Enermax 120mm -- three thumbs up!

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 7:24 am

In my continuing quest to own every 25mm x 120mm fan known to man, I recently purchased a 120mm Enermax adjustable fan.

This really is a very nifty fan. Most importantly, it is VERY quiet when undervolted-- while still moving a lot of air. When I say "undervolted", I mean that I am using the 3-pin motherboard header with the Zalman 56ohm resistor which cuts the RPM in half (more or less).

And of course the fan itself has an adjustable range through a philips-head screw adjustment.. the fan specs indicate a speed range of 1500-2300rpm.

The particular model I got makes a bit of a whizzing noise, but it's A) not very loud in an absolute sense and B) fairly high frequency, which is more pleasing to my ear. Of course running it at full voltage is out of the question, it is plainly audible at full voltage, as are all 120mm fans.

The only 3-pin 120mm I can compare it to is the Vantec Stealth (1500rpm). With the same 3-pin 56ohm resistor on both fans, I can tell you that the Enermax is unquestionably quieter AND moves more air.

I have also owned the Antec, Sunon, and Panaflo 120mm. None of these are good choices IMO. Antec and Sunon are incredibly loud, while the panaflo hardly moves any air at all (at 5v, to achieve quiet operation).

Once I had the 56ohm resistor installed, I didn't realize much benefit from slowing the fan down using the philips head adjustment-- there was basically no improvement in noise levels. But that's good news; you don't NEED to slow it down any further to get it quiet.

I had read a number of very positive reviews of the enermax 120mm in this forum (search for 120mm AND Enermax in the Fans & Control forum), and I'm happy to say that this fan is living up to my expectations.. it is THE quietest 120mm I have tried, per volume of air moved. Plus it's cheap and easily obtainable.

The only 120mm fan left for me to try is that aluminum frame one, and that's on order. I'll post my thoughts on that when I get it.

dago · Post by **dago** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 8:25 am

I think after the 'I-modded-my-radeon-with-a-zalman-nb-cooler' club, I'll soon start the '120mm fan addicted' club

So, to come once and again on this topic :
I have Antec, Enermax, NMB, Papst, Noiseblocker and I only miss Evercool (Al-one, available easily), Panaflo. Vantec and Sunon, I don't know ...

But I don't have access to any cfm-meter (but maybe to a anechoic room)

So, 120mm fan addict, unite and we'll soon be able to organize some test (and send me a cfm-meter (whatever it's called))

Oh, and I tend to find the NMB 'better' (for my needs), but is close to Papst and heavily undervolted Enermax.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:50 am

We need to figure out some objective way of talking about fan noise when "undervolting."

How about RPM? I know that the 3-pin in-line 56ohm resistor cuts RPM by 50%.. so, based on the product specs of rated RPMs at default voltage, I think am comparing

Vantec Stealth 120mm = 1500rpm * 0.5 = 750rpm
Enermax 120mm = 2300rpm * 0.5 = 1150rpm

In this case, I can definitely verify that the Enermax is both quieter and moving more air.

Problem is, most mobos can't read RPMs below a certain level.. so unless you can mathematically calculate (like with the resistor), it's hard to actually measure. And that's also assuming most mobos apply the same voltage to the 3-pin fan headers??

Lots of variables and no good answers.

And that's not even beginning to take into account fan-to-fan variability

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:42 pm

Yes, the Fanmated, adjustable 120mm Enermaxes are very quiet, but for me they have one fatal flaw: they don't have flanges so you can use those EAR isolators to mount them. They have that one solid 1" deep hole that won't work with those isolators. I Dremeled the heck out of one to create flanges and it worked but it's a lot of work and looks like crap.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 12:54 pm

Could u cut through it with a razor blade maybe? Just sawing back in forth for a while

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 1:33 pm

Er.. that's what a dremel is for. It's like a razor blade, on steroids.

