Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

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chiggah
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Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:24 pm

Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by chiggah » Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:30 pm

Hi guys

Sorta thinking of swapping out my Antec tri-cools from my P182 case. The case and fans case together when I built my PC end of 2008. They are quiet but I am after some silent ones. I still like my case though.

Last I checked, the Noctuas are very silent, but what is the flavour of the month nowadays..? Which Noctua model should I get though ?

I don't have a side-view photo of my rig to illustrate where the fans are sitting, but I believe I have 4 fans in the case. Will upload the photo tonight:
  • One on the top of the case
    One at the back exhaust
    One mounted with my Prolimatech Megahalems
    One at the bottom
Example here - Image

Mr Spocko
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Location: UK/Eire

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by Mr Spocko » Sun Aug 28, 2011 4:52 pm

Well quite a lot of choice here...
Just about anything will beat a Tricool for noise but with reduced airflow though I think even a slower speed larger fan provides adequate cooling.

You could try reducing the fan voltage as a start. The Noctua's are good but somewhat pricey though they are supposed to last a long time. I've a couple of 120mm ULN ones and they're def very quiet partly down to the slow RPM (around 750) I'm pretty happy with them so far at least.

But there are other alternatives out there from a lot of makers. Noiseblocker, Gelid, Nexus, Sythe, Zalman, Fractal design, Xilence. Tons to pick from.
I'd be more inclined to go for fan makers who have some kind of decent MTBF/Warranty and using longer life bearings this varies quite a bit from brand to brand. If you run them slow enough most fans are pretty quiet unless they have a noisy bearing to start with.

Just something to bear in mind, I've had issues with SilenX with worn bearings so I avoid them..just my own personal experience

dhanson865
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by dhanson865 » Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:56 pm

If money is no concern grab the Scythe Sflex of the RPM you desire. Maybe 800 RPM for everything but the CPU HS and 1200 RPM for the CPU HS.

depending on where you are you might be able to get Scythe slipstreams noticeably cheaper than the SFlex. They are quiet but the SFlex lasts longer and the SFlex handles horizontal mounting better.

If you are poor grab Yate Loon SL fans and wire them for 5 volts or use 5 volt adapters. Again these don't handle horizontal mounting as well as the SFlex but for a vertical mount they are quieter than a tri-cool on low and they are very cheap in comparison to other case fans of their quality. That's assuming shipping/tax doesn't make it hard for you to grab them cheap. Depends on your retail/online options.

I'd also consider dropping the top fan if your system runs cool enough with the rear and CPU HS fan. Depending on the drives in the bottom chamber you might even want to drop that fan.

Oh, and all that assumes you use your Tri-cools on low all the time. If you are using your tri cools on med or high it's a whole different story.

tanassi
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by tanassi » Mon Aug 29, 2011 6:06 am

I would sincerely consider a bottom intake since that case has no side intake. How is your GPU running? What is it? What are all the PCI cards anyway? :)
Nice tidy rig btw! 8)

PS: shouldnt your cpu fan be on other side of the heatsink, positioned towards the exhaust?

dhanson865
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by dhanson865 » Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:11 am

tanassi wrote:
PS: shouldn't your cpu fan be on other side of the heatsink, positioned towards the exhaust?
In the pictured rig the top exhaust and rear exhaust are both close enough that putting a fan on that side of the heatsink would have no effect at low RPMs, better to have it as pictured if you run all the fans at low rpms.

chiggah
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Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:24 pm

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by chiggah » Mon Aug 29, 2011 8:23 pm

What about the Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP14 1440RPM for case and cpu cooling ?

I saw some great reviews on xbitlabs

Image

tanassi
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by tanassi » Mon Aug 29, 2011 9:49 pm

Edit: nvm
Last edited by tanassi on Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

dhanson865
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by dhanson865 » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:41 am

chiggah wrote:What about the Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP14 1440RPM for case and cpu cooling ?

I saw some great reviews on xbitlabs
No SPCR regular would consider 33 dBA quiet let alone silent and your first post in this thread said you were looking for silent.

At 12V (no fan control by hardware or software) you have per Scythe specs (which are different from measured dBA by a tech site)

Gentle Typhoon AP-14 1450 RPM 21 dBA
Gentle Typhoon AP-13 1150 RPM 16 dBA
Gentle Typhoon AP-12 800 RPM 9 dBA

I would be willing to use the AP-14 but many SPCR regulars won't touch a 120mm fan that runs over 1000 RPM. Though it looks like the Gentle Typhoons run higher RPMs to get the same CFM/dBA level.

