Opinions Wanted: Picking a good green LED fan.

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YaroKasear

Commendable
Nov 22, 2016
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Hello everyone. I am in a bit of a conundrum, and would like some opinions. I am building my first computer. I've already got a motherboard, an ASUS Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1.

I'm trying to decide on fans. My color scheme is green and black and I'm narrowed down to two fans in particular to use for case fans:

These COUGAR green LED fans. Pros being they are very good fans based on most recommendations I've seen, on top of that there's also a 140mm version I could use for more efficient, quiet cooling.... On top of this they are generally cheaper than my current pick. But one big downside I see is that this is a 3-pin fan, and I'd really like to use my motherboard's PWM support instead of old DC. I looked high and low and it seems COUGAR has yet to release a PWM version of these fans.

My current pick: These Corsair HD120 RGB fans. The two biggest features that keep me on these instead of the COUGAR fans above is, of course, PWM support, and the RGB feature allows me to select green and also reuse these fans if the color scheme changes. The downside being that Corsair is not as "good" as COUGAR, as I understand, and only 120mm versions of these fans exist.

Thus, I have a few questions.

First off, generally speaking, which of those two fans would you all recommend I pick?

Secondly, am I getting too hung up on PWM support? Does it not really make that great a difference? According to the Mark 1's manual, the motherboard supports both PWM and DC mode with Q-Fan Control. I know PWM is supposed to be "better" but is it enough to want to pass on the COUGAR fan for an "inferior" Corsair RGB fan?

Is not having 140mm versions of a fan also a possible dealbreaker?

 
Solution
Isokolon
from a performance point of view: definitely.
but will the Riing be enough to provide airflow? probably.

the Riing push 82.9m³/h air @ a pressure of 1.11mmH₂O and 24.8dbA tops
the Cougars are specified for pushing 109.42m³/​h air @ a pressure of 1.74mmH₂O while staying below 17 dBA - that's roughly half as loud as the Riings.

they aren't particularly good looking, I give you that but when spinning they aren't so bad.
however the Riings use a completely different kind of illumination
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Isokolon

Isokolon

Judicious
Jul 24, 2016
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Honestly I've ran PWM fans in my case but for my nee build I went back to 3 Pin.
With my Gigabyte Z170 Board I Can Set a manual fan curve for these fans and control them just like I want them. IMO PWM is a lot of fuss about nothing.
I had the Cougar myself in my old case (even in green) and can vouch for it.

Currently I'm using a green Phanteks fan, this one is even better. A bit more expensive but arguably the best 140mm fan on the market.

If you decide you do wanna go with a 4-pin fan take a look at the new Corsair ML series.
They market it as if they've just reinvented the wheel which they clearly didn't, but it's a quite decent fan (although high priced)
 
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synphul

synphul

Champion
Mar 11, 2011
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The difference in fan size between 120mm and 140mm isn't huge. If you're looking for quiet the 140's help, they move just as much air without as much force behind that air and tend to run lower rpm's so they're usually more quiet. 120's still work and shouldn't be 'loud', not like an 80mm fan whizzing away.

In terms of differences between the fans, there's one perk the corsair fans have over the cougar's when it comes to the lighting, it's independent from the fan motor. That means your led's won't dim/brighten with fan speed like the cougars. With the cougar, the faster the fan is spinning the brighter the leds, they're tied together. The corsair you can run the fans fast with dim leds or slow with bright leds.

There's not a huge difference between pwm and voltage controlled fans, pwm can spin a bit slower without stalling. I think that board offers a variety of headers for the fans which can control either 3 or 4 pin fans via the bios.
 
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Y

YaroKasear

Commendable
Nov 22, 2016
5
0
1,510


Okay, one more and I may have my decision. What about this last one? Where would it rank among the other three? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106326
 
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Y

YaroKasear

Commendable
Nov 22, 2016
5
0
1,510


I think I'll pick this as my sokution, though I'm curious, how close to the COUGAR fans do the Riing fans get? Would I be sacrificing too much performance for a good looking fan?
 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

Judicious
Jul 24, 2016
6,369
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34,390
from a performance point of view: definitely.
but will the Riing be enough to provide airflow? probably.

the Riing push 82.9m³/h air @ a pressure of 1.11mmH₂O and 24.8dbA tops
the Cougars are specified for pushing 109.42m³/​h air @ a pressure of 1.74mmH₂O while staying below 17 dBA - that's roughly half as loud as the Riings.

they aren't particularly good looking, I give you that but when spinning they aren't so bad.
however the Riings use a completely different kind of illumination
 
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