Fans: who makes reliable, quiet fans with decent CFM flow?

[Ken]

Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?

Thanks
Ken K

 

[Paul]

Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?

Thanks
Ken K

Try a site like this.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section12.html

One thing I read in some of the reviews, is some brands are sensitive
to physical handling. Some brands of fans, if you accidentally bumped
them on your work table, would not be as quiet from then onwards. So
in terms of absolute quietness, you would expect some unit to unit
variation, as a function of how they've been handled.

If any one company solved all problems simultaneously, they'd
be a roaring success. The thing is, some quiet designs will
compromise fan lifetime, to get the level of quiet. I have a
fan here, which is known in the industry as a premium fan
company, but the fan in question is quite annoying. But at
least it'll live forever, to annoy me.

I think the people who look for these, are constantly testing and
tweaking, looking for the perfect fan. So expect to have a large
pile of rejects sitting next to your desk.

Every company can solve a little part of the puzzle. Like Verax
invented a fan blade shape, for less turbulent airflow. But you won't
find these in your local PC shop.

http://www.verax.de/verax.php?template=home&lang=en
http://www.verax.de/verax.php?SID=&template=cms_entry_technik&groupid=1&entryid=7

Paul

 

[Ken]

Fitz said the following on 4/26/2008 11:35 AM:

Ken,

The Antec Tri-cools that came in your case are OK, provided you don't
use the "Hi" setting. Additionally, Zalman makes good quality fans that
are comparatively quiet. Here's a link to a website that list a number
of fans in various sizes along with the rated DB levels at different
settings:

http://www.quietpcusa.com/AcoustiFa...-Computer-Fan---120mm-AFDP-12025B--P66C6.aspx


Stay with 120mm fans as they can move more air at lower RPM's (note your
case uses all 120mm fans). Regardless of claims, I've never seen one
that is "silent", and the case has a lot to do with dampening noise.
You'll notice a difference with the front door open or closed on your case.

Fitz

Yeah, Fitz, you are probably one of those people who actually installs
the sides on your case, as well... ;-)

Once I am finished burning it in, routing the wires, and mounting the
sides "permanently" (in between tweaks, of course), I am sure it will be
quiet.

I am thinking about putting a fan (on slow) in front of the upper hdd
cage if I add drives...

While I have your attention,... about the lower fan. 1, is there an
easy way to remove the lower fan? The four plastic hooks seem a bit
brittle and I don't want to break them. I thought that if I build the
same system for my daughter, it might be easier to remove that fan and
then replace it toward the end of the process. 2, I find that fan won't
start by itself on the lowest setting but will do so on med and high.
Have you found the same? (I wish there was a screen in front of the
fan--without one, I am having to be more compulsive about cable routing
than it is in my nature to be in order to keep the cables out of the fan
blades. It is probably a good thing....

WRT the case, I am pleased with the design in that it allows for cable
routing that is out of sight and out of air flow.

Again, thanks, Fitz, for your input.

Ken K

 

[John Doe]

If any one company solved all problems simultaneously, they'd be a
roaring success. The thing is, some quiet designs will compromise
fan lifetime, to get the level of quiet. I have a fan here, which
is known in the industry as a premium fan company, but the fan in
question is quite annoying. But at least it'll live forever, to
annoy me.

I've been using a fluid dynamic bearing case fan since February 24,
2006, 24 hours a day. The subject came up in a cross post and I got
lots of static from a troll or two, as if it were too good to be
true. I didn't realize it was a big secret. I used to play with
hardware, ordered from Digi-Key Corporation. Panasonic is a major
supplier of all different types of high-quality electronics. They
made fluid dynamic bearing fans sold through Digi-Key and obviously
were very proud of them (judging by the price). The fans have
incredibly long lifespans. Didn't take much figuring when I noticed
fluid dynamic bearings offered in PC case fans. Even if the one I
bought wasn't the best, I'm convinced it's the way to go for
reliability as in leaving a computer on 24 hours a day. Newegg sells
lots of them now.

 

[Paul]

I've been using a fluid dynamic bearing case fan since February 24,
2006, 24 hours a day. The subject came up in a cross post and I got
lots of static from a troll or two, as if it were too good to be
true. I didn't realize it was a big secret. I used to play with
hardware, ordered from Digi-Key Corporation. Panasonic is a major
supplier of all different types of high-quality electronics. They
made fluid dynamic bearing fans sold through Digi-Key and obviously
were very proud of them (judging by the price). The fans have
incredibly long lifespans. Didn't take much figuring when I noticed
fluid dynamic bearings offered in PC case fans. Even if the one I
bought wasn't the best, I'm convinced it's the way to go for
reliability as in leaving a computer on 24 hours a day. Newegg sells
lots of them now.

The Panaflo fans are good (now owned by NMB or whatever).

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/appliance/appliance_fans_home.htm

But check the Silentpcreview articles, to see if there are ones
that are more quiet. There may be some cheesy sleeve bearings
with better noise ratings. Ones you've never heard of, like
Yate Loon. (Like I said, you cannot optimize for all characteristics
at the same time - there may be some quieter fans, that don't last
as long. It really depends on whether noise is a priority or not.)

http://www.svc.com/d12sl-12-bk.html

Paul

 

[spodosaurus]

Has anyone seen a review of fan manufacturers? Which companies produce
quiet, fans which move air well and which have a long life span?

Thanks
Ken K

Vantec Stealth fans - I use them in all my builds and mods and have
never had one die since I started using them more than half a decade ago.

Ari

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[John Doe]

The usual trade-off is between airflow and fan speed - the
faster the fan turns, the greater the air flow, but the greater
the noise as well. That's why people use the big 120mm fans - to
get good airflow while maintaining low fan blade speed. The more
efficient fans can get good airflow while keeping speed low
relative to other fans of the same size, but it's a "snake oil"
market and few homebuilders actually measure and graph the airflow
versus noise of their fans, much less measure the power used to
achieve a given cooling effect.

Nobody measures the speed or power consumption of their CPU either.

You can approximately measure airflow by putting your hand in front of
the fan and by looking at your case/CPU temperatures.

 

[John Doe]

....

The Panaflo fans are good (now owned by NMB or whatever).

http://www.rexususa.com/fans/25121.html

To me, it looks like Panasonic makes the fan and that company
(Rexus) adds wire and includes accessories with their packaging.

I bought one. The MTBF is only 30,000 hours, will see.

Have fun.