear with maglev fans are the blades chopping thru the air. I think you are tying both motor noise vs blade/impeller noise to each other when it is motor noise and bearing noise, same thing and impeller/blade nosie separate. In most cases ppl are using maglev fans wrong when not using PWM and instead running them via voltage. If run off voltage, at low voltages their is not enough voltage to keep the levitation clearance. Ya need full 12v then control speed via PWM.
 
thesmokingman said:
That's the point, there's not supposed to be motor noise since it's floating on air ie. the bearings... there are no bearings. What you hear with maglev fans are the blades chopping thru the air. I think you are tying both motor noise vs blade/impeller noise to each other when it is motor noise and bearing noise, same thing and impeller/blade nosie separate. In most cases ppl are using maglev fans wrong when not using PWM and instead running them via voltage. If run off voltage, at low voltages their is not enough voltage to keep the levitation clearance. Ya need full 12v then control speed via PWM.
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What ever gave you the idea an electric motor does not make any noise? You even say 'motor noise and bearing noise' as two different things. A fan has many sources of noise, and the motor itself is one of them.

You need to stop with the assumed gereralizations you are posting as if they were facts. Almost all instances I know of people were not using their maglev fans on variable voltage fan headers. They were on PWM fan headers with PWM on pin- and 12v power on pin-2. Their noise issues were in fact being caused by motor noise, impeller &/or motor vibrations and sometimes impeller harmonics to vent grills.
 
doyll said:
What ever gave you the idea an electric motor does not make any noise? You even say 'motor noise and bearing noise' as two different things. A fan has many sources of noise, and the motor itself is one of them.

You need to stop with the assumed gereralizations you are posting as if they were facts. Almost all instances I know of people were not using their maglev fans on variable voltage fan headers. They were on PWM fan headers with PWM on pin- and 12v power on pin-2. Their noise issues were in fact being caused by motor noise, impeller &/or motor vibrations and sometimes impeller harmonics to vent grills.
Click to expand...

That's hilarious as you are making wild assumptions left and right, and using anecdotal evidence as fact.
 
thesmokingman said:
That's hilarious as you are making wild assumptions left and right, and using anecdotal evidence as fact.
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Motors make noises all their own and not anything like bearing noises.

All the rest of your claims only show how little you know.
 
The motors used in these fans have coils that are switched on and off depending on the position of the rotor. All that switching makes noise - heck, you can get coil whine in other components because of current switching - and they don't even have moving parts. While a maglev (or a similar bearing) might have lower bearing noise, you will still have some noise from the blades and the motor. Depending on the speed and design resonance may occur and increase the amount of noise the motor itself generates.
No need to snap at people that try to teach you and help you make a more informed purchase.
 
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