Noise of Vantec Stealth 60mm

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DogBox
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Noise of Vantec Stealth 60mm

Post by DogBox » Sun Oct 13, 2002 8:26 am

Hi folks!

Does the Vantec 60mm Stealth have the same bearing noise as it's 80mm big brother? I'm considering trying one to replace the Thermaltake 60mm I have on my Swiftech MCXC370 but I hate to waste money on it if it has the same bearing noise. I've managed to quiet things down on my PC except for the heatsink fan. The Tt fan still makes a bit of noise even at 5v or 7v.

Thanks.

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Sun Oct 13, 2002 12:02 pm

Don't bother with Vantec 60mm.
1) few 60mm fans can run quietly and produce any airflow
2) the Vantec fans have not proven to be quiet at all, in my experience. They may run slower than ordinary fans, but the bearing quality leaves a lot to be desired.

You're better off with some simple ring to use a quiet 80mm fan. Maybe Zalman style, with some kind of bracket to "hang" it just over the HS. Works will with just about all HS I've tried this on.

Red Dawn
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Post by Red Dawn » Sun Oct 13, 2002 3:06 pm

Or you could try a 60/80 mm. fan converter, with a nice and quiet 80 mm. fan that produces more airflow at lower soundlevels.

Also, since you'll be having the fan blowing downwards, a tight fit isn't going to be crucial.

From swiftech's website
Due to the pin configuration, the heatsink performs best with the fan blowing downwards

Edit:
Having a fan on a fanbracket blowing downwards at a heatsink, may not be beneficial to having it placed on top of your heatsink, as there is distance between the fan and the heatsink, the airstream isn't always on target it seems.
This article takes up this issue. While maybe not being representative for the noise levels we strive to achieve, it does provide some interesting information on this subject.

quokked
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Post by quokked » Sun Oct 13, 2002 9:35 pm

with that 60MM Swifty heatsink though the tight pin configuration would mean that u'll probably need a decent fan with some decent backpressure (ie decent RPMs) to push the air down to the bottom of the pins, I don't think a fan like the Panaflow L1A would push enuff air at enuff pressure to get it down to the base and with a fan adapater u'd loose even more pressure onto the fins so just rig it directy onto the fan without a funnel setup. But that's my ideas anyway :)

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Post by MikeC » Sun Oct 13, 2002 9:56 pm

On the contrary, quokked, despite your and others' observations about the Swiftech design's likley poor performance with low airflow, it is not until the SLK800 and SK7 from Thermalright came along that my trustly old MC462A was beaten for cooling socket A with a Panaflo at 5-7V. I'd say it is worth trying with a low-airflow 80mm or larger fan.

quokked
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Post by quokked » Mon Oct 14, 2002 2:21 am

so u think that if I stick a 5-7V Panaflow on a Swiftech MCXC370 I'd get good performance??
SWEETTTT I wanted one of them but the guy's who were selling it said that it wouldn't work well :(

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Post by MikeC » Mon Oct 14, 2002 7:51 am

Let's put it this way: the inherent cooling power of the current Swiftech HS is not insubstantial. Ditto the Thermalrights, the Alphas, and some Zalmans, and probably others I've only read about. Many will do fine with low airflow, especially when combined with judicious case config for efficient cooling and CPU undervolting. If you don't already have one, I'd say the Thermalright SLK800 is probably a better bet than the MCX370 (the price can't be that different...) - I don't Really know, haven't played with it. If you have one already, why not try it with a 5V Panaflo?

chiahaochang
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Re: Noise of Vantec Stealth 60mm

Post by chiahaochang » Mon Oct 14, 2002 2:00 pm

DogBox wrote:Hi folks!

Does the Vantec 60mm Stealth have the same bearing noise as it's 80mm big brother? I'm considering trying one to replace the Thermaltake 60mm I have on my Swiftech MCXC370 but I hate to waste money on it if it has the same bearing noise. I've managed to quiet things down on my PC except for the heatsink fan. The Tt fan still makes a bit of noise even at 5v or 7v.

Thanks.
From my experience with the 60mm Vantec Stealths, they aren't all that quiet. I don't have experience with other Vantec fans, but if MikeC's right (and I'm guessing that he is), I wouldn't bother.

I'm actually looking for a quiet 60mm fan too, I have two machines where I can't really use an adapter. One is my Shuttle SV25 (mini-/SFF-PC) where I need it as case fan, and the other is in my HTPC as an case fan too. Most 80-60mm adapters won't work in either. There just isn't space around the 60mm hole to fit them. For my HTPC, I maybe able to fit an adapter "off-center" adapter - where the axles of the fan's aren't aligned, but I haven't seen those anywhere.

DogBox
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Post by DogBox » Mon Oct 14, 2002 8:03 pm

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, I've realized that trying out more 60mm fan probably wouldn't be worth it. And yes, I was sucked into the "Stealth" marketing by Vantec. When I first used the 80mm Stealth I couldn't understand why there was a strange and annoying whirring noise coming out of my PC.

