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What Fan for XP-120

B

Beliar

Junior Member
I'm looking for a 120mm fan with high airflow (above 70 CFM) with <35db sound. Panaflo 120x38 Medium Speed seems fine, but i read somewhere in these forums it had a vibration issue when used with xp-120. Can anyone confirm this? And suggest other fans?

Thanks
 
I noticed that Sidewinder has the comment, "RPM monitoring has been disabled by Panaflo on our current stock."

Why would Panaflo do this? I understood that RPM monitoring, for fan control, was a very useful feature.
 
Originally posted by: shira
I noticed that Sidewinder has the comment, "RPM monitoring has been disabled by Panaflo on our current stock."

Why would Panaflo do this? I understood that RPM monitoring, for fan control, was a very useful feature.
Click to expand...

It's not disabled it's simply not present on the fan.

Originally posted by: mariok2006
sunon 120mm
Click to expand...

Sunon's are loud.
 
Originally posted by: Beliar
I'm looking for a 120mm fan with high airflow (above 70 CFM) with <35db sound. Panaflo 120x38 Medium Speed seems fine, but i read somewhere in these forums it had a vibration issue when used with xp-120. Can anyone confirm this? And suggest other fans?

Thanks
Click to expand...


I bought some M model Panaflo 120's from BG Micro and the two that I tried shook the crap out of my XP-120. I didn't bother to try a third and went with a Yate Loon 1350rpm fan instead which works great.

I don't know why I had such a problem but I do feel strongly that the M model is too much fan for the XP-120 unless you run a fan controler to throttle it down some. On full speed a M will blow far more air than necessary to cool the cpu since the XP is so effective. Why make more noise than necessary?
 
Originally posted by: Operandi
Originally posted by: shira
I noticed that Sidewinder has the comment, "RPM monitoring has been disabled by Panaflo on our current stock."

Why would Panaflo do this? I understood that RPM monitoring, for fan control, was a very useful feature.
Click to expand...

It's not disabled it's simply not present on the fan.

Originally posted by: mariok2006
sunon 120mm
Click to expand...

Sunon's are loud.
Click to expand...

True.
Sunon's have a "click". Nidec's have a hum - mostly becuase they're powerful. Vantec Stealths have this low-level growl at under-voltage. Panaflo - none of the above besides a little motor noise at higher speeds. All have wind noise to a point.

To be fair, I've not experiences the slathered sleeve bearings of the Papst low-speed 120's. I have to say I'm curious.
 
I'm pretty sure Thermalright recommends Panaflo's on their site. I don't know if this means they are best, but...
 
Originally posted by: Nessism
Originally posted by: Beliar
I'm looking for a 120mm fan with high airflow (above 70 CFM) with <35db sound. Panaflo 120x38 Medium Speed seems fine, but i read somewhere in these forums it had a vibration issue when used with xp-120. Can anyone confirm this? And suggest other fans?

Thanks
Click to expand...


I bought some M model Panaflo 120's from BG Micro and the two that I tried shook the crap out of my XP-120. I didn't bother to try a third and went with a Yate Loon 1350rpm fan instead which works great.

I don't know why I had such a problem but I do feel strongly that the M model is too much fan for the XP-120 unless you run a fan controler to throttle it down some. On full speed a M will blow far more air than necessary to cool the cpu since the XP is so effective. Why make more noise than necessary?
Click to expand...


Hmm, so I guess I wil have to buy some other fan.. How about this Silverstone, or should I use a 25mm thick fan? Also I was wondering, how are the Vantec stealths? They are said to be capable of pushing ~50 CFM while working at ~30 db, are these ratings true and is the quality of the fan good?

Thanks.
 
I have the Stealth you are refferring to and if silence is an issue for ya then do not get it. They hum too much for my tastes. The yates are well recieved by many as I have not heard one negative comment about them ever. Their cfms are low, but you have the xp120 so it wont matter. I use SilenX and although many bash the company for its questionable dba ratings and questionable business ethics, they are dead silent. The 80mm's have absolutely no motor noise all the way up to 2200~ rpm and the 120mm's start their motor hum around 1600~ rpm. As SPCR states about the SilenX 80mm fan, "the quietest 80mm ever encountered." They are pricey mind you.
 
Hmm, so I guess I wil have to buy some other fan.. How about this Silverstone, or should I use a 25mm thick fan? Also I was wondering, how are the Vantec stealths? They are said to be capable of pushing ~50 CFM while working at ~30 db, are these ratings true and is the quality of the fan good?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm running a Vantec Stealth 120mm on my XP-120. I'm very pleased with it and I've had neither vibration problems nor excessive noise. I built my rig with silence in mind since it's located in our bedroom and runs 24/7 (about two feet from me). I'm also running five 80mm Vantec Stealth case fans in my rig and my setup is whisper quiet. I can hear air movement, but it's not loud or unpleasant.

