Recommended Radiator Fans?

[Chunkylover21]

Hey guys I have an external top-mounted MCR 320 Radiator with a D5 pump. Currently it is only cooling my cpu but eventually it will also cool my 3870x2. I am wondering what level of CFM the 3 radiator fans should have. Right now I have three 38.5 CFM Yate Loon's on it and am averaging about ~31C for both cores on my CPU (in sig). If I were to get higher CFM fans would I see a significant temp change? Or would it not be worth it. I like the fans I have right now because they are only 25.4 dBA and silent while running. I just found these new types of fans which have very high CFM with VERY low dBA, which explains their high price.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4..._Fluid_Dynamic_Bearings_IXP-76-18.html?tl=g36

What opinions/suggestions do you have?

Thanks

 

[XcaliberZ]

In my current project, I also have a top mounted mcr320, d5, q6600 and 8800gts 512, but I went with 3 scythe s-flex-e's, 1200rpm. Still putting it together though, so not sure what my temps will be; however my primary focus was on silence and these I hear are among the best for that. My 2 case fans on my LL V1200 are s-flex-f's, 1600rpm with fan controller.

 

[Yuk]

DO NOT BUY THEM! They are not what you want for cooling a radiator. There is no way they are 18 db. I have 4 of them and I don't know what to do with them, ahhhhh hey do you want to buy 4 SilenX 120x120x38mm - 18dBA - 90CFM iXtrema Pro Fans, J/K.

 

[Arcygenical]

Yate loons, for 4$ a piece.

Sflex's and Kaze fans are SLIGHTLY better, about 5% quieter, for 300% the price...

 

[Riles]

If your mobo works with speedfan, I recommend getting PWM fans. I use a pwm fan on my rad hooked in through the mobo, and its great. I have it configured to speed up to 50% once my CPU hits 40c, so most of the time, my fan is only spinning 900 rpms (which is the lowest I can get it to turn without shutting off completely- 5%). It spins well over 3000 rpms at 100%.

Using the cpu core temp as your reference temp works well for the gpu as well, since gpus can run a bit hotter than cpus.

I currently use a 150cfm delta 120mm fan. This thing is as loud as a jet engine at full speed, but its silent almost all of the time. The only time I ever hit 40c on the cpu is with 4 instances of cpu burn-in running for 40 minutes or so, but we'll see if that changes when I get my gpu into the loop next week.

So, when sizing a pwm fan, I just looked for the fan that moves the most cfms, because noise isn't an issue when you can have it controlled automatically.

 

[gmkmay]

Just a quick note, not all fans are able to be speed controlled well. Some when they are supplied with a lower voltage make horrendous sounds (my 120mm panaflo's are a great example...which I still need to sell or do something with). Just something to make sure you check out.

 

[StanD]

This should help you out
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=171661


- Stan

 

[Riles]

Just a quick note, not all fans are able to be speed controlled well. Some when they are supplied with a lower voltage make horrendous sounds (my 120mm panaflo's are a great example...which I still need to sell or do something with). Just something to make sure you check out.

Thats actually the advantage of PWM fans. They aren't controlled by changing the voltage, they are controlled by pulsing the full voltage. This is sort of like flicking a switch on and off really fast for high speeds, and not as fast for slow speeds- the fan gets the same 12 volts either way.

PWM fans have a controller built into the fan, so the motherboard sends a signal on the fourth wire telling the fan what speed it should be running at and the fan adjusts itself.

 

[Deleted member 134350]

ebm_Pabst 4412FGML and Sharkoon "Golfball" are some of the better fans for rads.