80mm Fans - Notes and observations

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frankgehry
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Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:00 am
Location: New York, NY

80mm Fans - Notes and observations

Post by frankgehry » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:09 am

80mm Fans - Notes and observations.

Test equipment: T-Balancer with attenuator

10 = completely noiseless
9 = effectively inaudible with a very smooth character and no hum, buzz or intermittent sonic effects
5 = very quiet with benign acoustic signature
1 = borderline quiet
-10 = raucous

1000rpm was chosen as the test speed because it represents a transition point between motor and bearing noise to predominantly air flow noise.


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Chieftec Yate Loon D80SM-12, Sanyo Denki

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Comments:

Chieftec/Yate Loon - Marginally better score than Sanyo Denki, but less air flow.
Purchased from: www.ichbinleise.com

Sanyo Denki - Motor noise, while very low is of slightly higher frequency than Yate Loon D80SM-12. CFM is noticeably higher than Yate Loon D80SM-12.
Purchased from: www.thermalfx.com


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Bi-Sonic, Panaflo

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Comments:

Bi-Sonic - Almost identical in quantity and quality of noise to the Yate Loon D80SM-12. Air flow is similar.
Purchased from: www.mouser.com

Panaflo - Some bearing noise is present, but more air flow than Yate Loon D80SM-12
Purchased from: www.sidewindercomputers.com


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Papst, Delta Triple Blade Low Speed

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Comments:

Delta - Less air flow than yate-loon at 1000rpm, but at 1300rpm the Delta is about the same.
Purchased from: www.sidewindercomputers.com

Papst - The Papst was smoother than the Yate Loon D80SM-12 and just as quiet. Mine has two weights in the rear hub for balance. I ran another test with the Yate Loon at 2044rpm and the Papst at 2016rpm. They are so close.
Purchased from: www.ichbinleise.com


Conclusions:
I just purchased the Sanyo Denki, but have had the others for quite sometime. I knew they were all very good.
Last edited by frankgehry on Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:37 pm, edited 11 times in total.

GHz
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:54 pm

Post by GHz » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:26 am

Frank,

What's your experience buying from mouser? I want to try some of their bi-sonic and adda fans... do they only sell them without tails? Is their customer service good? Thanks for the review... my first choice for an 80mm fan would be a Yate Loon D80SM12, but they aren't easy to get anymore. With your review in mind, I think I might try something else more widely available.

frankgehry
Posts: 1424
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:00 am
Location: New York, NY

Post by frankgehry » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:53 am

G,

The bi-sonics that I've gotten from mouser have just been two wire fans (no tach signal) and bare leads, but the service and price has been good. www.pctekonline.com has yate loon D8025M-12's. I think they are the same as D80SM-12's but with an older naming convention. They also have D12SL-12's. I was really impressed with the sanyo-denki - it was $9.00 from thermalfx on ebay including shipping. I haven't been able to find a sanyo denki 120mm slow speed yet. - FG

GHz
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:54 pm

Post by GHz » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:00 pm

Frank,

Thanks for the info. I know pctek has the D80SMs, but I prefer 3-pin connectors if I can find them. So by bare leads, you mean without a head (ie: just the wires)? Do they sell the heads separately? I've put on 4-pin molexes before, but I have no clue how you put on a 3-pin head. I'd love to do a comparison of Sanyo, Bi-Sonic, ADDA, and JMC fans vs. Nexus/Yate Loon (since they are pretty much a benchmark for quiet fans) but I need to know where to get everything first ;)

So far:
JMC from mfr. direct
ADDA from mouser
Bi-Sonic from mouser
Sanyo Denki from thermalfx
YL/Nexus from jab-tech

Bluefront
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Post by Bluefront » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:36 pm

Frank...have you ever heard or even seen a Yate Loon D80SM-12 with an aluminum frame? I got two from CompGeeks earlier this year. I am very pleased with these fans....they are as quiet as the D80SM-12S I have, but with less noticeable vibration. They're heavy.....

frankgehry
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Post by frankgehry » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:55 pm

bare leads are just wires. You will need molex kk connectors with a 2.54mm (.1") pitch or distance between pin centers. They're cheap from www.digikey.com. There are some part numbers posted somewhere. They are not that hard to put on, but can be kind of tedious.

I tried to get a jmc 80mm, but they just have high speed models. The low speed 120mm is very good as is the bisonic. - FG

Nidec also has some interesting models, but I haven't been able to find any low speed versions.

frankgehry
Posts: 1424
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:00 am
Location: New York, NY

Post by frankgehry » Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:58 pm

Bluefront,

I've never heard of aluminum yate loons. I might have to try one out. Thx - FG

GHz
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:54 pm

Post by GHz » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:27 pm

I've got the aluminum ones. They are nice and the aluminum frame helps absorb vibration. Less resonance in my cheap aluminum test case. I also got them from Geeks, but now they are out of stock :(

Frank: Sorry if I'm going too far OT, but do you know anywhere that describes how to install a 3-pin head?

frankgehry
Posts: 1424
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 5:00 am
Location: New York, NY

Post by frankgehry » Sat Sep 10, 2005 8:45 pm

No problem. This link has a lot of pictures of pins and tools - http://marvin3m.com/connect/

and www.molex.com should have some more information. One of them shows how to get a good connection. Get some extra pins to practice a few times. If you are going to do a lot of them I would get a crimp tool, but for just a few a good pair of needle nose pliers will work fine. The pins have one U shaped clamp for the insulation and another for the bare wire. I tin the bare wire with solder and then clamp the U to secure the insulated wire. Then clamp the bare wire. It you heat the pin at the bare wire clamp solder will flow from the tinned wire an make a strong connection. Its hard to get things tight without a crimper, but with solder it will hold fine. This will make more sense when you look at the first web site. - FG

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