Anyone using Arctic F-series or Scythe Kama PWM fans?

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Jay_S
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Anyone using Arctic F-series or Scythe Kama PWM fans?

Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:42 am

As the title asks, I'm looking for user experience with: I have zero experience with PWM fans aside from OEM Intel heatsink fans. Both of these are about the same price @ Newegg.

As more motherboards omit variable voltage fan control with 3-pin fans, PWM is starting to appeal to me. I'd love to see a SPCR PWM fan roundup.

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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:55 am

Should add this one to my list as well: Slightly more expensive that the others, but you get the Slip Stream's blade design.

May have to just order 1 of each of the AC and PWM slip streams. :D

SebRad
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Post by SebRad » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:29 am

Hi, I have nothing in my rig but AC F series fans, so you can probably guess I like them! :)
viewtopic.php?t=58054
While they may not be the absolute best I find them to be good, little / no bearing noise and under-volt / slow down nicely. They are also low cost and have, supposedly, good long life bearings.

I have no experiance of Scythe fans at all.
Regards, Seb

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:10 am

Whoa SebRad, that's a lot of fans! Thanks for linking to your build thread - I remember viewing it when you originally posted it. Re: long life, the 6-year warranty is nice too. I've owned a bunch of AC products over the years, and have always been pleased with them.

The Arctic F12 PWM and the Scythe SlipStream PWM share the 9 curved-blade design. The Scythe adds curved struts. Both fans have blades that are nearly perpendicular where they cross the struts. The F12 is rated for 12V, 0.15A. The Scythe: 12V, 0.18A.

My goal is this. I have a NSK3480 mATX case. My 8800GT video card w/Accelero S1 gets a little toasty running passive. Passive is OK with 2D, but it gets hot while gaming. Right now I have a REALLY CRAPPY 80mm fan @ 5V aimed at the GPU. This is sufficient to keep load temps under 70 C, which is good enough for me. But this fan is whiny and annoying.

My 8800GT has a PWM fan header, with which I intend to power a 92mm or 120mm fan in the front intake location. A 92mm would fit without modding. A 120mm would require cutting.

And if I'm ordering a single fan, I might as well order a bunch to spread shipping costs!

ces
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Post by ces » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:42 am

Jay_S wrote:Should add this one to my list as well: Slightly more expensive that the others, but you get the Slip Stream's blade design. May have to just order 1 of each of the AC and PWM slip streams. :D
Let us know what you find. Maybe you will be able to explain what they mean when they say this " 0 (+200rpm) ~ 1300 ± 10%"

What board do you plan to run them on?
Last edited by ces on Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:04 am

Performance PCs had everything in stock and actually sleeves them for free, so I ordered 1 of each of the following:
- Arctic Cooling F9 PWM 92mm - Sleeved @ $6.99 each
- Arctic Cooling F12 PWM 120mm - Sleeved @ $8.95 each
- Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120mm - Sleeved @ $9.95 each

The two AC's are destined for the NSK3480. Its current exhaust fan is a Yate Loon D12SL-12 running through a fan mate at its lowest setting. This equals about 800 rpm. It's easily the quietest fan in this system. But I'm going to try the 120mm AC PWM fan in that location, for MB fan control. And to free up the fan mate for other applications.

The PWM Slip Stream is destined for my HTPC. To replace a growling YL D12SL-12 and gain MB fan control.

I won't have time to install them until next week, but I'll post back with subjective impressions.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:30 am

ces wrote:Maybe you will be able to explain what they mean when they say this " 0 (+200rpm) ~ 1300 ± 10%"
They're just quoting Scythe on that. Their Mugen page:
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/0 ... etail.html
and scroll down a bit. I have no idea what 0 (+200rpm) can possibly mean.
ces wrote:What board do you plan to run them on?
A Gigabyte G31 mATX board. Rest of the spec:
- E5300 CPU, 266x11
- Original Scythe Ninja with Thermalright LGA775 retention bracket.
- 2x1GB DDR2 1066, 2:1 divider
- single-platter Seagate 7200.12
- Corsair CX400W PSU

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Post by ces » Tue Apr 06, 2010 11:50 am

Jay_S wrote: I have no idea what 0 (+200rpm) can possibly mean.
After you take possession of one and play with it for a while, you will probably understand what they mean, or at least what they should have meant.

