Low Noise Case Fans

[RPD]

I am in the market to buy 3 new 120mm case fans. My main criteria for the new fans is noise, I want to buy some very quiet fans. I've search on this forum, read reviews on newegg, acousticpc.com, and silentpcreview.com. My only issue is there doesn't seem to be any industry standard for testing fans at a speed and sound. Fans just list some dB rating or a range. The guide on silentpcreview.com is dated 2007.

The one fan that I think will actually be quiet is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608004 but at $25 a pop x 3, is quite the investment and without more input I'm wary of pulling the trigger. It seems for any fan classified as "quiet" the price is $20 and up.

Can anyone direct me to more up to date fan reviews or offer any additional input?

 

[Patrick Wolf]

My only issue is there doesn't seem to be any industry standard for testing fans at a speed and sound.

You nailed it. It sucks. This is where everyone usually goes for a comparison:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/120-140-fans-roundup.html

Unfortunetly it's pretty old and there's many more fans out there than tested so there could very well be better, cheaper options. The Gentle Typhoons are highly reguarded, but I've got the B3AP-13 and it's quiet except that it has a low high-pitched whine coming from the motor. The B3AP-12 didn't exhibit this though. It may just be a defect as others have also complained of this. I'd forgot about the $25+ fans out there; not worth it.

In my experience as far as keeping that "whooshing sound" down, 120mm fans over 1200 RPM are usually not very quiet. 800 or less is usually near silent. Then there's other issues like motor noise or a noise created by air being moved through a metal mesh or opening on some cases where only lower CFM/RPM fans will suffice.

Haven't tried these myself yet, but at 900 RPM they're almost certainly very quiet and cost is about $13 (check directron):
http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/product_a1_1_1&lv0=4&lv1=32&no=108

Thermalright's X-Silent and standard fans are good too. I've got the X-Silent 140 and it's pretty quiet even at max RPM.

 

[RPD]

I mean it's just frustrating to see the same fan called quiet and loud by different people. Ugh.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I have two Noctua NF-S12B ULN (can get a 2-pack for cheap at NCIX) in my living room PC. Quiet enough for me. They don't move huge amounts of air, but enough for cooling a Q8200 and Radeon 4830 plus four hard drives with no additional fans.

I have used a handful of fans, and the only ones that sound good (i.e. pleasantly quiet, but not silent) are all from Noctua. They are worth the high price simply because I haven't seen them get louder even running 24/7, or with hot components (I avoid fans on my video cards, both of which are mid-end ~90-100w TDP). Other fans sound worse as time passes, or sound rough in general.

With vertical mounting, I have also had luck with sleeve-bearing Scythe Slipstreams, but not their ball bearing S-flexes which are not good.

 

[RPD]

Yep, I'm pulling the trigger on 3 of the NF-P12's, using the rest of my Amazon gift card and they are $5 less each there. I pretty much found only positive reviews about this fan, other fans was hit or miss on the reviews. I decided I'd rather pay a little more for something with the odds in my favor of being quiet vs. trying to save $5 a fan.

 

[RPD]

As an update, I installed the 3 new fans and either the existing fans moved obsene amounts of air, were old or some combination of the two because these new fans (NF-P12's) are whisper quiet. I don't think I'll be even trying other fans because of just how quiet these guys are :thumbsup:

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I've been extremely happy with the Noctua NFP-12.
Moves a lot of air with good static pressure while being almost silent (use 3 of them in my P183).

 

[DirkGently1]

I think most will agree that ~900RPM is the sweet-spot for noise/efficiency. Noctua as a manufacturer is a pretty safe bet for build quality and worth spending a little more money for.