Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP-11 or ? (Most quiet case fans).
Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:24 am
The last source of noise in my PC are the case fans.
I'd like to know what I can do to make them as quiet as possible.
Questions:
----
a) Can PWM fans run at lower rpm than non-PWM fans ? Do they need lower startup voltage ?
b) I read that some PWM fans can cause a "ticking noise" when running at low rpm. Also, it seems there are very few PWM fan-controllers. (I would need one with 3-5 channels). Are PWM-fans practical, or do they cause a lot of new problems ? I would need a PWM-fan controller anyway, because my motherboard doesn't have enough PWM-fan-headers.
c) Scythe Gentle Tycoon fans seem pretty good for my purpose.
They come in 5 different flavors.
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html
AP-11 - 500 rpm - 5 dBA - 31 m3/h
AP-12 - 800 rpm - 9 dBA - 48 m3/h
....
AP-15 - 1850 rpm - 28 dBA - 98 m3/h
How does that work ? Do the different types have different resistors in them, basically undervolting them inside the fan itself ? Or do they have different motors, and they all run truly on 12V ? That would mean you could under-volt them, to run even lower ? E.g. I could either buy a AP-11 and run it at 500 rpm at 12V. Or buy a AP-12, and under-volt it to 6V and run it at 400 rpm even. Would a low-rpm fan have more trouble to start when under-volted than a high-rpm fan ?
d) 5 dBA for the AP-11 seems very very low. Any other fan or brand that I should consider ? Low noise is my priority, airflow hardly is. As long as I have a little airflow in my case.
Thanks in advance,
Gryz.
Background:
----
Components:
i5-3570K, overclocked to 4.0/4.2 GHz. Watercooled.
Asus GTX680. not overclocked. Watercooled.
1xSSD plus 2x 5400rpm HDDs.
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4.
SuperFlower/Kingwin 500W fanless PSU. Fanless !
Component cooling:
CPU and GPU are watercooled, and thus completely silent.
The 500W fanless PSU stays remarkably cool. Even when gaming.
I have a Laing DDC-1T 12V/10W waterpump. It was definitely audible, even when undervolted to 8-9V.
So I sawed a 10 cm hole in the back of the cupboard of my desk.
Water tubes leave the PC, and go to the pump inside the cupboard.
The pump has ~15cm of noise insulation foam at the sides, and 20cm of foam at the top, bottom, front, back.
The pump is absolutely not audible anymore. My plan worked better than expected. And the pump stays relatively cool.
I used to use only the reservoir of my Zalman Resorator1.
With >3 liters of water in it, it takes 1-2 hours to warm up a bit under heavy load.
However, I decided to add a radiator (240mm Black Ice Stealth). Temperature of the loop is pretty low now.
Case fans:
The last source of noise are the case-fans.
(I don't mind occasional noise from the HDDs. It reminds me of the fact that the PC is doing something).
I have 5 fans in my Fractal Design Arc Midi case. All fans are made by Fractal Design.
The original 3x 140mm fans are: 2 in the front, sucking air in, lowest one blowing on the HDDs.
One 140mm in the back, blowing air out.
I bought two new 120mm fans. They are screwed under my radiator, which is screwed in the top of the case.
Blowing air up, out of the case.
The noise:
The fans are audible at 1m distance, when I sit in my chair behind my computer.
Rather low volume, like water rushing through central heating in a house.
Can't hear it when playing games or listening to music. But still I wanna try to get rid of it, as much as possible.
The 2 top radiator fans are on a fan-controller, blowing at minimum speed.
http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=94
Even at minimum voltage, the fans have no problem starting after a reboot.
The other 3 fans are on another fan controller, the one that came with the FD case.
It looks very similar to the Xigmatek one. (only painted white).
That fan controller can not be set all the way back. Because 2 of the 3 fans will not start after a reboot.
So what can I do to reduce the noise ?
a) Undervolt fans.
b) Buy fans that run at low rpm.
c) Buy the best brand (lowest noise).
d) Less fans.
e) Larger fans.
f) PWM fans ?
I don't care much about airflow. So a 500 rpm fan would do.
My case is cool. My loop is cool, and would take a long time to warm up, even with minimal airflow past the radiator. The PSU seems to do so well, I'm not worried about that either. As long as I get *some* airflow through my case. I want 2 fans on my 240mm radiator, blowing air out of the case, upwards. Then I could have a 3rd case-fan, sucking in air, in the front, so they cool my HDDs a bit. Result: only 3 fans total. (I am currently running with 3 fans only, to look at the impact on temperatures. So far it looks like hardly any different to 5 fans). The real question is: what fans should I buy to replace my FD fans ?