So again we have to ask:

* How hot is your environment? (Do you use Air Conditioning and what temp is it usually set at in the Summer?)
* What components are you using?
* Will you use a hardware fan controller or software like SpeedFan?
* How quiet do you really want it? (are you willing for component temps to rise much or are you just looking for the quietest you can get without temps going up too much?)

The SPCR fanatics go for a P182 with only 1 or 2 fans (or even zero fans). And often those fans are running at 800 RPM or less. But if you are overclocking or have hot components to begin with you'll have to pump more air through to offset the heat.

chiggah
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Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:24 pm

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by chiggah » Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:37 pm

I could downvolt it with a fan controller - looking at scythe kaze master

Anyways to answer your question:

* How hot is your environment? (Do you use Air Conditioning and what temp is it usually set at in the Summer?)
- I live in New Zealand and could go up to 20-25 degrees during summer. I do not use any sort of AC but i open my sliding doors for passive air conditioning
* What components are you using?
- Safely OC'd a i7 930 to 4ghz and using a 5870 video card. Do not have water cooling etc
* Will you use a hardware fan controller or software like SpeedFan?
- Will look to invest in a fan controller
* How quiet do you really want it? (are you willing for component temps to rise much or are you just looking for the quietest you can get without temps going up too much?)
- To be honest, my current tri cools are quiet enough for me now at lowest setting but I just want to push more air. My friend has 6-7 Noctuas in his case at 800 rpm and it's quiet for him

fuzzymath10
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by fuzzymath10 » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:14 pm

I have a pair of the Noctua S12B fans (here in Canada they are available as a pair for $25 which is quite reasonable).

For me, Noctua fans appear to be the best mix of noise, airflow, and durability. I think if you pick and choose you might find quieter or more powerful fans, but I often end up replacing them after only a few months because they deteriorate. I'm feeling comfortable that the Noctuas have more even performance over time. Even at higher RPM, their nose is very pleasant, sort of like a ceiling fan, while other fans sound like they have a loose part rattling.

For vertical mounting, I'm really happy with Scythe slipstreams. Not so with their S-flexes; I got a pair of the low RPM 80mm fans which were amazing for about 4 months. Then they started to buzz, and they would only RMA them for 3000rpm fans. Undervolted, they too buzz. I'm going to install a Yate-Loon and see how that fares, but right now I feel Noctuas are the best long term investment.

tanassi
Posts: 93
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by tanassi » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:52 pm

chiggah wrote:I could downvolt it with a fan controller - looking at scythe kaze master

Anyways to answer your question:

* How hot is your environment? (Do you use Air Conditioning and what temp is it usually set at in the Summer?)
- I live in New Zealand and could go up to 20-25 degrees during summer. I do not use any sort of AC but i open my sliding doors for passive air conditioning
* What components are you using?
- Safely OC'd a i7 930 to 4ghz and using a 5870 video card. Do not have water cooling etc
* Will you use a hardware fan controller or software like SpeedFan?
- Will look to invest in a fan controller
* How quiet do you really want it? (are you willing for component temps to rise much or are you just looking for the quietest you can get without temps going up too much?)
- To be honest, my current tri cools are quiet enough for me now at lowest setting but I just want to push more air. My friend has 6-7 Noctuas in his case at 800 rpm and it's quiet for him
I would really go for a low voltage side intake with this. You'll probably do some high res gaming which wil heat up the card. I prefer a couple of low voltage casefans over one or two tiny GPU fan/fans. With Afterburner try to keep the fan% below 40%.

I recently tested loads of fans and I was most content with Noctua 12B's (flex) and with the BeQuiet Ultra Wings USC. The latter has a 3,5V start up voltage which is incredible and great use for low voltage static fans.

falkenad
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Location: Canada

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by falkenad » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:30 pm

I've got a P183, and I've got 4 S-flex E running in my system. Hooked up to a 4-channel Scythe fan controller, I can turn the voltage up to 12V when I'm running something computationally intensive, and back down to 4-5V when I want them quiet.

I have the S-flex fans mounted at position 1(rear),2(top), and 3(inner middle position). I also have a single S-Flex mounted on my Mugen 2B. I have yet to experiment and see how mounting a second one in a push-pull configuration changes the noise profile. A planned upgrade to the Radeon 7000 series due out this fall(ideally) may necessitate removing the upper hard drive cage. With all this positive buzz, I've been tempted to replace the aging S-Flex fans with newer Noctua ones.

Not wanting to piggyback on your thread, but I'm curious- as I haven't removed the upper drive cage, is there any tangible benefits/disadvantages to mounting a fan at position 4(the outer middle position)?