Also I think it's debatable whether the EAR isolators actually "fit" well for ANY fan. I've had a rip of a time getting them installed on anything. Those things are a major pain in the ass, to the point that I'd rather have a rubber washer or.. ANYTHING else, really.

Isn't rubber isolation most useful for high-rpm stuff anyway? Like hard drives, for example? I mean, how much vibration noise can a 1000 rpm 120mm fan generate?

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 3:14 pm

I just meant that if you dont have a dremel, like me, then you can do lots of things with razors. Also duct tape and zip ties have many uses.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 12:48 am

Is it really true that the 56-ohm resistor will cut fan speed to 50%?
I was under the impression that the fan speed % would depend on the resistance of the fan. Also I guess the resistor has like 5% or 10% tolerance.

I believe that it is very hard to do objective measurment without lots of expencive tools to measure. A more realistic way would be to compare fans to each other.
I believe RPM and voltages are rather uninteresting.
What is interesting is the CFM and dBA values and clicking/buzzing/vibration.
One suggestion is to try and adjust the fans to a specific CFM. For example adjust a fan (via voltage or PWM) to push the same amount of air (CFM) as a 80mm L1A @ 12 volt. You will probably be able to adjust fans with about 5% CFM difference of each other.
Then disconnect the 80mm L1A and now compare the two fans (that are now running with almost the same CFM) with respect to sound level, vibration etc.
The outcome will just be realtive to each other, but will at least tell what fans are preferable if you plan to run them close to this specific CFM. In this example 24CFM.

Kostik · Post by **Kostik** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 2:07 am

The voltage drop you get with a resistor depends on the fan you are using. I have made a tool to compute that kind of stuff : Fan Calc, which you can find here.

The UC-12FAB happens to be a 0.2A fan, just like the Zalman fan that the RC56 usually comes with. Use the same resistor on a lower power fan, like a 80mm Panaflo L1A, and the voltage drop will be much smaller (~3v).

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 5:15 am

wumpus wrote: Also I think it's debatable whether the EAR isolators actually "fit" well for ANY fan.

The standard 5801K6 isolators work just peachy on regular 80 and 92mm fans. I've installed dozens with zero problems.

It's the thick-flanged 120mm Panaflos that are a difficult fit, but that's because there's no isolator that's the correct size to fit well. The reason the 5801K6 works on the 120mm Panaflos is because the small diameter section between the barb and the back flange is small enough to stretch more than the 5801K8. This lets the isolator stretch far enough to fit through the thick flange of the 120mm Panaflo. And even at that it takes some persuasion and finesse to pull them through without breaking them.

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:26 am

The standard 5801K6 isolators work just peachy on regular 80 and 92mm fans. I've installed dozens with zero problems.

Perhaps. I've become a 120mm fan kind of guy, so I suppose my experience is colored by that..

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Wed Oct 22, 2003 7:29 am

Is it really true that the 56-ohm resistor will cut fan speed to 50%?
I was under the impression that the fan speed % would depend on the resistance of the fan. Also I guess the resistor has like 5% or 10% tolerance.

No, you're absolutely right, as Kostik points out. I use the 50% RPM drop as a rule of thumb with the 56ohm resistor because I'm lazy

I need to get a "real" fan adjustment tool in here, like a zalman fanmate.

Is there any way, even a ghetto one, to at least get a rough measurement of the CFM a fan is producing?

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 11:49 am

Wumpus:
Is there any way, even a ghetto one, to at least get a rough measurement of the CFM a fan is producing?

Well, as a rough estimate there is a close to linear correspondace between voltage/RPM/CFM/dBA for most fans from 5-12 volts.
So simple calculations will usually work fine from manufacturers specs.
Note that the CFM in a computer case will always be a lot lower than the specified rate (even at 12volt). You should get at least 2/3 of the specified flow.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 12:41 pm

Fan airflow/noise estimates -- check Choosing Fans for Quiet, High Airflow: A Scientific Approach in Fans & Controls section

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:07 pm

Sorry MikeC, but I don't think we can trust that page (I looked at the PDF file).
It does specify values that are obviously wrong, like negative dBA values.
E.g. The 12dbA Papst sounds at -7 dBA@5V according to the PDF.
I am not sure what formula was used to calculate the values, but it just can't be correct.

