Looking for low priced 120mm case fans

[RdeFuijk]

Hi,

Like the title says I'm looking for 3 120mm case fans that have a high rpm. The case I use is the Cooler Master Silencio 550, and it has room for 3 case fans. 2 intakes on the front panel and one on the back next to the motherboard. Cooler Master provided 2 fans with the case, but since this case is mostly focused around being silent, that means the fans are ''too silent'', so the fans have a pretty low rpm. I don't really care about the noice so I don't care if they make a lot of noice. Right now I'm running my GPU fan's at 90% during games to keep it cool, and don't even mind the noice that makes. My budget is around €20-30 for 3 fans. (If that's possible)

 

[drewhoo]

The property you're looking for is Cubic Feet per Minute, rather than RPM. A fan can have a very high RPM without actually moving a lot of air.
Here is a Newegg search with some filters indicating the type of fan you want (120mm, very high CFM). I own the Xigmatek shown in this search, and it is fantastic. I use it as my intake fan. Silverstone also makes great fans. I would recommend just buying two, one for intake, one for exhaust, and position the existing fans accordingly. I used a similar strategy on my Lian Li PC-K58W and my cooling problem with a Zotac AMP! card disappeared.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007998%20600035565%20600035590%20600035655&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

 

[RdeFuijk]

The property you're looking for is Cubic Feet per Minute, rather than RPM. A fan can have a very high RPM without actually moving a lot of air.
Here is a Newegg search with some filters indicating the type of fan you want (120mm, very high CFM). I own the Xigmatek shown in this search, and it is fantastic. I use it as my intake fan. Silverstone also makes great fans. I would recommend just buying two, one for intake, one for exhaust, and position the existing fans accordingly. I used a similar strategy on my Lian Li PC-K58W and my cooling problem with a Zotac AMP! card disappeared.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007998%20600035565%20600035590%20600035655&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

Ok, so I should look for a fan with a high Cubic Feet per Minute? My GPU is reaching 75°C as a max quite often, which is quite high. Although this card (Asus HD 6950) is supposed to be safe even at 95°C, I would still prefer it to run cooler. And being able to put my GPU fans a little lower might be nice as well. Also I noticed that my GPU temps raised ever since I replaced my stock CPU cooler for an Arctic Freezer Xtreme rev.2. Which helped me out pretty well. My CPU temps lowered from 75+°C to ~60°C. Which is good enough for me. But because this heatsink is pretty big, it blocks the airflow a little.

And if I would buy 2 new fans, one intake and one exhaust, I would have one spare fan. Is it possible to build it somehow inside the case itself? Or should I just put it away and keep it in case one breaks?

 

[drewhoo]

I would keep it in storage just in case another fan breaks. However, I think it is arguable that you do not actually have a cooling problem. I have a Zotac 560 Ti AMP! that runs at 88C-92C (after I installed new fans--it was getting to 94C) and has been performing well and often since late 2011. I have at least 400 hours (I can't look up counts for each game) logged in games that push the card to this temperature, plus many, many hours video editing in Premiere Pro. So if I had a card operating in the 70Cs, I would not think I had a problem.

You can use MSI Afterburner (regardless of your card's manufacturer) to adjust and monitor your GPU fan speed and create fan speed profiles so that the fan only kicks at a certain % at a specified temp threshold. This will help make more efficient use of your GPU fan. I did not care as much for the analogous ASUS software, but they have it available for download on their website. I also recommend figuring out differences in room temperature within the room that houses your computer. There you can get a few degrees variance as well as a significant variance in airflow (point your intake in the direction of the A/C vent, for example, and not toward or near a window that is heated by sunlight).

Another option is to purchase a PCI GPU cooler that will feed your GPU's fan. They're about $20

Also, that's a gorgeous case--I'm a little bit jealous. I don't mean to assume that you are doing anything wrong with your case setup, but a common mistake that can interrupt airflow is the PSU installation. The PSU should be mounted 'upside down' so that the fan faces down. It will suck in air from the bottom ventilation and exhausts it out of the back. Otherwise it will compete with the GPU for air fed from your intake fan. Just make sure you always place the case on a hard surface, not a carpet.

 

[RdeFuijk]

Yeah my GPU used to run about that hot, only I never noticed because I never even thought about monitoring my temps. I was quite a big PC noob you see The problem was that my GPu started to fail on me. Games randomly froze and I got a BSOD or I got rebooted to my desktop with the message; ''AMD Driver has stopped working and has been recovered''. Someone told me that it could have been my GPU overheating. Since then I've started using MSI Afterburner for a higher fan speed, and got a brand new case, since my old one had no airflow whatsoever. It only had 1 exhaust fan on the back, and the PSU was odly placed in the top-back corner, producing even higher temps in the case. I had one of those PCI GPU coolers like you suggested, but it did not help, because it only blew the hot air of the bottom of the case back in the GPU. It made like a difference of maybe 1 or 2c. And it made a LOT of noice.

The reason I still want new case fans is that I would like the GPU fans run run lower without making my gpu like 80c. Because if I lower them my GPU temps easily reaches that. I've been using this GPU (and the whole PC) since summer 2011, and besides the BSOD'ing because of overheating, this PC still runs fine.

And thanks for the compliment about my case, I like it a lot so far. I've had it for only a few weeks, but so far nothing to complain about. When I'm doing anything besides GPU intensive stuff the case really is very quiet, like the name says. Although it has one (small) disadvantage; When I am running GPU intensive stuff like games, I have to make sure the front panel (which is a door) is open. Otherwise the intake fan on the front won't get enough cool air and my temps will increase with like 6-7 degrees. But it's not so bad to keep it open, I just have to remember every time.