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Re: Anyone using Arctic F-series or Scythe Kama PWM fans?

Post by JamieG » Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:35 pm

The Scythe Kama PWM fan was reviewed by SPCR here.

I've just swapped one of these fans into my P182 gaming system as a rear exhaust fan connected to the CPU_FAN header (Gigabyte X38 mobo with an Intel E6850).

At idle, it sits around 500rpm, with low CPU load rising to about 600-650rpm. Gaming load equates to around 800-900rpm and during Prime95 runs it hits about 1,100rpm (max rated is 1,300rpm).

It's a pretty reasonable fan that does the trick. I know that's not a ringing endorsement but I don't really intend to run any tests to see if it makes a difference to my system, as it just works as intended.

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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 06, 2010 4:57 pm

In addition to the Kama PWM, SPCR also sorta reviewed the Slip Stream PWM within their Mugen-2 review.

eddieck
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Post by eddieck » Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:13 am

I'm really hoping SPCR reviews the Arctic fans in their new fan roundups. The F12 looks similar to the Slip Streams - 9-bladed, small center hub - but is both cheaper and should have a better FDB bearing. Though based on the design I doubt it's good for pressure.

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Post by Jay_S » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:10 am

eddieck wrote:I'm really hoping SPCR reviews the Arctic fans in their new fan roundups
Did you see ces's poll? The AC PWM fans are an option.

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Post by eddieck » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:44 am

Jay_S wrote:
eddieck wrote:I'm really hoping SPCR reviews the Arctic fans in their new fan roundups
Did you see ces's poll? The AC PWM fans are an option.
I'd vote for the GTs. I'm not interested in PWM or temperature/load-based fan controllers. I want consistent noise no matter what the load is.

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Post by Jay_S » Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:39 pm

[BIG EDIT]

My Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L has a 4-pin CPU fan header. I recently purchased Arctic F12 and F9 PWM fans to use with it. Problem is, I can't get either to work properly.

I have Smart Fan control enabled in BIOS. But it reads 0 RPM for the CPU fan and appears to be spinning @ full speed. No Windows utility reads fan speed either.

Flashed to latest F10 bios. No difference.

If I switch back to my previous fan, a 3-pin Yate Loon D12SL-12 with a Zalman Fanmate, I can see fan RPM in BIOS and windows.

Using the same Fanmate and the Arctic fan, no RPM.

Switching back to the OEM Intel CPU fan (I didn't re-mount the whole heat sink, just connected the fan), which is also a 4-pin PWM fan, and it correctly shows RPM in BIOS and Windows utilities.

So at least I know my motherboard is OK!

Looking at the Arctic fan's leads, I notice that there's NO RPM SENSE WIRE from the fan to the main 4-pin connector:
Image
Note the lack of a yellow wire feeding into that connector. But there's a RPM sense wire coming out of it! What the hell?

I bought these AC fans from Performance PC's, who sleeved them for free. Thinking that - maybe - Performance PC's screwed up when they sleeved them, I looked around online for photos of stock fans. In this image, you can clearly see that the RPM-sense wire is not bundled with the other three. Instead it goes to a separate connector. I have these separate RPM wire/connector leads as well, but am at a loss as to how to incorporate them into the main 4-pin connector.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:17 pm

Ah - I understand now. Wow. This is really in-elegant. You have to plug the extra RPM sense wire into the back of the daisy-chain connector. This image from SebRad's gallery thread tipped me off.

