Are gentle typhoons still the best cooling fans to get?

[iamgenius]

Like the title says. I read that Scythe don't use Nidec motors anymore. Are they still the best? In other words, moving maximum amount of air (CFM) while being silent?

Thanks.

 

[UsandThem]

Like the title says. I read that Scythe don't use Nidec motors anymore. Are they still the best? In other words, moving maximum amount of air (CFM) while being silent?

Thanks.

http://www.overclockers.com/pwm-fan-roundup-twenty-four-120-mm-case-fans-tested/

There were two clear winners here, the Nidec Gentle Typhoon PWM and the Medium speed San Ace “Silent” PWM fans. It is too bad that these fans are among the hardest to get.

 

[Valantar]

Gentle Typhoons aren't Scythe anymore, that's the big change. Nidec sells them directly. I'm sitting here next to three new-in-box 1850rpm models right now (bought them a few weeks ago in anticipation of Ryzen), clearly marked as Nidec GentleTyphoon(tm).

 

[iamgenius]

They say the PWM version is the better one, but it is a lot harder to find than the normal ones. I presume the ones you have are the voltage controlled ones, right? I can get those from ebay easily, but the PWM ones need little extra work

Is there a really big difference?

 

[iamgenius]

Also,

Is this the other winner in that review?

https://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Denki-SAN-Ace-120mm/dp/B00QWB1X3O

Tooooo expensive !

 

[Crono]

http://www.overclockers.com/pwm-fan-roundup-twenty-four-120-mm-case-fans-tested/

Good article. Bookmarked a few of those fans for future purchase. The F12 iPPC-3000, Scythe Slip Stream, Corsair ML Pro, and Gentle Typhoons in particular interest me, though there are a lot of good performers in the top of the chart.

My Arctic Freezer 360 is coming in Friday, and it has 6 Arctic F12 PWM fans, which seem like a good balance of noise and airflow for an open-air build. Going by the chart, they'd probably be inaudible in a normal closed case. I'm only using 3 of the Arctic fans for "pull", though, and will mount Deepcool TF120 (have them here already, using them also because the red version matches my case) fans for push. It looks like the GF120 is discontinued, as I can't find them in stock online, but the TF120 has nearly identical specs so I'm guessing it just superseded the GF120.

I've been meaning to get a few Akasa Viper 120mm fans while they are still in stock, and EK Furious Vardar FF5-120 (to run at lower RPM) fans for a planned build, along with a Darkside Gentle Typhoon or two. Probably going to get them for the Ryzen 1400X (rumored) or 1600X (announced) in a case like the LIAN LI PC-B16B, with a Be Quiet! or Noctua HSF, or the Be Quiet! Silent Loop liquid cooler. Should make for a very quiet but cool PC.

Also,

Is this the other winner in that review?

https://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Denki-SAN-Ace-120mm/dp/B00QWB1X3O

Tooooo expensive !

http://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=9S1212P4M011

Keep in mind (as the review points out) they are bare wire.

 

[Valantar]

Also,

Is this the other winner in that review?

https://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-Denki-SAN-Ace-120mm/dp/B00QWB1X3O

Tooooo expensive !

12V 3A? 224 CFM? My god, does that thing run at 4000rpm?

Oh, scratch that. From the Amazon Q&A, it's 6400rpm. 6400rpm. That's like the Deltas of old. Hair dryer style. Great fans, especially if you don't value your eardrums. This is not - I repeat, not - suited for in-home use. Even at 20% speed (which I'd be impressed if it scaled down to), it would run at ~1300rpm. 30% = ~1900rpm. That's crazy.

 

[UsandThem]

12V 3A? 224 CFM? My god, does that thing run at 4000rpm?

Oh, scratch that. From the Amazon Q&A, it's 6400rpm. 6400rpm. That's like the Deltas of old. Hair dryer style. Great fans, especially if you don't value your eardrums. This is not - I repeat, not - suited for in-home use. Even at 20% speed (which I'd be impressed if it scaled down to), it would run at ~1300rpm. 30% = ~1900rpm. That's crazy.

A little extra fan noise never hurt anyone

I mean you can BARELY hear it at all

 

[Crono]

A little extra fan noise never hurt anyone

I mean you can BARELY hear it at all

That's what it sounds like when doves cry.

