Silverstone fans: 80mm,92mm,120mm

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sat May 02, 2009 12:40 am

I live in an area where most of the fans recommended by SPCR are not available in shops or with local on-line retailers.
Not available include: Nexus, Scythe, NoiseBlocker, Noctua, YateLoon, and the list goes on. I have searched and telephoned and both the country I live in and a neighboring country do not have distributors for the above.
So I have to choose from what IS available--that maybe acceptable for cooling performance and low noise.
About the only brand I have found locally, that seems reputable is Silverstone.
This is available, but still a difficult find.

Average ambient temperature in my room is about 26 degrees C in the early morning and 32 degrees in the afternoon.
My PC was bought 7 years ago(still running fine) but the only components that old are the CPU, mainboard, case, and fans/heatsinks. Everything else has been upgraded in the last two years. It is getting a bit noisy from the fans--so this is perhaps my last upgrade.

1. Of the current Silverstone case fan lineup in 80, 92, and 120 mm size which models perhaps stand out as being good buys? (They appear to be manufactured by many companies.)
2. Which of the Silverstone 80mm fans would be best as a CPU heatsink Cooler?(Currently the CPU heatsink has an old CoolerMaster/ProLogic fan)

If it's important the other brands easily available here are CoolerMaster(dominant) and Thermaltake(also tough to find).

Sorry about the double post!

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:05 pm

O.K.
Maybe I will rephrase the question to:

Are there any particular Silverstone fans that should be avoided?

The models that are on my list are:

Silverstone FM-83 80mm, 1300-3600 rpm (CPU)

Silverstone Suscool81 80mm, 900-1750rpm (Front Intake)

Silverstone FM-92 92mm, 1800-3800 (Rear Exhaust)

Silverstone FM-123 120mm, 800-2400 rpm (Side Intake)

Anyone out there who has had experience with Silverstone fans?

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sat May 02, 2009 5:32 pm

Hi,

The Silverstone fans are not great -- some/all are made by a so-so manufacturer, and they are not very quiet, and they are reputed to wear quicker than some.

Can you get Enermax, or GlobalWin NCB, or Arctic Cooling -- what other brands can you get?

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sat May 02, 2009 9:34 pm

quote,

Can you get Enermax, or GlobalWin NCB, or Arctic Cooling -- what other brands can you get?

Nope, none of those brands are available.
I'm not thrilled with my current old CoolerMaster fan, but as I have few options,
I just checked the CoolerMaster options I can get:

CoolerMaster Ultra Silent 80 mm (1400 rpm) SAF-S84-E1

Coolermaster High Volume Low Speed 120 (1,200 rpm) R4-C2R-12AC-GP

CoolerMaster Super Fan 90 SU1 (1700 rpm) R4-S9D-19K-GP

CoolerMaster Silent Fan 140 (1000 rpm) R4-S4S-10AK-GP

The last one, 140 mm, seems the most interesting, instead of a 120mm as I can probably undervolt to 7V, right?
I would probably definately undervolt the 92mm if I bought it.
Also, I would still choose the Suscool81 over the listed Coolermaster 80mm.

How do these CoolerMasters compare to the Silverstones listed above?
I know this might be tough for some of you as I get the impression that both these brands are not highly regarded here. But these are basically my only choices where I am located.

So feel free to comment on these two lists.

edh · Post by **edh** » Sat May 02, 2009 11:31 pm

The Coolermasters are probably on a par with the Silverstones. I've had both at some point in one size of other and am not overwhelmed by any of them.

I suppose Noctua is also unavailable? Papst? Akasa? They're better than either Silverstone or Coolermaster for fans.

What about showing us your cooling layout? It is possible that you could just replace all of your fans with 120mm fans running slowly and it would work fine.

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:17 am

edh thanks for replying,

Yes, those are unavailable as well.

The past couple of hours I have been combing the net using google and I have found a quasi-local distributor for Xigmatek cooling, including fans.

