need some quiet 80mm fans

[fluxquantum]

hello everyone. i was wondering what type of 80mm fan to get. i currently use 4 antec ball bearing ones in my case but would like to replace them with quieter ones. any suggestions are welcome.

 

[deerslayer]

Panaflo L1A is the most popular IMHO, i've heard that NMB's are good and quiet as well. I run 4 panaflo's in my computer, and it's pretty quiet if you ignore the YS Tech on my heatsink

 

[OulOat]

I heard that the 5700 RPM Deltas are REAL quiet.

 

[cheapgoose]

deltas are bad, the tornado is actually pretty good though.

 

[fluxquantum]

thanks for the suggestions

 

[OulOat]

Flux, I hope you weren't taking cheapgoose and me seriously. Deltas and Tornados are some of the loudest fans there are. It's just annoying how every other day someone posts asking about quiet fans. If you search the forums for "quiet," you will find that the general consensus is that NMBs or panaflos are some of the quietest affordable fans you can get. Panaflos push a little more air with a little bit more noise, but I think that for general case cooling, the NMBs will work fine, definitely if you have 4 of them.

 

[Wez]

having tried about 4 different kinds of fans, here is a mini-synopsis:

Note: Except for the Thermaltake Smartfan2, all these fans are around or below 29db, thus are better than your normal fans.


Quietest: PC Power and Cooling 80mm fan.
The Good: Very quiet, and low turbulence noise
The Bad: Doesn't move very much air and the 3tail version has no rpm monitoring

Next Most Quiet: Panaflo L1A
The Good: Moves more air than the PC Power and Cooling, though rated lower, low frequency sound that is not annoying
The Bad: 3tail version has no rmp monitoring

3rd: Enermax UC Temp controlled fans
The Good: Temp controlled and near silent(same as PCpower&Cooling) below 2000rpm, has rpm monitoring as well as temp controlled
The Bad: Hard to get it to ramp up when you need more air; I ended up putting the sensor near the RAM

4th: Panaflo M1A
The Good: Moves more air than the top three fans and has rpm monitoring. A bit louder, but with a rheobus, will be almost as silent as an L1A
The Bad: A bit louder than the above 3 fans, but worth it if you can control the fan speed. Noise quality is a bit higher pitched than the L1A series. A little more noticeable.

5th: Enermax UC clear blade fan
The Good: Qualitatively, moves about the same amount of air as the M1A, but alittle less. Has rpm monitoring and available with manual controls
The Bad: Some bearing noise discernable, but not bad from 2 ft away. Pretty much same noise level as the M1A, perhaps just a tad louder and moves a tad less air.

6th: Thermaltake Smartfan 2
The Good: Moves a TON of air and has many options for control
The Bad: Not quiet at any level. At lower speeds, there are clicking sounds from the motor. Very annoying, but if you need the air, it's not a bad option


You might also try Papst fans, they are about the same magnitude as the PC Power and Cooling the the Panaflo L1A. I was not impressed with the Papst 120mm fan that I aquired. It was rated at 26db, but I don't believe it was anywhere near that quiet and didn't move very much air. I've read good reviews for the Papst 80mm fans, but I don't think you will get better results than the PCP&Cooling, L1A, and Enermax(below 2000rpm) unless you go to an alternative method of cooling.

 

[Acts837]

Wez - I'd be interested to see your analysis of the NMB from svc.com

My main rig has 2 NMBs and 2 L1As. The L1A fans move more are than the NMBs but the L1As have a mild hum that is kinda annoying when you're looking for a totaly silent solution.

 

[Wez]

Acts837,
I would do an analysis of the NMBs, but I have not tried them. I imagine this are very similar to the PC Power and Cooling. I have noticed that the L1As do have some kind of noise, but I don't believe that it's bearing noise. It just seems like that's the sound they make when they move air. By virtue of the L1As moving more air than most
"quiet" fans, they will generate more turbulence. The L1As probably are not the best option for total silence, but I like the amount of air they move at that noise level.

Maybe I'll get some NMBs just to test them out...

 

[uncleant]

Combined with a quality heatsink, are quiet fans such as the panaflo still acceptable for overclocking an AthlonXP?

 

[Wez]

I have the M1A on my PAL 8045T overclocking an XP1700+ thoroughbred RevB at 2004mhz...temps are 34-36C idle and 38-42C at load(using Prime95)...ambient 21C and case 25-26C

I had the Enermax Temp Controlled fan on there at below 2000rpm and very quiet running the proc at 44C under load...the PAL 8045 design doesn't seem to require a heavy duty fan...dunno about other hs...

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: uncleant
Combined with a quality heatsink, are quiet fans such as the panaflo still acceptable for overclocking an AthlonXP?

It depends. Panaflos are said to be good at pushing air through blockage, so they are better on heatsinks than NMBs, for example. But whatever you put on a heatsink, you will notice more noise from it than if it was on the case.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: uncleant
Combined with a quality heatsink, are quiet fans such as the panaflo still acceptable for overclocking an AthlonXP?

For your heatsink you want a fan with which you can monitor the RPM. That's why I got Vantec Stealth fans for my CPU heatsinks. Most of my other fans are non-RPM monitoring Panaflo 1A's. Big honkin' heatsinks. Pabst fans are said to be about the best, but they are expensive.

 

[uncleant]

So the Vantec Stealth fan lets you monitor rpms, but does it also vary its rpm according to temperature or something? Because I really don't care about monitoring the fan speed as long as its quiet and moving air.

And yeah, I also hate how the quality heatsinks and fans are so expensive.

 

[madcat004]

i have the 80mm papst(26cfm @ 21db) and the 80mm vantec stealth. Both fan seems to make about the same amount of noise while cooling at a max of 2 degrees diff (stealth keeps it cooler). For case fans i use 4 NMB's, it doesn't move much air but it's very quite.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: uncleant
So the Vantec Stealth fan lets you monitor rpms, but does it also vary its rpm according to temperature or something? Because I really don't care about monitoring the fan speed as long as its quiet and moving air.

And yeah, I also hate how the quality heatsinks and fans are so expensive.

To vary the Vantec Stealth's RPM you would need a program, and there are freeware programs to do it. I don't know why but people say you really should be able to monitor the RPM on your CPU's fan, so that's why I got the Vantecs. I use Panaflos for my main box fans. I got most of my quiet fans and my heatsinks in one order from KD Computers. The link here is to their heatsinks, but they had a very good price for their fans and Arctic Silver III, too. I got the Thermalright AX7, but they don't carry it now. I suppose it's been replaced by others. I don't know if you are Intel or AMD, so you should shop what you want/need, of course.