Cooling Is this fan any good?

The fan in question (Akasa AK-191SM):


I want to replace a case fan (case fans mean a lot to me) and I was wondering if this would actually be any good. I know the specs say 18dB @ 1400 rpm, but that's even lower than the Noctua fan I have, which is triple the price. Is it worth going budget and hoping the case fan lives up to it's specifications?
Or should I splash out and go Noctua again? They are ridiculously expensive, and if the Akasa fan really can be so quiet with that much airflow, I'd feel dumb to find out it was actually a good fan.
Has anyone bought one of these fans?
Thanks

 

I don't know about the fan in question but Xilence Red Wings are great, 1400RPM and very quiet!

 

i just replaced a few fans in my case with the yate loon slow speed 120s and they are pretty good especially for 8 dollars (usd). I would probably go for the medium speed and just use fan controller to slow them down until silent.
On the other hand my slow speed are very close to being silent.

 

Good choice, they are 3dB louder than the Noctua or the Akasa, but the airflow is greater so I'm going for one Xilence Red Wing 120mm and one Akasa 191BL as they can both be had from dabs.com fairly cheaply
+1 for you sir
Edit, apparently I can't +1 you until I +1 some other people first

Close thread?

 

I don't know how loud/quiet your Noctuas are but I know the Red Wings are ridiculously quiet; either way, you won't have much noise coming from your rig.

 

I know little about fans, but judging from it's specifications, that's quite a nice fan.

 

The specs lie, to get that low any fan will be spinning below 1000RPM. I've had Akasa Amber, which has the same 18dBA@1400RPM spec, they're not bad but they're louder than the 1350RPM Yate Loon DS12L, and the 1000RPM Nexus Real Silent is quieter still.

I don't pay stupid Noctua prices, I slow cheaper fans down to match them.

Chilled PC has a decent range with low delivery, the 1200RPM Scythe fans are also good. Aria sell the low-noise 120mm Nexus at a great price but high delivery.

 

Yate loons, much cheaper than Nortuca fans, and just as good.

 

i would also recommend Yate Loons and Scythe.

my Noiseblocker (rebranded Yate Loons) are very quiet (silent at 8v), and recently bought a 140mm Scythe, it's silent even at 10v, at 12v just a low whoosing of air noise.

i wouldn't recommend Zalman or Antec fans, my experience with both is that they are only quiet at lowest possible setting of 6v, anything higher would have a very slightly higher pitch than Yate Loon or Scythe fans.