What's the current best value for mid speed 120/140mm case fans

DanNeely

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my stash of old/spare 120mm fans just got wiped out today (discovered in addition to the noisy fan, the other two OEM fans in one of my cases had also died, as had one of my salvaged spares). Most of my systems still run on them, so I'd like to have a spare or two on hand for the next time one goes out; and I'm thinking having a spare or two for my newer system with 140's might not be a bad idea because it's getting up there in years too.
 
I'm also looking to get some 120mm and 140mm fans as spares. I bought a 5 pack of the Arctic 120mm PWM PST fans a couple of years ago and all the fans are still working great. Sadly, prices on them have skyrocketed. I paid about $26 for that 5 pack of 120mm fans two years ago and now I think the cheapest I've seen is $42. That's still cheap for what I consider pretty decent fans compared to many others but a far cry from the price they used to be.
 
ill second(third?) the artic P series BUT they do have a low speed tick. find it and increase your rpm ~100.
edit or the F series for flow.
 
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ill second(third?) the artic P series BUT they do have a low speed tick. find it and increase your rpm ~100.
edit or the F series for flow.
With the exception of if I have to replace the fan on a 212 cooler most of the spots I'd be putting the 120's aren't speed controlled.
 
Im pretty sure you can still get yate loon 120/140 low med and highs from performance-pcs for 5 or 6 bucks a piece but shipping may be a deal breaker with them. Unless you can catch a 10%off sale, that may even the shipping out some.
Just dont use your phone to browse their site or youll have 56k flash backs.
 
get a cheap PWM fan hub and have much better control of everything?
meh. These're secondary boxes, and running distributed computing so at fixed loads. Fixed speed fans that can't be heard from a distance do everything I need.
 
I really like the older Rosewill dual ball bearing fans. They stopped selling the regular black with red blade ones and then sold the ones with LEDs for a while and then stopped selling them.

Been using them for years and have never had one die on me.

But you definitely want to speed control them. They are high output fans and get kinda loud at full speed. At normal low/med speed they are really quiet.
 
I've heard nothing but good things about the Artic P12's PWM. Amazon recently had the 5 pack for sale at $31. I missed out on it -normally around $40-$45 . It's probably one of the best value case fans out there.
 
I also use the Arctic P14 PWM, I prefer them over the stock Fractal Fans if that helps at all. Not that the stock fractal fans were bad, just that the P14 PWM *can* spin faster and move more air, while they can also be just as whisper quiet.
Also that daisy chain feature is *wonderful*
 
I also use the Arctic P14 PWM, I prefer them over the stock Fractal Fans if that helps at all. Not that the stock fractal fans were bad, just that the P14 PWM *can* spin faster and move more air, while they can also be just as whisper quiet.
Also that daisy chain feature is *wonderful*
My Fractal Design Focus G came with a couple of 120mm fans with white LEDs in front and I've been using them. However, they don't really move that much air but they are quiet. I'm waiting a bit to see if the price on the Arctic fans goes down anytime soon because it would be nice to replace the stock fans with a couple of Arctic P12 or P14 PWM PST fans.

And yes, the daisy chain feature of the pst fans is awesome. When I was looking to purchase a certain motherboard it had an issue where there weren't many fan headers. It wasn't a concern since most of the fans are the Arctic PWM PST and can be daisy chained. I wasn't sure I'd use that feature when I purchased the fans but glad I did since I ended up using it a couple of times.
 
re the P14s fans and their 10 year warranty. i just had one go bad after hitting a knuckle in it. i emailed them and asked how the warranty works. they asked for the invoice and are shipping me a new one, simple.
 
re^^^: received the new one this morning. two weeks from contact, 1.5wks for shipping from SC to Alberta. not too shabby.
I'm impressed. Not just by how fast they turned it around, but that it wasn't ruled as user error and replacement denied.
 
I'm impressed. Not just by how fast they turned it around, but that it wasn't ruled as user error and replacement denied.
i told them there was no visible damage, i cleaned and inspected it and couldnt see why it was making noise. they said; no prob, send the invoice and we'll send a fan from the US for quicker shipping. i didnt even use the support/rma contact, i only used the generic "contact us" form to inquire and they initiated the replacement for me. probably the easiest "rma" ever.
edit: fixed first sentence structure.
 
i told them there was no visible damage, i cleaned and inspected it and couldnt see why it was making noise. they said; no prob, send the invoice and we'll send a fan from the US for quicker shipping. i didnt even use the support/rma contact, i only used the generic "contact us" form to inquire and they initiated the replacement for me. probably the easiest "rma" ever.
edit: fixed first sentence structure.
That information should go a long way in allaying alot of the negative feedback we've heard about them in the past.
 
only thing "negative" ive seen is the low speed motor tick...
I remember someone bashing them because they would only replace the remaining value of the fan according to what was left on the warranty. From your experience they never mentioned it.
 
I remember someone bashing them because they would only replace the remaining value of the fan according to what was left on the warranty. From your experience they never mentioned it.
nope nothing like that, just "have receipt, we'll take care of it".
 
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