Tornado vs. Panaflo and Good rheobus

josedawg

Senior member
Aug 9, 2003
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So...doing some debating here, which is a better buy? An under powered Tornado, or Panaflo? I'm speaking of the 92mm version.

The Panaflos I'm considering are the FBA09A12H or the FBA09A12M.

Also, what is a good, decent looking (preferably black, but if not, don't really care too much), rheobus to undervolt my fans (especially the Tornado if I decide to go that route). Looking for nothing too expensive.
 

josedawg

Senior member
Aug 9, 2003
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Trust me, I have a few computers running (right next to my bed). I don't really care much about noise, as I do about performance. I actually cant sleep at nights because I've gotten use to the humming. But yes, I do have a tolerance level. And from what I hear about the Tornado, at full speed, that would DEFINITELY pass my tolerance level. I am in no way looking for ultra quiet, as I am for good noise/performance ratio (about 30-32dB at most while still pushing good amount of CFM)
 

blade

1957 - 2008<br>Elite Moderator Emeritus<br>Troll H
Oct 9, 1999
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I've had several and the sunbeam is the most reliable and the only one I'd trust with a tornado fan and on my cpu. I use one to control the 92mm tornado on my slk900a. At around 2600rpm it is quiet. Now if your case has a side fan, then it will be noisier.

One important thing to remember about the tornado fans. They need 7v to start up. I forgot about that once. I had the fan at 2300 and turned my system off. Booted back up and the fan wasn't on. :Q I quickly rotated the knob and all was ok. So if using the sunbeam, be sure the light is blue before turning your system off. Under 7v it turns red. ;)

The sunbeam is available in black or silver and is usually around $20. Accepts up to 20v per channel. Haven't used panaflo's so can't help you there.
 

josedawg

Senior member
Aug 9, 2003
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I decided to go with 2 Panaflos, and no Tornado fan. The Tornado was just too expensive for me right now.

Picked up 2 Panaflo fans, 92mm and 80mm, Sunbeam rheobus, SLK-900A, 92mm fan grill, and some Arctic Silver 5 over at SVC.com. Came out to $74 and some change (there goes half my paycheck :()

Hopefully this new line-up (already have 3 fans [I told you I didn't care about noise] in my Antec case, about to drop the last 80mm Panaflo for HDD cooling in front) along with an upgraded HSF, will help cool down my already hot XP2000+ Palamino. I had to undervolt from 1.75v stock to 1.65v because it idled at 126-130F. Now I idle at about 118F, which isn't too bad for a Palamino core, especially the 2nd last one made (the XP2100+ was the last Palamino core), but hopefully this SLK-900A will help me hit lower temperatures till I can rack up more money for my mobo/cpu/memory upgrade.
 

josedawg

Senior member
Aug 9, 2003
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I got the Panaflo 92mm 12H and the 80mm 12M fan. I wasn't going with the quietest fan, since I was getting a rheobus anyway.