 

[UsandThem]

That's what it sounds like when doves cry.

I actually bought a Delta fan back in 2001 I believe, and I thought I could handle its noise inside my case. I had it installed for under 5 minutes before I said "Hell no!".. It sounded like my computer was a vacuum cleaner

 

[Valantar]

They say the PWM version is the better one, but it is a lot harder to find than the normal ones. I presume the ones you have are the voltage controlled ones, right? I can get those from ebay easily, but the PWM ones need little extra work

Is there a really big difference?

Nope, mine are PWM. Got them from Techbay.no here in Norway, they seem to have a good supply. No idea about general distribution, though. Stumbled across them pretty much by chance. Spent a lot of time looking for the 3000rpm version too, but that can't be found at all.

 

[XavierMace]

Yeah, you seen the SAN Ace's in servers.

 

[AntonioHG]

Gentle Typhoon PWM

 

[Railgun]

I can't remember exactly which models they were, but some non-PWM fans can be modded to be PWM as they had the same motor, just didn't ship with the full wiring. I asssume the Nidec branded ones are no different.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I can't remember exactly which models they were, but some non-PWM fans can be modded to be PWM as they had the same motor, just didn't ship with the full wiring. I asssume the Nidec branded ones are no different.

I'm pretty sure they were the AP-30 models with top speed of 4,200 RPM.

I had found an article about how to mod the fan. There are four solder-points exposed on the fan's PCB. As I recall, you only needed to solder in the fourth wire and route all four wires to a 4-pin PWM plug.

The Nidec-Servo GT fans have a proprietary design for noise-cancellation, IIRC. I think it shows in the small holes that ring the spinning part of the fan-hub housing. For a fan as powerful as the AP-30, you can completely isolate the fan with rubber mounts, stick strips of Spire acoustic foam-rubber padding around the shroud, enclose the fan in a duct that further controls airflow and wrap the duct in Spire.

You can also stick a few layers of Spire cut into circles with diameter equal that of the fan hub, and stick them on the fixed part of the hub. I myself modified a fan duct that I built so that a thin piece of popsicle stick glued diagonally in the square duct sits in front of the spinning hub, with a cork wrapped in Spire glued to the popsicle stick.

You may not make the fan noiseless at 4,200 RPM, but you can raise the RPM threshold by as much as 1,000+ RPM to where the noise is barely perceptible.

I just wish I could find some more of those AP-30 units. They're better than the Noctua IPPC 3000 fans that I use for the same purposes.

 

[Valantar]

@BonzaiDuck at some point, I'd love to see some pictures of that rig of yours. It sounds both awesome and horrible all at once. Mostly awesome, though

Also, given that AMD uses AP-30s on the Fury X cooler, that should mean that it's still in production, no? Or did AMD have them start up the production line for a discontinued model for a single run? That sounds expensive.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I actually bought a Delta fan back in 2001 I believe, and I thought I could handle its noise inside my case. I had it installed for under 5 minutes before I said "Hell no!".. It sounded like my computer was a vacuum cleaner

Was it one of those tube-shaped double fan stacks? Those things were crazy. Even I won't run one of those 60+ dBA monsters. My PC *does* sound like a vacuum cleaner, albeit a polite one . . . or an airport for dust particles. 2x NF-A14 3000 RPM is kinda noisy.

 

[UsandThem]

Was it one of those tube-shaped double fan stacks? Those things were crazy. Even I won't run one of those 60+ dBA monsters. My PC *does* sound like a vacuum cleaner, albeit a polite one . . . or an airport for dust particles. 2x NF-A14 3000 RPM is kinda noisy.

I can't remember the size of it, but it was more substantial than the stock case fan it replaced. I wish I had ordered it from a place still in business like Newegg so I could see what model it was, but back then I used 1coolPC for most of my cooling needs, and they are long gone (last I heard he closed the business and went to work at a casino in Las Vegas).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

@BonzaiDuck at some point, I'd love to see some pictures of that rig of yours. It sounds both awesome and horrible all at once. Mostly awesome, though

Also, given that AMD uses AP-30s on the Fury X cooler, that should mean that it's still in production, no? Or did AMD have them start up the production line for a discontinued model for a single run? That sounds expensive.

