I've decided that my Mugen 2 doesn't get my i7 cool enough so I'm switching to a Prolimatech Megahalems. Now I need advice for a pair of quiet but efficient CPU heatsink fans. What should I pair up with the Megahalems? Are a pair of these good enough? DFS122512L-PWM I wish I could order 2 of the ones that came with the Scythe Mugen 2, but they don't appear to be available for individual retail. The SY1225SL2LM-P is rated up to 74 CFM at 1300 rpm and is one of the quietest cpu fans I've heard. Having to return this fan is the only thing I will regret about swapping coolers. So any other CPU fan recommendations? I want to order my new Megahalems today and the fans at the same time. Here are the fans offered at the website I'm getting the heatsink from. http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/120mm-fans.html
I use two Scythe Slipstream 1600 rpm on my Megahalems and they work wonderfully. If you're going to use two fans, two Scythe GentleTyphoons at 1300 rpm will be more than enough. In fact, Prolimatech says you only need 54 cfm to get optimal results with the heatsink.
If you have space pretty much nothing beats a pair of 38mm thick Panaflo low speeds on a fan controller. Depending on board / socket location / case, however, this may not fit.
I'm also considering adding a pair of Noctua NFP-12. But they are pricey. http://www.svc.com/nf-p12.html Are the Silenx Ixtrema as good/better? http://www.svc.com/ixp-74-14.html I had Panaflo fans in my Lian Li case and although they push a decent amount of air they were too noisy for my tastes. These Gelid fans look a lot cheaper and they are PWM. But they might be noisier/not as good? http://www.svc.com/fn-px12-15.html Just trying to find some good/quiet fans with high enough static pressure to use on a heatsink. The Noctuas are a bit expensive and kinda ugly but should I just bite the bullet?
While we are on the topic of the Megahalem, do you really need 2 fans in push/pull, or is 1 fan enough for a stock i7?
The Noctua are over priced fans if you ask me, good, but over priced as you can get fans as good or better for cheaper, like the GT fan. The Silenx you pointed to is only the 25mm one, the 38mm ones are much better, but also like the Noctua fans, way over priced. I have never had much luck with the Gelid fans, cheap sure, but not for me. My pick is the GT fan, if you want quiet go for this one, if you don't mind a little noise this one, and if you are looking for all out cooling or have a controller this one.
If you're running stock, 1 good fan is probably enough if it has a good static pressure. then the rear or top exhaust case fan can act as the 'pull'. The thing is that a lot of the CFM/Noise ratings from the fan manufacturer are off. That is the fans don't put out nearly as much CFMs as rated and usuallly are a lot noisier than rated by their label. Here's a fan testing chart that I found. There are some 70+ cfm fans here that actually only put out CFM in the 30s. And there were NO fans with DBA below 30 although many of the manufacturers claim are for 25 or less DBA. http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/pictur...140-fans-roundup/10_diagr_cfm-dba_big.png&1=1
Hmm Gentle Typhoons have a good rep too, but do they produce enough static pressure for a heatsink application? Unfortunately jabtech seems to be out of stock on the Megahalems and I'd prefer to buy the heatsink and fans together. Saves on shipping and get em at the same time for assembly. From these pictures, I get the feeling that a 38mm fan would not fit on an EVGA Classified + Megahalems combo. At least not if I want all my memory slots, and I do want to have them all available.
OH man. The shipping is what really hurts on these fans. $8 just to get em shipped out. And they were $15 apiece for the Enermax Cluster 120mms. I'm getting $8 rebate per fan, so that should help a bit. But dang, I could have just bought a V10 for the price of the Prolimatech + 120mm Fans + shipping.
Could have got both from sidewindercomputers, don't know if it would have saved you anything. Also, I would take the Megahalems over the V10 any day. Oh...and you got the Enermax fans?! Wow, you wasted some money, about the worst fan for static pressure.
Well, that sucks, I got the fans because they had the MIR on them. Was looking to save some cash. 27.5 cfm to 37 dba ratio looked decent according to the xbitlab chart. Nothing to do now but test em out, if they don't work out I"ll have to buy more. Guess I should have gone with the ugly brown Noctua NFP12s.
I moved from using mostly 38mm SilenX fans to nothing put Noctua NFP12's and man can I tell the difference. They are all running off a fan controller and at no time can I hear them at all. This is far different than the SilenX fans which while nearly silent mannaged to create a slightly annoying whooshing sound. The SilenX fans moved a decent amount of air, but the Noctua's manage to do about the same with a lot less noise to my ear. Well worth the extra cost. They also have dropped my GPU and CPU temps about 4 degrees each at idle...which is the main payoff. I also purchased them so if I decide later to go to water I can use them on the Radiators to pull in air as they have enough static pressure to do so, whereas SilenX are by no means recommended for that type of application. I ended up putting the SilenX fans in my brother in law's computer to keep his setup cool, great way to seem to be nice while getting rid of gear you dont need.
That's why you don't just go by charts, for fans in free air when looking for a fan to use on a HS. You also don't get the impact of tone or noise profiles, lower dBA will not always be the most quiet. If you wanted to get a fan with the HS you should have gone with the S-Flex if nothing else, they are also great fans, and still an arm and leg cheaper than Noctuas.
OH well, here are the Clusters mounted on the Megahalem. At 4.1ghz Linpack stable, I'm getting 39 43 39 42 as idle temps. Actual gaming/programs don't run near as hot as linpack. Game load is probably around the 60c range. Hit a max of 78c when running linpack stability test. They're not better cooling than the Noctuas but they look a lot sexier.
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