Fans recommendation

Flanker · Post by **Flanker** » Sat May 29, 2010 8:58 pm

Recently I acquired a megahalem pretty cheaply so I am planning to get some fans for it.
I am also planning to get a passive 5750 when they make their way to NZ.
What I have in mind is to have fans that are quieter than my VX450 at low loads.
My case is the Antec Solo, still have the tricool and haven't added any other fans. At the moment I'm finding the tricool really horrible even at low speed. So I will be getting 2 120mm fans, I for the megahalem and 1 for case exhaust

From what I can find at the moment, I can get 2 800rpm scythe slipstreams for NZ$42.69, free shipping
Another option, from another shop is 2 Arctic Cooling F12 PWM for NZ$27.72+$7 shipping, totaling $34.72

Question is: will the 800 rpm scythes be significantly quieter than the AC ones?

There really isn't many other options here:
nexus fans are $29 each + shipping,
low speed yate loons $10 each (not really wanting to try due to their quality control issues)
Scythe S-Flex are $45 each
Noctuas are $50~60 each
Over here we don't have scythe gentle typhoon, slipstream PWM, etc.
a somewhat complete list of what we can get here: http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=370&s=0
a pretty reputable shop with a relatively wide range of fans: http://ascent.co.nz/Category.aspx?Major ... rCatID=162

Another question is: since I will be getting a passive card, should I get some intake fans for my antec solo? or will the vx450 fan and the exhaust fan give enough airflow?

Thanks in advance

ascl · Post by **ascl** » Sat May 29, 2010 9:36 pm

Can you order from pccasegear.com.au? Shipping will be a bit more but the prices seem to be much cheaper (nexus from 12 AUD).

EDIT:

Do you ship internationally? No.

Seems not

What about other Australian stores? gammods.com.au might ship to you (email him), he has YLs for 10 bucks I think.

Flanker · Post by **Flanker** » Sat May 29, 2010 9:43 pm

cheers for that, we actually have $10 YL over here as well, but their hit-and-miss nature is putting me off a bit...

ascl · Post by **ascl** » Sat May 29, 2010 9:49 pm

Fair enough, I haven't actually tried any of the local ones... I got the "known good" ones from Petras last year.... when the AUD was riding high it was worth doing!

But compared to the price of S-Flex's and Noctuas, you can buy several to get a good one! $50 for a fan... ouch! Really seems like you will be better off importing.

johnniecache7 · Post by **johnniecache7** » Sat May 29, 2010 11:03 pm

Grab the S-Flex 1,200 rpm there isn't better fan out there.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Sun May 30, 2010 1:24 am

I've been pretty happy with my Arctic Cooling PWM fans (different model than you're looking at, though, AF12025PWM, not F12 PWM), they don't seem to have any obtrusive motor noise or anything. Have owned a handful of AC fans and they all seemed pretty solid from a noise standpoint. You might have to manually control the fan (using something like SpeedFan) if you get a PWM model, though. I know on my Gigabyte board the CPU PWM profile is pretty aggressive, it ramps the fan up much faster than necessary I think.

Really I don't think you could go wrong with any of the fans listed so far, but IMO AC offers better value than most, at least in the states. Looks like New Zealand prices are pretty reasonable compared to other brands as well.

As far as the video card goes, best way I think is to tape off most of the useless vents in the case (like the one to the side of the PCI expansion card area, for example), then remove a PCI slot cover or two to allow air to be pulled in through this. Then your case exhaust and power supply fan will pull cool air into the case and over the card's heatsink. You should probably block off most of the front intake (although leave a little bit open to allow air to be pulled in over the HDD and cool that, although you don't need much) and try to force most of your intake air to come in through the PCI slots and over the graphics card. That should keep it pretty cool, even using a passive heatsink.

Flanker · Post by **Flanker** » Sun May 30, 2010 2:38 am

indeed, my ASUS Q-Fan setting appears only to switch between max and min speed, and ramps up way too often.
The bit about controlling airflow for passive card is really helpful

looks like those slot cover with vents that came with AC coolers will be of use after all. and I still can't figure the use of those other seemingly useless holes lol.
Seeing that I'm in no rush to put in my megahalem, I might be able to wait till MikeC does a review on the AC fans using the new test setup.

thanks for the helpful inputs

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Sun May 30, 2010 2:59 am

No problem. How long until Mike is able to review the AC fans? It'd be nice to have some objective noise measurements on them. As I mentioned, they seem quiet to me, but I probably don't have nearly as discerning an ear as some of the people on this site. Will be interesting to see how they stack up against other manufacturers.

gojira · Post by **gojira** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:58 pm

Grab the S-Flex 1,200 rpm there isn't better fan out there.

The Gentle Typhoon fans eat the S-Flex for breakfast. But if you can't get one then I agree that an S-Flex would be second best. I think the Zalman ZM-F3 would also be pretty close. Also check out this review for more fan alternatives.