What's the best 80mm case fan?

[A5]

By best I mean the one with the best noise/CFM ratio. I haven't done much research on this, so I'm a newbie when it comes to cooling

 

[sohcrates]

If dealing with noise / CFM, i'd have to put my money on Panaflo fans.

 

[AkumaBao]

Sunons work really well. Good CFM, and pretty quiet for the power.

 

[Phunktion]

Papst.. but they're not cheap.. L1A's are dirt cheap.. check here

 

[GiZzO]

Depends, some manufactures do better noise to cfm ratio, depending on size and RPM cause as they differ in design some have there high points and some have there low. But all around Papst usually scores the best ratio.

Hit the ratio button here
GiZzO's Fan Database Page

 

[Insidious]

Unless you go to the performance extremes of these fans, (Ultra quiet or Ultra high cfm) you will find that the keys are to make sure you get one with ball-bearing (preferably 2) and somewhere around 3000rpm. I think Panasonic makes some of the quietest for the cfm (panaflow), but Sunon is pretty mainstream too. (I have the Sunon running here.)

I think MTBF (mean time between failures) would be one of the better parameters to use for comparison. virtually all the 80mms move air nicely.

 

[GiZzO]

Nidec are one of the highest MTBF, most over an amazing 100k hours, probably why you see alota servers, and professional/commercial equipment come stock with these fans.
Panaflo is 30k, Sunon about 50k, Delta and Sanyo Denki about 60k, most everyone else with Dual or single ball bearing are about 50k.

GiZzO's Fan Database Page

 

[hmsrolst]

I'd put my 2 cents in for PC Power and Cooling Silencers if you want good (not great) cooling and quiet. However, if your case tends to run warm or you have a lot of higher than normal heat producing stuff in it, you probably need something with more cfm.

 

[GiZzO]

By design Panaflos L1a is better for a heatsink, becaues of it foward straight pushing flow (higher presure more directed) it pushes out. PCP&C are better for just more raw volume of air with less resistance, it blows at a very wide angle (less focased presure). Papst and Nidec make better low speed fans.

 

[A5]

Well the thing I've notice about Panaflo is that they don't have tails on them, and I'd rather not pay extra for something it should already have. Sunon, on the other hand, actually comes with a tail so I don't have to mess with it

 

[asim]

Also, since A5 is actually asking for me ..... what's a reputable vendor for this sort of thing? I know plycon is good (got my hsf there) but the seem a bit expensive....the only benefit I can see for plycon is that they're based in Florida, and being in Alabama, means that I get my package the next day.