Lastly- your system's wiring looks quite clean! I've found the P183 series rather like an unbroken horse to work in. I suppose a fully modular power supply would go a long ways to keeping the wiring tidy.
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Lithium466
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Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by Lithium466 » Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:50 pm

In my opinion, don't. If your S-flex are aging, replace them with S-flex, not with Noctua !
But if you can't find S-flex anymore, then you may try Kama-flow 2 or Noctua.

dhanson865
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Location: TN, USA

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by dhanson865 » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:14 pm

falkenad wrote:is there any tangible benefits/disadvantages to mounting a fan at position 4(the outer middle position)?
As your labeling goes fan 4 and 5 are at the front of the case and are more easily heard if the front of the case faces the user.

Most users try to move 5 to the position directly below 3 if the PSU is fanless or just leave 5 unpopulated if the PSU has a fan.

4 should be unpopulated unless some component blocks mounting a fan in position 3.

2. Is usually blocked off in a low wattage system but requires experimentation to see if it is better blocked, unblocked but unpopulated, or actually putting a running fan there. In fact if you get to testing that you may have to test 2 as intake or exhaust.

That case has hundreds of possible fan configurations. Check out the old P180, P182 threads and gallery pictures and you'll see lots of modifications and configurations documented.

Zorander
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Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by Zorander » Wed Nov 16, 2011 4:27 pm

Hi all,

I thought I would post my question here, rather than create a new thread, given the already existing information. The below is my current spec, housed in the Antec P180:

Intel Core i7-860 (Prolimatech Megahalem fanless)
ASUS P7P55 D-E
Corsair 2x4GB DDR3 RAM
MSI Radeon R6970 Lightning
Crucial M4 128GB & WD Caviar Green 1.5TB
Corsair HX620 PSU

My current cooling arrangement is: A Noctua S12B-FLX is installed at spot 1 (as exhaust) and spot 2 is completely unoccupied (no fan installed but not blocked either). The Megahalem on the CPU is aligned so that its wider side faces the top vent (to maximise cooling by convection from the top vent). Aside from the video card and PSU fans, no other fans are installed in the case. Storage drives are all installed in the bottom chamber.

The R6970 is a recent upgrade to the system. I previously used a Sapphire HD5850 and this cooling arrangement has proven effective even with the video card overclocked. However, this is not the case with the new card. Unless I take the side panel off, the system tends to crash when anything stresses the GPU. I have so far installed another Noctua S12 at spot 4 (as intake) and removed the drive cage (also because the 31cm-long card required it) but it's still not effective. I suspect there are heat spots trapped somewhere along the video card.

There are a few possibilities to the fan arrangement I am thinking of trying:
1) Fans installed at spots 1 & 2 (as exhaust) and spot 4 (as intake)
2) Fans installed at spots 1 & 4 (as exhaust) and spot 2 (as intake)
3) Fans installed at spot 1 (as exhaust), spot 4 (as intake) and on the Megahalem bottom side (blowing vertically up towards the top vent)

I would appreciate your input on this and if there are more effective/other possible fan arrangements I can try to combat this issue.

Thanks.

Edit: Posted this in the System Advice section, with a more relevant title.

klappa
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 2:45 pm

Re: Upgrading fans from Antec Tri-Cool - what to get??

Post by klappa » Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:50 pm

tanassi wrote:
chiggah wrote:I could downvolt it with a fan controller - looking at scythe kaze master

Anyways to answer your question:

* How hot is your environment? (Do you use Air Conditioning and what temp is it usually set at in the Summer?)
- I live in New Zealand and could go up to 20-25 degrees during summer. I do not use any sort of AC but i open my sliding doors for passive air conditioning
* What components are you using?
- Safely OC'd a i7 930 to 4ghz and using a 5870 video card. Do not have water cooling etc
* Will you use a hardware fan controller or software like SpeedFan?
- Will look to invest in a fan controller
* How quiet do you really want it? (are you willing for component temps to rise much or are you just looking for the quietest you can get without temps going up too much?)
- To be honest, my current tri cools are quiet enough for me now at lowest setting but I just want to push more air. My friend has 6-7 Noctuas in his case at 800 rpm and it's quiet for him
I would really go for a low voltage side intake with this. You'll probably do some high res gaming which wil heat up the card. I prefer a couple of low voltage casefans over one or two tiny GPU fan/fans. With Afterburner try to keep the fan% below 40%.

I recently tested loads of fans and I was most content with Noctua 12B's (flex) and with the BeQuiet Ultra Wings USC. The latter has a 3,5V start up voltage which is incredible and great use for low voltage static fans.
The BeQuiet USC fans, is it the PWM you imply? I've read a test (french) where they are even quieter and has better airflow than the Noctua NF-S12B FLX.

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