What's the SMOOTHEST/quietiest 120mm fan?

james111 · Post by **james111** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 2:52 am

There are a lot of fans that when set at 5v or 7v, they still make a noticeable sound from the motor...... are there any 120mm fans that DON"T do this?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:17 am

My two Black Knight cases came with two Yate Loon 120mm fans each and a controller that goes down to 2.8v. At 4.5v, the default speed, I can hear no motor noise...only a woosh-wind sound.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 6:58 am

A quick look at recommended fans section and a followup read in the forums will show you that Nexus fans meet your specs. Considering that the 120mm Nexus is really a special Yate Loon fan means you know what to look for.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:09 pm

Nexus 120 is your fan. Not only is it very, very quiet at the full 12V, it's darn near silent at 5 and 7 volts (although it doesn't push tons of air).

wing · Post by **wing** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 1:20 pm

I am not sure of the voltages, but turning down my Fan Mate too low makes my Nexus 120mm produce some noise (I think motor noise) which is absent when it has higher voltage.

Edit: can't type today ..

niels007 · Post by **niels007** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:08 am

I'm using Papst 4412FGL fans for about 2 years now. At first I wasn't too happy with them, however at VERY low voltages it is the only 120mm fan that doesn't produce medium or high pitched noise. So at the required 500rpm ish, I can hear a 'whirr' type motor sound, like a tiny diesel engine. However, even in a silent room, it is really hard to notice from 1 meter away. (and at 500rpm there is no airflow sound)

Other fans I've tried:
- Coolermaster 720RPM rifle bearing (much more bearing noise and vibrations)
- Titan 120mm (runs smooth but high pitched noise at 5v and lower)
- Noiseblocker 120mm (smoothish but whine at certain RPM)

Low frequency sound is much much more pleasant than a 'smoother' but high pitch emitting fan. I haven't tried the Nexus yet, it seems to be good, but again ANY high pitch sound is worse than my whirring papsts!

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:03 am

That whirring you describe was exactly the reason why I swapped my Papst fans for Nexus.. after first swapping Adda for Enermax, then Enermax for Titan/Evercool and then moving to Papst. No high-pitched sounds from the Nexus AFAICH (as far as I can hear

), so IMO the Nexus is definitely quieter than the Papst (at ~600rpm anyway).

JonScaife · Post by **JonScaife** » Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:36 pm

I've got 3 120mm Nexus fans - and at 600-700rpm the only noise you can hear is the sound of the air moving if you put your ear within a few inches of them. Amazingly quiet. Worth every penny of the UK£12 i paid for each of them

niels007 · Post by **niels007** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 1:11 pm

It's organge, around 12cm square... It's a Nexus!

I can confirm that they are better than my Papst fans now, definitly the best 120mm yet.

I do not know how much air it moves compared to the Papst at the same RPM, the fan blades are totally different in shape. The 92mm Nexus is excellent as well, undervolted that is. The 80mm was a tad dissapointing with too much bearing noise.

Impressed.

Teejay: Do you have a direct comparison of system / cpu temperatures with the Papsts vs the NExus at identical RPM?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:26 pm

niels007 wrote:Teejay: Do you have a direct comparison of system / cpu temperatures with the Papsts vs the NExus at identical RPM?

Well, I cannot give you a direct comparison since I made some small adjustments to my setup when I put in the Nexus fans but I do think temps are slightly lower with the Nexus fans at similar RPM when compared to the Papst fans. Which is why I run the Nexus fans even slower

What I can give you number-wise is the following (all numbers from a Coolermaster Aerogate II; 120mm fans are connected through a Zalman Fanmate2 to the Aerogate). Do understand that these numbers are wildly inaccurate and probably not very meaningful. To quote Slashdot: "If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane". All temps are taken with the machine playing server, meaning some FTP, network and Pinnacle showcenter disk access and some DBMS activity (development so not major). More idle than loaded in other words.

Harddisks
2 Maxtors, suspended right in front of the fan, wide enough apart so they catch the airflow above and below the fan hub. The Papst at 650rpm, the Nexus at ~500rpm. Idle temps around 32C, load as described around 37, heavy file moving/defragging peak at 42 (these are SMART temps, analog sensor on hdd side about 1-2C difference both ways)

cpu
1 GHz toasty Thunderbird, 45-50C with analog sensor superglued to middle of all aluminium heatsink (on the fin side, not the cpu side obviously). Papst @ 1200rpm, Nexus at 900rpm. Actually, the Papst ran a little cooler because 1200 was the lowest I could get it to run on the Aerogate. Will get a heatsink upgrade soon.

psu
Ah, the thing I worry about... but not much longer since a swap is due

I have an analog sensor superglued to the top of the biggest heatsink, just outside airflow. This baby runs ~55-60C with the Nexus at 1000rpm... Papst was at 1200rpm but the sensor wasn't working then (well, it reported 22C... I wish!). Subjectively, the exhaust air feels the same. Could be due to an improvement to the psu duct though. I'm sure that without the duct the unit would not have survived this (lack of) airflow. It ran much hotter (on the outside, did not have a temp sensor in there at that thime) with a fan at 1500rpm.