Panaflo fan differences

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I have a 92mm H-1BX Panaflo that I got a year ago and have been using it on an XP90 ever since. It's rated for 56.7cfm at 35dbA and I never found the noise very loud even at full speed, just a sort of light whirring. Last week I got another panaflo, an 80mm M-1BX model (32cfm, 28dbA) from Sidewinder to add to my case, but to my surprise it was quite loud, easily louder than the 92mm one that is rated 7dbA higher, and had what seemed to be a sort of periodic rattle to it. Not sure exactly how to describe this. It was actually branded differently, saying NMB MAT on it instead of Panaflo, but the part number matched up. The sound is not too bad if I cut it down to 75% speed using Speedfan and the rattle goes away, but I expected much better considering my experience with the older 92mm one. I know the dbA ratings are generally not comparable but these fans are supposedly from the same manufacturer. I've heard of the differences between the Japanese and Chinese versions, but these actually both say made in China on them, so what's going on here?
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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Panaflo is now part of the NMB fan line. I've heard that the ones being made in China aren't as good as the MiJ ones were - plus you may just have gotten one from the lower end of the distribution curve. Plus fans are quite often not packed properly by the resellers to protect them in shipping - so what you are hearing might be the result of shipping damage.

.bh.
 

GalvanizedYankee

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Oct 27, 2003
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OP, contact sidewinder. The owner is a decent fellow, i'm sure he will work with you.

I have purchased several items from sidewinder and have been treated fairly on RMA.

I bought 4 of the Delta Triple blade fans all 38mm thick, 3-92s and 1-120. If i were in the market for 80mm i would buy Delta Triples from sidewinder. No one else on this forum seems to use them but i am really pleased with what sound they do make. I have used and have in use now Panaflo,ADDA,Foxconn,Delta Triples. At full voltage the high output 92 has a baratone sound, no shreek or tearing of air.

Galvanized
 

Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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You can't compare a fan mounted to heatsink inside your case to a fan mounted as an intake or an exhaust.
 

CP5670

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Jun 24, 2004
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OP, contact sidewinder. The owner is a decent fellow, i'm sure he will work with you.

I have purchased several items from sidewinder and have been treated fairly on RMA.

I bought 4 of the Delta Triple blade fans all 38mm thick, 3-92s and 1-120. If i were in the market for 80mm i would buy Delta Triples from sidewinder. No one else on this forum seems to use them but i am really pleased with what sound they do make. I have used and have in use now Panaflo,ADDA,Foxconn,Delta Triples. At full voltage the high output 92 has a baratone sound, no shreek or tearing of air.

Galvanized

I could ask them for a replacement (it's good to know that they are reasonable about this), but I'm wondering if I just got a dud or they are all like this nowadays. It seems that people don't recommend the Panaflos now as much as they used to, or at least that is the impression I'm getting.

The triple bladed Deltas looked interesting, especially since they are the only the 38mm thick fans I have seen aside from the extreme high speed ones. I decided to go with a Panaflo since I already knew what those sounded like (or so I thought), but it might be worth trying out one of those Deltas instead.

You can't compare a fan mounted to heatsink inside your case to a fan mounted as an intake or an exhaust.

I put my ear up next to both to verify it and the 80mm was definitely louder to a considerable degree.
 

Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: CP5670
I put my ear up next to both to verify it and the 80mm was definitely louder to a considerable degree.

While the fans are mounted to the case and heatsink respectively?

In my system I have 4 80mm Panaflo L1A's (1900RPM max) from Japan and soft mounted to my Lian Li and 1 80mm Sanyo Denki (2400RPM max) on my Alpha heatsink. If I turn just 1 of the Panaflo's up to 100% its louder then the Sanyo Denki at full despite the Panaflo running at a lower top speed.

The point here is the perceived noise has nothing do with the output of the fans themselves but the location makes case fans much more noticeable.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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No, I held them up to my ear to eliminate any vibrations from the case.

I know what you mean about the locations, but there is certainly a noise difference between these two. The fact that I have the 80mm one is in the front only makes things worse. At the moment though, I'm just running it at 75% speed and the sound output is much more acceptable.
 

Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Alright, just making sure. Seems like you have gotten a bad one then. If you decide to send it back you might want to consider L1A's for case fans. More air flow isn't necessary, in fact I run my L1A's about 50% (about 5v).
 

GalvanizedYankee

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2003
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Since you indicated an interest in the Triple Blades,i relate this.

I'm on my fouth build in three years. I bench test all my fans and run them at full output
overnight,at least 14 hours. The low speed and medium speed TBs stutter start at 3.5V
and spin away happy as can be at 4V with no sound/little air flow. The high speed will not start till 7V but will delight in twirlling away at 5V once going. These tests were done using a Sunbeam Rheobus.

Galvanized