Antec Tricool 120 mm Case Fan (Quieter than Nexus 120)

barracuda · Post by **barracuda** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 10:31 am

I have the Antec 3000 B which comes with one Antec Tricool 120. This fan is quieter than the Nexus 120 as can be heard from the sound files at the end of the review of the Antec 3000 B on SPCR.

I'm disappointed with the buzzing noise of the Nexus 120. It's the loudest thing in my computer. The sound difference is about the same as in the audio files. Why isn't the Antec Tricool 120 on the recommended list?

I'm thinking about buying the retail Antec Tricool. Does anyone have experience with these fans. I'm not sure if the retail fan will be as good as the one that came in the case.

Oh, and I hooked up the Nexus fan to the CPU fan header and the fan spun at 700 rpm. Barely audible, but too slow. Why does it spin slower and can I control this speed?

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 3:03 pm

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/sur ... c_120.html

Here you go. They rip them right out of the case and sell them cheap.

Bonus: You'd be suppoting an SPCR sponsor

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 4:13 pm

barracuda.....The Nexus 120 runs about 1000rpms at 12V. So if it's running at 700rpms, perhaps your board has a speed control at the header. That might also explain the "clicking".

Yate Loon fans don't handle PWM (pulse width modulation) very well. It causes clicking, humming noise, other strange sounds. Many board makers use PWM to vary fan speeds.

An Antec fan that's quieter than a Yate Loon(Nexus).....heh.

barracuda · Post by **barracuda** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:07 pm

Thanks for the link Bluefront, but I don't think that's the Tricool.

jacklyman, I only plugged it into the cpu fan header as an experiment. It is normally plugged into a regular fan header where it runs at around 1100 and that's when it sounds louder than the Antec Tricool that came with my case. There isn't any clicking sound. Just the low pitched humming.

You can hear the difference for yourself right here at SPCR.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article210-page4.html

Mine sound about the same.

Here's the retail version. It's clear and I'm not sure if it's plastic makes more noise. Anyone have this fan?

http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?mo ... il&id=2700

winguy · Post by **winguy** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:35 pm

jackylman wrote:http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/sur ... c_120.html

Here you go. They rip them right out of the case and sell them cheap.

Bonus: You'd be suppoting an SPCR sponsor

That looks like the fan in SLK3700BQE . Do they sell em with the fan isolators too?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 1:22 pm

jackylman wrote:http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/sur ... c_120.html

Here you go. They rip them right out of the case and sell them cheap.

Bonus: You'd be suppoting an SPCR sponsor

The fan in that picture is not a Tri-cool. It doesn't say anything in the text about Tri-cool either. I'd be careful.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 3:18 pm

Sorry. My mistake.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 5:07 pm

The antec at endpcnoise looks exactly like my 3000b fan, but I don't see the 3 position switch. My fan has 1.6 on the label and the endpcnoise fan has 2.0. But antec can change anything they want. You should always call or email in a situation like this. What case were they ripped out of and I want one ripped out of a 3000b with a 3 position switch.

The tri-cool clear plastic version has ball bearings and is something different. I believe the fan in the 3000b that was tested had sleeve bearings.

The review of the 3000b does compare a nexus and the tri-cool? The 3000b fan does very well at low speed and compares favorably to the nexus. There are mp3 files of the nexus, antec, and globe. Of course the nexus just really has a low speed. This is not that unusual as several fans at low speed seem to be the equal of nexus. Like the 9 blade everflow in the silverstone tj-06 case. There was also a ball bearing delta on a coolermaster cpu cooler that was very quiet. These fans were measured and mp3 files were provided in the reviews.

Ralf mentioned that his 3000b fan was noisier than mike's due to sample variations or shipping damage or maybe mike's was exceptional.

Why don't nexus fans ever suffer from shipping or rough handling? Sure, they are essentially binned yate loons, but if shipping was an issue, nexus has no control over that. Just wondering why nexus quality is so much better than other brands. The main reason must be that the sub standard fans are thrown out at the factory. - FG