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Is 68dB Really Loud?

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That fan needs to come with a safety warning. I think it's a seriously bad idea to expose your ears to that for hours at a time. Forget about running that thing 24/7 in your bedroom... it's not worth it.
 
That fan is probably meant for people who really need the extreme cooling, and then lock it into a soundproof closet. Like huge, busy servers in a company. 60-70dB is really loud. A jetfighter taking off from a runway is like 140dB... yes, I know dB is algorithmic, but still 😛 Isn't it true that an average discussion between two people is like 50-60dB? Imagine having that on all night in your room. Yes, you should use earmuffs. Or simply move out of the house.
 
Okay, so it's loud and I just bought it. It's going to sit on top of an XP-120 for extreme air cooling. A fan controller would drop this sucker down to 2000 RPM and make it half as loud.
 
Originally posted by: MrControversial
Okay, so it's loud and I just bought it. It's going to sit on top of an XP-120 for extreme air cooling. A fan controller would drop this sucker down to 2000 RPM and make it half as loud.

That sure is one sick fan. It's probably a lot more efficient than watercooling. but remember, when you divide the rpm and noise by two.. you also divide the efficiency/CFM by two. But still worth it I guess 🙂 Good luck.
 
Reducing it like that makes it a worse buy than getting a lower RPM, CFM, dBA fan... You can get one that moves about half the air, at less than half the noise level for less money. If you're not going to use that fan at a CFM that makes the huge expense worth it, it's a waste of money.
 
120x120mm Papst fans with 74, 9x or 1xx CFM are a really good buy, I would guess. The 74CFM one makes about 18dB which is quite silent. 120x120mm is huge, though. Using that dimension for a CPU-fan is a space-eater deluxe. A Gainward 6800GT/Ultra card at the same time is an impossibility, I would say.
 
Originally posted by: Steffenm
Originally posted by: MrControversial
Okay, so it's loud and I just bought it. It's going to sit on top of an XP-120 for extreme air cooling. A fan controller would drop this sucker down to 2000 RPM and make it half as loud.

That sure is one sick fan. It's probably a lot more efficient than watercooling. but remember, when you divide the rpm and noise by two.. you also divide the efficiency/CFM by two. But still worth it I guess 🙂 Good luck.

I know, but even at half the speed, this sucker is still putting out around ~100CFM which is better than most fans at regular speed. I'm definately going to do some overclocking with water cooling comparisons. I'll post pictures and benchmarks. I would suggest that if anyone purchases this fan, that they get some kind of control panel to regulate it.
 
Almost right on the money...

A whisper, from 3' away, is about 30dB...
A Rock and Roll concert (amplified) is 120dB (from 6 feet away)...

See it all here (look at the bottom of the page)...
 
Sorry to bust the bubble, but i know of NO fan controller that can support the roughly 30 Watts that this fan requires. Most I have seen is my Sunbeam which supports 20Watt fans.

65db is extermely noisy. So much so that nobody will hear you scream as your suffer an avulsion from your finger's curiosity.

If you get that fan for your XP-120 you might as well duct it out of your case as well. 220cfm will cause great turbulence in the case, and your case wouldnt be able to exhaust it without you taking tubing and leading the 220cfm outta the case.
 
HOLY DOOODE WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH A FAN THAT POWERFUL? ARE YOU GOING TO PLUCK SUPER CUTE SQUIRRELS OUT OF TREES WITH THAT HONKER?

Seriously, get a 2000+ rpm 120 like panaflo or something and you'll be better... way better man. 68 db would give you hearing damage over the long run (unless you keep your system in a self contained box that is 20 feet from your head).
 
Will your motherboard support the deflection created by the "lift" force? Assuming this orientation - otherwise the potential short caused by pinning the Mobo to the back plate? 😉
 
Originally posted by: AMDFanatic
I can sleep with constant noise, it's just the intermittent stuff like car alarms, clock alarms, etc that bothers me. Actually, if it drowns out the noise from the apartment above me, that would rock. Like I said, my fan controller will drop the speed by half and that should get rid of the noise.

Actually, that fan consumes enough power that it will most likely blow out your fan controller. I know my Sunbeam does 20 Watts/channel, and that was on the high end of Wattage for rheos when I got it.
 
One other thing to consider is that that fan will give you a negligable cooling benefit over a more reasonable fan (say in the 80-100 CFM range). Check out any decent review on the xp-120 if you don't believe me. That heatsink excels at using lower RPM fans, but doesn't necessarily get that much of a benefit from going to a higher RPM setup.
 
Originally posted by: impemonk
HOLY DOOODE WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH A FAN THAT POWERFUL? ARE YOU GOING TO PLUCK SUPER CUTE SQUIRRELS OUT OF TREES WITH THAT HONKER?

Seriously, get a 2000+ rpm 120 like panaflo or something and you'll be better... way better man. 68 db would give you hearing damage over the long run (unless you keep your system in a self contained box that is 20 feet from your head).

It's about as loud as the servers I deal with daily. No big deal. My Gatewatch should be able to handle this.
 
Originally posted by: Melectricus
Will your motherboard support the deflection created by the "lift" force? Assuming this orientation - otherwise the potential short caused by pinning the Mobo to the back plate? 😉

Don't exaggerate. We're talking a 120mm fan here. The surface area of this fan should be enough to cool the whole mother board. You can forget about dust collection in this case. The Gatewatch supports fans of up to 15,000 RPMs (my Delta only does 4500). One thing I was concerned about is cutting myself so I bought a chrome grill for it.
 
Gonna have to return it and get the 151 CFM (I call it the "Mama Bear") version. I failed to check the power consumption. My Gatewatch accepts 20.4W per channel (or 1.7A).

Just called Sidewinder and went a step down with the 56dB version, it only draws an amp per channel. Can't believe I fscked up like that. Thanks guys for setting me straight.
 
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