Fans: who makes reliable, quiet fans with decent CFM flow?

Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?

Thanks
Ken K

Ken wrote:
> Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
> quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?
>
> Thanks
> Ken K

Ken,

The Antec Tri-cools that came in your case are OK, provided you don't
use the "Hi" setting. Additionally, Zalman makes good quality fans that
are comparatively quiet. Here's a link to a website that list a number
of fans in various sizes along with the rated DB levels at different
settings:

http://www.quietpcusa.com/AcoustiFan...5B--P66C6.aspx

Stay with 120mm fans as they can move more air at lower RPM's (note your
case uses all 120mm fans). Regardless of claims, I've never seen one
that is "silent", and the case has a lot to do with dampening noise.
You'll notice a difference with the front door open or closed on your case.

Fitz

--
Your body is a temple boy,
You ought to treat it well
But you trash the place and rent it out
Like it's some cheap motel - The Badlees

Ken wrote:
> Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
> quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?
>
> Thanks
> Ken K

Try a site like this.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section12.html

One thing I read in some of the reviews, is some brands are sensitive
to physical handling. Some brands of fans, if you accidentally bumped
them on your work table, would not be as quiet from then onwards. So
in terms of absolute quietness, you would expect some unit to unit
variation, as a function of how they've been handled.

If any one company solved all problems simultaneously, they'd
be a roaring success. The thing is, some quiet designs will
compromise fan lifetime, to get the level of quiet. I have a
fan here, which is known in the industry as a premium fan
company, but the fan in question is quite annoying. But at
least it'll live forever, to annoy me.

I think the people who look for these, are constantly testing and
tweaking, looking for the perfect fan. So expect to have a large
pile of rejects sitting next to your desk.

Every company can solve a little part of the puzzle. Like Verax
invented a fan blade shape, for less turbulent airflow. But you won't
find these in your local PC shop.

http://www.verax.de/verax.php?template=home&lang=en
http://www.verax.de/verax.php?SID=&t...id=1&entryid=7

Paul

The fan creating the most noise in your PC will probably be the CPU fan.
The heatsink/fan that comes with the retail processor is adequate for
cooling, but not the most efficient nor quiet of solutions. An after
market heatsink/fan is an option (I use a huge Zalman) that you might
consider.

You can also use a front panel fan controller which would let you adjust
the RPM's for individual fans. You could then find an acceptable
compromise between noise level and temps.

Fitz

Fitz said the following on 4/26/2008 11:35 AM:
> Ken wrote:
>> Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies
>> produce quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Ken K
>
> Ken,
>
> The Antec Tri-cools that came in your case are OK, provided you don't
> use the "Hi" setting. Additionally, Zalman makes good quality fans that
> are comparatively quiet. Here's a link to a website that list a number
> of fans in various sizes along with the rated DB levels at different
> settings:
>
> http://www.quietpcusa.com/AcoustiFan...5B--P66C6.aspx
>
>
> Stay with 120mm fans as they can move more air at lower RPM's (note your
> case uses all 120mm fans). Regardless of claims, I've never seen one
> that is "silent", and the case has a lot to do with dampening noise.
> You'll notice a difference with the front door open or closed on your case.
>
> Fitz

Yeah, Fitz, you are probably one of those people who actually installs
the sides on your case, as well... ;-)

Once I am finished burning it in, routing the wires, and mounting the
sides "permanently" (in between tweaks, of course), I am sure it will be
quiet.

I am thinking about putting a fan (on slow) in front of the upper hdd
cage if I add drives...

While I have your attention,... about the lower fan. 1, is there an
easy way to remove the lower fan? The four plastic hooks seem a bit
brittle and I don't want to break them. I thought that if I build the
same system for my daughter, it might be easier to remove that fan and
then replace it toward the end of the process. 2, I find that fan won't
start by itself on the lowest setting but will do so on med and high.
Have you found the same? (I wish there was a screen in front of the
fan--without one, I am having to be more compulsive about cable routing
than it is in my nature to be in order to keep the cables out of the fan
blades. It is probably a good thing....

WRT the case, I am pleased with the design in that it allows for cable
routing that is out of sight and out of air flow.

Again, thanks, Fitz, for your input.

Ken K

Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

> If any one company solved all problems simultaneously, they'd be a
> roaring success. The thing is, some quiet designs will compromise
> fan lifetime, to get the level of quiet. I have a fan here, which
> is known in the industry as a premium fan company, but the fan in
> question is quite annoying. But at least it'll live forever, to
> annoy me.