I'd like to know what I can do to make them as quiet as possible.
Questions:
----
a) Can PWM fans run at lower rpm than non-PWM fans ? Do they need lower startup voltage ?
b) I read that some PWM fans can cause a "ticking noise" when running at low rpm. Also, it seems there are very few PWM fan-controllers. (I would need one with 3-5 channels). Are PWM-fans practical, or do they cause a lot of new problems ? I would need a PWM-fan controller anyway, because my motherboard doesn't have enough PWM-fan-headers.
c) Scythe Gentle Tycoon fans seem pretty good for my purpose.
They come in 5 different flavors.
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html
AP-11 - 500 rpm - 5 dBA - 31 m3/h
AP-12 - 800 rpm - 9 dBA - 48 m3/h
....
AP-15 - 1850 rpm - 28 dBA - 98 m3/h
How does that work ? Do the different types have different resistors in them, basically undervolting them inside the fan itself ? Or do they have different motors, and they all run truly on 12V ? That would mean you could under-volt them, to run even lower ? E.g. I could either buy a AP-11 and run it at 500 rpm at 12V. Or buy a AP-12, and under-volt it to 6V and run it at 400 rpm even. Would a low-rpm fan have more trouble to start when under-volted than a high-rpm fan ?
d) 5 dBA for the AP-11 seems very very low. Any other fan or brand that I should consider ? Low noise is my priority, airflow hardly is. As long as I have a little airflow in my case.
Thanks in advance,
Gryz.
Background:
----
Components:
i5-3570K, overclocked to 4.0/4.2 GHz. Watercooled.
Asus GTX680. not overclocked. Watercooled.
1xSSD plus 2x 5400rpm HDDs.
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4.
SuperFlower/Kingwin 500W fanless PSU. Fanless !
Component cooling:
CPU and GPU are watercooled, and thus completely silent.
The 500W fanless PSU stays remarkably cool. Even when gaming.
I have a Laing DDC-1T 12V/10W waterpump. It was definitely audible, even when undervolted to 8-9V.
So I sawed a 10 cm hole in the back of the cupboard of my desk.
Water tubes leave the PC, and go to the pump inside the cupboard.
The pump has ~15cm of noise insulation foam at the sides, and 20cm of foam at the top, bottom, front, back.
The pump is absolutely not audible anymore. My plan worked better than expected. And the pump stays relatively cool.
I used to use only the reservoir of my Zalman Resorator1.
With >3 liters of water in it, it takes 1-2 hours to warm up a bit under heavy load.
However, I decided to add a radiator (240mm Black Ice Stealth). Temperature of the loop is pretty low now.
Case fans:
The last source of noise are the case-fans.
(I don't mind occasional noise from the HDDs. It reminds me of the fact that the PC is doing something).
I have 5 fans in my Fractal Design Arc Midi case. All fans are made by Fractal Design.
The original 3x 140mm fans are: 2 in the front, sucking air in, lowest one blowing on the HDDs.
One 140mm in the back, blowing air out.
I bought two new 120mm fans. They are screwed under my radiator, which is screwed in the top of the case.
Blowing air up, out of the case.
The noise:
The fans are audible at 1m distance, when I sit in my chair behind my computer.
Rather low volume, like water rushing through central heating in a house.
Can't hear it when playing games or listening to music. But still I wanna try to get rid of it, as much as possible.
The 2 top radiator fans are on a fan-controller, blowing at minimum speed.
http://www.xigmatek.com/product.php?productid=94
Even at minimum voltage, the fans have no problem starting after a reboot.
The other 3 fans are on another fan controller, the one that came with the FD case.
It looks very similar to the Xigmatek one. (only painted white).
That fan controller can not be set all the way back. Because 2 of the 3 fans will not start after a reboot.
So what can I do to reduce the noise ?
a) Undervolt fans.
b) Buy fans that run at low rpm.
c) Buy the best brand (lowest noise).
d) Less fans.
e) Larger fans.
f) PWM fans ?
I don't care much about airflow. So a 500 rpm fan would do.
My case is cool. My loop is cool, and would take a long time to warm up, even with minimal airflow past the radiator. The PSU seems to do so well, I'm not worried about that either. As long as I get *some* airflow through my case. I want 2 fans on my 240mm radiator, blowing air out of the case, upwards. Then I could have a 3rd case-fan, sucking in air, in the front, so they cool my HDDs a bit. Result: only 3 fans total. (I am currently running with 3 fans only, to look at the impact on temperatures. So far it looks like hardly any different to 5 fans). The real question is: what fans should I buy to replace my FD fans ?