Need help finding quality case fans..

Wolfstan

Member
Oct 8, 2005
39
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0
Hello fellow forum-goers. I am in need of assistance.

I'm assembling a new rig (my first build). To house the parts, I chose the Centurion RC531 by Cooler Master. It it a good quality case, aside from some minor issues.

The largest issue is the inadequacy of the stock 120x25mm blue LED fan. When I tested it out in my old rig, I found it guilty of poor airflow. The slow wagging of my dog's tail moves more air. In addition to this, it is situated at the bottom front of the case, right before the HDD bays, which also block airflow and render the front intake darn near useless. (as noted in this review.)


For my exhaust, I chose this awesome fan. Pushes a LOT of air, and is quiet. So to get around this intake issue, I need a powerful 120x25mm fan to replace the lame stock. An LED or UV fan would be nice, though not necessary. I've found this fan. Reviews say it's a good fan, and I've hear AeroCool is a reputable brand in cooling, so it might work.

As for the 80mm fans, I have yet to see whether or not they can be mounted without spacing issues with other parts. I'm sure that the CPU air duct cone can be removed, but I'm not sure if it should augment the gimped intake, or act as exhaust for heat. Then, I'm also not sure if an 80mm fan can be mounted on the rectangular vent on the bottom left side of the case without space issues. I'll have to wait for my motherboard and CPU before I can assess what can and can't be done.

However, I still want suggestions, especially for the 120x25 fan, which much be replaced ASAP.

If it will help, I will post the components of my new rig below:

CASE: Centurion RC531
Mobo: ASUS A8N5x
CPU: AMD Athlon FX X2 4200+
PSU: ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W
HDD(s): Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s, Western Digital Caviar 120GB IDE
VGA: XFX PV-T71G-UDE7 GeForce 7900 GT EXTREME (520MHz) 256MB GDDR3
DVD/CD: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Silver IDE Model ND-3550A

 

Luckyboy1

Senior member
Mar 13, 2006
934
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I'm NOT saying the fan you are considering isn't a good fan, but I'm confused... you say as most do who have REAL WORLD experience with Panaflo fans that they are awsome fans. Yes, they last and last and give the mostest of airflow for the leastest of noise... so why not buy them again? Seems like a no brainer to me and ask anyone around here, I'm the expert on no brains! ;)

Is it a fashion thing that keeps you from rewarding a company for putting out a great product by doing business with them again?
 

BigCoolJesus

Banned
Jun 22, 2005
1,687
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Scythe USA products


Check out their selection on newegg, they have a couple of different models of 120mm fans (go down to the more expensive ones, in the $7-14 range, as those run a lot quieter) and they have a decent 80mm fan.


Thier fans run silent (one of th 120mm fan models pushes almost 30CFM's at 8.4dBA)
 

DerwenArtos12

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,278
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how silent do you need? If you're looking for perfect silence then Panalflo, scythe or yate loon are the only way to go. If you want it to be silent most of the time but when you want to really run the system hard, it's ok to be a bit louder, i would get some silverstone or these and good fan controller like the sunbeam theta.
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
18,998
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I don't consider very many sleeve bearing fans to be quality fans - the Panaflo and the Sunon maglev being another. But as you say, the Pana isn't available in 25mm and the maglev isn't even available in 120mm yet (last I knew). The CoolerMaster LED fans are popular here for being quiet, but that is mainly due to not pushing much air. Look at the Delta, Sanyo Denki, NMB and/or Nidec fans available at: thermalfx.com (also sells on eBay), sidewindercomputers.com, bgmicro.com, etc.

Yate Loon is decent for a sleeve bearing fan. For some reason the Akasa Amber fan in 120 doesn't seem to be of the same quality as their smaller models. The Silverstone fans are interesting, but I've seen some reports that their longevity might leave something to be desired (but those may be due to poor packaging for shipping - you can't just throw fans into the box and expect them to get to their destinations undamaged)...

.bh.
 

pkme2

Diamond Member
Sep 30, 2005
3,896
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I've replaced all my case fans with Yate Loons (120mm and 80mm @ 28dBA) I got them at some very reasonable prices and they must be the best kept secret because they work! No frills, no expensive artwork, no super brand markups; just cheap. So if the other brands work for you, so be it. Its your dollar.......