Case fan comparisons

KillerCroc

Does anyone have an opinion on 120mm case fans? In particular, I'm interested in any empirical experience with Yate Loon vs Thermaltake vs Zalman vs Nexus for use in, say, an original CoolerMaster Stacker case.

Lowfat

XS Fan Review - Part 2 - XtremeSystems Forums

Here, you really can't get a better fan comparison than Vapor's tests on XS.

KillerCroc

excellent info, exactly what I was looking for (even though ThermalTake wasn't included, the review gave lots of info on the others).

Lowfat

He didn't include the Nexus version of the Yate Loon's unfortunately, but I presume they be pretty similar to the better version of the Yate Loon's he tested if not better. I love my Nexus D12SL-12, and wouldn't trade them for anything.

mkk

Can't go wrong with the Nexus Real Silent fans, but I'd be more happy with them if they started up at 5V. I'm looking to eventually switch out my case fans for the Scythe Slip Stream 800rpm model, but they're so new they're not yet widely available.
Check out this article and the previous ones in the same series:
Fan Roundup #5: Attack of the 120 Scythes | silentpcreview.com

The dirt cheap Zalman 120mm is not bad for the price though and come with both silicone mounting straps and a resistor cable that lowers the speed from the crazy 1800rpm to a useful 900-ish. Should do just fine for most but for me they still produce a bit too much noise.

Neshi

I ordered the Scythe Slip-Stream 1200rpm model and will post what my personal experience is with those as soon I got them mounted and going in my computer.

T3hn0

hi...if i countinue this debate...with my needs of course

i've got thermaltake xaser vi, and after buying (and waiting to get) mCubed t-balancer, i have to replace case fans...i had 2 SilenX 120 led fans until now, but yesterday they both died ^^

i've got option for adding four (4) 140mm fans, and one 120mm fan.
other option is to buy 5x 120mm (case supports 140 or 120mm fans)

but i was thinking that it would be nice to have 4 slower rotating 140mm fans than 120mm. i've seen scythe fans, but i'd prefer ball bearing, because it would last longer, and it should be a bit quiter than sleeve bearing at higher rpm.

could you suggest me any 140mm fans? or if you think that 5x 120 would be better choise...i need opinions...

so on short, i:
1. 5x 120mm or 4x 140mm + 1x 120mm fans?
2. which one? if 120, i was looking @ noctua nf-s12 (p12 should be used for cooling CPUs, GPUs, etc.)


// edit:

oh...price is not really important, because i'm planning to buy fans, and have peace for few years > so they should have long life time

and they don't have to have <1000rpm, because T-Balancer is adjusting speed
higher rpm is welcome, but that doesn't mean that they should be loud as lawnmower
just as quiet as possible

KillerCroc

My preferences lean towards the 4 x 140 + 1 x 120mm fans; the larger fans move more air at slower speeds and remain quieter (much as how we've moved from 80mm to 92mm to 120mm in the past). I recently saw 140mm Yate Loon fans on eBay, and I know Thermaltake and a few others are coming out with them, but they're still not as common as 120mm so there are fewer choices (for the moment)

Zardon

good advise killercroc. (Yate Loon are good).

I also like the noiseblocker fans, ive had good experiences with those.

T3hn0

KillerCroc: yeah..i have the same opinion about 4x140 fans...but as you've said they are not as common as 120mm fans

and that's exactly the thing that bothers me

i found this page...but as far as i've read this article, they said that ball bearing is better (longer life time - which is important to me)

and i'd like to know another thing...is PWM availible or not?
i don't want to repeat accident with SilenX (look at my previous post)

well, i do have option for analogue power, but i'd prefer PWM if availible...but that kind of info is very hard to get...or at least i can't find it

T3hn0

oh...another thing about Yate Loon - shouldn't they have bigger air flow? some 120mm have bigger air flow... :o

only their fastest fans have 140cfm air flow...

KillerCroc

I haven't seen ANY 140mm fans that are PWM as of yet; hey 120mm PWM's are still not as common as they should be (they're out there, but nothing compared to the shear numbers of 120mm analog fans).

T3hn0

could you recommend any good 120mm with PWM support?

do you know if noctua has support for it? as far as its said in their FAQ, they don't support it, but it doesn't say that it's meant for all fans

KillerCroc

Nexus makes both 120mm and 80mm PWM fans but no 140's as of yet; I've read the same as you on Noctua's site - so my assumption is also that they don't support PWM yet

RoyBatty

I have two NF-P12 fans and they have only 3 pin connector, so you are right - no PWM.

T3hn0

how can PWM mean that fan has to have 4 pin connector?

t-balancer has only 3-pin connectors for fans...and it says that supports PWM mode...besides, when i tried pwm mode on SilenX, i could see the difference...on analogue mode led lights were a bit dimmed, while in pwm mode they flashed...and then, they died

T3hn0

oh...and look what i found: LFM1514SPV, LFM1514HPV

and if you look specs, you can see that it's air flow is very high 175.0 m3/h (102.94 cfm)

but unfotunate it's industrial fan, so i can't really buy that 100 pieces

RoyBatty

Well, according to the PWM fan specifications the pin 4 is used for the PWM control signal and pin 3 for monitoring. So I thought no pin 4 = no PWM.

T3hn0

weird...i guess that t-balacer is capable of creating pwm signal and send it via +12V (well...you know what i mean)

so i guess that PWM fans are out of question for me...

well...at least i found some new info! tnx btw...and now...still searching for good case fans...

KillerCroc

Good find - leave it to German engineering...too bad they're n/a here in the USA... You may want to check with some of the listed distributors to see about a small purchase - the spec sheet says they're packed in cartons of 100; doesn't mean you have to buy 100 ;-p

T3hn0

i wrote to distributors, because nobody sells this fan
i'll report when i get any answers

KillerCroc: maybe they can send it to usa

KillerCroc

That would be interesting to check out - but as the USD is doing so poorly lately against the Euro (and almost all other currencies!) I can only imagine the cost here...but as they say: hope springs eternal