Quiet case fans

[bloodyredd]

May I ask what are the brands of quiet case fans that are available right now? I'm too lazy to search for them and I hope you guys would be able to help me. This is also for my future build.

So far the brands that I know and possibly choose from are:

Scythe
Bitfenix
Noctua
Be Quiet

So if you guys can add more and suggest, feel free to do so.

 

[skaz]

I like specifically, Noctua NF-P12, NF-S12B, and Thermalright X-silent fans for case fans.

 

[inzone]

If you do look at any fans the thing that you want to look at is the db(A) and that will tell you if it's a quiet fan or not. The lower the number associated with that dba the quieter the fan , 15-20 is a quiet fan. You also want to look at the cfm since you want the fan to blow some air and not be just quiet.
Finally you didn't say what size fan your looking for , 80mm 120mm 140mm?

 

[inzone]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553008

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553009

This is a four pack of two different color fans and they have a good combination of low noise and high cfm. 17 dba and 60 cfm.
They are 120mm fans if that's the size that your looking for.

 

[rwpritchett]

Noctua is pretty much king of the quiet fans. Personally, I've tried Scythe (good), Gelid (ok), Noiseblocker (good, but $$$$), Phobya (good flow, but a bit noisy still), Arctic Cooling (ok, but clicky), CoolerMaster (some good, some bad), and Vantec (bad bad bad).

My surprise favorite that I haven't found an equal for is Enermax. Their 'batwing' fans such as the T.B. series are very, very quiet and are relatively inexpensive. I'm very happy with them.

-Edit: ^I've heard good things about Cougar fans... haven't tried them though.

 

[skaz]

If you do look at any fans the thing that you want to look at is the db(A) and that will tell you if it's a quiet fan or not. The lower the number associated with that dba the quieter the fan , 15-20 is a quiet fan. You also want to look at the cfm since you want the fan to blow some air and not be just quiet.
Finally you didn't say what size fan your looking for , 80mm 120mm 140mm?

Not to sure you want to put a lot of trust in the manufactures dBa ratings. There's no standard that these companies must follow when testing. The results tend to be unrealistic and hard to use when comparing brand to brand. I'd be more inclined to recommend using reviews and actual user use as a better gauge for comparing fan noise and actual dBa.

 

[bloodyredd]

I forgot to mention that i was looking for 120 and 140mm fans so yeah. Keep em coming. Have you guys seen be quiet before? They look tood.

 

[skaz]

Heard of em but haven't actually tested any myself in regards to the be queits.

To add to my other recommendations - TR x-silents come in both 120 and 140mm. Noctuas p14 is stellar 140mm fan too. Thermalrights ty-140 gets high praise too.

 

[geofelt]

You might want to read this spcr article on quiet fans:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page1.html

 

[bloodyredd]

Is gelid good? I've recently seen them.

@geofelt
The article is outdated

 

[geofelt]

Is gelid good? I've recently seen them.

@geofelt
The article is outdated

Absolutely correct, though the fan technology does not seem to change as rapidly as other techs.
Here is a better link to the June 2012 SPCR article:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1266-page1.html

 

[inzone]

I think that if your trying to get the quietest fan then your search can take a while and for the most part if you go to a online store like Newegg and in the fans sectio they have it broken down by size , dba , and cfm. If you go through the low bda fans and those are the ones below 20 dba you can pretty much choose any there that have good feedback because the fans in that low dba section will be quiet or pretty close to quiet but the feedback will confirm it and you can't go wrong with a good brand name.

 

[inzone]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608017

This fan has decent air flow and low dba plus it has the feedback to back it up , if you like the color then this could be a good choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214035

This one also has decent air flow depending on the rpms you set it at and even lower dba than the Noctua plus outstanding feedback. Enermax has always been a good fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214036

Your good quality low noise low cfm fan.
So as you can see there are many , many choices and to try to get "the " fan can just make you look for ever. A good clue to a low ba fan is the stated rpm's of the fan, if you get something that spins at 3000 or 4000 rpms then that fan will be loud vs one that spins at 1200 rpm or less.

 

[bloodyredd]

So yeah, I came up with a more specific thing to find. I will use a Corsair Obsidian 550D case and it restricts airflow in the front intake. In that case what about a fan that is quiet and has a high static pressure and cfm? If possible.

 

[inzone]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835132022

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835213005

The issue that you may run into with high static pressure and high cfm is rpms and you'll need higher rpms to get those options and that means more noise.

 

[rwpritchett]

You could give the Corsair SP Quiet Edition fans a try. The SP stands for static pressure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181025

 

[inzone]

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36_403&products_id=31421

This would be the best fan for what you want as it has a super high cfm (215 cfm) and large blades to create super high static pressure , the fan is 55mm thick and the blades are just as deep to move a large volume of air. the only drawback is that they are not very quiet.

 

[skaz]

I use a 550d as well. I have Thermalright X-silent 120mm fans as my case fans. Two front intake, one bottom intake, and one exhaust rear.

 

[assasin32]

If you want quite you might also want to dampen the fan by using a fan grommets I think their called. Or vibration dampener or something. The goal is to reduce vibration and thus noise from the fan this way. Or the lazy way and use these fans which push very little air but have the dampener built in and makes little noise.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209050
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209051

Example of some of the anti vibration stuff, though there are fan specific ones you can buy cheaper, but you have to look for them I think they are on newegg as well but I don't remember what catogory exactly. But this give you an idea.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811996019

Edited in:
Found out what some of the ones that help with the fans were called, fan mounts. And their under case accessories theres a few of them to chose from.

 

[bloodyredd]

I use a 550d as well. I have Thermalright X-silent 120mm fans as my case fans. Two front intake, one bottom intake, and one exhaust rear.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy203/shinyfield/IMG_1729.jpg

Wow that's very nice. How are the temps? Do the Thermalright fans do well?

 

[skaz]

Yes I love the x-silents. They are whisper quiet at full speed. And I'm typically hyper sensitive to fan noise. I do want to test some other fans out for comparisons sake. U12b specifically.

The tempatures are good considering Im trying to keep the system as quiet as possible without sacrificing to much in the temp category. I've recently switched back to my venomous x heatsink with one PWM P12 fan for comparing. With room temps in the 27-29c range. D14 was normally in the mid 30c range on all four cores during idle and basic use. The venomous x is normally in the high 30c range during idle. Only a few degree difference so I'm probably going to stick with the ven x and sell off my d14. Still need to test ven x with two fans in push pull. Pretty sure that will shave off a couple noticeable degrees bringing it even closer to the d14.

Other system temperatures are good as well. My north bridge is with in range and my temperature sensors placed throughout the case show a normal range of 28c to 30c during idle and basic use. My gpu is the hottest/oldest/loudest part. A gtx 275. Saving for a soon to be purchased 670.

 

[bloodyredd]

So how are the temps when gaming? The gpu and cpu.

EDIT:

Where did you put your hard drives by the way? I don't see the cages beside the front intake fans.

 

[skaz]

CPU temps vary depending on the game as some are more CPU intensive then others. Roughly in the 50c range. With the GPU again it depends on the game. Idles are in 40s. Loads using bf3 for example it goes to high 70s breaking into the 80s depending on the level.

Hard drives are two SSDs I mounted in my 5.25 bay. I wanted to give more room for airflow so my intake fans could push cool ambient air directly to the components that needed it the most.