80mm Scythe Fan recommendtion

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

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KyleSTL
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:19 pm
Location: St Louis, MO

80mm Scythe Fan recommendtion

Post by KyleSTL » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:50 am

It's been a very long time since I've posted here, and I'm looking for some feedback on an 80mm fan for my HTPC. Currently I have an Antec NSK2480 case, Scythe Mini Ninja CPU cooler (with Scythe Minebea low speed fan), and 2 120mm Scythe 500RPM Slipstream fans. I've recently had some issues with my TV tuners flaking out, and I believe it may be caused by high codec or tuner temperatures. My computer has not changed configuration in over two years, but if a couple fan changes solve the problem I would be thrilled. My plan is:

Change 500 RPM Slipstreams to 800 RPM Slipstreams
Change 80mm CPU fan from Minebea to either low speed Kama Flex or Kama Flow 2 fan

My question is: which is quieter? Kama Flex or Kama Flow 2? The bearing is a little different, and the Kama Flex has 5 blades as opposed to the 7 blades of the Kama Flow 2. If anyone has experience with these two, I would appreciate your help.

EDIT -

For reference, here are the specs for the 80mm fans:

Minebea 3110KL-04W-B19-EB1 1,400 rpm 17.0 dBA 16.2 CFM
Kama Flex SA0825FDB12SL 1,500 rpm 14.0 dBA 19.0 CFM
Kama Flow 2 SP0825FDB12L 1,400 rpm 14.0 dBA 18.97 CFM

Will there be any difference in noise character, bearing life, etc?

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