I am looking for a replacement for the front 200mm fan for the Corsair 650D case. I am not limited by the 20mm thickness of the Corsair fan, because I only need one of the two HD bays (for 2-3 SSDs), as shown on the first picture below. PWM is nice but definitely not a must.

So far the lineup is:
Coolermaster Megaflow 200 (700 rpm, 30mm thick)
Antec Big Boy 200 (400, 600, 800 RPM settings, 30mm thick)
Xigmatek Crystal 200 (800 RPM, 20mm thick)
NZXT FN-200 (1300 RPM, 30mm thick)
BitFenix Spectre 200mm (1000 RPM, 20mm thick)

Or are the 200m fans still so bad (mixed reviews) that I should just find the best 140mm fan and stick that on there instead for equal airflow to noise ratio?

The PC will be for gaming, moderately overclocked, and air cooled, so the goal is only a quiet computer. Going for aftermarket CPU and GPU coolers.




The plan is to cut the metal mesh in front of the fan away, since there's a dust filter in place in front anyway.

I can speak for the the Big Boy (I have it on my Mini P180) and the Xigmatek (brother of the one inside my Corsair 600T, the "rounded" twin of your 650D).
Both are disappointing, I won't use them on any quiet peecee. I know that the BigBoy could be undervolted while drived by a fan header (rheobus or mobo), but I haven't tried yet (there's a thread buried in some SPCR forum).

IMVHO the BitFenix one (due to the 20mm thickness, as the Corsair fans) could be not such a safe bet.

So I would consider only CM and NZXT: but are you sure that you need such an intake?
Maybe you should give more details about your system.

Thanks for the reply.

The PC isn't built yet (waiting until november), but I am sure about the case as it has the features I want. Most reviews say the fans are noisy though, hence this thread.

As I mentioned, it's for gaming (and other not so heat-generating tasks), with an overclocked CPU (if Sandybridge, around 4.5 to 4.7GHz) using something like the Thermalright Archon as a cooler. The graphics solution will have to handle a triple screen setup (5760 x 1080), so it's gonna be a very beefy single card like the GTX590 if I can find one, or 2 cards in SLI or Crossfire. I am still working on a solution that allows aftermarket GPU coolers like the Accelero XTREME Plus II (or better, have to do more research). There will likely be some case damping as well, to further take the edge off any fan noise. PSU will be a 80+ gold standard from Corsair.

Right now I guess it looks like I should stick with a great 140mm in the front, and perhaps another 140mm intake in the top to provide cool air directly to the CPU cooler, but I am hoping I have missed a great 200mm fan in the line up that can provide enough quiet, cool air to it all. It would save me some hassle. I've been doing watercooling mainly, so not so used to high-end aircooled systems.

After some more research, it looks like I can just keep the Corsair fans. The noise issues stem from a conflict between the blade design on the corsair fan in front and the proximity of the metal mesh. Solutions are either to change the fan to something like the megaflow, make a shroud or a spacer to move the fan away from the mesh (have to move the HDD bays for option 1 and 2), or to cut away the mesh entirely. I'll be doing the latter and keeping the fan, although I will be mounting it on silicon instead of the screws.

So a design flaw by Corsair, but the fan itself is quiet as long as it isn't close to the mesh.

I did research on that but didn't find something useful.

OP - FYI; the Spectre Pro line of fans fits in the 650D without any modding. I put one in my old 650D, no problems.

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101729

Edit - and if you're looking for silence don't go for the 650D. I switched to an R3 because the 650D is just too loud.