I first refused to believe that it was coming from the Vantecs but as soon as I took them out the noise went away. Even at 5v or 7v they still made that annoying noise. I don't even know why I bothered to think that the 60mm version might be different - stupid me! :)

I actually tried the 80mm-60mm fan adapter from Akasa and it works well after I covered up 3 of the side vents as there wasn't much air blowing in the middle of the HS (deadspot). But since I plan on putting a window on the side panel I kinda wanted to get back on using 60mm fans again to get a cleaner look. I didn't like the look of the 80mm fan sticking too far out.

Anyway, I ended up fabricating my own fan adapter from a scrap sheet of lexan and I now have the 80mm mounted to the Swiftech just like a 60mm fan. I also made little flaps in the adapter to direct more air to the middle of the Swifty and the temps are about equal to the Thermaltake 60mm (at 7v) but none of the motor/bearing noise....just a soft whoosh of air.

I want to try and improve the adapter I made but I haven't much free time lately. My PC is not silent but I can say it's pretty quiet.

Again, thanks to all and this is a great forum! :)

quokked
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Post by quokked » Tue Oct 15, 2002 2:37 am

good luck with it dogbox, I managed to dig up a quiet 60MM fan at my computer swap meet a ADDA AD0612LS-C70GL 21dBA fan pretty good for like 3 bucks, just check the ratings on the fan stickers this one is rated at .08A at 12V if the rating is below about 0.12A (as MikeC said) and the bearings are not totally shot out. The fan is pretty quiet and puts out 13.3CFM but is not much though :(
anyway's good luck with finding one :)

chiahaochang
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Post by chiahaochang » Tue Oct 22, 2002 10:30 am

I don't know if anyone's still interested, but Digikey.com (avail in the US, Canada, and Japan) has various Panaflos, both the FBA and FBL series fans in various speeds and sizes from 40mm to 120mm (FBL sizes are only 60mm and up). I may order a few 60mm Panaflos from them as I have at least 1 spot where I can't use a larger fan nor an adapter.

DogBox
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Post by DogBox » Tue Oct 22, 2002 7:44 pm

I was actually browsing around Digikey today for the FBL Panaflos. I haven't ordered yet as I'm still deciding whether to give them a try or not. Looking at the specs of the FBL06A12L1A,M1A and H1A they are not exactly what you would call quiet at full speed (29db,32db and 36db respectively).

Using the new Fan Noise/Airlfow table as a guide I'm surprised that the L1A pushes more air and quieter than the M1A at lower voltages.

If you get them before I do it would be great if you could share your experiences with us to help us decide.

Thanks.

siliconacoustics
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Post by siliconacoustics » Tue Oct 22, 2002 10:00 pm

I don't recommend the 60 mm Panaflos. It is tempting to think that since the 80 mm Panaflo is such a great fan that the 60 mm must be great also, but that is far from the case. It exhibits very bad vibration. These fans are unpleasant in free air but try them coupled to a case and they are downright offensive.

I used to get a lot of inquiries for the FBA06A12L and on that basis I brought some of them in stock. If anyone wants free samples then just put a note in the comments field of an order from Silicon Acoustics and I will include some with your order for free. I think I even have some of the FBL version.

DogBox,
I do not see where you draw the data point you site about M1A vs L1A, but I can tell you that you would be well advised to disregard that Fan Noise/Airflow table completely. While it is a noble attempt to make order out of chaos, it suffers from GIGO and some of its base formulaic premise are wrong.

Jonathan
http://siliconacoustics.com

DogBox
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Post by DogBox » Wed Oct 23, 2002 8:24 am

siliconacoustics wrote:DogBox,
I do not see where you draw the data point you site about M1A vs L1A, but I can tell you that you would be well advised to disregard that Fan Noise/Airflow table completely. While it is a noble attempt to make order out of chaos, it suffers from GIGO and some of its base formulaic premise are wrong.

Jonathan
http://siliconacoustics.com
Yes, I'm aware that the table is inaccurate - it doesn't relate to any real facts. I was just curious so I looked up the table and thought the values were weird.

I've actually concluded that I'll give up on the 60mm fans since it doesn't matter what the specs are they will not compare to any of the quiet/silent 80mm. As you mentioned, they vibrate quite a bit. All of the ones I've tested (60mm) produces a noticeable vibration even at 5v. I'll just live with what I have for now until I my next upgrade. The "hum" isn't bothering me too much anyway. :)

Have a great day!

chiahaochang
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Post by chiahaochang » Wed Oct 23, 2002 10:58 am

Johnathan/SiliconAcoustics -- thanks for the info on the 60mm Panaflos. Disappointing news. I may take you up on the offer for a sample of one when I start building my next PC.

I may have to try to build a duct if I can't find any 60mm fans that are quiet enough.

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