Best 120mm Fan for Casing

[NirHahs]

I just bought a new casing CM storm scout 2. there is alot of 120mm empty fan to install and i need to find about 4-5 fan. for price, i dont really care. what is the best fan for casing in term of inhale and exhale?

 

[Subyman]

There is a lot more to it than just how much air they can push. If you only look at the air flow, then you'll be stuck with a vacuum sounding case. You need a good balance between harmonics, noise, price, and CFM (flow.) Some need aesthetics too, but I doubt you care too much about that.

Best value fans:
Yate Loon medium/low ($4.99-$5.99)
XSPC Fans ($4.99)

Best all rounder:
Gentle Typhoon

Those look rather plain. If you want aesthetics then the Corsair SP120's are decent.

 

[Tweakin]

Best bang for the buck - yate loons 12dl
NZXT FNv2

Best performance and sound - NB e-loops
GT AP-14-s

 

[NirHahs]

how about Noctua? I head they perform the best

 

[Tweakin]

how about Noctua? I head they perform the best

Noc's are good fans, just not on my list as I've owned them and they are nothing special over most other high-end fans and they are butt-ugly

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Noc's are good fans, just not on my list as I've owned them and they are nothing special over most other high-end fans and they are butt-ugly

Just some thoughts, because it seems like Nirhahs is fairly new to these issues.

You don't need to use every fan-vent in a computer case. The cases are designed for various optional cooling methods and other features -- for a wide variety of users.

So I suggest that you choose your fans to balance input and exhaust CFMs -- perhaps with greater on the input side. Colleagues posting here and elsewhere will say that rated CFM specs are not worth much, but unless you scour lab-test reviews on each and every fan, it's the only way to estimate this balance.

And again -- if you don't need a fan vent based on that estimate, then block it off. I use carefully-cut panels of foam art-board. Cardboard will work, but it's a pretty tacky choice -- unsightly to begin with.

 

[Essence_of_War]

how about Noctua? I head they perform the best

They're very good from a performance/dB perspective.

They tend to be pricey, so unless you have a bunch of cash burning its way through your pocket, it's almost certainly not worth the money to plug every 120mm mount point with an NF-F12, for example

 

[Tristor]

I'm a huge fan of the Cougar Vortex FDB fans. Before that, I would have said Scythe S-Flex FDB fans. In all my years building and working with computers I've found that FDB fans are far superior to other bearing styles in both sound and longevity. This is a pretty important factor for me, and I find that they often perform better (higher static pressure and/or higher airflow) at the same RPMs as other bearing styles. The Vortexs are not pressure optimized per se, but they do have a relatively decent static pressure and work well for radiator fans although are better suited as general case fans.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm a huge fan of the Cougar Vortex FDB fans. Before that, I would have said Scythe S-Flex FDB fans. In all my years building and working with computers I've found that FDB fans are far superior to other bearing styles in both sound and longevity. This is a pretty important factor for me, and I find that they often perform better (higher static pressure and/or higher airflow) at the same RPMs as other bearing styles. The Vortexs are not pressure optimized per se, but they do have a relatively decent static pressure and work well for radiator fans although are better suited as general case fans.

I picked up two of the Cougar Vortex's 120mm by mistake; I mentioned it in some other thread. I was looking for maximum CFM rating of 100, and some . . . Ditz . . at TigerDirect had posted the Cougar's spec as 100-something "CFM." After I ordered them, I discovered 20 minutes later they were only rated at 75 (CFM) -- the "100+" spec was in cu-m/hr. No doubt -- they're well-built, and especially -- quiet.

At the moment, I just live in a different world -- "air-freakin'-cooling." With the CPU pushing 70C (which it will never do in real-world usage), I have mostly "white noise" -- "air-conditioning." I was able to stifle "the tone." That is -- the "tone" of a Typhoon AP-30 -- 4,200 RPM. I wanted the range it offered, but I really only need to spin it up as high as 3,200 to get optimal cooling.