I think we have too many fan sizes to choose from now and they keep adding new one! 40mm, 60mm, 70mm, 80mm, 92mm, 100mm, 120mm, 140mm, 180mm, 220mm, 250mm. How come so many? I know I probably missed some. john
I agree. There should just be in multiples of 20 from 40mm upwards 40 - 60 - 80 - 100 - 120 - 140 and so on. Personally,I think fans bigger than 140mm are pretty much useless.
I have dual 40mm for my radiator in H2O-C7 60mm, 70mm, 80mm for HSF 80mm on up for H2O use, case cooling and general air movement. The 220mm and up must be for side panels mostly but very few of my cases are big enough for them plus I think huge side fans are ugly. Detracts from looks IMHO.
**** it. 120mm on everything. Chipset? 120mm. CPU? 120mm. GPU? 120mm. Come to think of it, I've got everything under water. Cooled by guess what? 120mm. Case intakes? 120mm. Simples.
QFT. Smaller ones are always too whiny and don't move enough air, while the bigger ones take up too much room and aren't as efficient (not to mention the fact that most cases with 200mm+ fan mounts don't include dust filters). 120-140mm is the sweet spot IMO, so that's all I use.
I just got a Antec Mini-P180 220MM fan in the top-panel, sucks hot air out like a beast. Not useless at all!
I wouldn't call it a problem, given that there aren't any fan sizes that are particularly hard to find. Call it versatility?
i think they are usually less effective than the 120s (size/performance ratio) because they are less common. there are not as many places they can be used on a stock case and so less case manufactures use them. as such less money is put into researching and improving them, so the majority of them tend to suck, so more people go with 120s or 140s.
For size to performance then 120mm is about the sweet spot but you need to factor in noise, when it comes to that, the bigger, the quieter while moving the same amount of air
230mm pulls out air like a beast, sadly they cost an arm and aren't common.(Only in CM cases). That said, 120mms are pretty damned good even in a full sized tower, you can fit TONS of them in there.
I'll take larger fans anyday. I put a 200mm in the side of my current case and it nice in that it moves a lot of air quietly. That is what larger fans are nice for- case airflow at low noise. As for all of the different sizes, I personally have used 60mm, 80mm, 92mm, 120mm, and 200mm depending on where and how they are used. So having a variety of sizes to choose from is not a bad thing. I just bought two brand new 230mm fans for $25 US shipped for future use, which was a great deal.
I tend to find larger case fans to be a it tacky, with the exception of the Antec Big Boy and some of the Coolermaster ones (such as the ones in the HAF cases). I think this has something to do with the cheap looking clear plastic that other models seem to be made from. If it's hidden, then great, otherwise in my opinion it just adds the chav-factor*. *Don't take that comment too seriously, chavs don't know how to build a computer pfft.
