Newbie Question: Less fans or less voltage?

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

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toddgarza
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 6:42 am

Newbie Question: Less fans or less voltage?

Post by toddgarza » Thu Sep 26, 2002 7:00 am

I'm sure this has been answered before but I can't seem to find it on this site. If dealing with two fans of the same size and model (say a Panaflo L1A), which gives better noise-reduction: dropping both fans voltage down to either 7 or 5 volts or to remove one fan and leave the other running at 12 volts? Is there possibly a formula for this or would it depend more on the model of the fan, location in the case, etc?

Thanks,

Todd

ChiefWeasel
Posts: 262
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Worcester, UK

Post by ChiefWeasel » Thu Sep 26, 2002 7:17 am

Hiya! Welcome to the forum! :D

Well, as you say it does depend to some extent on other factors such as your case etc. But i would say that almost without doubt 2 fans @ 5 or 7V will be the best solution.


Lets say that you were using M1As, and a L1A represented an M1A at 7V (i think this is valid in order to explain this?). Heres their stats,
M1A: 28dB 32CFM
L1A: 21dB 24CFM


so 1 M1A = 28dB and 32CFM
but 2 7V M1As (L1A) = 2x 21dB and 2x 24CFM = 24dB and 48CFM.

(You know dB are logarithmic?)

so two fans at 7V is less than half as loud and gives 50% more airflow...

If your unsure about the dB sums just say and ill elaborate ;)

toddgarza
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2002 6:42 am

Post by toddgarza » Thu Sep 26, 2002 7:36 am

Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

mazir
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2002 6:23 pm

Post by mazir » Sat Oct 12, 2002 6:27 pm

Check out this very useful interactive chart right here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/fan ... nspecs.xls

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