Cooling case fans

There are a lot of companies making case fans out there, are some superior to others? I can only assume. I don't care about flashy led's just a quality fan.

 

That's a loaded question, because there are a fair number of traits you can judge a fan on. There are different 'best' choices for low noise, high airflow, controllability, a good ratio of noise to airflow, good pressure capability, and so on.

If you're looking for a good all-round fan, get an Antec Tricool. The built-in 3-speed controller lets you select the appropriate amount of airflow for your needs.

If you're looking for a fan with an exceptional airflow-to-noise ratio, look at the Noctua NF-S12 series. These fans have very poor pressure capabilities, though, so while they make excellent case fans they do poorly mounted on heatsinks.

If you want overall low noise with a nice balance of pressure and airflow, either get Scythe S-Flex fans, which are available in three speeds, or get a Nexus Real Silent (my personal favorite).

If you need raw power and nothing else, wait for someone else to reply.

 

Id take a Yate Loon over a Nexus, as YL is the manufacturer for Nexus fans and Yate Loons sell for $3 and Nexuses for $10.

Deltas, Tornadoes, Sunons, and Sanyo Denkis are all high-performance fan makers - high performance as in multiple hundreds of CFM at 50 dBA and up. Nothing I'd use in any of my computers, but... they're there

Noctua's S12 is, like crazybob said, a very good case fan but a poor heatsink/radiator fan. The NF-P12 was designed to solve these issues, and works much better on things that need back pressure.

Scythe S-Flex fans are good, but outdated - the new Slipstream line has more airflow per dBA and higher pressure, and comes in speeds from 500RPM to 1900RPM iirc.

 

I understand there's a small difference in the design of the shroud, which makes the Yate Loons a bit louder. For most people, I suppose it'd be a worthwhile tradeoff, but if your main goal is low noise there's some benefit in the more expensive Nexus.

 

IIRC, the difference is closed corners versus open corners, which affects the length of the screw needed to mount the fan. Yate Loon D12SL-12 fans are closed corner, and Nexus Real Silent 120mm [also model number D12SL-12] are open corner. Yate Loon now makes them in open corner configurations also, but the only thing that would affect quietness is the fact that you can't use most vibration-dampening mounts [designed for open corner fans] on closed corner Yate Loons. However, with the new open corner models that's not an issue.

Oh yeah, Yate Loon models are either all orange or all black, and Nexus models are black shroud/white blades.

 

if you can find a place to buy sanyo denki san ace 1011's, get those, they are the best fans in the market

second best would be sharkoon golf ball 2000's

 

Not true, there are the rubber/silicone vibration-isolating mounts for closed corner fans. They come in black as well as some uv reactive colors. See http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=325&products_id=20642 . Of course it does depend on your location. But look around and you should be able to locate some for your build.

 

Read some good things about those Scythe Slipstream fans, so will probably be the next model I try. Scan do not stock them and not seen any in my other shopping outlets, so waiting at the moment.

 

Hence, "most vibration-dampening mounts"... I know they exist, but they are less commonly found than open-fan mounts.

 

so you guys are saying yate loon fans are not the best for heatsinks? (namely push+pull config in Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme)

 

Yate Loons are fine for heatsinks... the Noctua NF-S12 series is bad for heatsinks, since it has very low pressure.

Yate Loons on an Ultra-120 eXtreme might be a problem, since the wire clips might not be designed for closed-corner fans. Other than that, they should be fine.. and the clips can be easily fixed by bending them or replacing them with tape or zipties.

 

it's Noiseblocker bought from this forum, made by Yate loon. so mounting fine. thanks

 

what fans do you guys recommend for on radiators?

I noticed that the life expectancy for Yate Loons are very low compared to others. Does this make a big difference or is the Yate Loons just fine?

 

yate loon high speed from petra's tech shop are great.

get it from there because they are the only shop that talks directly to the yate loon company, thus good quality.

 

Noctua P12. Period.

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=45788

 

I tested Noctuas with loons - Noctuas are better. Flex are also good

 

A good review of many fans, both in air and on a radiator:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=170224

HTH.

 

After some reading, the 120x38 Denki San Ace 1011 definitely seems to be one of the best high-ish RPM fans [2600RPM], and it undervolts well while maintaining a similar level of performance - IMO one of the better and more flexible fans on the market, except for the thickness. There's only two places to get them in the US though, and more in Europe. Here in the US, FrozenCPU stocks them for $30

 

Denki are the cheapest compare to others and still pretty good, as long as you gonna keep them on decent speed