pwm or non pwm fan for heatsink

[berserkker]

Hi guys, I bought a amd fx 8350 together with a arctic cooling freezer a30 this winter. I saw pretty good reviews on the cooler and it is pretty gorgeous and silent. the thing is, now that summer is here and its pretty damn hot my temps go up to 64 just with some gaming and streaming. when stress testing it passes the 65 degrees. don't know if its normal with this cooler but its pretty much above the safe temps with just something like 20% of cpu used. so i'm looking for a new fan to the cooler. I'm considering a noctua fan but then i stumbled against some non pwm fans. what I've seen and looked pretty decent was:
noctua nf-f12(pwm)
noctua nf-p12(pwm)
corsair air series sp120 performance(pwm)
gentle typhoon AP-15
noiseblocker e-loop b12-3

so I really liked the last 2 ones they're pretty silent but they are not pwm and since I'm pretty inexperienced with this fan controlling stuff I wanted your opinion. its there a way to control the non pwm fans so they can be a little quieter? i have 3 case fans and i can controll them with asus ai suite (have an asus asus m5a99fx pro r2.0 motherboard) is it possible to do the same with the cpu fan? if not what is your opinion and is the corsair a good fan?(I know nothing about it) or isn't it even worth buying a new fan?

thanks a lot for your time

 

[lehtv]

PWM. Otherwise any sort of improvement over the stock fan will be very noisy when idling.

However... 65C temperatures with that cooler make absolutely no sense unless your ambient is 40C or your case lacks cooling. From what I can tell, the cooler should result in roughly 50C or lower during stress testing an FX-8350, in normal room temperature.

So what exactly is your ambient temperature? And are you sure the problem is not with your case; what case do you have and what case fan setup? Finally, have you made sure the cooler is properly seated with the right amount of thermal paste?

FWIW, my comments on the fans:

noctua nf-f12(pwm)
noctua nf-p12(pwm)
corsair air series sp120 performance(pwm)
gentle typhoon AP-15
noiseblocker e-loop b12-3

NF-F12 - not really an improvement, only 150 RPM more
NF-P12 - moves much less air than the stock fan (54 CFM versus 74 CFM, manufacturer ratings)
AP-15 - not PWM
eLoop B12-3 - not PWM, and eLoop fans are crappy for heat sinks anyway. I owned one, and compared to the stock Scythe fan, it rotated much faster, made the same amount of noise (which is great)... but resulted in a couple degrees worse temperatures. It seems it doesn't really move much air or has bad static pressure.

 

[berserkker]

well my room temp is around 25c sometimes a bit more. its pretty hot but I've seen worst. inside the case is no more than 30. now its open and its 2 degrees more than the room temp so its not the airflow inside the case. you're being generous with that 50c. I've seen some guys getting 55c and its probably the best. but its strange the cooler is well mounted the termal paste I used the one that came with the cooler which I think was mx2. they even had the best applying method on the instructions and i find it odd because its close to 50 when close to iddle... just some web browsing without flash or something like that.

But I dont think only the rpm has to do with the amount of air the fan can push or pull with the noctuas. people change the cm evo fan for noctuas for a reason... or not? dunno...
and what about the corsair one do you know something about it?
thanks for the answer

 

[berserkker]

hum so i found something interesting. if i put my fan spinning around 600 rpm the cpu gets the same temps even after a while that it would get with the fan at max rotation... what could be wrong? I have no more thermal paste here tomorrow will buy some mx4 to see if it changes. could it be the heatsink malfunctioning? or wrong temp reading?

 

[lehtv]

Do you have an exhaust fan in the case? You should have at a 120mm one pushing out at the rear slot, but preferably also a 120 or 140 in the top.

Can u download CPUID HWMonitor and confirm the stock arctic fan is spinning at max speed at load (1350 or thereabouts).

