I have a week off from work coming and I think I will spend part of the time doing a fan overhaul of my HTPC. I have looked through the recommendations and searched the forums for hours, but I am having a tough time deciding. At one point I was all set to go Scythe S-flex throughout, but cost is becoming a factor and there are some that say others are better choices. As it stands now I can hear a bit of fan noise from 12 feet away, but only in dead silence. I am hoping to drop that a bit. My friends think I am nuts for being bothered by this, but I am sure there are others here that know what I am talking about.

I am replacing my video card first and already decided on the Saphire 4670. I really wanted passive, but they are real hard to find and a bit expensive. I have heard good things about this one for quiet operation. I currently use an overkill of a 4850 which I will move to another system. This swap will hopefully drop the internal temp of the case a little as well.

For the PSU (VX550) I have decided on a Scythe SFF21F S-FLEX 120mm to replace the current fan.

Where I am stuck is on the two 80mm case fans and the CPU fan.

Currently I have 2 Yate Loon 8025M 12 and they are not bad, but are getting long in the tooth. I could probably go a little down on the CFM or under volt any replacement.

I also use a Nexus DF1209SL-3 92mm for my CPU. Again not bad, but getting old and honestly I should be using a bit higher CFM for this. I use a Ninja mini cooler. In it's current location I cannot fit a 100mm fan.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

"an overkill of a 4850"
=>For the price of a Sapphire 4670 Passive perhaps you should consider swaping the mainboard for a IGP model with HTPC capabilities.

"hopefully drop the internal temp of the case a little"
=>Perhaps the CPU fan will be adequate with cooler air.

"For the PSU (VX550)"
=>Have you considered the Scythe Gentle Typhoon?

I didn't want to swap the MB for reasons that are too numerous to get into.

I did look into and actually ended up buying a Scythe Gentle Typhoon for the PSU. The reviews seem favorable and I think I would have been happy with either the S-Flex or the Typhoon.

I am going to try the S-Flex series for the CPU and case fans. As I couldn't find 92 or 80 in the Typhoon series where I decided to buy from.

Thanks,
Mark

I just put in the fans and to be honest I am disappointed with all of the S-Flex fans so far. It's still early and I have yet to test 7V.

The Gentle Typhoon on the other hand is dead silent in my PSU, but I have no idea what the controller is throwing it at for voltage, but so far I am thrilled with the airflow and noise level.

To be completely fair I don't know what the Yate Loons are rated at so I would in no way call this anything but a subjective opinion.

I will say that I will not be running the S-Flex at 12V in my PC while I would run the Yate Loon.

At 12V the 92mm and 80mm are what I would call loud with motor noise (a whirring noise, not air whoosh). I did pick up the fastest version of the fans I could get so that I could under volt easier. At 5V these are silent.
Comparing them to my Yate Loons at 12V Yate loon is virtually silent while the S-Flex is loud. The S-Flex does push a bit more air.
The Yate loon definitely pushes more air at 12V then the S-Flex does at 5V for about the same noise level.

I can't do the one compare I wanted which was the 92 S-Flex vs the Nexus because I broke a fin on the Nexus.

I am hoping that 7V is the magic number here. If I can get decent airflow at close to 5V noise levels I will be happy with my purchase.

Mark

All modern mainboards provide PWM technology for temperatue based speed control of the CPU fan. This is a very powerful tool to reduce the noise at idle. The CPU fan control can operate 2 low current fans with a Y-adapter.

It is possible to use the CPU fan control to operate the chassis fan(s) which is(are) often more audible than the CPU fan.

Some mainboards provide the option of changing from PWM to analogue technology for temperatue based speed control of the CPU fan and this gives you more fan buying options.

A 2.5 cm (1 inch) duct made out of a junk fan with the guts cut out will allow the turbulent air from the chassis fan time to moderate before hitting that nasty cheap steel stammping rear grill.

These ideas are cheap and/or free and definitely in the spirit of SPCR.

Have fun.

As an update I have decided to ditch all the S-flex fans as they have an annoying hum to them at any voltage. It is just the right frequency to bug me. I am now on the hunt for 2 80mm and 1 92mm fan.

Totally agree with you on the S Flex fans. I have a series D Sflex along w the two original Zalmans in my HD 503 HTPC case. Although I'm running everything at 5 Volts, the hum is way too disturbing. I just bought a Nexus real silent 12cm and a couple of Noctuas 8CM to replace them all. Hopefully this is a solution.
I have Nexus all around on my P182 Antec case, and standing beside it I can't hear it on, aside from the HDD hum. Could not find the Nexus 8cm locally, hopefully the Noctuas live up to the hype.

are you guys talking about S-flex 120mm or smaller 92/80mm sizes? markrb seems to be referring to the smaller size, but what about ProfQ?

Yes, I'm referring to the 12CM S-flex. On its way out w a Nexus taking its place.

I have an slipstream 120mm exhaust fan and can barely hear it. It's spinning at around 600rpm and is really quiet. I have an Antec Tricool intake which will be replaced with a slipstream. The slipstream is only 6 or 7 euro. I don't think you can find anything more quiet for that price. I think the more expensive S-flex and GT are even more quiet, but that's probably only noticable on higher rpm levels.

Thanks for letting me know. yea, I think in the end it all depends on personal preference and how sensitive you are. I've seen people love S-flex/slipstream b/c it's very quiet, and then others say it is loud, and then the same thing for Nexus fans, someone said it made some annoying noise.