Hardware What's the best 120mm case fan?

every time custom pc \ bit tech does an article like this, all my favorite e-shops sell out of the recommended items, i tried to get a 120mm "gentle typhoon this morning and no luck at all

 

I think the method for determining CFM is flawed in this article (if only for expressly determining only CFM).

As the garbage bag fills up with air, a pressure gradient forms from one side of the fan to the other, therefore bringing the static pressure of the fans into consideration. i.e. The airflow of each fan will fall off as the garbage bag gets inflated, with fans exhibiting higher static pressure performing better near the end of the test and therefore giving the impression of higher CFM.

I think a slightly better test setup would have been to create a shroud leading to an anemometer, which would remove the static pressure of each fan from consideration until the radiator test (which is where static pressure should actually come into play, anyhow).

 

Nice article, wish I read it before I installed 2xAntec 120mm Tri Cools...

Would have been good to see how they feature on this list...

 

That's probably the best compliment we've had for ages - so good I sent the post round the office to keep the ol' morale up!

We're expecting stock of the winner fans to be in shops in about 10-14 days, btw.

 

its nice to have an article focused on the fans you can buy in the uk..... while madshimps and silentpc both do great fan reviews, they often list products which just arent available here.

There is more you could have done with the results you got. Your current airflow to noise graph doesnt really tell you anything. Its heavily biased towards airflow, mainly because while dba is logarithmic, cfm increases on a linear scale.... as a result all the high airflow fans are at the top, and the low noise fans are at the bottom.

you need something like a scatter graph to show what is going on with more clarity.

 

Nice article - I'd been looking at the Gentle Typhoons for a while and had liked what I'd seen so far, so the positive reinforcement from you guys is nice.

I'd have liked to see some of the lower-speed S-Flex fans included, though. I know the S-Flex series comes highly recommended by SPCR. I think they generally discourage people from buying the G (the one you tested) as it is the highest RPM fan of the line and does make more noise than they like, but the rest of the line they're quite fond of. Any chance you could work an SFF21F and/or an SFF21E into a follow-up article?

 

Have really been waiting for something like this. Really nice job.
Would have wanted to see such fans also:
1. Enermax Magma
2. Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-P
3. Cooler Master 120mm Case Fan

 

You must have used a malfunctioning Ultra Kaze because my 3000's (all 5 of them) dont make any weird sound whatsoever. Either that or your ears malfunction.

 

We tested both these fans quite a years back (CPC Issue 36), but the testing methodology is pretty much unchanged so the results are more or less comparable.

In short, the 1,200rpm SFF21E moved 61cfm at 25.5dBA, while the 1,600rpm SFF21F moved 76cfm at 33.7dBA. As such, I'd say the SFF21E is a good (albeit expensive) fan, while the SFF21F is too noisy for comfort.

 

Highly recommend the Sharkoon Silent Eagles. Running 3 in my system; two case fans and one on a Scythe Ninja and they rock. Very quiet, but unlike a lot of the other quiet fans, it provides a decent amount of airflow.

 

i highly do not recommend accidentally buying the 2000 rpm models instead of the 1000 ;p. those things are really ****ing loud.

 

+1

no independent measurements were done on static pressure, which is a much less covered, but almost as important figure... granted they're not as important when used as case fans, they're good figures to know when you want to plug them onto radiators or behind a restrictive inlet (dust clogged filter).

 

I would like to see included Noiseblocker 120mm fans, I think they're among the best i've seen....

 

That's a really good thing to know.

Your test had the Gentle Typhoon (D1225C12B4AP-14) get 61cfm at 28.6dBA, and the SFF21E get the same cfm at 25.5dBA. In the US, you can get the D1225C12B4AP-14 for $13.20 (platinummicro.com), and the SFF21E for $12 (directron.com), which makes the SFF21E by far the better buy...

 

+1 Maybe make that the Cooler Master R4 fans

 

That is a very good article about an often neglected piece of hardware, however I am slightly intrigued as to why you gave the TK-121 an 8 for value, when its main use appears to be shifting air through the radiator?

 

ah yes i remember this article in the magazine, because of it i bought 3 sharkoon 1000's to replace the case fans in the antec 902 and its near silent

 

Sorry for the confusion, it was a typo - the TK-121 should have for a 4 for value. It's correct now, so thanks for bringing it to our attention.

 

I must agree. I would have liked to have seen the Cooler Master 120mm in the test. I have an ugly HAF932, even with eight 120mm, one 140mm and two 200mm they are all hardly audible and air seems to pump through the case. Slightly overboard I know

 

I'm really disappointed with your testing methodology here. A comparison of temperature deltas with all of the fans mounted on a "standard" CPU cooler (ThermalRight Ultra Extreme comes to mind) would have been much more useful.