NEED HELP WITH CASE FANS!

[ashrym]

I'm like either going to get the NZXT Lexa or the Thermaltake Armor. I need you guys to recommended some low-to-medium noise fans with a high CFM output. So far Antec, Thermaltake, and Silverstone have caught my eye. Also, any fans that meet the previous stated criteria and have a nice blue LED glow to it would be nice as well. Tell me what you guys think.

 

[Breman]

I personaly like TT Smart Fans. They may not be the quitest when wired full on, but they move a lot of air. They have four ways to be wired up, mobo controled, full on, manual fan speed controler, and a thermister.

I've got one over my 7800gtx set to thermister, with the thermister in the fins of the heat sink, and I have yet to see my video card fo over 57*C after long hours of game play.

Also they have that nice cool blue glow

 

[ashrym]

Alright, could you link up some particular models?

 

[Breman]

They come in two sizes(that I've sceen) 80 mm version and a 120mm version.

There a little pricey compared to other fans, but I've used them in several builds, and have never had a problem with them.

hope that helps.

 

[nobly]

Not sure how high CFM you want, but I have some vantec stealth 80mm fans. Run at about 2k rpm's and rated at 20db. They're pretty quiet. I've also heard good things about Panaflo's.

But yeha, if you want really quiet fans, aim for the 20-25db range... That's about a whisper loudness.

 

[Razorii]

If... IF you decide to go with the NZXT Lexa it comes with three 120mm low noise (1100rpm) and one 80mm fan already installed.

I'm running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ in my Lexa with a Zalman CNPS 9500LED. My temps are as follows -

Idle:
Case: 25 C
HD: 27 C
CPU: 28 C

Load:
Case: 27 C
HD: 29 C
CPU: 32 C

 

[SuperFly03]

Is it sad that my Venice puts out higher temps than your 4800+? lol.

Mine is watercooled too. I think the prob is that it is cooled after my 2 7800GTX's, and its over volted and overclocked

Anyways back to the point of the post. I just added 2 Vantec Stealth 80mm fans to my monthers computer and they work quite well and are extremely quiet. Yes, they will not give you the lowest temps possible but the are damn near silent. If you have a good robust heat sink like the zalman mentioned above, the rest of case will take care of itself with a few Stealth Fans (assuming you dont have anything blocking the general flow).

 

[shawnlizzle =]]

get yate loons, can't be beat

 

[Razorii]

Hmmm... Well... I should have been more specific. The load temps I listed are a typical load, not running two iterations of Prime 95 and half a dozen other things to max out both cores. More like three or four IE windows open, Spyware scanner running, the various systray applets doing their thing, listening to some MP3s and playing my favorite RTS game. Running any of the more popular benchmarks results in similar temps.

I think too that the 80mm blowhole fan in the Lexa, even though it's only turning at around 1200rpm, helps a lot by keeping warm air from pooling in the top of the case. That was a large part of why I selected that case, other than just liking the way it looks. I previously had an Antec SX1050B with two 80mm fans in the front turning at around 2200rpm and a Panaflow 120x38mm running at 2100rpm in the back. You could hold your hand a foot behind the case and FEEL the breeze coming out of there. Serious air flow. Temps? A couple of degrees cooler, than what I have now with the Lexa, across the board. On the other hand, that was one of the loudest systems I've ever built.

 

[Razorii]

I see your point regarding what should and shouldn't qualify as Load Temps. So...

I ran the Prime95 Stress Test (continuous looping), the full 3DMark06, a Norton Anti-Virus '05 full system scan and, just for grins, an AdAware SE full system scan.

System: 28 C
HDD: 27 C
CPU: 37 C

Note: I had just cleaned the filter on my front intake fan a few hours earlier, it was pretty dirty, which is probably why the HDD and System temps dropped.

 

[Razorii]

thats more realistic but still impressive. to keep that processor under 40 under load as well as you mobo is again impressive. i have to leave my window open to keep mine under 40.

Which makes me wonder how much better the cooling would be in your Armor if there was a low speed 120mm FAN mounted in that window... I'm pretty sure I've seen it done, but perhaps I'm thinking of a different case.

 

[chuckshissle]

If you want the best cfm performance then go for the Silverstone but it doesn't have any led. If thats' the case an Aspire or Thermaltake should be fine.