The quietest 120mm fan....

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 6:02 pm

Link Cooler Master ULTRA SILENT FAN SAF-S12-E1

Well if the specs are true, it should be. But with your 120mm fan turning this slow at 12v, and pushing such a small cfm, might as well be running a quiet 80mm. Hard to figure a use for it...

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 6:24 pm

For those too lazy to click...

Code: Select all

Fan Dimension       	120x120x25mm
Voltage (Volt) 	     12 VDC
Current (Ampere) 	   0.05 A (Max 0.21A)
Input Power (Watt) 	 0.60W (Max 2.52W)
Speed (R.P.M.)      	720 R.P.M.
Air Flow (CFM)      	11.27 CFM
Air Pressure (mmH2O)   0.57 mmH2O
Noise (dB-A) 	       13 dB-A
Weight           	   198 g
Life (hour) 	        50,000 hours
Bearing Type        	SuperFlo
Speed Senser 	       Yes

I wonder how slow this fan could go?

ddrueding1 · Post by **ddrueding1** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 6:26 pm

THinking about it...modding a Zalman 7700 with one could probably keep a decent CPU pretty darn cool...

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 6:34 pm

I kinda miss the point of a fan that pushes that little air. It doesn't seem like it would really give that much of a benefit. Not to mention given coolermasters history of citing less than truthful decibel ratings (at least as seen in the reviews at SPCR) i doubt that it is only 13dba.

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 7:07 pm

This is puzzling... A fan that draws more than 0.2A should push theoretically push a lot more air than that. For reference, a 12V 120mm Panaflo pushes 68.9 CFM @ 1700 RPM.

Granted the 120mm Panaflo is a 38mm thick fan, but I wouldn't have expected the numbers to be THAT different.

Incidentally, I just did a google search on Superflo. Nothing terribly interesting, but the only other fan that DOES incorporate 'Superflo' bearings is Delta

Take that information however you will.

ferdb · Post by **ferdb** » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:09 pm

Some of the quiet fans seem to pull a relatively large current for their rpm. I'm thinking this is because they gave up some motor efficiency to get rid of the damn motor coil switching noise.

I've gotten a bit burned out on buying so many fans and trying them out personally. The published noise figures often seem to have nothing to do with reality other than as a marketing tool. I don't find anythng compelling to this fan over a Nexus and Fanmate speed control and just dialing up the rpm/noise I want. This is another 7 blade 25mm thick fan with almost the same blade design as the Nexus, Globe, Adda/Silenx. The only difference is going to be if it has better motor or bearing noise. I don't think you are going to get significantly better motor/bearing noise than the Nexus. I may be wrong but I'll let somebody else find out first.

spqr753 · Post by **spqr753** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:36 am

I have 1 120 Nexus on my system (plus 1 in the PS) and a nexus HSF. my system runs nearly silent, and is totally silent if i turn the HSF down to 60% (with speedfan). i think the nexus 120s are the way to go. my temps never break 40, with those 2 120's pumping away.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 2:51 pm

Good thing I searched before posting a new thread.

Picked one up when I was browsing at a local store yesterday.

My package claimed sleeve bearing instead of SuperFlo.

How can current draw vary from 0.05A to 0.21A? Unless this is a temperature sensing fan. There are no obvious temperature sensors on it, unless it is part of the electronics on the hub.

Cooler Master is very good at removing all traces of the origin of this fan. I peeled away the stickers and there's nothing underneath.

Plugged in, I could hear some bearing noise in free air at 1 ft. I don't have a handy heat source to see if it ramps up at higher temps (using a hair dryer at 2 a.m. in the morning is not an option). Subjectively it seems noisier in terms of motor / bearing noise than an undervolted L1A but I can't swear to it since my ears are not calibrated. Airflow is definitely on the low side. 11.27 CFM? No idea. It does seem weaker than a 80mm L1A at 12V. 13 dB-A? Sure, when I go into the next room.

