Which of these 140mm fans are better?

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
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i would rather kick myself in the balls than use a CM fan, so i would have to vote for the NZXT.
 

kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
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Are 140mm fan actually better because they are more quiet or do they actually move more air than 120mm fans?
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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The CM fan has a sleeve bearing which makes it suboptimal for vertical installation. The NZXT fan is probably fine (rifle bearing), but I'd grab one of these: Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140mm $11 AP. They are the standard fans in Fractal Design cases, nothing special but in my experience they are reliable and have a pleasant, smooth noise profile and respond well to downvolting.
 

aigomorla

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Are 140mm fan actually better because they are more quiet or do they actually move more air than 120mm fans?

this is very highly debatable...

in theory yes, this is true, however in actuality its sort of false.
Id say only when looking at identical fans, where the fin geometry is identical, can u say a 140mm fan is greater then a 120mm fan.

120mm fans although have a lot more evolution then 140mm fans, and more are produced over 140mm fans, which allows vendors to select the perfect geometry.

Also you can not carry over that geometry from a 120mm to a 140mm, as the fan behaves differently when the fins are longer.

Fin geometry on a 120mm fan is again more evolved, so they can outperform a 140mm easily.

Example being like Nidac Fan, or a Sanyo Denki San Ace.
There 120mm lineups are far superior to the 140mm they have.



Seeing how you want a top air fan, i would also listen to lehtv's advice on the bearings. You want a fan designed to be horizontal mounted, otherwise 3-6months down the road, it will die out from the lubricant going to the bottom.
 

readymix

Senior member
Jan 3, 2007
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you might consider the Thermalright TR-X-Silent-140 140mm. good fan, I use 2 of them up top during the summer months. 750 rpm I believe and at decibels below my 120's so effectively silent.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
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Sorry about that, I went looking for the black versions later and didn't think it was in that one.

My bad.

/salute
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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AigoMorla likes those Sanyo-Denkis.

Every time I need to deploy a fan and I don't have the right spare stored away, I do some shopping and probably buy a pair of something different. This year, I got some 140mm Akasa Vipers and a pair of 120mm Cougar Vortex units. These are both very quiet, but for me -- I want the maximum CFM (rated) that I can find, knowing I'll want to thermally control the speed and output.

What the OP compares here are run-of-the-mill $9 fans. I'd guess that the NZXT is a good bet.

Really depends on what you want, what you NEED, and how much you want to spend. But the prices are likely to show the highest at double the $9. For that kind of chump-change, I'll spend a little extra.
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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you might consider the Thermalright TR-X-Silent-140 140mm. good fan, I use 2 of them up top during the summer months. 750 rpm I believe and at decibels below my 120's so effectively silent.

I can second this one, I've had two of them an they were pretty quiet for the RPM. The only downside is they don't respond well to downvolting. IIRC they can't even start up on 7V. But if you intend to run them full speed then they're quite nice.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
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I can second this one, I've had two of them an they were pretty quiet for the RPM. The only downside is they don't respond well to downvolting. IIRC they can't even start up on 7V. But if you intend to run them full speed then they're quite nice.

I looked at an Xbit Labs review for those dated around 2010:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/140mm-fan-roundup_10.html

Unless I misread the graph and data, the noise level is above 30dBA in the low RPM range! At that end of the spectrum, the airflow is less than 10CFM.

It may be a good fan, but . . . . not my cup of tea. Paired with a TR cooler, it probably gives some decent results . . .

Three computers in this room. All cases are identical; the 200mm fans run between 300 and 1,300RPM on a thermal scale -- most topping out at 900. Among the 140's, one goes from 900 to 1300 with temperature. There's a Cougar Vortex 120 and a Noctua 120 as exhaust fans which probably run between 700 and 1,200 the same way. There's a 4,500RPM (tops) Gentle Typhoon AP-30 ranging between 1,300 and 3,600 CFM -- reaching that level only if the CPU average of cores is over 65C.

If I turn off the TV and listen, I can "hear something" but it isn't much of anything. Less than the AC vent, anyway . . .
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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The best for airflow? Yes it's the highest CFM in the 140mm class I could find on newegg. There are some special super high RPM fans with ridiculous jet engine noise levels somewhere, but I don't think you're interested in those.

Personally, I would get the Fractal Design fan with the $4 off promo as I recommended earlier.

May I ask why you think you need particularly good airflow? What components are you trying to cool? What's wrong with the stock Rosewill fan? If there's a problem with temperatures of components in a standard ATX case equipped with several fans, perhaps the problem is not with the case and fans, but the components themselves.
 

kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
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The best for airflow? Yes it's the highest CFM in the 140mm class I could find on newegg. There are some special super high RPM fans with ridiculous jet engine noise levels somewhere, but I don't think you're interested in those.

Personally, I would get the Fractal Design fan with the $4 off promo as I recommended earlier.

May I ask why you think you need particularly good airflow? What components are you trying to cool? What's wrong with the stock Rosewill fan? If there's a problem with temperatures of components in a standard ATX case equipped with several fans, perhaps the problem is not with the case and fans, but the components themselves.

I am using a rosewill challenger case. The reason I am looking at a high airflow fan is because I can barely feel the 140mm fan's airflow at the top of the case.

I hover my hand over the fan when the computer is running and I can barely feel any air.
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
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Have you confirmed that the fan is spinning?

It's normal that you don't feel a lot of air flow, 140mm fans running at a moderate speed will typically push air outward in a very wide arc, so you're not going to feel much airflow in any one spot.

Download HWMonitor and determine your CPU and GPU temperatures at load. It should also report fan speeds for any fans connected to your motherboard, but I think the top fan is connected directly to the PSU.

To put load on your CPU you can use Prime95, and to load your GPU just fire up a demanding game like Crysis or Battlefield with VSync off, or use a benchmark like Unigine Heaven or Unigine Valley; assuming that you have a gaming graphics card.
 
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readymix

Senior member
Jan 3, 2007
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I am using a rosewill challenger case. The reason I am looking at a high airflow fan is because I can barely feel the 140mm fan's airflow at the top of the case.

I hover my hand over the fan when the computer is running and I can barely feel any air.

just a theory of mine but a lot of what a fan puts out depends on what you put in. vice versa too.
 

aigomorla

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Sep 28, 2005
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Ok I am looking for the highest performing fan. I don't really care about noise level though.

I just need good airflow. I want it under $20.

120mm x 38mm fan will outperform any 140mm x 25mm fan due to the typically larger motor.

however a 38mm high performance fan will cut you bad if u stick your finger in the blade also they are quite obnoxiously loud.
 
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kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
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120mm x 38mm fan will outperform any 140mm x 25mm fan due to the typically larger motor.

however a 38mm high performance fan will cut you bad if u stick your finger in the blade also they are quite obnoxiously loud.


Wow really? 0.0

I have a sickeflow fan.

I always thought 140mm always are better than 120mm fans.

What's the point of 140mm then?
 

aigomorla

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Wow really? 0.0

I have a sickeflow fan.

I always thought 140mm always are better than 120mm fans.

What's the point of 140mm then?

noise / performance ratio..

if u remove the noise aspect.. a 38mm motor kills any 25mm motor.