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Recommend 80mm Case Fans?

S

sephroth777

Senior member
I have got an Antec SX1030b case which currently has Antec 80mm Fans (1 intake/1 exhaust) and I just recently received their new side panel which offers a Antec 80mm fan to intake air on the PCI/AGP slots.

I am looking to purchase a SCSI setup with 15k drive and I was going to place a Sunon Ultra High Speed Fan in front of it which rates at 50.6 CFM to help keep it cool and also add another of the same fan to the side panel to intake 50.6 CFM over the PCI slots.

Currently the Antec Fans are quite quiet so my question is regarding Fan noise. Anyone have experience with this case and these fans?
And any suggestions regarding any other case fans either different brand or same company but lower speed?

I have heard of Panaflo L1A but failed to find a dealer who carries them...any info on those and any good fan dealers would be greatly appreciated!
P.S. I was looking to also purchase fan grill guards and fan filters...anyone have experience with those? and do they really impead airflow??

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
In the first place, congratulations on getting a case that actually has good airflow characteristics! 😀 I have an Antec and use the fan-cooled hard-drive cage to hold a 10k and a 15k SCSI drive. Even with a very quiet 80mm fan, the drives stay cool to the touch. COOL. There is no need to do violence to your ears with 50cfm fans! 😀

Actually, for a really nice solution that allows you to get the output/noise ratio you like, how about the infinitely-adjustable YS Tech 80mm fan? This vendor sells the Panaflo L1A 80mm fan also, and there's a good thread with many vendors listed if you want to shop around.

The stock Antec fans are sleeve-bearing fans, unless something's changed, and may wear out and start to make buzzing/squealing noises after a year or so. As for filters and grilles, filters will keep cat hair out
rolleye.gif
but will lower your airflow and may raise the noise level, since the fan will have to overcome the drag. Chromed wire grilles are good for low air resistance but require the boldness to cut the stock grillework out. Attached to the inside of the case fan, they can help keep stray wires out of the fan blades, however.
 
Thanks for the props on the Antec Case!

A roomate of mine had the Panaflo's which he got 2 years back and you could hear them on the other side of the house....I am trying to stay away from that!
The YS looks interesting...decisions decisions....ughhhh pain in the.....

Thanks....

If anything else comes to mind send it along!!
 
BTW I noticed on the site you recommend they have aluminum filters and plastic filters...any difference between the two in performance and filtering ability?

 
I don't use filters in the first place. Hopefully some filter users will speak up and answer that for you. I would guess the aluminum ones would be less restrictive but that's only a guess. If you see 2Cool in here, he is the guy who runs 2Cooltek. 😀

The Panaflo fans are generally identified by the last three letters of their Panasonic model name. In order from lowest to highest speed, they are L1A, M1A, H1A and U1A (Low, Medium, High, Ultra). The 80mm L1A is very pleasant, 24cfm at 21dB, and there are very few people who are not satisfied with their quietness. For the record, it's a Panaflo L1A that is cooling my SCSI drives. They use a special sleeve bearing that runs in a fluid bath, which may be the key to their good ratio of output/noise. If you equipped your system with all L1A's, that's about as far as you need to take things IMHO. It will be moving about 40-50cfm out the three rear exhaust fans (counting the PSU fan and allowing for some resistance) and that means the air inside the case is being completely turned over once every 3 to 5 seconds. As someone here once said, how hot can the air get in five seconds? 😉

Have fun!
 
very true regarding how hot the air can get....

No question is when purchasing new fans as I am going to most likely get 5 new 80mm....should I stay with the same speed and make for all of them or is it ok to mix and match different CFMs? Re: pressure and airflow exchange
 
Take another good look at the Panaflo fans. They are one of the most popular, quiet fans around. One good source is this site. Particularly good if you want to buy 10 of the L1A's. They should do the job nicely for you, IMHO.
 
Another option for quieter fans is the Silencer
Click to expand...
Nice, but at $9.00, a bit expensive. When compared to the Panaflos at only 1 db(a) more and only $2.50 (for 10, or only $3.25 each), it doesn't make much sense.
 
Anyone have any experience with case fan filters.....?
I see that they now have aluminum filters in addition to the plastic ones. I figure the aluminum ones would be better but not sure....anyone can offer suggestions?
BTW....I am looking into getting some panaflo's possibly the 2 H1a to bring intake over my SCSI HD and the other on my side panel to intake over the PCI/AGP slots.

Now regarding the other 3 fans (2 exhaust and 1 intake on front) is it ok to mix and match different speeds of fans or does that cause pressure problems?

And between Sunon and Panaflo what is everyone's opinions? Becasue I have noticed that Panaflo's only have a 3pin connector and I was wondering if those 3-4pin adapters with an RPM cable attached would work with those fans?

Thanks!
 
