What is the quietest case fan?

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gearmonkey

Junior Member
Aug 25, 2005
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I am planning to replace all my case fans in my Coolermaster case. I'm replacing the two front and two back fans. I was using the stock fans but they are starting to make noise as the case is about 3 years old.

I was considering three different kinds of fans over at Heatsinkfactory.com but I am not sure what is hype and what is a "real" quiet case fan.

I am looking at the following fans:

Vantec Stealth Case Fan 80mm

Enermax Adjustable Speed 80mm

Panaflo High Output BX 80mm

The enermax and the Panaflo both have almost identical specs when the enermax is at full speed so I am leaning towards the Enermax as I will have the added adjustable speed feature.

Unfortunately they dont have any Nexus fans but are Nexus fans worth considering?

What do you guys think?

 
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Thezeroone

Member
Mar 22, 2005
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in the 80mm size I would second the Panaflo L1As. Btw the BX suffix on the Panaflo fan denotes tach sensing. Be sure to note what kind of connector you need for your case. nothing more annoying than getting the fans and finding out you need an adaptor.
 
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suszterpatt

Senior member
Jun 17, 2005
927
1
81
quitest fan = no fan :)



But a Panaflo would be a safe bet. Also see if you can get some of GlacialTech's SilentBlade fans, they have an excellent noise to cfm ratio.
 
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Bluefront

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2002
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Forget Anandtech when it comes to "quiet" questions. Best to keep monitoring your SPCR thread on this subject......:D
 
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Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
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Never, ever buy any Vantec fan, except for maybe the 80mm fan. Even before I found out about SPCR and their opinions of the same, I thought they were terrible.
 
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GnomeCop

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2002
3,863
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I got a set of ebmpapst fans for my case recently and they are extremely quiet
 
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Dynamix3D

Senior member
Oct 31, 2000
810
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Originally posted by: Operandi
I'm going to recommend these NMB's; very quiet and high quality fans for a good price.
Click to expand...

15CFM?? You might as well not even use a fan then. That is horrible airflow. You couldn't cool anything with that.
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
use a fan speed controller. that being said all 80mm fans are sh*t. 120mm is where its at.
 
JBDan

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,333
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Originally posted by: Dynamix3D
Originally posted by: Operandi
I'm going to recommend these NMB's; very quiet and high quality fans for a good price.
Click to expand...

15CFM?? You might as well not even use a fan then. That is horrible airflow. You couldn't cool anything with that.
Click to expand...

It is low, but the OP asked for the "quietest case fan." That NMB is probably it. With four of those in a case (2 front bottem & 2 rear exhaust) including a psu's exhaust, it wouldn't be all that bad and be uber quiet. That is ofcourse unless he is oc'ing and has a highend cpu/gpu combo. Guess you could truthfully answer his question by saying> The fan with the lowest rpm. Not 100% true, but darn close. Gearmonkey needs to tell us what kind of cfm's he needs. So tell us gear and welcome to Anand.
 
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Bluefront

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2002
1,466
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Exactly....My (fill in the brand) fan is quieter than yours. It's in an un-opened box in a drawer, and never makes a peep.

Using a cheap fanmate will quiet down most fans.....and if you keep turning the knob you might end up with a fan as quiet as my "drawer fan".

Just how many of the posters in this thread have actually compared the sounds of a variety of fans? Not too many I bet. Maybe you think your "X" brand is quiet.....but what are you comparing it to?

If you only need 12cfm to cool something, a quiet 80mm will usually be as quiet, maybe more quiet than any 120mm at the same cfm. The problem with this thread is the title.....it is not a valid question, not because of what it asks, but because of what it doesn't ask.
 
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Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
Get a Yate Loon, orange color, and tekjems. They're the same as the Nexus but a bit faster. You can undervolt them from there until you have the sound level you like with a decent amount of airflow. I have my one case fan moving air at 650rpm (Nexus, which is an undervolted Yate Loon) and my system is more than adequately cooled.
 
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GalvanizedYankee

Diamond Member
Oct 27, 2003
6,986
0
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Cooling *demands* decent air flow. You don't need Tornados, just get fans that push a good air and control them. If your not put-off by silver you can get one of the better rheobuses
for $7.95 at Text. I ordered two last night.
silentpcreview.com has an honest review of this unit.


g/y
 
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Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,508
0
0
Originally posted by: Dynamix3D
Originally posted by: Operandi
I'm going to recommend these NMB's; very quiet and high quality fans for a good price.
Click to expand...

15CFM?? You might as well not even use a fan then. That is horrible airflow. You couldn't cool anything with that.
Click to expand...

15CFM isn't a lot but it's enough unless your running extremely hot components, also keep in mind the OP will be using 4 of them.
 
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gearmonkey

Junior Member
Aug 25, 2005
14
0
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Thanks for all the great info.

Your right, I should have mentioned my CFM requirments. Like, "Whats the quietest 20 25 CFM fan?" or something like that. In reguards to CFM I dont think I need a lot as I have spots for two fans in the front and two in the back. I would imagine as little as 15 - 20 CFM could get a decent yet quiet air flow moving.

For me its a toss up between the NMB Operandi metnioned and the Panaflo L1A at HSF. After reading your suggestions I am thinking a fan controler with some Panaflo L1A's would do the trick. Sound good?



 
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Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,508
0
0
Originally posted by: gearmonkey
Thanks for all the great info.

Your right, I should have mentioned my CFM requirments. Like, "Whats the quietest 20 25 CFM fan?" or something like that. In reguards to CFM I dont think I need a lot as I have spots for two fans in the front and two in the back. I would imagine as little as 15 - 20 CFM could get a decent yet quiet air flow moving.

For me its a toss up between the NMB Operandi metnioned and the Panaflo L1A at HSF. After reading your suggestions I am thinking a fan controler with some Panaflo L1A's would do the trick. Sound good?
Click to expand...

How much air flow you really need depends on what have you in box. Odds are the NMB's will be just fine unless your running a hot P4 and/or SLI graphics cards.

For reference my system (check my sig) is cooled with 4 Panaflo LIAs (2 intake, 2 exhaust). I don't run any of them at 12 volts, the intakes run at 50% and the exhaust fans operate on 50-80% based on system temps.
 
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Bull Dog

Golden Member
Aug 29, 2005
1,985
1
81
Originally posted by: Shadowknight
Never, ever buy any Vantec fan, except for maybe the 80mm fan. Even before I found out about SPCR and their opinions of the same, I thought they were terrible.
Click to expand...


What does SPCR stand for?
 
JBDan

JBDan

Platinum Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,333
0
0
Originally posted by: gearmonkey
Thanks for all the great info.

Your right, I should have mentioned my CFM requirments. Like, "Whats the quietest 20 25 CFM fan?" or something like that. In reguards to CFM I dont think I need a lot as I have spots for two fans in the front and two in the back. I would imagine as little as 15 - 20 CFM could get a decent yet quiet air flow moving.

For me its a toss up between the NMB Operandi metnioned and the Panaflo L1A at HSF. After reading your suggestions I am thinking a fan controler with some Panaflo L1A's would do the trick. Sound good?
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me.
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
they are quiet, but have a strange low pitch hum to me. most half decent fans are quiet. its just a matter of speed. you can't get around it. more cfm/speed more noise. dial it down and it gets quiet
 
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