Today or tomorrow . . . I'll find the links to pictures I've already uploaded and pick a few from the camera already transferred today to the Skylake.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Finally, I'm back. A week laid low and immobile in a mummy bag with a hot-pad drinking lots of water, living with a dagger-axis of pain intersecting a kidney front to back, waiting to pass kidney stones. Well, I'm back, I'm bad, I'm on top -- "them wing-tip bozos don' have nuthin' on me" as Ray Lucca said in '80s crime drama series "Crime Story."

Valantar wanted to see my Skylake rig, and I have some pictures, but some are just not showing the care I might have taken to get the clearest images.

I'll just post these pictures. I could put together an entire comprehensive project thread about this. I've been uploading pictures of sizes that hogged all my web-space, so I started with a few pics I've reduced.

This was a shot taken with both the metal side-panel (with custom DEMCiFlex filter) and clear-plastic 4-fan inner door with the spring-loaded hinge -- removed. The Lexan motherboard duct has also been removed, and you cannot see the CM Crossflow fan forward of the motherboard -- configured as exhaust from under the duct and under the motherboard.

Here's the blurry shot that bugs me with the blur. You can just see the outlines of the Lexan plate to cover the motherboard. There is a cutout that needs some more work for the 24-pin main cable plug from the PSU and any other cables that need to be routed up and over the Crossflow barrel fan -- which you can see just behind the Velcro wrap for the cables:

There are two HDD rubber-isolated drive cages in the Stacker. These are made to fit 120mm fans, but I wanted to Gerry-rig or "mod" those cages for 140mm fans which just fit nicely within the drive bay column. The filter for these fans had to be custom-cut and fabricated from foam art-board, with filters recycled from some HAF 922s upgraded with custom DEMCiFlex filter kits:

The filter is an interference fit, removes easily. In these pictures, note that the full-size DVD drive has been replaced with an ICYDOCK "ODD+ 2 2.5" HDD bay" device. The USB3 ports and a red toggle for one of the cold-cathode lights should be apparent.

That's all for now. By the way. I'm not using an AP-30 for the exhaust fan obscured by the accordion duct: it's a Noctua iPPC 3000:

Another English beef-pot pie to catch up on the food I've missed for seven days.

All I can say is "What a relief! Soaker hose is restored to fire-hose."

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Oh, gee -- forgot a couple of today's uploads:

The two fans in the lower side-panel are Bitfenix Spectre-Pro LED 140's. Everything in the matter of the case-side-panel inner door and the massive LG Macho cooler is a fit of fine tolerances, which required me to cut away some of the thin plastic in the inner door. All the fans are "shock-absorbed" and isolated, using whatever DIY noise-isolation fit the situation. I cut a lot of little triangles from Spire acoustic foam rubber pads for fan corners. If there are nylon machine screws and nuts used to secure the fans, the screws are wrapped in rubber adhesive automotive hose-bandage -- isolating them from the plastic fan shroud where they penetrate the mounting holes.

A new set of LED lights replaces the default Stacker options. I needed eSATA ports. So the recess in the top front of the case that serves as a handle was filled with a foam-art-board construction carefully fitted so that the assembly pops in, but doesn't easily come out. The red HDD light is sort of bright. I like it that way.

 

[Dave Rafael]

Id rather go with pwm i have it for already 3 years and up to now i not experience any problem about it.

 

[ReignQuake]

Wow that's a real blast from the past. I had that case. I had to remove the side fans for a Tuniq Tower. It looks smaller in these pictures that I remembered it. I scrapped mine because the side panel rattled, and I was a young person with no respect for my stuff so I smoked next to it for two years.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Id rather go with pwm i have it for already 3 years and up to now i not experience any problem about it.

Everyone would probably want to use PWM fans exclusively, but you cannot always get the fans you want as PWM. The ASUS board has three CPU/"pump" ports and six CHA_FAN ports, all offering PWM. As an afterthought, there are two additional 3-pin "Assistant Fan" ports and two more 3-pin "external" fan ports. In BIOS, I can configure any single port for thermal control as either PWM or DC.

Wow that's a real blast from the past. I had that case. I had to remove the side fans for a Tuniq Tower. It looks smaller in these pictures that I remembered it. I scrapped mine because the side panel rattled, and I was a young person with no respect for my stuff so I smoked next to it for two years.