There's no reason why you can't mix speeds. 😀 As a first guess, three L1A intake (2 front, one side) and two M1A exhaust would be nice. That sounds balanced, and it would put the quieter fans in the locations where you'd be most likely to hear the noise (front and side) while providing stronger draft next to the CPU. You can get a digital thermometer from Radio Shack and experiment with various combinations. As I said, an L1A keeps my SCSI drives essentially at room temperature, so you may not need anything faster.


edit for broken link
 
You may also want to check out this fan, which basically comes with the resistor mod on it already. With the resistor attached, it puts out 28CFM at only 20dBa, its on sale for $5.49. I'm thinking I'll probably stick that one on my HS, then buy some L1As for the case.
 
Okay.. just for the sake of argument, what would happen if I took 2 90mm fans (Panaflo) that move 100CFM each, and stuck them in the back of my case, with no intake fans or anything else..?

Is a vacuum created? And if so, how good is it for a PC to operate in a vacuum? 😀
 
Is a vacuum created? And if so, how good is it for a PC to operate in a vacuum?
Click to expand...
Yes, you would be creating a "negative airflow" situation and it is not good to do this. One, the fans rpm's would increase but their efficiency would decrease. Next, you would be pulling air in from all the various nooks and cracks around the case; causing a buildup of dust in places you do not want that to happen. And last, your temps would probably increase if you did this (compared to a more balanced flow). If anything, use one of the fans for intake and one for exhaust. Much better idea if you only want to use those two fans.
 
I'd like to add that a 92mm fan is not going to fit in the hard-drive cage, which is 89mm (3.5 inches) wide. The fan-cooled hard drive cage is one of my favorite aspects of the Antec case, and not something I'd want to set aside, speaking for myself.
 
I like panaflo's, but...

I have two L1A 80mm panaflo's and three NMB's model 3110KL-04W-B10-P00. I don't know exactly what it is, but the NMB's seem to be better built fans, and are noticably quieter in my system even though they're rated at 1dBA higher and 1 CFM higher than the panaflo's.

Right now I have 4 80mm fans in my case:
NMB 3110KL-04W-B10-P00 in PSU
NMB 3110KL-04W-B10-P00 intake at front
NMB 3110KL-04W-B10-P00 on heatsink (modded)
Panaflo L1A rear exhaust

I have the NMB intake and panaflo exhaust on switches. If I turn off the front NMB, the sound difference is almost inaudible. However, if I turn off the rear exhaust panaflo it is obviously noticable.

I really like these NMB's and recommend everyone try them out 🙂

edit: I said I had 2 panaflo's. The other one is in my old PSU not currently being used.
 
if you've got money, go for a papst fan. at 12dB, i don't think it can be beat. search google for a store with them.
 
Try Bestbyte.net they used to have pretty quiet top motor 40cfms for Like a few dollars each I have 4 and love them $10 for all plus shipping
 
regarding the panaflo's which type of connector do I need to have since I have a Antec 300 PSU which have four pin connectors?
I realize that I need the 3-4 pin connector or they offer 3-4 pin connector with an lead attached for RPM monitering and I was wondering if that works with these fans?

Do the L1A provide enough cooling for a Geforce 4 and AMD 2200+ processors or do I need to step up to the M or even H series?

Thanks!
 
All air in the case is replaced every five seconds with L1A's. I would go more by how much noise you (and any roommates) want to live with, and whether you're after bragging rights. I mean, you could put five U1A's in there and have the exhaust blowing posters right off your bedroom wall 😀 but would it make any actual difference to the computer?
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Probably not.

If in doubt, M1A's are a good compromise in terms of noise versus airflow. In your second post in this thread you mentioned a noise issue with your roommate's PC, so I thought noise might be a factor. I still think even five L1A's would be plenty for a free-breathing case like yours.
 
now what connectors would I need given the PSU I have...and can I use the ones that offer the RPM monitering connection also or does the fans not support that?
 
Originally posted by: sephroth777
now what connectors would I need given the PSU I have...and can I use the ones that offer the RPM monitering connection also or does the fans not support that?
Click to expand...
Depends where you get them if they're tailed or not. Neither the L1A's or the NMB's I suggested have rpm monitoring, but you really don't need it on case fans anyways.
 
The Panaflo fans don't support RPM monitoring. You can still plug them into the motherboard headers using 3-pin connectors with only two wires, with some caveats:

1. you may run out of available headers. You can use splitters to connect two 3-pin fans to one header but don't overdo the power draw or you might burn the header out. I think it would be wise to limit the total per header to about 2 watts unless your motherboard manual particularly says it'll take more. That rules out two of any Panaflo except the L1A, which draws about 1W per fan. H1A draws about 2W per fan.

2. you have to consider cord length. Not going to be easy to plug your side blowhole fan into the motherboard unless you pick up a 10" 3-pin extension cable for it, since it's attached to the door.

If you want 3-pin, you can find them at CaseETC, 2Cooltek, Plycon, Coolerguys and others.

If you would prefer 4-pin, some of the places offer that style too. I know 2Cooltek does. Bottom line, 3-pin connects to the motherboard and 4-pin doesn't. Plan ahead so you don't forget any splitters or extensions you might need, if you go with 3-pin.
 
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