For example the Xigmatek XLF-F8253, 80mm LED (2200rpm).

How does that model compare with the CM and SS models above as a CPU heatsink fan? (as far as air pressure)

By the way I have taken the Suscool 81 off my list, because I found a local user who had two of them and was not satisfied with either. Apparently the heat sensor didn't work properly with his units.

I will keep hunting for other brands and post if I find anything interesting.
BTW, most PCs sold here come with local-made fans that cost about 1.50 -2.50 US dollars each and are clearly audible from day 1.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun May 03, 2009 1:52 am

BTW, welcome to SPCR!

What about Globe or Panasonic or NMB fans?

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:59 am

Thanks for the welcome, Neil.

Spurred on by reading many threads in this forum, I did more searching and I stand corrected--I have found a shop which has some Arctic Cooling fans.
Not easy to find that site though.

They have older models however, the Fan 8, Fan 9 and Fan 12, the others listed on that local site are PWM which I don't have on my mobo.

Going to the AC site, I found those model fans are discontinued.
Also looking at the pics they appear suitable as exhausts but not as intakes--I am mistaken here because that would seem odd--can they be reversed somehow?

Anyway, the bottom line is are these Arctic Cooling fans to be preferred over everything else I posted previously?

They do have FDB and a 6-year warranty which is something I guess, but what about their acoustic levels?

truckman · Post by **truckman** » Sun May 03, 2009 10:49 am

tropical_nut wrote: They have older models however, the Fan 8, Fan 9 and Fan 12, the others listed on that local site are PWM which I don't have on my mobo.

Going to the AC site, I found those model fans are discontinued.
Also looking at the pics they appear suitable as exhausts but not as intakes--I am mistaken here because that would seem odd--can they be reversed somehow?

Anyway, the bottom line is are these Arctic Cooling fans to be preferred over everything else I posted previously?

I've got a Silverstone HTPC case that came stock with two 80mm Silverstone exhaust fans. They were kind of noisy, even when undervolted, so I replaced them with two AC Fan 8's. The noise level is much reduced and now the predominate sound is from the hard drives (Samsung + WD GP).

These are exhaust-only unless you mount them outside with all the rotating parts exposed. The mounting flange is only on the exhaust side of the fan.

You should be able to use PWM fans as well. Just leave the extra pin unconnected.

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:03 pm

Thanks truckman,

It looks like I will be getting at least an Arctic Cooling Fan 8 to replace the old Coolermaster on the CPU heatsink. Seems like a good choice for that duty compared to all the other brands I have to choose from.

I would also probably go for the Fan 9 to replace my 7-year old 80mm Panaflo as the rear exhaust.

That leaves just the front intake fan(80mm) and side-panel fan(120 or 140mm) to complete this tune-up.

Anyway, I think I have enough information now and will make my own decision in the next couple of days. Thanks everyone for all the input, it has been helpful in my search.

SST Guy · Post by **SST Guy** » Sun May 03, 2009 10:04 pm

Here is a good article that compared one of SilverStone's fan you lised to some of the other ones on the market.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... undup.html

tropical_nut · Post by **tropical_nut** » Mon May 04, 2009 2:56 am

SST Guy wrote:Here is a good article that compared one of SilverStone's fan you lised to some of the other ones on the market.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... undup.html

Thanks SST Guy,

I was aware of that article before the OP.
I take all reviews on the web with a grain of salt due to:

1. past personal experience
2. limitations of testing
3. the pervasiveness of commercialism everywhere on the net

That article made some interesting observations that I value, but for example, it tested only two brands which are available in the region I live (SST and CM). And of these two brands only a few models were tested.
I still have SST-FN121 and FM-123 on my list for 120mm fans, leaning to the former over the latter as far as Silverstone fans are concerned.
But I am still hunting for information and opinions comparing them to Arctic Cooling, CoolerMaster and Xigmatek 120mm options which I have found in my area as well.
Thanks again for your interest.