(Poll) Who makes the best silent case fans?

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Which manufacturer makes the best silent fans?

  • Arctic Cooling

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • SUNON

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Evercool

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Panaflow/NMB

    Votes: 4 11.1%

  • Delta

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Thermaltake

    Votes: 4 11.1%

  • Scythe

    Votes: 13 36.1%

  • CoolerMaster

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • Vantec

    Votes: 7 19.4%

  • Papst

    Votes: 2 5.6%
  • Total voters
    36
hexploit

hexploit

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Scythe S-flex. So so so quiet and they still move a fair amount of air. Lowest dBa i could find for any 120mm fan.
 
tool_462

tool_462

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I have 5 S-Flex's in my woody. Two on my rad at full speed, and intake at 5v and two exhausts at 7v. Only one of them is audible, might be a bump in the routing I did around the fan, but my system is almost dead silent.

PS: You forgot SilenX. If all you need is 25cfm, it doesn't get any quieter.
 
tool_462

tool_462

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Yeah, Nexus should be up there and take off Delta. Delta don't really meet the definition "silent." More towards the "Space shuttle at full launch."
 
N

nilepez

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I have to agree with the last 2 posters. You really should have Nexus in this poll. I suspect Yate-Loon (which I believe is the mfg that Nexus uses for its fans) should be on there, and a lot of people use panaflos (though those apparently have gotten less reliable in the last couple of years).

That said, you should probably go to silentpcreview.com for advice on silent computing. Just beware your standard of quiet may be much louder than theirs.
 
3lfk1ng

3lfk1ng

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Jun 28, 2006
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You need to add Silenx and Noctua to that list, they make some of the quietest fans around....and Silenx Pushes some serious air (120x120 ->rated at 74cfm@14dba)
 
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Il_palazzo

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Arctic Cooling. Decent for the price, they are sometimes prone to clicking.

SUNON. lol (cheep but not that quiet.)

Evercool. They make a couple decent fans.

Panaflow/NMB. These can be hit or miss but Panaflows made in japan are considered to be some of the best fans ever made, but they have not been manufactured in japan for some time.

Delta?8O ROFL :lol:

Thermaltake. One of there 120mm fans is good and is made by one of the manufactures Nexus buys fans from, but its much easer to just buy a Yate-Loon. But for the most part TT Falls into the LOL category.

Scythe. There Fludid dynamic bearing fans are as good as the best Panaflow's, and there sleeve bearing fans are also good.

CoolerMaster. ROFL there 80mm fan=crap, 92mm fan=crap, the 120mm fans they sell are not bad but there are better options for the price.

Vantec. Decent but are pricey and are not nearly as good as fans that are much less expensive.

Papst. Not the most silent fan but it is far better than all the other brands mentioned except scythe and some Panaflows, but is by far the best built computer fan on the market. They are great for mission critical applications and for long term longevity.

SilentX there fans are sooo good they have the ability to violate the laws of physics to run at a jaw droping -10dba. :p (IMO expensive and overrated repackaged Adda fans, just had to add that for fun.)

The best quiet case fans at the moment are.
Nexus, good all around fans. (Save some money and just buy the Yate-Loon's if you need 120mm fans)

Noctua. They have the absolute best noise vs airflow ratio at the moment. Just they do not do all that well when back pressure is high, basically plan on removing your exhaust fan grills. And the price well if that is a issue then don't bother considering these.

Scythe, The 800rpm is the quietest fan available if your going to run it at 12v.

Yate-Loon, These are cheep and basically just under volt them till you are happy with both airflow and noise. (Jab-Tech is where I buy mine from.)
All the fans I have mentioned have a low pitched smooth bearing noise and are not prone to clicking.

Note the Yate-Loons do not respond well to PWM control but just use the 7v trick, Zalman fan mate, or a Sunbeam Rheobus you will be fine.
 
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nilepez

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of the fans i've tried, Vantec is my favorite, thus i consider them to be the best.
Click to expand...

I've used vantec, and they're not bad, but they're definitely not quiet fans either. Panaflos are quieter and Nexus are quieter than Panaflos.
 
