which radiator fans?

The alternative to direct air cooling

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mark19891989
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which radiator fans?

Post by mark19891989 » Sun May 23, 2010 12:02 pm

right now i have 3 Arctic Fan 12025 pwm's on my radiator, and they dont really move alot of air.

basic requirememnts are:
quiet, i dont mind abit of noise at load, but when idle i dont want to hear the fans.
suitable for XSPC RS360 radiator (hanging of the back of the case vertical orientation)


the 2 fans that have caught my eye are:
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1850 RPM Cooling Fan (price £12.59 each)
Yate Loon D12SL-12D with plug (1350rpm) 120x120x38mm (price 4.90 each)
(Prices are from chilled pc)

Im planning a push|pull config, so 6 fans total.

out of the 2 fans i have mentioned which do you thing are best for noise/performance?

i was recomended the GTs on another forum, but i want more opinions before i go and spend £70 on fans.

will be controled using Sunbeam Rheobus i only have 3 ports spare (1 being used by the pump), so im gona have to make some custom wires for the fans, but thats no problem

thanks, mark

mark19891989
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Location: UK

Post by mark19891989 » Sun May 23, 2010 1:06 pm

I have been working out some prices for 6 fans in push | pull config

price is for the 6 fans, + screws and any connectors if needed
YL £42.87 + postage
GT 1460 £76.08 + postage

to me the price difference is huge, for just fans, right now in my cooling setup, i think the fans are the weakest point, so i do want to upgrade.

just wondering if the YLs are that much better then the GTs to warrent the price difference?

sorry to be a pest, thanks, mark

edit: loop details:

RES: XSPC Acrylic Reservoir for Laing DDC
PUMP: Swiftech MCP355 12v DC Pump
CPUBLOCK: D-TEK FuZion v2 LGA775 CPU Waterblock
RAD: XSPC RS360 Black
GPUblock: swiftech MCW 60 (on the way, ordered a few days ago )
Fans: 3 Arctic Fan 12025 PWM

ascl
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Post by ascl » Sun May 23, 2010 1:44 pm

It is a massive price difference, but I've recently gone from YLs to GTs, and I have to say the difference is pretty big, and I feel it was worth it. They are much heavier, feel much better quality than YL, and, if you are mounting them horizontally, should last much longer. They also feel like they blow more air (against a rad) for the same noise.

I'm pretty happy with mine, I just wish I could get 140mm ones as well. Currently I'm stuck with 3x 140mm YLs as well as the GTs.

Do you need push/pull? Do you have shrouds already? Maybe you can get 3 now, and use your old fans as shrouds (which should boost performance, and cut down on noise a bit). I initially wanted push/pull but didn't want to shell out for 10 GTs.... but the 5 I have + shrouds are working just fine, I don't need more (okay so I have slight rad overkill, but thats another story).


EDIT: Hmm just saw you have an RS360, not an RX. Thats a reasonably high FPI rad, which will operate best with higher speed/pressure fans. Probably another reason to get the GTs, I believe they have a little higher pressure than YLs (although, given the cost, YLs are pretty damn good).

LEO454
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Post by LEO454 » Fri May 28, 2010 11:19 pm

I am a big proponent of shrouds as well. The GT's have great reviews for noise.

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Post by MikeC » Sat May 29, 2010 1:32 pm

Not sure what your goals are but if you're doing push-pull, why bother with 38mm fans? They are always noisier. I'd stay with 120x25. There will be enough pressure, your radiator is only 35mm thick.

I agree the price difference is huge and I doubt the noise/performance difference justifies it -- if you run both sets of fans at the same noise level (or roughly the same speed), you will get very similar cooling, especially as push-pull tends to diminish cooling differences.

I'm surprised how many people say they like the Gentle Giants (or is it reviewers that say this? who?). imo, they sound no better than many other fans -- and often worse when slowed to a really quiet speed. A GT 1450rpm sample at 7V develops a bnnnnnn type of tonality that's not pleasant at close quarters. 6 of these would drive me nuts.

With regard to longevity differences, you might see a difference between sleeve and ball under very hot conditions, or with the fans blowing down, but otherwise, I doubt there's any real difference.

In short, I would go the YL route.

mark19891989
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Post by mark19891989 » Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:07 am

MikeC wrote:Not sure what your goals are but if you're doing push-pull, why bother with 38mm fans? They are always noisier. I'd stay with 120x25. There will be enough pressure, your radiator is only 35mm thick.

I agree the price difference is huge and I doubt the noise/performance difference justifies it -- if you run both sets of fans at the same noise level (or roughly the same speed), you will get very similar cooling, especially as push-pull tends to diminish cooling differences.

I'm surprised how many people say they like the Gentle Giants (or is it reviewers that say this? who?). imo, they sound no better than many other fans -- and often worse when slowed to a really quiet speed. A GT 1450rpm sample at 7V develops a bnnnnnn type of tonality that's not pleasant at close quarters. 6 of these would drive me nuts.

With regard to longevity differences, you might see a difference between sleeve and ball under very hot conditions, or with the fans blowing down, but otherwise, I doubt there's any real difference.

In short, I would go the YL route.
thanks for the reply :) , people who liked the gts were on another forum i asked (ocforums)

I have decided to go with YLs, but havnt been able to buy them yet due to money problems (the money i was gona use to get the fans had to be refunded due to a dispute on ebay) so i need to wait a few weeks to be able to afford them.

mark19891989
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Post by mark19891989 » Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:39 am

i went with the YLs in the end, i only brought 3 for cost reasons, they are moving more air then the old ones i had.

right now at 12v i cannot hear them :)

i also replaced the psu (old psu was the loudest part ) with a corsair TX650 , so now my rig is completly in audiable :)

HammerSandwich
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Post by HammerSandwich » Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:47 am

If all that hardware's inaudible, you must have a pretty loud ambient. Lucky you!

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