I need a cheap, low noise 120mm fan

[imported_wired247]

I've had it up to here searching through newegg, jab-tech, and a few other websites searching for the perfect fan at a decent price.

Here's the deal...

I don't mind paying a little extra for quality, but I just don't want to get ripped off for overpriced junk. And I feel that my searching has led me towards a bunch of dead ends (some kind of scythe overpriced crap with mediocre reviews)

...that's what I've been seeing for the low noise / low speed fans that I've been looking at.

If I could get one at 500-800 RPM that would be just about perfect, I believe.

I have one fan in my case that needs to get toned down a bit, and I'm also sick of rickety, junky potentiometers. So I decided to simply replace it with a new fan.

Can anyone point me in the right direction, please?

Much appreciated.

 

[coreyb]

http://www.ncix.com/products/i...Scythe#CustomerReviews

Second best fan reviewed at madshrimps. over 30 fans were reviewed and this was second place for performance/noise ratio...I'm getting this off the top of my head but I believe that was correct. Not too expensive IMO either.

 

[zagood]

for intake, CPU heatsink, or exhaust?

look through the fans at performance-pcs.com and sidewindercomputers.com - they've got about the best overall fan selections (wicked shipping at perf-pcs so make sure you pad your shopping cart with spare parts - sleeving, molex pins etc.)

-z

 

[imported_wired247]

It's for the cpu heatsink.

my other fans (lian li OEM) are hooked up to the mobo directly, which are fairly mellow thanks to asus q-fan. but the CPU fan is running way faster than it needs to, and the potentiometer that came with the sunbeam ccf sucks hard.


I'd also prefer to buy from the US, is ncix purely canadian?

edit... ok thanks for these links, I think I can make my choices from here

Edit2... order placed from jabtech, thanks very much for the suggestions, and the madshrimps review was helpful as well.


the price was so good on the scythe slipstream fans (shipping was a good deal too) I decided to replace all my fans.

Going with 3x 800rpm for the case fans, and 1x500rpm for the cpu fan. If 500rpm turns out to be too slow, I'll swap it back.

cheers :beer:

 

[zagood]

Hmmmm, wish I'd made a more thorough post...From personal experience those slipstreams, while great for exhaust and pretty good for intake, are much louder than the s-flex for the same heatsink cooling power. Great deal at jab-tech though, you're right.

I think that 500rpm is going to be too slow, but let us know how testing goes.

-z

 

[imported_wired247]

I'll manage... once these fans come in I'll still have the 4 old ones left over.


But the CPU runs very cool at 3.6, if I can just get a slight amount of airflow over the cpu heatsink I should be good. That's why I was thinking 500rpm.

 

[Zepper]

I was thinking that a fan running at only 500-800 may as well not be there... I've been running my fans (which can do nearly 100CFM) at around 1500 rpm which still pushes some air and is low enough in noise for me.

.bh.

 

[imported_wired247]

I disagree, stagnant air versus a few well-placed CFM is a world of difference when it comes to heat exchangers. I am a chemical engineer after all, I think I'll manage the details of case temp and hardware monitoring just fine. As for the noise issue that's totally subjective.

The point is, now that I have 4 new fans, mixed and matched with the 4 I currently have I will be able to come up with a solution that fits my needs.