Noctua NF-P14 in an Antec 900

[ventasmentos]

Hey. I'm growing tired of the noisy Antec 900 Fans and I want something that can cool way more effecient and is much less noisier. I've had a lot of problems with my motherboard easily overheating (It's an ASUS Striker II Formula), and that combined with two video cards made use of a radiator in the room with the computer pretty fatal for my system. Now I've gotten rid of the SLI-system and the cooling is not much of a problem anymore. But I'd like to remove some of the noisy fans, since they are killing my ears. I kinda figured the Noctua would provide some good noise reduction without having to worry much about the cooling capabilities either. But what do you think? Any better suggestions?

Regards,
Ventasmentos

 

[subasteve5800]

Anytime that noise is an issue I always check out Silent PC Review. They have a list of fans with noise and cooling benchmarks. (Link: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html )

They have really good testing and reviews.

Cheers!

-Steve

 

[nukemaster]

the NF-P14 is simply too big(140mm) to use in most of the fan slots on the 900. There is a 120mm version of it. It is not as powerful as the Antec fans, but much quieter. Also look at Yate Loon and Nexus for some quiet fans.

In my 900, I have no front fans just the rear fan(on low) and top fan(Med, but even high was not too bad for noise) without any heat issues. The hard drives do run a few degrees warmer, but still way within specs.

The 900's open deign makes it a louder case since there are lots of places for noise to escape.

Some cases are better at keeping noise inside or at least reducing it. The 900 is just not one of them.

 

[ventasmentos]

Hey, thanks for the answers and the link. Noctua, however, claims it should fit in a 120mm socket. But yes, the 900 can be very tricky. It requires a bit of tinkering to make some 240 fans fit on the top, and I am not really sure about the two frontal fans, but I'll find a way to replace them. I am still going through the choices, but the Nexus Real Silent Case Fan D12SL-12. I am also considering the CM Excalibur - I already have one at the side, but I am not sure if it is any better than the others.

I will eventually replace the cabinet when I get the money. It's really hard to figure which cable goes where when my PSU isn't modular, and the 900 is so small.

 

[nukemaster]

The reason the fans do not fit right is the 900's lack of any extra space on the hard drive racks to allow for the fans to hang over the edge.The screw holes to line up for it to work as a 120mm fan, but mostly useful for heatsinks that have the extra room. To get it to mount on a 140mm slot, it has an adapter included.

I did not have too much issues building in the 900. Just coil all the extra cables on the floor. With some mods(mod the hard drive cages to fit the drives backwards, this lets cables run on the floor then up the front of the case. Cleans it up a bit), it can be a very nice case.

Hard drive cage mod(it is upside down(and custom cables helped allot), the fan was later taken out. It was also revised a bit overtime)

I do prefer my Fractal Define R2 as it is much quieter.

Just ordered a FT03 from silverstone, lets see what a gaming MATX can do

 

[ventasmentos]

Nice, thank you Might aswell wait and buy a new cabinet, and see what kind of noises it makes. Well, I'll steer away from the Noctua until I can afford a new cabinet. But that FT03 seems pretty interesting... and odd. I don't like the idea that I have to buy another drive when I just got an awesome one for free, but your friends might look in awe ;-)

 

[nukemaster]

Well the idea of smaller computers started with this thing. my media center(in an SG05 case)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Either way, good luck on the quieter 900(or next case you get). I find with all fans on low it helps allot and did not get noticeably hotter.

 

[douglasw]

I also have the antec 900 case and im in the middle of doing somthing about the noise...Friend of mine has a noise level gage and the 2 front fans are in the 34dba range so i can see why youd want to replace them..Myself im right into making my computer silent..so first i went watercooled and i picked up an old Zalman reserator 1 v2 which is totally silent but the pump was no dam good so i replaced the pump with a swiftech 655 and still its totally silent and i ordered Antec's new true Quiet Pro fan..They also have the true quiet but these are the pro series
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLq7mAisRRw check this link i see they added a ring around the fins to add weight so it takes less power to spin the fan...anyways this was my choice