Well, so far I'm not liking these Arctic PWM fans as much as the Scythe Slip Stream PWM. And I'm not really liking PWM that much either. I'm ready to go back to my Fanmate-ed Yate Loon in the exhaust position. And I'll have to start shopping for a quiet 92mm for the intake / GPU position.

ces
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Post by ces » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:39 pm

Jay_S wrote:Ah - I understand now. Wow. This is really in-elegant. You have to plug the extra RPM sense wire into the back of the daisy-chain connector. This image from SebRad's gallery thread tipped me off.

Well, so far I'm not liking these Arctic PWM fans as much as the Scythe Slip Stream PWM. And I'm not really liking PWM that much either. I'm ready to go back to my Fanmate-ed Yate Loon in the exhaust position. And I'll have to start shopping for a quiet 92mm for the intake / GPU position.
I don't understand. Could you explain that in different words?

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Post by lodestar » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:47 pm

The Arctic Cooling PWM fans, as you have just discovered, have a daisy chaining arrangement which avoids the need for separate PWM splitter cables. I have used the Akasa splitter cable which has each lead clearly labelled, and provided you match up labels with headers and fans it just works. It also has the advantage of drawing power for all the fans from the PSU and not from the motherboard. But given that PWM fans have four wires you inevitably end with a lot of wires with either arrangement but nothing that cannot be tidied up visually in the normal way.

Sharkoon, who are not a name you see mentioned much here have a PWM fan which you can deploy either as PWM, or as a 7V/9V/12V fixed speed fan. It is the Sharkoon Silent Eagle SE, as here http://www.sharkoon.com/html/produkte/l ... .html?id=2. The 120mm has a 350-1200 speed range and comes with a set of four modular cables. It is priced about the same as the Akasa Apache so somewhat more expensive that the Arctic Cooling fans but arguably a more flexible approach which deserves a wider application.
Last edited by lodestar on Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jay_S
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Post by Jay_S » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:57 pm

ces wrote:I don't understand.
Yeah, sorry - it's confusing.

Start with the picture I linked earlier.
  • See how there's a 3-wire bundle (black red blue) coming out of the fan hub, in addition to a separate yellow RPM-sense wire?
  • The 3-wire bundle terminates into a 4-pin female connector - ignoring the RPM sense pin.
  • But because these AC PWM fans can "daisy chain" together, there's also wires coming out of this connector to feed additional fans. The wires coming out of thie first connector include the RPM sense wire.
  • So, to enable RPM sensing by the motherboard, you have to connect the lone yellow RPM sense female connector to the daisy-chain 4-pin male connector. RPM info ends up in the right place, but takes a round-about route.
Image

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Post by Jay_S » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:01 pm

lodestar wrote:The Arctic Cooling PWM fans, as you have just discovered, have a daisy chaining arrangement which avoids the need for separate PWM splitter cables.
I knew they daisy chained, but did not know about the RPM sense wire arrangement.

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Post by lodestar » Mon Apr 12, 2010 10:03 pm

Part of the reason for the separate lone yellow RPM sensing cable is that this would normally only be deployed for the PWM fan on the CPU cooler and not used for other fans. So it is optional depending on what the PWM fan is being used for.

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Post by Jay_S » Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:41 am

lodestar wrote:Part of the reason for the separate lone yellow RPM sensing cable is that this would normally only be deployed for the PWM fan on the CPU cooler and not used for other fans. So it is optional depending on what the PWM fan is being used for.
This is exactly correct. It just wasn't obvious to me what was going on, and the instructions are terrible! The fact that the 3-wire bundles on my fans are sleeved further complicated things, as it wasn't immediately obvious that there was no RPM sense in that bundle. There were several 'eureka' moments last night, as the concepts became clear to me.

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Re: Anyone using Arctic F-series or Scythe Kama PWM fans?

Post by piccobello » Fri Jan 22, 2021 7:02 am

JamieG wrote:
Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:35 pm
The Scythe Kama PWM fan was reviewed by SPCR here.
Hi, I'm repairing broken links in this forum as a hobby, you can find the original above mentioned fan review on archive.org.

You're welcome

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