You wonder what people did with "dated" top-end aluminum computer cases. I had this Stacker 830 in storage for some two+ years wrapped in 32-gal garbage bags to protect it from the weather as it sat in the perpetual shaded corner of my patio.

I couldn't speak to your plastic-door rattle. The spring-loaded hinge should have offered some isolation from fan vibration. The two plastic clips on the forward side of the door are flimsy and can break. I had to repair one of them. And I cannot just swing open that door for access: the ribs of the ThermalRight accordion-duct accessory either interfere with door movement or can be disturbed and pulled out of place by it. But disengaging the spring-loaded hinge and unlocking the remaining functional plastic clip, it just pulls straight out.

I even built little shock-absorber isolators for the CM Crossflow barrel fan. This was the most difficult fan to isolate, because the screws are small and they thread directly into the metal fan housing. Success with that made a big difference in noise as I could detect it using my automotive stethoscope.

Since you're familiar with the case, you will know that the front door swings on its own spring-loaded hinge, or that the pins of that hinge lock in place and are retracted by a small slider that allows for door removal. I discovered that these pins are not steel nor are they aluminum -- they are plastic. A couple months ago, I hit the open door with my knee and broke both upper and lower pins.

I was then gratified to discover that the front door remains solidly in place simply from the four magnets installed for it in the case design. So to get access to the ODD, the two drive bays and USB3 ports, I just pull it off and then pop it back on. Even so, I have discovered a possible means of repair with some barrel-shaped steel pieces (probably standoffs of some kind) that I'd picked up at the local electronics jobber warehouse some years back. If I can get a pair of those that are at least a centimeter longer, they make an interference fit in the channel designed into the door edge. A left-over spring from a CPU cooler should make it possible to install the door so that it can still be easily removed. But -- no hurry with that.

Also note the case-bottom 2x 120mm fan vent has been sealed with foam art-board, and the top-side fan-vent is blocked by clear Lexan plate. If I can't use vents for fans, I seal them off.

 

[Valantar]

@ReignQuake @BonzaiDuck I used to have the same case too (well, the black and green "Nvidia edition", but essentially the same), but I got rid of it in favor of a Fractal R4 a couple of years ago. Sold the case, hopefully it's still seeing some use. I originally liked it quite a lot, but a combination of bad hardware planning, old-fashioned case design and nagging faults caused me to pretty much loathe it in the end. And I too had a rattling side door - not the plastic inner door, but the aluminium outer door. Could never get it to stop rattling entirely for more than a little while.

I had a series of unfortunate kinda-sorta compatibility (some hardware compatibility, some user brain-to-real world compatibility) issues with this case though. Originally, I bought it alongside two Radeon HD 4850s in CrossFire (yeah, I know, dual Radeons in an Nvidia edition case ... XD What can I say? I loved the green color at the time). The single-slot blower fans on these must have been designed in some special region of hell where the worst fan designers go, so after a short while I decided to replace them with Arctic Accelero S1s (as those were pretty much the only third-party GPU coolers that would fit, that I could afford and that were available). I even dremeled off the VRM coolers from the stock blowers to avoid crashes. Lo and behold, the S1s extended too far above/to the side of the GPU PCBs for the inner door to fit properly (not to mention that I had to cut away some of the fins to fit a CF cable through). And removing the inner door left me with a single intake fan, mounted on the HDD cage (which at the time held four 3.5" HDDs running in RAID 5), which ... well, was far insufficient to properly cool a very hot-running X48-based motherboard, especially with two passively cooled GPUs attached, even with a down-draft CPU cooler. Or did I still have my 120mm liquid cooling kit attached to the CPU back then? If so: hooray, even less airflow! No, I wasn't particularly smart at the time.

The system finally became both usably stable and stopped damaging my hearing when I ditched the 4850s for a single (non-stock cooled) 6950. I put the fan side door back in, but then (as I could actually use the PC regularly) dust build-up started bothering me (not to mention the immense hassle of having four 120mm fans in the side panel tethered to the motherboard - yeah, again, not very smart). I hadn't heard of DEMCIflex at the time. Not to mention that the side door rattled, the open-air design let out every single noise made by any component, and so on. In the end, I had enough.

But this is getting very off-topic now. Oh well.