Thermaltake Wheel?

M

mrmagoo_83

2[H]4U
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Aug 8, 2002
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Anyone bought one of these? I bought two 90mm Silent Cats and was decently impressed, I am thinking about buying one of these wheel thingies.

130mm based on a 120mm frame, 54+ CFM @ ~16dB. Now I will only believe it when I see it, but it might be worth it, especially for a nice exaust fan.
 
Personally, I've always been underwhelmed by Thermaltake products, and/or appalled at their taste in design.
 
Looks like it was hit with an ugly stick. Best if used in a case with no side-panel window. Erggg, ugh, bleh.
Um, did I say it was ugly? It may work, though, nice air flow rating.
 
wonkman said:
Links are one of the things that make the Web so useful:

Thermaltake Silent Wheel
Click to expand...

I assume you are complaining cuase I didn't post link, true, I should have.


Yea its ugly as hell. Bright orange. I am using a Chieftec Full Tower with no sidepanel window, plus I am not too interested in my case looking pretty, I don't plan on lugging this 50lb SOB anywhere :) Quiet and cool is what I want, without going water.
 
There ya go, magoo. Links do help since I'd never heard of or seen one of those before. Yea, if it's out of sight like you're saying it will be, may not be so bad. It looks to be well suited for low noise, has a low profile and good air flow specs. I've been using a ThermalTake 92mm fan on a Swiftech heatsink for over 2 years now and it's still running strong. Mine's capable of 4,000rpm but came with a variable speed controller that mounts in an empty slot in the back of my case, At 4,000rpm (full-speed) it's pretty loud but I've found that higher speeds don't always offer better cooling, they just make more noise. A setting of 2,700-3,100rpm nets the same results as higher speeds and it's much quieter. When the air is being forced against the HS base, it can only take so much air pressure at high speeds before the air just bounces back at the fan blades, creating back pressure on the blades and can actually reduce air flow (anyone that says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about!). When used as case fans, higher speeds can really help move the air but not so much on good CPU heatsinks. Sometimes lower speeds are actually better, depending on the HS design. The Thermaltake fans sold by MadDog are "dog ugly" too, with that same dirt brown or orange color but they work! Isn't that what you're looking for, performance and not looks? Heck, for $10 I'd try one of those fans, just to see how well it performs and to hear how quiet it is. Go for it, I would, as long as I didn't have to look at it through a side window. Looks like a good buy and I like my ThermalTake fans. They've not let me down yet and many of my Antec fans have.
 
untrue? Thats what the specs say, but like I said, I wont believe it till I hear it, or see a good review on it.
 
_Korruption_ said:
And Thermaltake's specs have been off for a very long time.
Click to expand...

Saying Thermaltake's specs are "off" is like saying that New York "has a few people." It's like saying that water is "kind of wet." It's like saying the sun is "a bit warm." You get the idea.

The numbers they claim on their fans are total bullshit. The silent wheel is anything but. $5 sleeve bearings that are failing are quieter than those things. I figure they're taking their noise readings with the microphone in an isolated chamber 10 feet away from the fan; that's the only possible way they could get the numbers they claim.

If you want quiet, you want Panaflo/NMB-MAT or Sunons on controllers. (Sunons have very low bearing noise, but high wind noise.) Also pay attention to how you attach; vibration noise is the worst kind. Get some sort of soft insulating layer like rubber gaskets or silicone between the fan and your case. (And preferably heatsinks too.)
 
Just out of curiosity now, found some reviews by people that bought this fan. Pros (only 1) were that it is actually fairly silent, cons were it's ugly, it's selling for more than most people think it's worth, it has no fan grill nor any way to mount a fan grill so cables can be sucked in as an exhaust fan and other objects can be sucked in as an intake fan. Also someone pointed out that children and pets should be kept away from it for this reason, e.g. the lack of grill potential. Looks to me that it's got good and bad about it, mostly bad. After reading the few reviews I'd found, I don't think I'd buy one.
 
54cfm at 16dBa. What a crock of sh*t. Thermaltake always lies about their products.
 
Good observation by someone, I didn't even think about the no fan grills.

But like I said, its going inside my case, and there aren't any worries about wires or fingers.

I will definately post a review once it arrives. I also ordered a SI-90A (I think thats it) Heatsink for my new CPU (AMD 3000+) that I bought off the forums. Going to stick a 90mm Silent Cat on there and see how it will cool.
 
Perhaps you're thinking of the Thermalright SI-97A? If so, everyone I know with a Thermalright HS swears by it, regardless of model. Just be sure to get a good ball-bearing fan for it, not some el-cheapo sleeve bearing fan. I use a Swiftech MCX462-V on my XP 3200+ Barton and a Swiftech MCX6400-V on my FX-53. While it's a matter of personal preferrence and I like the Swiftech design, machining, performance and quality myself (having worked as a machinist for many years) most people see a few degrees better cooling using the Thermalright products.
 
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