Frame is aluminium; blades are 'chromed' plastic.

Right now it's a throwup for me between the Globe 120mm and this Evercool Aluminum 120mm. Can someone compare these two? Thanks.

replace the Sonata PSU fan with a Panalfo M and it will be better

These fans are not going to be sold anymore at CompUSA and are now on clearance for $10 at the stores that still have them. Note that these are the 3-pin version and are medium speed with 2-ball bearings (AL12025M12BA). Get them while you can!

Weird - our (UK/Europe) M-speed (from "Titan") have only 1 ball-bearing.

Either way, at 5V - 6V, they're darn silent . I guess at about 7V they start being a little audible.

at full blast they seem quiet quiet compared to the CFM's they do ... I am definately happy with them (except for the difficulties in getting them installed, but that's sorted by using Bluefront's idea of abusing cable-ties) .

Thanks for the tip, I bought 3 120mm at $10 each, and also picked up 3 of the 80mm which are discounted to $7. The 92mm were still $15, so I didn't buy any of those. This was at the San Jose Blossom Hill CompUSA, and there are no 120mm left, but there are several 80mm.

Were the 120mm's marked down at the register? B/c I went to CompUsa and they were still $15 on the shelf, shoulda done a price check. Maybe the discounting is regional.

It seems that CompUSA.com no longer even carries the fans, so I would expect that the clearance would be for all of the stores. Also, at my local store, there was a special yellow price tag for these particular fans that said "CLEARANCE" and gave the price and serial number, but as far as I can remember, I have only seen these clearance tags for items at this store, and not others, so it may be different for you.

I went to my local CompUSSR yesterday to look for those fans. The ones marked "clearance" were the 92mm versions. The 120mm versions were still marked "$14.99".

They were marked 9.99 on the shelf, and it was not a yellow clearance tag, just a regular looking tag.

I just got the last two 120mm aluminum Evercools from my local CompUSA yesterday. I tested them out and there is actually a noticeable difference in noise between them and the other 120mm aluminum Evercool that I have with only one ball-bearing (the new ones have two ball-bearing motors). This probably isn't too surprising but I guess you should go for the two ball-bearing version if you're considering getting one of these fans.

Still $15 here for 80,92,120. Oh well.

There's a better deal.

HammerSandwich wrote:


I took a look and noticed that it is for the one ball bearing version. I just purchased the two ball bearing version from CompUSA for $9.98.

As they (ahem) always say, two balls are better than one.

I find Evercool's page confusing. Did you get EC12025M12C?


In this case, no balls would be best...

HammerSandwich wrote:
I got an EC12025M12BA.

Supposedly, the two ball bearing version is quieter than the one with a single ball. Somewhere in the Forums, someone has also stated that ball bearings are not invariably noisier than sleeve bearings. My single sample of the EverCool 120mm fan has no discernible mechanical noise at any setting of my Zalman FanMate 1 and is commendably quiet at the minimum voltage (6V?) although not as quiet as my Nexus 120mm at 12V. It does seem to be moving more air, however, at that lowest setting compared to the Nexus at 12V.

The one Directron sold me c.6 months ago is an EC12025M12CA. That's the single-ball version, I suppose. It is very quiet mechanically, but requires a massive undervolt to keep airflow noise in check. I run it just above stall.

My two ball bearing version of the fan is also loud because of the impressive amount of airflow at higher voltages. Do you have the means to measure your settings? Are you by any chance undervolting below 6V when your fan stalls?

Mine has not shown any tendency to stall at the lowest setting of the FanMate (which I think is about 6V).

Is this the fan you are talking about: http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/fan-43.html ? How many balls does it have?

I don't know since the description just says "ball bearing". We now know that they come in one and two ball bearing versions. The label on my fan says 3.36W. The link says 4.56W. The package for my fan says 2000 RPM and 80 CFM just as in the ad. The differences that I've spotted between my fan and the one in the link appear to be the stated wattage and that mine has a three pin connector whereas the one in the ad says it's a four pin. As far as the physical appearance is concerned, the one in the ad looks just like the fan I picked up at CompUSA for $9.98 (which is a third difference).

As mentioned in the postings, it's a good fan that moves a lot of air yet can also be undervolted successfully. The fan detaches from the housing which is a serious hunk of aluminum. I've just noticed in another thread that it can be undervolted even further with two (!) FanMates to reduce the sound of the air whoosh to virtual inaudibility. If it wasn't for the expense and redundancy, I'd enjoy comparing my Nexus 120mm with one FanMate versus the EverCool with two of them. At the CompUSA clearance price, the cost differential would still be in the EverCool's favor.

Do you think that the massive frame will fit on top of a Thermalright cooler?

I think it will be real tight. That is a 38mm frame. IMHO, I think that the wires on the Thermalright XP-120 are for 25mm. The is just an observation nothing I know as fact right now. The HS is already about 400grams. I did not notice a rear retention bracket that mounts on the MB. Correct me if I am wrong.

I was deep in my machine today and compiled a little info about my EC12025M12CA and how I use it. The fan was controlled by a Sunbeam Rheobus, voltages measured by a cheap multimeter (within .05 on the display...), and RPM reported by my Abit IC7 to Speedfan.

At the Sunbeam's max of 11.2v, the fan turned 2280rpm! Looks like this sample should've been labeled as high-speed. It is loud... Dropping 1v at a time, the fan's speed fell by roughly 200RPM each setting. I saw 1530rpm at 7v and 1080rpm at 5v. Below 5v, I couldn't get reliable RPM readings, but think that 4v was roughly 800rpm. The fan stalled a little below 3.5v. Starting up again, I saw 4.3v right as the fan began to rotate, though the voltage ramped up to 4.7ish as the RPM climbed.

Noise impressions are compromised by the Antec True430 that I installed today; it is significantly louder than the SS-350AGX A2 that I removed for RMA. At 5v/1000rpm, the Evercool matches the Antec's noise and still offers respectable airflow. (Using the AGX, the Evercool became the prominent noise source around 4v.) In fact, 3.5v flows pretty well in free air though it is borderline with my Chenbro Genie's stock bezel and filter. This is all relative, of course - a 80L1A at 5V doesn't compare for airflow.

My previous summary remains: the Evercool is a mechanically quiet fan that demands extreme undervolting to tame its airflow noise.

Did a search and skimmed this thread but didn't find my answer so I'll ask: Does an aluminum fan have a measured/experienced performance advantage over a plastic one?

The mass of the aluminum fan frame helps to dampen vibration signficantly (so less to transfer to the case that can be converted to noise by vibrating the case panels).

By the way, anyone have a source for the 2 ball bearing 120mm version? I went to compusa and they only had the 2bb 92mm fans.

TIA