 

[berserkker]

I have a 120 rear exhaust a 120 pushing in top and a 120 at the front of the case. but like i said the side panel is open at the moment so the airflow is pretty decent. I have hwmonitor hwinfo and the ai suite that came with the board and all say the fan is at ~1380rpm I'll change the thermal paste tomorrow. its just strange the cpu is at stock clock and people with this cpu and cooler that were having 80C with the stock cooler(never got that temps with the stock my max was probably 68 stress testing but i stopped the test after a couple of minutes) just by playing battlefield and now got 50 something. so i think the difference should be a little bigger from the stock cooler. meh I should have just bought that hyper 212 evo xD

 

[Pa1JK]

If you are using Non PWM fans and you are conneting them to motherboard fan header.
Go to BIOS setting and change the fan types form PWM to Non PWM fan type.

This feature I saw in Asus motherboard where you can connect any type of fans, I mean 3 pin (Non PWM) or 4 pin (PWM) fan.

Sigs go in your signature space
-ViRGE

 

[berserkker]

thanks im using non pwm just for case airflow. in the cooler i have the stock fan that is pwm. but i can controll the speed of the 3 pin fans at least in the motherboard fan connectors so im guessing the cpu fan connector can do the same... just wondering if it would be better a pwm or a gentle typhoon..

 

[lehtv]

If you want to upgrade your cooling, buy a whole new heat sink. That way, you will not have to run a more noisy setup just to stay within safe temperatures. Noctua U14S would be a nice upgrade over the A30.

 

[berserkker]

that noctua fan is more noisy than the gt at full i think xD but i'm not overclocking or something. this should be enough.. but well if it comes to that I'll invest a bit more in the new noctua that has more room for ram

 

[BonzaiDuck]

. . .
NF-F12 - not really an improvement, only 150 RPM more
NF-P12 - moves much less air than the stock fan (54 CFM versus 74 CFM, manufacturer ratings)
AP-15 - not PWM . . .

That's news to me! I ordered two AP-30's a few months back -- both of them in the PWM flavor. I would hope that you could get a PWM version of the AP-15. Lemme see a minute . . .

Hmm . . . http://www.overclock.net/t/1364863/...15-with-native-pwm-capability-d1225c12b5zp-40

Somehow this information and the Amazon link within it suggests that an AP-15 with PWM is some sort of afterthought from the manufacturer, but it exists.

 

[z1ggy]

That's news to me! I ordered two AP-30's a few months back -- both of them in the PWM flavor. I would hope that you could get a PWM version of the AP-15. Lemme see a minute . . .

Hmm . . . http://www.overclock.net/t/1364863/...15-with-native-pwm-capability-d1225c12b5zp-40

Somehow this information and the Amazon link within it suggests that an AP-15 with PWM is some sort of afterthought from the manufacturer, but it exists.

If you read that thread, some people express concern that it's from a seller called "modgogomod" out of Hong Kong. Basically...Saying this might not be legit. A poster emailed somebody asking if this was legit, yet to get a response it seems. Additionally, that thread has been dead for well over a year, and to top it off, the part is not available anyway.

Bottom line is you probably won't be finding any PWM AP-15s. I really really would love some, but for rads I really don't see having fans that are not PWM as being that effective. I don't need to run full bore 24/7, nor do I want to be running only 600rpm 24/7.

 

[berserkker]

that would be great but sadly like z1ggy said I also don't think there will be a-15 pwm and I also don't want it to run always at full speed. sight 20€ for a noctua fan or 40 or 50 for a new heatsink(noctua) :x that fan price is just too high and i don't think it will change much on the temps. thanks anyways guys

 

[z1ggy]

that would be great but sadly like z1ggy said I also don't think there will be a-15 pwm and I also don't want it to run always at full speed. sight 20€ for a noctua fan or 40 or 50 for a new heatsink(noctua) :x that fan price is just too high and i don't think it will change much on the temps. thanks anyways guys

For a HSF you'll want to look for a fan(s) with high static pressure. Not sure prices, but there's a few decent ones out there for <$20 USD. Corsair SP120 comes to mind. Not sure though if these fans would actually clip onto the HSF....I don't have experience with that. I just use the stock fan that comes with the HSF as it's usually pretty good.

