Quiet 120mm Fans?

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:10 am

Hey -

I am designing my watercooling setup, and I need a quiet 120mm fan to blow air across my radiator. Actually, as the rad will be front mounted, I think I will have to decide if the fan will suck the cool air in, cool the rad, and then let the hot air exhaust out open holes in the rear, or if I should have the case interior air blown out over the rad and to the outside. Anyway, looking for fan ideas. CFM are nice, but quiet is the main goal. Is the expensive 4300 series Pabst thermal control ($32????!!!) the way to go? That goes down to 22db, at least. Or should I 7 volt a different fan? I like the idea of thermal control, though...

Thanks in advance!
RDaneel

wussboy · Post by **wussboy** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:06 am

I don't think having the rad on the front is such a good idea. It seems that you are using the radiator to take heat out of your case, yes? With the rad in front you are taking the heat off your CPU, piping it through your water cables into the radiator, and then dumping it right back in to your case. I also suspect that if your radiator is big enough, it won't need a fan at all (consider picking up a cheap car radiator). Can I have some confirmation on this?

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:09 am

Well, this is easy!
The Panaflo 120mm L1A is the quietest fan that I've ever used. And it moves lots of air at low volts. Granted my experience is limited, I've only used 120mm fans from Panaflo L1A, Antec, and Vantec Stealth. I haven't tried any Pabst fans yet but I hear they click at low volts.

As to your fan/radiator placement issue. I think putting the 120mm fan on the inside/rear of the case as an exhaust, and mount the radiator to the outside of the case against that fan. That way you're not polluting the inside of your case with hot air from your radiator.
I think the L1A would have sufficient CFM for your needs but they do make M1A, H1A, and even U1A (Ultra

) for mega airflow.

Just my $0.02

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 1:37 pm

Thanks for the tips, but I am very limited in my radiator placement options. The rear of the case (Chenming/Chenbro/Antec-looking Dragon) has two 80mm fans in a vertical arrangement - but just try finding a rad that matches that! Sysfx (lousy company, from what I hear) has a very plain one - for $65!!! If I mount in the front by removing the bottom 3.5" drive bay and drilling some custom holes I can fit a normal 6x6" rad, like the Black Ice Pro. That will probably take a fan to cool it - I will have it pushing to exhaust out the front, and the only other fan will be in a SilenX 14db PSU - so it should be quiet.

Anyone use the Pabst thermal control fan? It is a lot more expensive than the Panaflo, but I like the idea of automatic thermal control. Maybe use a manual fanmate type thing or just 7volt a L1A...

So many choices!
RDaneel

tibbar · Post by **tibbar** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 11:01 pm

mate, if you are going to the effort of water cooling your system, why on earth have you got two 80mm fans on the back? you may find that a single 120mm fan extracting air from the case, blowing onto the rad mounted at the rear is enough.

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:12 am

I'm sorry tibbar if I gave you that impression - I meant that the case has two 80mm fan MOUNTS at the rear of the case. They are in use now because I have not swotched over to water, but they will certainly be the first thing to go. 120 all the way...

Thanks!
RDaneel

tibbar · Post by **tibbar** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 11:01 pm

ah, that makes more sense...

you should find that a 120mm fan will provide sufficient airflow for the rad, even at it lowest voltage.

i've managed to use a single 120mm fan to cool my entire system without watercooling (zalman 'flower' psu heatsink, large heatsink on psu, 120mm fan blowing side ways against flower towards psu mounted on outside of case.

lurker · Post by **lurker** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 10:34 pm

I bought some NMB Boxer 4710 fans from eBay based on gmjamez's fan spec sheet, and am extremely satisfied with the noise level (or should I say silence level) at 7v.

Quiet 120mm Fans?

Quiet 120mm Fans?

watercooling - why the fans??

80mm...