best intake fan options for my case?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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horizontalshine
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 4:39 pm

best intake fan options for my case?

Post by horizontalshine » Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:03 pm

Hey guys , what would be the best intake fan options for my case? its a antec p280 and the intake fan slots accommodate 2 x 120mm at the front of the case. these will have to push through the hard drive cage unless i remove it which i don't think i want to do. being that it must push through the hdd cage i will need high pressure fans, yes?

i want them to be quite yet very efficient (that's the whole point right? :P) good cooling is important to me over silence but only a tad... i do want them quiet!

should i just get thoes noctuas that everyone mainstream buys or is there a better option that is less well known?

i was thinking these may be my best option: Noctua NF-P12 ?

http://products.ncix.com/detail/noctua- ... -27129.htm

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: best intake fan options for my case?

Post by Abula » Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:24 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Im going to recommend you read the Fan Roundup #6: Scythe, Noiseblocker, Antec, Nexus, Thermalright, imo has 3 of the best fans you can get, Noiseblockers M12-S1 (and S2 if you want more rpms), Scythe Gentle Typhoons 800/1400rpm versions (they are bieng discontinued so if you want this get them fast, they are among the most look for their static pressure, there is also an in between version 1150rpms), and the Nexus Basic 120 which is one of the best cheap case fans imo, all three are good options. I'll leave you some links in case you are in the US.

Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm Case cooler 1000rpms $12
Scythe Gentle Typhoon D1225C12B3AP-13-D 1150rpms $18
Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-S1 850rpms $23
Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-S2 1250rpms $23

But if you like noctua go with it, they are good fans.

Also keep open to undervolting the fans, depending into how quiet / cool you want your setup.

horizontalshine
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 4:39 pm

Re: best intake fan options for my case?

Post by horizontalshine » Thu Jan 02, 2014 8:38 am

Thanks for the reply, I will most likely go with the noctua. How come there isn't a120 mm noctua in this sites 120mm fan reviews?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: best intake fan options for my case?

Post by Abula » Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:32 pm

horizontalshine wrote:How come there isn't a120 mm noctua in this sites 120mm fan reviews?
There has been reviews with noctua, specially lately i seen more, but you can get some info for example of the heatsink revews like the following,

Noctua NH-U12P tower Cooler
Fan @ 12V: The fan was fairly loud at 32-33 dBA. It also throbbed with resonant beats. Analysis of the acoustic profile revealed a tonal peak at 380Hz. The throbbing, while less aggressive sounding than the normal buzz and whine common with high speed fans, can be just as irritating. It has a much lower pitch than most fans spinning around this speed.

Fan @ 9V: The fan was much quieter, registering only 22 dBA. However, it generated an unusual sound effect, that of a distant aircraft engine — a low-pitched, resonating hum. It hit just the right frequency and tone to create this eerie effect in our test room. Analysis showed it developed tonality in the 360Hz range.

Fan @ 7V: The fan was almost silent and very smooth. Close-up it was still audible, and the same airplane-type noise persisted though to a lesser degree.

Fan @ 5V: The fan was effectively silent.

The NF-P12 fan is interesting. Its notched blade design alters the acoustic profile, producing a unique sound. Whether it is more pleasant than other fans may come down to personal preference. We prefer our reference Nexus fan or any of the Scythe Slip Stream varieties, which sound very smooth, benign, and consistent throughout their speed ranges. It is quite possible, however, that the higher airflow of the NF-P12 fan at 12V will be useful for hotter CPUs that are overclocked.
But for a long time the Nexus has been the reference fan for SPCR, still today is a safe cheap bet. That's why i recommend you to read that specific review as it tested really good fans in the same roundup. Either way you are not making a bad choice, noctua fans are really good, just expensive.

For me atm is mostly noctuas, but out of the lack of options on PWM fans, Scythe was another decent but they discontinued the KAMA PWM. Noctua PWM fans are imo among the best out of the range of operation, a lot of good fans out there dont go lower than 600rpm, and for the vast majority there is no need to go lower, but for me its important to drive them as low as possible on idle and ramp them up with the conditions of the CPU. But im really interested on the new Phanteks 140mm Case/Radiator Cooling Fan (PH-F140XP_BK), according to their spec sheet, they are rated 600-1200rpms on PWM, but with their adapter they run 300-900rpm this is the range that im looking forward that mostly is why i chose noctua, but on black n white.... certanly appealing, so im going to test one before committing to them for the upcoming build.

Good luck,

horizontalshine
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 4:39 pm

Re: best intake fan options for my case?

Post by horizontalshine » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:21 am

Abula wrote:
horizontalshine wrote:How come there isn't a120 mm noctua in this sites 120mm fan reviews?
There has been reviews with noctua, specially lately i seen more, but you can get some info for example of the heatsink revews like the following,

Noctua NH-U12P tower Cooler
Fan @ 12V: The fan was fairly loud at 32-33 dBA. It also throbbed with resonant beats. Analysis of the acoustic profile revealed a tonal peak at 380Hz. The throbbing, while less aggressive sounding than the normal buzz and whine common with high speed fans, can be just as irritating. It has a much lower pitch than most fans spinning around this speed.

Fan @ 9V: The fan was much quieter, registering only 22 dBA. However, it generated an unusual sound effect, that of a distant aircraft engine — a low-pitched, resonating hum. It hit just the right frequency and tone to create this eerie effect in our test room. Analysis showed it developed tonality in the 360Hz range.

Fan @ 7V: The fan was almost silent and very smooth. Close-up it was still audible, and the same airplane-type noise persisted though to a lesser degree.

Fan @ 5V: The fan was effectively silent.

The NF-P12 fan is interesting. Its notched blade design alters the acoustic profile, producing a unique sound. Whether it is more pleasant than other fans may come down to personal preference. We prefer our reference Nexus fan or any of the Scythe Slip Stream varieties, which sound very smooth, benign, and consistent throughout their speed ranges. It is quite possible, however, that the higher airflow of the NF-P12 fan at 12V will be useful for hotter CPUs that are overclocked.
But for a long time the Nexus has been the reference fan for SPCR, still today is a safe cheap bet. That's why i recommend you to read that specific review as it tested really good fans in the same roundup. Either way you are not making a bad choice, noctua fans are really good, just expensive.

For me atm is mostly noctuas, but out of the lack of options on PWM fans, Scythe was another decent but they discontinued the KAMA PWM. Noctua PWM fans are imo among the best out of the range of operation, a lot of good fans out there dont go lower than 600rpm, and for the vast majority there is no need to go lower, but for me its important to drive them as low as possible on idle and ramp them up with the conditions of the CPU. But im really interested on the new Phanteks 140mm Case/Radiator Cooling Fan (PH-F140XP_BK), according to their spec sheet, they are rated 600-1200rpms on PWM, but with their adapter they run 300-900rpm this is the range that im looking forward that mostly is why i chose noctua, but on black n white.... certanly appealing, so im going to test one before committing to them for the upcoming build.

Good luck,
What will your next build consist of?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: best intake fan options for my case?

Post by Abula » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:14 am

horizontalshine wrote:What will your next build consist of?
Still far away, at least 9 months, the plan atm is Haswell E 8 core + MSI X97 motherboard + 2x GTX880 probably MSI twin frozr + 4k monitor, on moded Corsair Air 540 with 7x 140mm PWM fans spinning at 300rpms + Noctua NH-D15 (or whatever noctua names the successor of the NH-D14), unsure on the PSU still, considering Seasonic Platinum 860 or Kingwin LZP 850.

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