H

HERSHEY

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tsponge,
I`m just starting to learn about this myself.If you go to www.acoustiproducts.com
you can learn some more about silent PCs They have links to reviews.One of the ones I went to was
www.madshrimps.com
They did two tests.The first one was with six fans I believe and I think the second one was with 17 fans.The second one had alot of info about db vs. airflo and temp. reduction.It should provide you with alot of answers.I just purchased and installed some silicone fan gaskets made by Acoustiproducts to see how well they worked and can say they do reduce the noise somewhat.
 
tool_462

tool_462

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It's called an enlobal bearing. I have heard that they get out of alignment sometimes and make clicking noises. It would be nice to just pop it of and rinse it under the sink though.

Ninja: yes, yes I do.
 
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nilepez

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SPCR has a couple of roundups on fans from late last year:

80mm
120mm

I'm sure there are other good sources for info on quiet computing, but none that I've seen are in SPCR's league.

For 80mm (what you're interested in), they consider the Nexus the best and for 120mm they say the Noctua NF-S12 Series is the best noise to CFM ratio.
Nexus and Scythe's S-Flex & Kama Flow Series are tied for 2nd. At the time the article was published, Scythe's S-Flex/Karm Flow series were not easy to find outside of Japan.

I've never used the others, but the Nexus 80mm and 120mm are very quiet. You won't be disapointed if you buy them, but I strongly recommend you go to SPCR read up on the top products and then price shop.
 
T

technology-sponge

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lol

This might kinda sound like bragging, but mine woul;d probably be quieter than SPCR def.

I need get 2 quiet 80cm fans for a wind tunnel heatsink in a seriously grunty power amp.

The main prob is, the metal tunnel kinda amplifiers then noise by 2-3x, so standars "silent" fans still sound like lawnmowers.

I started off with 2 35CFM 32/35dB SUNONS, but they wer unveleivable. With the cover on, and stashed inside a cupboard, they cud be heard on the other side of my house.

Foudn some random generic brand, ther fans were lyk 12dB, but the airflow SUCKED... 12dB, but only like 6CFM at 400rpm or sumthin...
 
N

nilepez

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lol

This might kinda sound like bragging, but mine woul;d probably be quieter than SPCR def.

I need get 2 quiet 80cm fans for a wind tunnel heatsink in a seriously grunty power amp.

The main prob is, the metal tunnel kinda amplifiers then noise by 2-3x, so standars "silent" fans still sound like lawnmowers.

I started off with 2 35CFM 32/35dB SUNONS, but they wer unveleivable. With the cover on, and stashed inside a cupboard, they cud be heard on the other side of my house.

Foudn some random generic brand, ther fans were lyk 12dB, but the airflow SUCKED... 12dB, but only like 6CFM at 400rpm or sumthin...
Click to expand...

Sunon's are very loud fans. Nexus fans are under 20db. You may find that you'll need to use more fans and undervolt them. Alternatively, if you can fit a 120mm fan in there, then you should get more CFM with less noise.

FWIW, jab-tec shows the nexus as moving 20.4cfm at roughly 17dba. I'd still look into the Noctua if it has a better noise/cfm ratio and the noise is acceptable.

You may need to get some sort of fan controller to adjust the speed, but I think you'll find something that will work for you.
 
T

technology-sponge

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Yeh, sunons are quite loud. I had a look at thier range and the lowest they had was like 32db. And from personal experience, they vibrate a fair bit too, which doesn't help the nosie problems.

I had a look at Nexus but most are below 25CFM. I spose they'd be fine in a pc case with 4 other fans, but i really do need the airflow.

Fan controllers might work though, ill look into them.

FYI, im not sure if you know much about power amps, but 2U rackmoutn chassis's are 88mm high, with 1-1.5mm thick top/side/bottom panels. 80mm fans are the largest you can fit, unless you mount the fans horizontally which from cooling p-o-v, is counterproductive. (The standard distance between one "rack enclosure" and the object mounted above is typically <8mm)
 
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Il_palazzo

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If vibration is a issue the best way to deal with that is to not directly screw the fans to the frame and instead mount them using a soft mounting technique.

If you don't give a dam about how it looks then you could just use silicone to mount the fans. Its soft, absorbs vibration very well, and is only a trip to the hardware store away. People have been making they own feet for turntables using silicone for years.

Simpler and far less messy would be anti vibration fan mounts, also just search around the SPCR forums and see if you can find any other ideas.

And I have one of the 80mm Nexus fans also and it is quiet even at 12v. If you want a fan that has a longer life then the Nexus look into a Panaflo or Papst. http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/category=Quiet_Case_Fans.html
 
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