Thermaltake Smart Case Fan ONE

[Drexel]

Again this is for the smart fan 1.. not smart case fan II. It is rated as follows: 46 cfm at 27db / 53 cfm at 39db. For only 27db, 46cfm is amazing, but at the higher end 39db is way too much for only 6 more cfm. Is there a way i can have it stay at 27db/46cfm? Or is there another fan you know of that gets that sound for that airflow?

 

[svol]

Panaflo fans should habe high cfm with low dB.

My PC eats so much money that I'm in 'desperate' need of it to buy PC3500 RAM, help Svol with his OC project!
--- PM me for information.

 

[Drexel]

They have 32cfm for 28db or 47cfm for 38db

 

[lhgpoobaa]

The airflow ratings of thermaltake fans are extreemly generous.

Take for example my TT smartfan2. it "says" the max airflow is 75cfm at 4800rpm... yet compared side to side with my 4900rpm delta foccused flow it puts out less, and the delta is rated for only 68.5cfm.

to me 46cfm sounds very dubious for only 27dba.

<b>Pentium4 Celleron: The computing worlds Rice Car.</b>

 

[error_911]

And the ThermaltTake SmartFan 2's airflow (or pressure) compared to my Tornados is nothing - or at least feels like nothing... though the Tornados are LOUD (I've got 2) - even with a fan controller. But the only thing that convices me about the thermaltakes is the wonderful temp probe they include... it fits right under the CPU.

Ahhh! It's 2003 and wait, whats this!? My computer didn't blow up! ... Well damn, there goes my new Athlon @ 333FSB and my inssurance claim... heheheh

 

[lhgpoobaa]

your right there!
a very thin & flat probe...
i was thinking of modding it for my voltmeter come temp monitoring device.

<b>Pentium4 Celleron: The computing worlds Rice Car.</b>

 

[Drexel]

If thermaltake is not they way to go (i heard a few things about them overdoing their 'official' ratings). What is? I guess im looking for a good flowin fan for my cpu. I think i might get the 21db panaflos for my case, but i want something a step up for my CPU. (that gets a little hotter than a case) I read in another post someone talking about an Aerocool that had like 51cfm for 31db.

 

[Rob423]

fans in Lian Li cases..

my lian Li PC-60 case from newegg i got comes with 3 case fans...

would it be better to switch all 3 fans with Panaflo fans? to make a difference in sound or better cooling?

Is THG Slightly Slacking??

 

[Codinerx]

Hey man, I noticed that you said you had a tornado on a speed control? I also have a tornado, but I have had a difficult time finding a controller to handle it... what do you recommend? Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[error_911]

Yeah, I had the same problem, looking at all the rheobus fan controllers.. and on top of it, if i'm running too much juice through it, i don't want it catching fire, i want it to bust and stop working.. So i started readin about some weird company in the philippines that makes these "flux wave" or something like that rheobuses, but at a price of like $120 I said forget it... then I noticed that Vantec's new fan-controllers use the same type of voltage modulation that the expensive ones do, and don't simply put a variable resistor between the two... that way, you can run any fan (or sequence thereof - I've ran 2 Tornados and a 120mm (105cfm) fan on one channel) on 'em - they're great. Also, you know how some fans simply don't work below a certain voltage... well no problem with this fan controller, since it simply sends out bursts of 12volt energy at different intervals (shorter interval for faster fan speed, longer interval for slower). And at MSRP $29 its worth it (i actually found it here in Montreal for about $20US = $32 Canadian). I mean, what a blessing to be able to tune down ONE Tornado much less TWO (and a Crystal Orb, Vantec Aeroflow and 120mm 105cfm no-name -> total decible count : ~205db for the fans ALONE at full speed, not including Hard Drives, DVD-ROM, PSU and everything else)... Well, check out www.vantecusa.com for more... they're called "Nexus"

Ahhh! It's 2003 and wait, whats this!? My computer didn't blow up! ... Well damn, there goes my new Athlon @ 333FSB and my inssurance claim... heheheh

 

[lhgpoobaa]

I wouldnt say the smartfan2 is all bad.
Admittedly its a bit buzzy at slow speeds and doesnt quite deliver what it says at high speeds...
But it does do a good job over a very wide range of speeds, and moves alot of air at high speed.

