Silent PC Review has a new 120mm Fan Roundup

[Woofmeister]

SPCR tests another batch of 120mm fans including the SILENX IXTREMA PRO IXP-74-11 that AnandTech has been raving about in some of its latest CPU heatsink tests.

The results were hardly surprising, SPCR is still recommending the Scythe S-Flex and the ugliest fan on Earth--the Noctua though they add the Noiseblocker XL-1 to the list.

In other news, Dog bites Man . . .

 

[RallyMaster]

meh....still sticking with cheap Yate Loons. can't beat 3.50 per fan no matter how much quieter those S-Flexes are.

 

[mgutz]

yate loons FTW. i do agree with them about the high pitched squealing sound, IF i put my ear next to them. normal distance they're quiet. for $3.50 you can buy five of them and 2-3 will better most fans. would not waste my money on anything else.

 

[Woofmeister]

For the record, I've used both Yates and Scythe S-Flexes. IMHO the Scythes are quieter and the quality is more consistent than with the Yates. Yes, the Scythes are way, way more expensive, but a difference of $15 or so per fan is not going to break anybody.

 

[kuyaglen]

Originally posted by: Woofmeister
IMHO the Scythes are quieter and the quality is more consistent than with the Yates

S-Flexes it is then. I'm currently modding my V1100 to have 2 200mm fans and 1 120mm.

 

[terentenet]

What's a good 120x120x25 fam? CFM 100+? I don't care for silent operation. I need high CFM and it needs to be 25mm thick.

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

lol wrong thread man. We're talking about quiet fans.

 

[kadajawi]

Mh... I would suggest to look out for Deltas. http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/delhigper.html
The problem is that they are usually between 38 and 76mm thick... But you will get insane performance (up to 220 cfm), insane loudness (up to 65 dB) and insane power usage (up to 32W).

 

[swtethan]

my silverstone is 110

 

[swtethan]

anyone try Thermaltake's silent cat 120mm? I wanna know if it really is 8db

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: kadajawi
Mh... I would suggest to look out for Deltas. http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/delhigper.html
The problem is that they are usually between 38 and 76mm thick... But you will get insane performance (up to 220 cfm), insane loudness (up to 65 dB) and insane power usage (up to 32W).

You mean, like this one.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12gf.html

They are nice enough to upload a video to see this monster in action. I'm loving it.

 

[Doctahg]

I just ordered the 150CFM one...120x25...My vantec tornado was load..can't wait to hear this...now we'll see just how the TR120X can cool! lol

 

[Aquila76]

I don't know about sinking big bucks into fans. I have two standard Thermaltake 120 fans connected to a Hardcano 13. Granted, my rig isn't exactly pushing it to the limit, but my CPU stays around 40C (cooled by a Zalman CNPS9700) while my 6600s stay around 65C at load and the system is very quiet. I may revisit this in a bit when I OC my Opty and upgrade to a 9800GTX (when released).

 

[nealh]

WTF..they are using the YL D12SM-12...and not the YL D12SL-12

The L-12 is 47cfm fan...should be quieter at full speed....
I would expect the M-12 to be louder....

 

[coolpurplefan]

Uh, what do the letters in CFM stand for?

 

[monk3yboy]

cubic feet per minute?

 

[VinDSL]

Despite our high expectations, our roundup of carefully selected fans did not produce as many winners as we had hoped. The only fan we can unconditionally recommend is the Noiseblocker XL-1...

~Cool~

Never heard of it -=- how about you?

 

[kadajawi]

Yeah, heard about them. I ordered a XL-1R (I guess that's the same as the XL-1...) together with 2 Revoltec Dark Grey, all 120mm. Will see how good they are

Btw., if performance is required... I think the Panaflo's are pretty decent, got 2 of them, at 5v they are pretty silent too

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My approach depends on higher CFMs than one gets with the fans recommended by SPCR. I want a greater fan-speed range, so that the speeds I use below the "top-end" have no motor noise (certainly rules out running a Vantec Tornado at half-speed, doesn't it?)

I get some heavy duty Panaflos, Deltas, and Sanyo-Denkis -- with amperages between 0.50 and 0.90A. I also deploy other "noise-deadening" solutions -- which are primary to my cooling approach and secondary to the acoustical considerations.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: kadajawi
Yeah, heard about them. I ordered a XL-1R (I guess that's the same as the XL-1)...

Where did you find it -- Düsseldorf?

Anybody ever notice that Germans have a whole computer subculture going on?

Whenever I see something like this -=- a Teutonic fan that nobody has ever heard of being the world's best -=- I gotta call B.S. on it...

It's like second-hand smoke. If you gotta breath it, you think, what the heck, it wasn't bad, but it isn't the same as the real thing, you know?

 

[kadajawi]

Huh? What are you talking about? But yeah, I ordered it from some German online shop.

And how can you make a ü on an American keyboard? You didn't use the character map, did you?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: swtethan
anyone try Thermaltake's silent cat 120mm? I wanna know if it really is 8db

It's not even close-- Nor is it quiet in any sense of the word.

-Kevin

 

[lopri]

Thermaltake 120mm fan @8db?! That'd make a cow laugh. :laugh:

But you can get them real cheap. And some of them comes with a rheostat so I have ordered a couple in the past and they are quite useful.

 

[Rike]

I find it odd that they didn't include any Panaflo fans in the review.

Are Panaflo's old news or are they just in a league of their own?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Rike
I find it odd that they didn't include any Panaflo fans in the review.

Are Panaflo's old news or are they just in a league of their own?

Panaflo's claim to fame was in the 80mm segment. Their quality drops off dramatically after that.

-Kevin