Thermalright does recommend a Panaflo 120, but I couldn?t locate one in stock near me when I went to install my XP-120, so I bought the Vantec Stealth 120 ? since all of my case fans are Vantec Stealth?s. I?m very happy with it.


 
I've been doing some reading regarding different fans and how they react when using a fan controler that uses PWM. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used by most motherboards and external fan speed controllers and modulates fan speed by interrupting the voltage signal and changing it from a straight signal to timed pulses. Thus the fan gos on-off-on-ect constantly thus controling the speed of the fan.

From what I've been able to learn by reading, not actual experience, is that some fans make click noises when forced to slow down using a PWM controled voltage signal. In particular, Panaflo are noted as NOT liking a PWM signal. Bottom line is that if one uses a software based fan speed controller you MAY get strange fan sounds at low speed.

Yate Loon fans are noted as being one of the better brands that are not effected by a PWM signal.

Interesting stuff.

Ed

 
I have a Thermaltake A2018 on mine (blue led smart fan).
7dBA at 1300 RPM~
46.5dBA at 2800 RPM
38.6 ~93.7CFM
Comes with a temperature probe and a manual knob for controlling it, or you can just do 100%.

I have the probe on the uderside of my heatsink (since theres plenty of overlap on heatsink base) and its running very quiet and still keeping my cpu cool. I have run it at 100% and didn't really notice a difference in temps at load but I will need to do more testing to be sure.
 
I just installed an xp-120 with that panaflo fan. I dont have any vibration issues at all. I have my fan at blow, and the only time there was any type of vibration was when i put my hand in fron of the fan, there was a little buffeting noise, so maybe it has to do with limited airflow is peoples cases.

I plugged the fan into the mb, and I use a program called speedfan, you can set teh max and min speed you want the fan to spin at. At 100% i must say the fan is a little loud for me, but at 80% is it prety quiet. I have my min set at 25% and it stays aroudn there most of the time being super silent. my temps so far are 32 deg idle, and 43 load. That is even with the fan not spinning up to 80%. My temps might be skewed because i live in a crappy college house and my room is pretty cold lol. So far not knowing what the rpm's are hasn't been an issue for me. Make sure you dont set the min on speedfan too low though, or the fan will stop spinninig. I scard myself yesterday when i looked in teh case and the fan wasn't spinning, I freaked out but i cheked my temp andmy idle was at 40. the xp-120 kicks butt.

Overall I'm very happy with the fan and I highly recommend it. At max speed it pushes a lot of ait, and at lower speeds the sound is pretty quiet.

 
Originally posted by: OSUBeaver
I plugged the fan into the mb, and I use a program called speedfan, you can set teh max and min speed you want the fan to spin at.
Click to expand...

But in order for Speedfan to be able to function, the fan must provide RPM monitoring data, right?
 
Originally posted by: Nessism
I've been doing some reading regarding different fans and how they react when using a fan controler that uses PWM. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is used by most motherboards and external fan speed controllers and modulates fan speed by interrupting the voltage signal and changing it from a straight signal to timed pulses. Thus the fan gos on-off-on-ect constantly thus controling the speed of the fan.

From what I've been able to learn by reading, not actual experience, is that some fans make click noises when forced to slow down using a PWM controled voltage signal. In particular, Panaflo are noted as NOT liking a PWM signal. Bottom line is that if one uses a software based fan speed controller you MAY get strange fan sounds at low speed.

Yate Loon fans are noted as being one of the better brands that are not effected by a PWM signal.

Interesting stuff.

Ed
Click to expand...

I use Speed Fan 4.20 which uses PWM and have a panaflo FBA08A12U-1A on my HS. It speed ramps very nicely and this Chinese model seems not to mind PWM in my case. However, I have used Speedfan with Coolermasters, Panaflo's, Vantecs, Thermaltakes, and SilenX's all of which hiccup with PWM until you get just the right rpm's. If you have a NV Silencer thats a little noisy (which mine has become 🙁 ) Speedfan controls it very nicely. All in all PWM is a nice, programable option vs. fan controllers. Can't wait to get some Yates. They are praised by many.
 
Originally posted by: shira
Originally posted by: OSUBeaver
I plugged the fan into the mb, and I use a program called speedfan, you can set teh max and min speed you want the fan to spin at.
Click to expand...

But in order for Speedfan to be able to function, the fan must provide RPM monitoring data, right?
Click to expand...

Nope 🙂
 
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