I've been using a fluid dynamic bearing case fan since February 24,
2006, 24 hours a day. The subject came up in a cross post and I got
lots of static from a troll or two, as if it were too good to be
true. I didn't realize it was a big secret. I used to play with
hardware, ordered from Digi-Key Corporation. Panasonic is a major
supplier of all different types of high-quality electronics. They
made fluid dynamic bearing fans sold through Digi-Key and obviously
were very proud of them (judging by the price). The fans have
incredibly long lifespans. Didn't take much figuring when I noticed
fluid dynamic bearings offered in PC case fans. Even if the one I
bought wasn't the best, I'm convinced it's the way to go for
reliability as in leaving a computer on 24 hours a day. Newegg sells
lots of them now.

John Doe wrote:
> Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>
>> If any one company solved all problems simultaneously, they'd be a
>> roaring success. The thing is, some quiet designs will compromise
>> fan lifetime, to get the level of quiet. I have a fan here, which
>> is known in the industry as a premium fan company, but the fan in
>> question is quite annoying. But at least it'll live forever, to
>> annoy me.
>
> I've been using a fluid dynamic bearing case fan since February 24,
> 2006, 24 hours a day. The subject came up in a cross post and I got
> lots of static from a troll or two, as if it were too good to be
> true. I didn't realize it was a big secret. I used to play with
> hardware, ordered from Digi-Key Corporation. Panasonic is a major
> supplier of all different types of high-quality electronics. They
> made fluid dynamic bearing fans sold through Digi-Key and obviously
> were very proud of them (judging by the price). The fans have
> incredibly long lifespans. Didn't take much figuring when I noticed
> fluid dynamic bearings offered in PC case fans. Even if the one I
> bought wasn't the best, I'm convinced it's the way to go for
> reliability as in leaving a computer on 24 hours a day. Newegg sells
> lots of them now.

The Panaflo fans are good (now owned by NMB or whatever).

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/..._fans_home.htm

But check the Silentpcreview articles, to see if there are ones
that are more quiet. There may be some cheesy sleeve bearings
with better noise ratings. Ones you've never heard of, like
Yate Loon. (Like I said, you cannot optimize for all characteristics
at the same time - there may be some quieter fans, that don't last
as long. It really depends on whether noise is a priority or not.)

http://www.svc.com/d12sl-12-bk.html

Paul

Ken wrote:
> Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
> quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?
>
> Thanks
> Ken K

Vantec Stealth fans - I use them in all my builds and mods and have
never had one die since I started using them more than half a decade ago.

Ari

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply
Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor and literally save someone's life:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

Ken wrote:

> While I have your attention,... about the lower fan. 1, is there an
> easy way to remove the lower fan?

It's more of a bracket than clips. Take hold of the fan housing (fan in
the O-F-F mode, hopefully computer powered down) and pull it toward you.
The bracket will disengage from the case, and after moving toward you
about 1/4 of an inch, the fan bracket can be removed from the mounting
holes and taken out.


2, I find that fan won't
> start by itself on the lowest setting but will do so on med and high.
> Have you found the same? (I wish there was a screen in front of the
> fan--without one, I am having to be more compulsive about cable routing
> than it is in my nature to be in order to keep the cables out of the fan
> blades. It is probably a good thing....

No, I haven't had that problem. I opened my case up (to verify the fan
removal steps) and turned all the fans in the case to Low. They all
started up fine. Could be just the switch on that particular fan. You
could try connecting it to another power connector and verify that
doesn't make a difference. Check the voltages in your BIOS and make sure
they are within tolerance. Since it's only that fan (and they don't draw
much power), I wouldn't think there would be a problem, but might as
well eliminate possibilities before you get done with the build.

"keep the cables out of the fan blades. Its probably a good thing...." -
Ya think?!

Fitz

--

"Paul" wrote:
> (Like I said, you cannot optimize for all characteristics
> at the same time - there may be some quieter fans, that don't last
> as long. It really depends on whether noise is a priority or not.)
>
> http://www.svc.com/d12sl-12-bk.html
>
> Paul

The usual trade-off is between airflow and fan speed - the
faster the fan turns, the greater the air flow, but the greater the
noise as well. That's why people use the big 120mm fans - to
get good airflow while maintaining low fan blade speed. The
more efficient fans can get good airflow while keeping speed
low relative to other fans of the same size, but it's a "snake oil"
market and few homebuilders actually measure and graph the
airflow versus noise of their fans, much less measure the power
used to achieve a given cooling effect.

There may be some help in new airfoil technology that is being
introduced now in subsonic aircraft wings and propellers which
use "whale bumps" on the leading edge to reduce the stall speed
of the airfoil, allowing the airfoil to provide lift and thrust even at
low airspeeds. It comes from a scientist observing the bumps on
the leading edges of the flippers of Humpback whales:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0512044455.htm
It turns out that the bumps produce a vortex effect that postpones
the onset of stall until lower fluidflow speeds are reached, allowing
the whale's flippers to generate higher thrust for quick maneuvers at
low body speed. Bumps on fan blades would afford greater airflow
at lower blade speeds, with *perhaps* less noise.

*TimDaniels*