Quiet SMALL (<60mm) and THIN fan recommendation?

Kolath · Post by **Kolath** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:51 pm

Hello all,

I have a GA-P35-DS3R motherboard and am using the thermalright Ultra 120 extreme for my E8400. I am very pleased with the near silent 120mm nexus fan on the heatsink, but I need to put some active cooling on my northbridge heatsink. Unfortunately, the Ultra 120 and my video card leave very little room for a NB fan. I have about 18mm of clearance between the NB and the heatpipes on the ultra 120.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a small and thin fan to stick on top of my NB? SPCR is great, but all the recommendations are 80mm and above, so any user suggestions would be awesome.

Thank you so much!

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:17 pm

You'll find no 60mm fan recommendations here because they are almost universally loud. If you need to improve the cooling on your chipset, why not look at a better cooler overall?

I think the ideal choice would be something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835109128

Of course, if that doesn't fit, there are a few other options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835108072
This one in particular is interesting - it's advertised as quiet, but I've heard that it's not all that fantastic. However, I have seen that cooler run passively, so even if you undervolted the stock fan you'd probably get decent performance.

Please understand, however, that I have never personally used either of the products I just suggested. I'm thinking about getting the first one, and I've seen some reviews of the second.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:57 pm

Scythe makes a 40mm x 10mm fan that's not too loud. Available for $4 - $6 in the US of A; google "scythe mini-kaze 40mm fan". Warning: a quiet fan is one that doesn't push a lot of air. [A shame, that; quiet fans that pushed lotsa air would be really useful.] This one pushes ~6CFM. You'd not be out much money if it didn't work. I have one and the sound is pleasantly low in frequency (for such a small fan). Part # SY124010L.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:14 am

I also have that same fan as FC.....it's very quiet, but with little airflow. Probably enough though if mounted right on a NB. No rpm wire with the thing however.....

Kolath · Post by **Kolath** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:52 am

Now, would I get the best cooling from a small, low CFM fan mounted directly on the northbridge or a large quiet fan suspended up above the height of the Ultra 120 (so maybe 6 inches away) and sort of aimed down. I have an Antec SLK3000B case.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:36 am

Any chance you could fit a passive NB heatsink like this? Then you can use the airflow already present in your case for better cooling.

Kolath · Post by **Kolath** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:33 am

I have considered the HR-05, though I'm not sure there would be enough direct airflow to make it work. I feel like with the Ultra 120, most of the air is going straight through the CPU HS and out the back unlike the days of top-down coolers that also blew air over the chipset and ram.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:08 am

I have the same case and if you set it up properly, the intake air from the front should pass right through the HS on it's way to the CPU HSF. If not, you can always use ducting or a slow fan nearby to cool it.

Kolath · Post by **Kolath** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:13 am

Hmm... that is a thought. Though the possibility of a $5 fan solution is appealing compared to a $20 HS solution.

PS- I used to have a system identical to your HTPC.