Looking for the quietest 80mm fans on the market.

[blurredvision]

Hey guys. I'm looking to quiet my case down a bit. Right now, I have 5 case fans moving air throughout, but I'd like it a bit quieter than it is. I'm not concerned with the amount of air a fan pumps, as long as it's decent. I'm mainly concerned with sound it emits.

Can you point me to the cheapest and quietest fans on the net??

 

[ojai00]

Haven't tried these but I found these "quiet" fans.

80 x 25 NMB Ultra Quiet Fan
Enermax Whisper Fan
Silencer Cooling Fan

I have the Panaflo PABST fans and they're pretty quiet. Hope this helps.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: ojai00
Haven't tried these but I found these "quiet" fans.

80 x 25 NMB Ultra Quiet Fan
Enermax Whisper Fan
Silencer Cooling Fan

I have the Panaflo PABST fans and they're pretty quiet. Hope this helps.

you beat mech to the link to the nmb fans anyways, i got 5 of the nmb fans from scv plus 5 3-4 pin adapters, these things are quiet. not as powerful as myabe your stock fans, but with 5 going at once, my system is always cool.

 

[PliotronX]

Without a concern for money, unless you happen to live in Germany, Papst makes the quietest fans. In second, and much cheaper for us "outsiders" is Panaflo. The L1A fans are almost as silent as the Papst fans but because of the special "hydro-bearing" it lasts longer than the sleeve bearing used in Papst's fans. The 80mm L1A fans go for around $7, usually without a tail, and you can get tails from here.

 

[TimeKeeper]

I mod 2 NMB fans to my PSU.
1 on side panel.

Keep my retail 2800rpm P4 fan.
All I can hear from my system is the damn Maxtor HD. (need a seagate.............. )

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: ojai00
Haven't tried these but I found these "quiet" fans.

80 x 25 NMB Ultra Quiet Fan
Enermax Whisper Fan
Silencer Cooling Fan

I have the Panaflo PABST fans and they're pretty quiet. Hope this helps.

Are the NMB fans really that quiet for that cheap of a price? I'm sure they'll do decent cooling, what case fan wouldn't? They might not push as much air, but I'd like a flow throughout the case without lots of noise.

 

[Jhhnn]

I haven't used the Enermax temp sensitive fans, can't see any advantage because of their slow response to temp rise. Full speed at 45C won't do your computer any good....

I do believe in quiet computers, however, and have used Adda, Panaflo L1a, Silencers and low speed NMB's. That list is pretty much from strongest to weakest, and from loudest to quietest. Any of these are readily available and inexpensive, unlike the Papst fans that are tres expensive and hard to find.

Don't trust the manufacturers' noise/cfm ratings- some of them are, uhh, a little optimistic. It's all in the power consumption figures, none of them have any magic bullets to defy the laws of physics. Adda-.12A, Panaflo-.10A, Silencer-.08A, and NMB-.06A.

Given that you're probably heavily overfanned with 5, the nmb's should do the job just fine. In a different box with one or two fans, you'd want the Addas or the Panaflos....

Phamcomputer is one of a few carrying the Addas, the panaflos are widely available...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Check out www.silentpcreview.com and (as you'll find out there) you can make many fans run quiet by using a Fanmate to run them at 5V - 7V instead of 12V (but with less cooling of course).

 

[Jhhnn]

Dave Simmons is correct, undervolting fans does wonders, and is very inexpensive, easy with 4 pin fans...