What are some good 120mm case fans?

[Comdrpopnfresh]

I'm looking for 120mm case fans. Here are the connections I have available for new fans:

-2 3-pin mobo headers-> 1 has a working pwm control, the second is dependent on the 1st to control pwm.

-2 'fan-only' molex connections from my psu. They reduce line voltages to run molex-powered fans at lower speeds. I have no control over these- they simply reduce rotation speeds.

-more typical molex connectors, and a molex-to-3-pin connector w/ no pwm control


I have a pretty good tri-color aprevia (sp?) fan in the front running off molex- so it is always full speed. It has fairly good airflow, although is a bit loud when i turn down the other fans.

I salvaged a tricool antec fan from my old sonata2 case and put it in the front, but airflow is nothing compared to the aprevia... when set to high... I'm only using this temporarily- I'll need to replace it.

I'm fine with not controlling those front intake speeds, as long as some good volume is coming in at tolerable decibals

The 140mm and 120mm tricools at the top and rear, respectively, are adequate so far, although the rear 120mm can't keep up when the 140mm is set to high, and the nv120 pointed inline w/ the 140mm is turned up- the combined flow of the 140mm and the nv120's 120mm create too much pull, and the rear 120mm has inward flow unless it is set to high.

I'm looking for a fan to put on the side of the case- preferable with pwm control. As for the front, I'd like med-noise and med-high airflow if I couldn't control the speed. I remember once seeing a very deep scythe 120mm.

so whats good? link si vous plait

 

[Phew]

I swear by Panaflo. Fluid bearings are the best combination of quiet and long life (ball bearings last a long time but are loud, normal sleeve bearings are quiet but wear out faster). Both Jab-tech and Sidewinder Computers will put any connector you want on Panaflo fans. There is a 120mm fan review somewhere that shows the Panaflo models consistently generating the least noise for a given flow rate. They aren't cheap though.

I use 104 cfm 120mm Panaflo fans for both case and CPU cooler, and use a Scythe fan controller to run them slower.

LINK

 

[aigomorla]

Open air? or you gonna put a sink in front?

If its open air, meaning nothing but fan gaurds that will block them i recomend these:

http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-L...ck-Orange-pr-3851.html

There cheap, quiet, and push a TON of air. Absolutely love yates, and use them on all my builds 500 - 3500 dollars. :T

If your gonna prop them in front of something, i recomend:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Scythe...-Fan-High-pr-3940.html

on a fan controller!! controller is manditory as they SCREAM unless you turn them down.

If you want a quiet non fan controlled fan i love these guys:
http://www.jab-tech.com/Zalman...120mm-Fan-pr-3443.html

Zalman fans' are hard to beat when it comes to static offered at that size package.

😀

What do i use on my important stuff?
http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0935.jpg

Zalman's and the scythe. However i love san aces, but they are 20 dollars a pop.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

hmmm- a lot to think about! lol

I'd like to keep any fans I add either being controlled through pwm via motherboard headers, or run steady state. I have a controller for my zerotherm nv120, and miss the days of letting speedfan increment. A lot of the time, during load, i don't even see temperature changes from min to max .... so I don't think i'm qualified to toggle the speeds. lol.

The two front mounts are cages the fans are screwed into, with the standard hexagonal fan guards, with a fine dust-catching mesh in front of that. On the side it is just the fan guard. They pass air over the hdds (I have the drives low, so the bottom one pushes through the two, and the top fan just chucks air into the case)

The diagram confused me some on the yate loon- can it either be plugged into molex or 3-pin, or is it only molex powered with 3-pin speed reporting (or pwm control)?
if i could find some way to alter the voltage throttle the psu runs, it's be nice to have fans running on those 'fan only'... but the cfm gets killed when i connect molex fans to the psu 'fan only' cables

I'm not sure now if I want to add a side-fan. my 7600gt doesn't have temperature problems, but when I put a fan there, it speads out the gpu heat, and makes cpu temps go up. I'll be getting a new gfx card by years end, so it'd be nice to be prepared with something.

please don't look down on me- but do any of these good fans come with led options? I rather like the front of my case being aglow...

 

[Zepper]

The connector arrangement on Yates is strange, but it is really just a 3-pin normal fan connector with an attached Molex (4-pin) adapter/pass-thru. I hardly ever connect my fans directly to the PSU power, so I cut the big 4-pin connectors off leaving just the standard 3-pin fan connector. There is also a good fan from Cooler Master. See my review here: http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ - just click on the pic of the black one in the gallery at the top as the main review is there. In the review of the black which is a link to the LED review which covers the minor differences. Watch for Vapor's third batch test of fans for another review of it - should be coming soon at xtremesystems.org/Forums/ in the AirCooling section - Vapor's tests are highly regarded in techie land, for good fan tests with low noise as the grail (Vapor is hot for radiator performance so static pressure is his grail), see Silent PC Review. Coincidentally I still have a few of the LED ones for sale - click the link below to my FS/T listing.

.bh.