Edit: Also another good fan with decent static pressure & is PWM is the Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilent XLP. It's almost as high on the static pressure area as the corsair, but should be quieter. Also, has colored fan blades which I think is cool. $17 on frozencpu.com

 

[berserkker]

thanks and what about this one?

http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=NBFAN-M12P

it passes a bit the 20$ but I cant find the one you're talking in my country and with the shipping since amazon now doesn't ship for free in europe it would be even more expensive.

 

[z1ggy]

thanks and what about this one?

http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=NBFAN-M12P

it passes a bit the 20$ but I cant find the one you're talking in my country and with the shipping since amazon now doesn't ship for free in europe it would be even more expensive.

Looks like a good choice. Pretty expensive, but NB makes good fans. Just make sure it'll actually clip onto the heatsink properly. Not sure how you can tell without actually having it in front of you though. Maybe another member here has experience with putting non OEM fans onto heatsinks. Sorry I can't help you on that aspect... But that is a solid fan choice.

Good luck!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you read that thread, some people express concern that it's from a seller called "modgogomod" out of Hong Kong. Basically...Saying this might not be legit. A poster emailed somebody asking if this was legit, yet to get a response it seems. Additionally, that thread has been dead for well over a year, and to top it off, the part is not available anyway.

Bottom line is you probably won't be finding any PWM AP-15s. I really really would love some, but for rads I really don't see having fans that are not PWM as being that effective. I don't need to run full bore 24/7, nor do I want to be running only 600rpm 24/7.

I'd thought I'd seen several Gentle Typhoon models at Performance PCs, and now thinking to review my receipts to determine where I bought my PWM AP-30's. Performance PCs doesn't seem to carry any GT fans now.

. . . OK . . . I found my February receipt for the AP-30's. They're described with a "Scythe" branding, and the only Scythe PWM fans they sell now are "Glide Stream" and "Slip Stream" . . something . . .

 

[chrisjames61]

I have a 120 rear exhaust a 120 pushing in top and a 120 at the front of the case. but like i said the side panel is open at the moment so the airflow is pretty decent. I have hwmonitor hwinfo and the ai suite that came with the board and all say the fan is at ~1380rpm I'll change the thermal paste tomorrow. its just strange the cpu is at stock clock and people with this cpu and cooler that were having 80C with the stock cooler(never got that temps with the stock my max was probably 68 stress testing but i stopped the test after a couple of minutes) just by playing battlefield and now got 50 something. so i think the difference should be a little bigger from the stock cooler. meh I should have just bought that hyper 212 evo xD

Dude, if the side panel is off there is no airflow. The case needs to be closed to cause restriction for there to be airflow. That is how ducting works. Too much restriction via drive bays, cable clutter will reduce airflow. Too little restriction would be having the side of your case off.

 

[berserkker]

Dude, if the side panel is off there is no airflow. The case needs to be closed to cause restriction for there to be airflow. That is how ducting works. Too much restriction via drive bays, cable clutter will reduce airflow. Too little restriction would be having the side of your case off.

well I'm kinda aware of that still the temps dropped by 1 or 2C and i have no cables interrupting the air.. i did a good cable management you cant even see a cable.

 

[chrisjames61]

well I'm kinda aware of that still the temps dropped by 1 or 2C and i have no cables interrupting the air.. i did a good cable management you cant even see a cable.

I would hesitate to run a rig with the side panel off. Defeats the purpose of even having a case. But that is just me. I would try my best to get the heat problem resolved. Good luck.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

ONe thing a person eventually learns with a few case-modding projects for air-cooling: the internal case capacity in cubic inches or feet could almost be a hindrance, or otherwise just serves to add more drives and devices. The faster the airflow through narrow apertures over the warm components, the better the cooling. Somebody already mentioned "ducting," so I'm jus' preachin' to the choir and adding repetition.