Akasa Amber Series (120 mm)

[imported_Seer]

Please detail your experiences with these fans. Are they at all audible? Undervolt well? Last long? etc.

I'm thinking of using one in a si-120 (and a couple for my case). Would this be enough airflow for a moderate overclock? (2200 MHz 1.35v >>> 2500 MHz 1.375 v)

On a final note, I have sensitive ears. That's why I'm going for the extremely low noise options.

 

[Howard]

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=27545

Originally posted by: Seer
Please detail your experiences with these fans. Are they at all audible? Undervolt well? Last long? etc.

See link. I hear they undervolt well. They use ball bearings, so they should last longer than a sleeve bearing fan (like the Nexus/Yate Loon fans). Of course, YMMV...

I'm thinking of using one in a si-120 (and a couple for my case). Would this be enough airflow for a moderate overclock? (2200 MHz 1.35v >>> 2500 MHz 1.375 v)

Definitely.

 

[Luckyboy1]

Ok, everyone around here has heard to the point of puking what a fanboi of Panaflo fans I am. Here's the specs on your hearts desire of a fan...

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=312504&view=detailed

Here's the specs on the 120 mm Panaflo fan...

http://www.directron.com/120l1a.html

Wow! 18 DB! Sounds (pardon the pun) impressive! Wait! That's not the whole story! You move a maximum of 44.8 cfm with that fan and for most modern applications, that just ain't enough air. The panaflo fan makes an astoundingly loud 30 DB at 68.9 cfm. Actually, 30 DB is nothing! With the Panaflo fan, you can drop it down to 44.8 and get about the same noise level or less, but you also have the flexability of getting more cfm and not making it sound like a weed eater is running in your case.

 

[imported_Seer]

You know 30 dB is 16 times as loud as 18 dB? I'm trying to keep my tinitus under control here.

While you mention "modern applications," I think you mean most overclocks. Mine is relatively small, with a vcore inside spec, so, I think I will be okay.

Also, the quieter your system is as a whole, the more noticeable one fan can be. Well, my gpu is passively cooled and my psu fan (120mm) spins at 900 rpm. Plus, I have no way of controlling the volts, so I need something that is dead quiet at 12v (ATM, at least. Any option would cost more money...my motherboard appears unable to control voltage to fans.).

I think after this I just need to find a quiet harddrive...the 7200.8 I bought has a ridiculously loud seek.

 

[Luckyboy1]

Yes, and have you ever listened to anything at 30Bd's? It still ain't much.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Let me point out that 18db and 44.8...thats not bad but ya know almost anything under 20db most likely is not really entirely accurate.

 

[letdown427]

I've got one on an EVO 120 HSF. It has a knob for varying the speed. At 1000 to 1300 rpm, it's as good as silent. Can't hear a thing. However, above 1400, it sounds nasty. It is loud, hums like a nasty humming thing, and is just plain annoying. Now, if you can only run it at 12volts, and that may or may not mean its 1,500rpm max, (i think it might) then it's going to be far too noisy.

As was mentioned, they are ball bearing, so should last longer. Although, I'm sure it wasn't this loud at 1400rpm when I first got it... I've had it about 7 months I think, fairly constant use at about 1,300 rpm (i find that the threshold of when it becomes audible).

I have a fairly quiet case, there's an 80mm that is the loudest thing in it, otherwise, everything is pretty quiet.


Personally, I'd say find a way of securing that 140mm aerocool onto it(perhaps using the supplied 140 - 120mm convereter thing) but that's just me.

For that kind of overclock, if you have good airflow and a lucky cool chip, you could probably almost get away with a fanless scythe ninja. If you want über quietness, then that works best with ultra low rpm/cfm fans. But it may not fit in your case.

/my .02

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: Seer
Please detail your experiences with these fans. Are they at all audible? Undervolt well? Last long? etc.

I'm thinking of using one in a si-120 (and a couple for my case). Would this be enough airflow for a moderate overclock? (2200 MHz 1.35v >>> 2500 MHz 1.375 v)

On a final note, I have sensitive ears. That's why I'm going for the extremely low noise options.

Do a search of this forum for quiet 120 fans, Akasa amber, Chinaflo, Japanaflo, DTB, much will come up. Do some reading over at SPCR.
Avoid product fanboys like the plague as most need to justify what they have purchased.

When contemplating case air flow, never loose sight of the fact that the PSU is an exhaust
fan and should not have to work with negative case air pressure.
The PSU's fan is the second most important fan in the case.

...Galvanized