Plus all the addons make it a worthy investment.
Dial control, fullspeed, or temp controlled make it ideal for a cpu fan.

Another decent alternative is the 80mm enermax variable, good looking, not too loud, and nice range of speeds. The only thing it really lacks is temperature dependent speed control.

Allthough in conclusion i must say the panaflo's do make suprisingly nice cpu coolers, they seem to work a bit better with back pressures.
And higher speed panaflo's are available if required!

<b>Pentium4 Celleron: The computing worlds Rice Car.</b>

 

[Codinerx]

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to look into that. I am definitly a little worried about frying something, especially since I have the tornado cooling my cpu... I certainly don't want anything to happen to it. I had this idea today though- I noticed that some of the lights in our house are on a dimmer switch, the kind that you slide up and down... I wonder if anyone has tried to use them to control fans? I would imagine that these switches could handle very large amounts of current, presumably much more than a computer could put out, but who knows?

 

[error_911]

I've thought of it too Actually, I spent quite a while trying ot figure-out the best way to either make myself a fan controller or to find the best one being made. I've looked a using potentiometers (the same thing as a light dimmer), but the availability of these is limited. The dimmers used for home lighting run on 115Volt in North America, compared to your fans (and main PSU rail) which run on 12Volt... Now technically you could put these on resistors to lower the voltage, but again the problem of cooling it (since it gets hot dissipating the excess voltage) and then the price of the finished product... Another solution is potentiometers aquired from an electrical supply store. These are about $4 each, but only provie 5Watts at 100ohms - not enough to run a Tornado without needing heatsinks for it... not my idea of "ideal", besides the fact that this only allows you to run down your voltage from 0 to 12, and the Tornados need a minimum of 7volts, which means you're restricted... again, the Vantec fan controller deals with this problem, since its always giving an output of 12volts, but in bursts, so you can successfully lower fan speed more than with a potentiometer (or "rheobus") bused fan controller...
Now as for price, figure this:
- 4 channels, 4 potentiometers, $16
- 4 knobs, (at least, from RadioShack) $4
- 4 potentiometer heatsinks, $8
TOTAL = $28, the price of a Vantec Nexus fan controller.

Now even if you decide to use dimmers, look at the price first (a dimmer is about $5, x 4 = $20) plus a LOT of moddifying. Now I understand the satisfaction of building one yourself - TRUST ME - but its just not worth it, unless you only want/need 1 or 2 channels with limited performance..

Ahhh! It's 2003 and wait, whats this!? My computer didn't blow up! ... Well damn, there goes my new Athlon @ 333FSB and my inssurance claim... heheheh

 

[error_911]

hmmmm, sounds like a good idea... are you talking about one of those www.case-mod.com voltmeters though ? It sounds, interesting, could you explain?

Ahhh! It's 2003 and wait, whats this!? My computer didn't blow up! ... Well damn, there goes my new Athlon @ 333FSB and my inssurance claim... heheheh

 

[Codinerx]

hmm... so I picked up a 3watt, 20 ohm rheostat today at radioshack, as well as two 2-watt resistors to add to the line... but I guess that won't be able to handle the tornado, as you said that a 5watt could not even make it work. However, I am a bit confused- you said that the tornado needs at least 7 watts to run; how do I figure out what kind of rheostat I need? Is there an ideal number to shoot for, say a 9-watt 100 ohm rheostat? Thanks a lot for the help

 

[error_911]

Sorry, what I meant was that the Tornado needs a minimum of 7 Volts to work, and the 3 Watt rheostat can only handle up to 3 Watts of power (and the Tornado, at full speed, puts out 9.1 Watts)... Your resistors will lower the input power by 4 Watts total, in series, and therefore you'll never even get the full 9.1 Watts of energy needed to run the fan at full speed. Ideally, you need a 10Watt/100ohm rheostat, but I know that here (and online) I was completely unable to find one so...

Ahhh! It's 2003 and wait, whats this!? My computer didn't blow up! ... Well damn, there goes my new Athlon @ 333FSB and my inssurance claim... heheheh