I bought it to test out on my XP-120. I'll post more results when I get around to finally setting up my new system. I thought tach output would be handy. Only other 120mm with tach output in my possession is a M1BX, and it's a 38mm thick fan.

threevok · Post by **threevok** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 3:07 pm

lenny wrote:How can current draw vary from 0.05A to 0.21A? Unless this is a temperature sensing fan.

My guess is 0.21 amps is the "locked rotor" current.

Locked Rotor Current - Measured current with the rotor locked and with rated voltage and frequency applied to the motor.

sthayashi · Post by **sthayashi** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:58 pm

Or it could be starting current. When a fan (or really anything w/ a motor) starts up, it draws a lot more current during that period than when it's at normal speed.

I think most companies just average this value in. The L1A is rated at 0.1 amps, but I've personally measured several different L1As at closer to 0.07-8 amps.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 1:03 am

I wonder if this is a 24V fan being sold by Cooler Master as a low speed 12V fan. I'll have to hunt down a bench power supply and test that theory.

If true, it would suggest that it can't be undervolted much further. Not that there's any point in undervolting it when it's already so slow.

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:10 am

Coolermaster UV Series

I have these in my wife's computer because she likes the UV stuff lighted effect, it's "pretty." They actually are pretty quiet relatively speaking. I have them running at 12v (won't take on the full silencing project of her pc till I am done with mine) and they make about as much noise as a L1A at 12v in my opinion.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:01 am

Do You think that the fan manufacturers are truthful about the amperages? I have a GlacialTech SilentBlade 120 mm fan (re-badged Everflow R121225BL), and it's rated for 0.20A. As it happens, ABit says that 0.20A is the max. amperage my old BX6 fan headers can supply. One of the headers is controllable by SpeedFan...

What do You reckon? Do I get blue smoke with that combination?

Nexus 120 mm is rated for 0.30A, and the RPMs of both fans are around 1000 RPM when running @ 12V. Can there be such a large difference between amperages of these fans, or is someone lying or being overly cautious?

Cheers,

Jan

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:33 am

I also suspect that nexus fans are 'cautiously' rated. With one af those zalman 56 ohm resistors, a "0.1 A" vantec stealth slows down by about 500rpm from ~2100, a "0.25 A" ZMF1 slows down by ~1300 from 3000, and a "0.15A" nexus slows down ~250 IIRC.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 11:49 pm

Jan Kivar wrote:Do You think that the fan manufacturers are truthful about the amperages? I have a GlacialTech SilentBlade 120 mm fan (re-badged Everflow R121225BL), and it's rated for 0.20A. As it happens, ABit says that 0.20A is the max. amperage my old BX6 fan headers can supply. One of the headers is controllable by SpeedFan...

What do You reckon? Do I get blue smoke with that combination?

They'd usually be over-cautious with these figures. If they tell you it will draw 0.2A but actually draws less, few people are going to complain. However, if it draws more, some people are going to get upset enough to call their lawyers.

Add a small resistor in-line if you're worried. Let's see... trreating it as a pure resistive load, the fan has an effective resistance of 60 ohm. If you add a 10 ohm / 0.5W or higher resistor inline, current draw should drop to slightly above 0.17A.

I'm not sure if there are magic smoke involved if you overload the headers. From some posts in these forums, you might burn out the fan header, but the rest of the motherboard should still work flawlessly.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:09 am

lenny wrote:Add a small resistor in-line if you're worried. Let's see... trreating it as a pure resistive load, the fan has an effective resistance of 60 ohm. If you add a 10 ohm / 0.5W or higher resistor inline, current draw should drop to slightly above 0.17A.

I was thinking something like this. I have to test whether a Zalman Fan Mate would suffice. It's easier to obtain than the Nexus Noise Reduction Cable (or ordering a 1W/10 Ohm resistor + heat shrink + connectors).

lenny wrote:I'm not sure if there are magic smoke involved if you overload the headers. From some posts in these forums, you might burn out the fan header, but the rest of the motherboard should still work flawlessly.

I can't remember if it was posted here or not, but I've seen few pictures about fan power trace that has burned out. Also, since this is the only header which can be controlled by SpeedFan, I'd rather not like to loose it...

Cheers,

Jan