 

[RdeFuijk]

Oh and BTW, I could not even use the PSI GPU cooler right now, because I have an uATX motherboard, which means I only have 2 PCI slots. One of them is used by my GPU of course, and the other by my PCI audiocard, for 5.1 surround sound.

 

[drewhoo]

Given all that information, I would get two of these, then: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999344

They're definitely noisy at the max RPM, but they push air like no other. I think I have 4 different kinds of fan in my case: Noctua, Lian Li, Xigmatek, and that Silverstone, and the Silverstone just goes totally nuts pushing air. I was very impressed by it. The reviews on Newegg also may give some insight.

 

[RdeFuijk]

You have 4 case fans in your PC and still your GPU is reaching 88C-92C? Have you overclocked your GPU? And I think i'm gonna order two of those SILVERSTONE FM121's. They do seem to move a lot of air like you said and I see a lot of very positive reviews on the internet about them. They are quite expensive though, and I'm a little broke at the moment, I'll just wait another month. Like you said 70Cs isn't all that high, so no need to hurry.

Thanks for your help

 

[drewhoo]

You have 4 case fans in your PC and still your GPU is reaching 88C-92C? Have you overclocked your GPU? And I think i'm gonna order two of those SILVERSTONE FM121's. They do seem to move a lot of air like you said and I see a lot of very positive reviews on the internet about them. They are quite expensive though, and I'm a little broke at the moment, I'll just wait another month. Like you said 70Cs isn't all that high, so no need to hurry.

Thanks for your help

Haha yeah, the GPU is nuts. To give you some reference, I'm running an i5-2500k at 4.5 Ghz and only when encoding long videos does a core get to 70C.

The AMP! edition is factory overclocked, and it provides great BFTB. I forget exact figures, but I want to say it is about a 15% increase over the 560 Ti reference, and only a few frames per second away from 570 stock performance. It's a shame I wasn't smarter when I bought it or I would've realized a GTX 570 was a better buy, since it had more overclocking headroom and would likely have a longer lifespan.
Here's a relevant benchmark I found: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_560_Ti_Amp_Edition/7.html

Also, even if you're not short on cash, you may consider getting only 1 fan. I just reread your initial question, where you said your case has 2 intakes and 1 exhaust. Well that means that in order to achieve negative pressure, the exhaust has to work harder than the 2 intakes combined. I have a feeling that if you put a real performer in the exhaust (that silverstone fan cranked up), it will give you negative case pressure, which is more conducive to the kind of cooling you need. If you add a second silverstone as an intake fan, it may not provide any cooling benefit since the air can only leave your case as quickly as the exhaust silverstone can spit it out. Does that make sense?

Quick question: what kind of CPU cooler do you have? does it blow directly in line with your current exhaust fan? Sometimes they're capable of multiple orientations.

 

[RdeFuijk]

Although I don't know that mutch about NVidia cards, your card does seem to have some damn great preformance Although I'm very happy with my current GPU. The Asus HD 6950 is also out-of-the-box overclocked at 810Mhz, which is more then enough for me. But I am a little jealous of your CPU. An i5 running at 4.5 Ghz, that's quite a lot. My i5 2300 only runs at 2.8Ghz, which is more then enough for me though. Besides gaming i don't do a lot of CPU intensive stuff on my PC. And so far I haven't had any issues with it, besides from getting hot. The CPU cooler I'm using is the Arctic Freezer Xtreme Rev 2 (http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/cpu/57/.html).
The thing is though that on their website they claim to get 40.3c with this cooler, but in my pc my CPu still reaches 60-65c during CPU intensive games, like BF3 or MMO's. But I don't mind. 60c is cool enough for me. the fan of this cooler goes directly to my exhaust fan on the back, so I think that should be alright.

but to get back to the case fan's, your advice is to just buy one as an exhaust? because my dad had the same idea. If I just put the fan I'm using now as an exhaust in the front panel as an intake, and just replace my exhaust with one of those Silverstone ones. What you said about not being able to ''spit'' all the air out, does indead make sense. But would 2 of those (one as exhaust, one as intake) work? because the same amound of air gets in as there goes out.

oh and BTW, I'm sorry if my English isn't all that great, it's not my native language

 

[drewhoo]

Yes, I wouldn't have spent much money on a CPU if I didn't need it for media editing. Your CPU is certainly a sensible choice for your needs.

Two additional silverstone fans would work, but since you have 2 intake fans, your intake would exceed your exhaust. That would still work, but the question becomes 'would the additional silverstone intake fan provide more cooling?' So if you buy the second fan, you might spend $18 on a fan that doesn't bring down the temps.

 

[RdeFuijk]

I'm sorry for the (very) late awnsere, but I was wondering, I was just about to order two of those Silversone's, but then I saw the fan controller you get with them. Now I have no idea where I place those.
I don't a spot on the front of my case, only a optical disc tray. Do I install them at the back underneath my GPU? In one of those PCI trays?

 

[drewhoo]

If you find an answer to that question, let me know. I just tuck min into an empty 5.25in bay or put it on my desk if I want to be able to control the speed (my tower sits udnerneath my desk).

 

[RdeFuijk]

You don't need to install them in your case? My PC is also underneath my desk so can I just connect the controller to my PC and put it somewhere on my desk? Because the controller is the only reason I haven't ordered it yet. I don't have a free 3.5'' bay. But I do have a free optical drive bay. Not sure if that's the 5.25'' bay you're talking about.