fan questions

[notanotheracct]

i want 2 fans. either a 60mm or 70mm fan (lower power usage the better) for a DVR unit, and another fan to put in front of 3 HDs in a PC case - i figured a 120mm fan would work.

my FIRST goal is for them to be quiet.
SECOND goal is for them to be effective.
and my final goal is for them to be quiet.

i'm considering these two fans for the DVR but haven't found any reviews on the 70mm fans and have seen mixed reviews for the 60mm... and i'm also wondering if a 70mm would be better overall.

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556017011.html
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556058175.html
http://www.xoxide.com/evercool-70mm-fan.html

for the 120mm's, i'm undecided

http://www.xoxide.com/cooler-master-120mm-fan-saf-s12-e1.html
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556017004.html
http://www.coolerguys.com/840556025252.html


any opinions?

 

[Jiggz]

One of the quietest fans out there are the Panaflos'. You will have to use the L series which stands for Low speed and also low db. There are M and H series which obviously explains for themselves. As for the hdd cooling you can also use 92mm fans which will also suffice unless you prefer the 120mm.

 

[zagood]

Search "Cases and Cooling" for 120mm recommendations.

Those smaller fans are tough. SPCR recommends the JMC Panther
http://silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html

-z

 

[MWink]

I would highly suggest you avoid any fan made by Evercool. Every fan I've encountered with their name on it is dying (noisy) or dead and most of them are not even that old. Enermax fans aren't that great either, in my experience. It's not that they fail but their bearings seem to get noisy fairly fast.

For quiet I'd suggest you go with sleeve bearing fans over ball bearing as they tend to be quieter. I know many say that ball bearing fans last longer but I haven't really found that to be the case (especially since you can usually fix a noisy sleeve bearing fan by oiling it, while there is nothing I've found that fixes a noisy ball bearing).

I don't really have any suggestions for a quiet 60-70mm fan (at least not without undervolting) but for the 120mm I'm quite happy with the Silver Stone I got at Newegg. It pushes a decent amount of air and is almost totally silent.

BTW here are some good brands (at least IMO): Adda, Nidec, Panaflo (Panasonic), NMB, Sunon.