Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eLoops

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

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ShadeOfBlue
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Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eLoops

Post by ShadeOfBlue » Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:34 pm

I'm looking to buy new fans for my new 240mm radiator, and trying to decide between the three. The price is a factor, of course, since 2 NoiseBlockers of the eLoop family will cost me ~$50 at the least, whereas I can get 2 Nexus Basics (or Gentle Typhoons) for sub $30.

According to this review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... html#sect0

Zoomed-in chart:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?s ... es_big.png

Gentle Typhoon AP-15s have the best noise profile vs the lower counterparts (judging by CFM at equivalent noise levels - have a look at ~32dba for example). I was going to go for AP-14s, as I don't plan on going anywhere near very high RPM for silence's sake, but looking at those plots, a downvolted AP-15 looks better. As for lower-ranked versions, I can't get them as easily, whereas AP-14s and 15s are available from quite a few on-line vendors still.

Nexus Basics look to be very close to Gentle Typhoons - a tad louder and a tad cheaper.

The new NoiseBlocker eLoop fans seem great, and very expensive.

What I *don't* know is how they compare when placed on a radiator such as a Corsair H100 / H100i in push configuration. And a slight possibility that I"d get 2 more fans in the future for pulling too (I know the eLoops don't like that... but push/pull is not an important factor for a while).

Anyway, if anyone's done a lot of research comparing these fans or owns them to tell, which ones would you recommend? At the end of the day, I can spend more money on the best fans, but if the difference in noise and lack of annoying characteristics is small, I'd like to save those $20-25 for something else.

Many thanks!

P.S.: I suppose Noctua's NF-P12s are also on the candidate list. I would have added NF-F12 PWMs, but I owned one in the past, and there was a definitely noticeable amount of hum coming from this fan when mounted on a radiator, although, to be honest, I do not recall what fan speed I ran it at. Not close to the maximum, however.

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by lodestar » Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:20 pm

If you're considering fans like the Noctua P12 or F12 then running them as a PWM chain from the CPU header would make more sense. Noctua claim these fans are quieter when run under PWM control. The only reviewer I could find that actually tested this confirmed it to be the case. But going back to PWM splitter cables, Newegg for example stock the Evercool Model EC-DF001. Although branded Evercool this seems to be identical to the Akasa Flexa FP5. It only takes the signal from the CPU header, the power for all the fans on the chain is drawn from the PSU.

Would a 120/140 fan work - those fans with a 140mm size rotor with 120mm fixing holes like the Thermalright TY-140. I note that Silverstone have recently introduced the FHP-141 120/140 fan which is PWM with a manual dual range switch. Unusually it is also 38mm thick so should move more air at lower rpms than the standard 25mm wide fans. Expensive at around $22 from Newegg but I see it has ball bearings and for some people this with the other features may make it more of a contender as a PWM replacement for the GTs than the Noctuas. There is more information about the FHP-141 on the Silverstone web site.

ShadeOfBlue
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by ShadeOfBlue » Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:36 pm

Thank you. I cannot use 140mm fans for my purpose, as I need 2 120mm fans side-by-side.

The only reason I brought up PWM is specifically for Noctua NF-F12s (or NF-P12 PWMs), as that's what's recommended. I own a fan controller, so my fans are usually plugged in there.

I'm scared of getting Nexus Basics at this point, having read about them having trouble with horizontal mounting over time (my radiator is oriented horizontally).

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by lodestar » Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:18 pm

The Noctua NF-F12 would offer more flexibility in the sense that it comes with a PWM Y cable and extension cable so you could at least try it under motherboard CPU header control without any additional expense. Otherwise your existing fan controller will enable voltage control if preferred.

ShadeOfBlue
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by ShadeOfBlue » Sat Nov 17, 2012 8:39 am

Okay, maybe I could use 2 of those new Silverstone fans with velcro strips, but there've been no reviews, so I can only guess what their noise signature is like in the quieter RPM range... They could produce a lot of hum. Need reviews!

lodestar
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by lodestar » Sat Nov 17, 2012 4:04 pm

ShadeOfBlue wrote:Need reviews!
X-bits labs reviewed the FHP141 fan as part of their Silverstone Heligon HE-01 review. The manual switch that allows the rpm range to be restricted to 500-1200 obviously there for a purpose.This review was writted before Silverstone made this fan available separately. Incidentally the X-bits lab review pitches the HE-01 against the Phanteks PH-TC14PE. The Phanteks PH-TC14PE has been reviewed by SPCR, and there is some data on the acoustic performance of the two Phanteks fan when used together on this page.

ShadeOfBlue
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Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:37 pm
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Re: Scythe Gentle Typhoons or Nexus Basic or NoiseBlocker eL

Post by ShadeOfBlue » Sat Nov 17, 2012 6:02 pm

lodestar wrote:
ShadeOfBlue wrote:Need reviews!
X-bits labs reviewed the FHP141 fan as part of their Silverstone Heligon HE-01 review. The manual switch that allows the rpm range to be restricted to 500-1200 obviously there for a purpose.This review was writted before Silverstone made this fan available separately. Incidentally the X-bits lab review pitches the HE-01 against the Phanteks PH-TC14PE. The Phanteks PH-TC14PE has been reviewed by SPCR, and there is some data on the acoustic performance of the two Phanteks fan when used together on this page.
Thank you--this was very useful, as I own one of those Phanteks fans, which I use for rear exhaust. I normally keep it at 800RPM where it is inaudible (can barely hear it at 900RPM, but that's without a radiator / heatsink - just the back grill of my case). The Silverstone fan appears to be approximately equal to a single Phanteks fan, maybe slightly louder. That's comparing them on heatsinks... So if I can tolerate a Phanteks fan on its own up to ~900RPM without noticing, it'd have to run at like 700RPM on a radiator to stay quiet... which equates to 600-700RPM for the Silverstone fan. Crude analysis, I know, but it's something. Seems like pretty low RPM for efficient radiator cooling.

I've read about 120mm fans being generally quieter because their motors and designs are more optimized, since they have a longer history and more variants made. That's another reason I was looking for 120mm radiator fans - not just the ease of mounting. I wonder how this Silverstone fan stacks up against GTs for radiator cooling at the low-noise spectrum.

After all this, I could also get 2 more Phanteks fans and use velcro on them (they'll be resting on top of the case anyway, so easy enough, but the Silverstone fans surely have higher static pressure.

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