Cooling Fan Testing and Comparisons

You could 3D print it...

 

Please get a 3d printer... or use one of those services online to print it for you. Well worth a test.

 

There's a guy on Youtube (Major Hardware) who prints his own fan designs. It's quite interesting actually, seeing the difference in performance - he cloned a Noctua A12x25 and got pretty much the same results in a thermal test, although the printed fan was a lot louder and a little slower. It shows that most of the refinements of fans at this level have little to do with performance and are more about the acoustic properties of the fan blades.

In the meantime I am planning to fab more impellers for the Barn Door Fan project. The idea for me is to make an impeller that is as unrefined as possible and see whether or not it can compete with the most expensive fans. Next up will be a simple 9-blade design which I'll pit against the Gentle Typhoon and A12x25.

 

As usual - some nice work here @LennyRhys

The CAD work is really cool - as for your comment about tight tolernaces - the smaller the gap, the better the fan

Hows your airflow physics self-learing going? Your right - it is heavy stuff! I've never really delved into propellor/impellor design, but am fairly well versed in the different types and applications. As for pitot tubes and their measurements, it used to be part of my day job

I may have some books on fan design at work - would be happy to scan you a few pages if you wanted anything specific.

Looking forward to some more test results

 

The vanes on the frame of the Air Penetrator were pretty effective at directing airflow. I printed a stand for the 180mm model and used it as a desk fan.

They look amazing. Gimme a shout when you start a production run!

 

Hey guys - I'm still alive, just busy and tired with a lot going on!

I've tested the Air Penetrator and will make it part of another round of testing with cheaper fans to see how they compare to the more expensive fans. The cheapest fan I got was a Cooler Master Sickleflow which I got on Amazon for around £3.50. I'll also be testing a couple of other "generic" 120mm fans to make

To make things interesting, I've purchased a 120mm Delta centrifugal fan (blower) so I can test how much of an effect it has on cooling performance. Blowers generate a lot more pressure than axial fans, but they are comparatively very weak when it comes to airflow. The 120mm blower develops similar static pressure to my most powerful 120mm fans, but only 1/6 of the airflow.

 

I have a few I can send at some point. Pretty sure I have a couple of nidec too.

I'll have to have a dig.

 

Thanks VT. I've just finished testing the Sickleflow and it's actually a pretty decent fan, even more so because I paid only £3.50 for it - by far the cheapest 120mm fan I own.

All things considered, I already knew that most fans are going to be much of a muchness from around 1,000rpm, and any differences will be minor at best. With load temps not varying more than 2 degrees, it becomes a matter of which fans are the quietest or have the most "pleasing" sound, and it seems the (ultra expensive) A12x25 takes the crown here.

The only other "regular" fan I think it's worth testing is the Noiseblocker eLoop B12, because of its unique design - I'm interested in its performance and sound profile.

 

I have three left over. I will send one of those too.

Will be about two weeks. I will take some from here, then when I get home dig out the Nidecs.

 

That is why I am sending him one. Anyone who has used them has sworn by them, but I have never seen any proper data. However, they also have the draw of looking absolutely beautiful. But yeah, I wanna see what they can actually do. There's a reason why I have used them three times.

 

Sorry to hijack, but since Lenny is the fan king, I thought it would be best to ask in here briefly, can King Lenny or anyone else recommend an ALL white fan with good static pressure for use on a 360 radiator for an upcoming build?

Thanks

 

Might be easier to find the best fans and paint them or use something like vinyl dye.

 

Problem I found with painting was that it made dust stick to the leading edge of the blades far far more easily

 

I believe the answer might have been a mere few posts above.. the Noiseblocker NB Eloops seem to be highly spoken of for using on radiators.

 

That's why I thought vinyl dye could be an option.

 

@el2k White fans are a rarity these days since most people seem to want all-black or RGB. I notice that Arctic do an all-white version of the P12 (which I tested); you may have to pay a little more for the white version though. There's also an all-white Bitfenix Spectre in 120mm flavour. If you'll be running at low speeds of around 1200rpm or less, don't get hung up on static pressure - any fan will do a decent job on a 360 rad.

Incidentally, the fan in my profile pic is a TY-143 (bright orange) that I painted white with spray acrylic. The paint didn't adhere well, so David's suggestion of vinyl dye might be worth looking into.

I used to have a Silverstone FM-122, which was a very nice all-white fan, but sadly EOL. There was also it's little bro, the FM-121. Both fans were good quality ball bearing fans made by Everflow.

 

Do you have you fan data in a google doc? Would be useful for referencing

 

Thank you will look into these options

 

Nothing particularly organised, but I can put a table together as I have a lot of data on various fans (static pressure & SPL mainly). As with my many other fan-related endeavours, "I'll get round to it at some point" fits the bill!