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 1:30 pm

silvervarg -- look at the xls file by gmJamez - near bottom.

Vector · Post by **Vector** » Thu Oct 23, 2003 6:12 pm

The ironic thing is that the Enermax fans in their PSU's are anything but quiet.

tragus · Post by **tragus** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 4:31 am

silvervarg wrote:It does specify values that are obviously wrong, like negative dBA values. E.g. The 12dbA Papst sounds at -7 dBA@5V according to the PDF.

Minor quibble/correction: Negative dB values are perfectly reasonable in and of themselves. In your example, it would mean the sound of the Papst is 7 dB below threshold. Remember that dB is calculated as the log of the ratio of some quantity versus a reference; a negative dB simply means that the quantity is less than the reference.

That said, I agree with silverarg about the possible validity of the actual numbers, though the Excel spreadsheet (referenced by MikeC) seems to have a nice set of numbers that make intuitive sense and should therefore be quite useful as a guide.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 5:25 am

I agree that the fanspec2.xsl is at least a lot better.
However I doubt some of the values in that one as well.

Here is an example:
Noiseblocker S2 80mm
12V 50CFM 19dBA 2000RPM
7V 29CFM 10dBA 1167RPM
5V 21CFM 6dBA 833RPM

Well, if this was true I would run one of them as CPU fan (5V) and one as case fan (5V) and I would not even need any more fans.
Unfortunately I don't think the figures are true...

marc999 · Post by **marc999** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 9:29 am

Also I think it's debatable whether the EAR isolators actually "fit" well for ANY fan. I've had a rip of a time getting them installed on anything. Those things are a major pain in the ass, to the point that I'd rather have a rubber washer or.. ANYTHING else, really.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I've read a lot on these things and I actually own them, and to me they just don't make sense. On the other hand, I got the Verax rubber fan sticks from Directron and sucessfully mounted:
1. A 120x38 mm fan
2. A 120x25 mm fan
3. A 80x25 mm fan.
Plus these things are super easy to use. I "get" them. So anyway, I have to agree with wumpus on this one. Those EAR thingies are instuments of Satan.

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:10 am

marc999 wrote:...I got the Verax rubber fan sticks from Directron and sucessfully mounted:
1. A 120x38 mm fan
2. A 120x25 mm fan
3. A 80x25 mm fan.
Plus these things are super easy to use. I "get" them...

I too have found that decouple-mounting fans with those rubber sticks works very well... and they are easy to use also.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 10:47 am

wumpus wrote:Is there any way, even a ghetto one, to at least get a rough measurement of the CFM a fan is producing?

Yes. The garbage bag test.

They apologize for the inaccuracy of this test but it's much more accurate than you might think.

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/burema/ge ... e_ce46.cfm

wumpus · Post by **wumpus** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 12:39 pm

Very cool

I love ghetto science!

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 4:01 pm

wumpus,

Why 25mmx120mm? What about 38mmx120mm fans?

Have you tried the Panaflo 12V DC Fan FBK-12G12LH (that's the OEM Panaflo that Ralf Hutter speaks of)? Would you like to?

When I think about my quieting efforts, I tend to agree with you that current convention is to use massive heat sinks and wonderously effiecient airflows so that we can cool our cases at the lowest possible fan speeds. The thing is, this approach works. It would be a lot cheaper if we could get a little more airflow and achieve the same quiet results, though.

I have to admit though, I really like the 80mm Panaflo L1A. I've modded my Sonata PSU with an L1A and twisted the intake grill slats parallel to the airflow to allow the cooling air to move more freely through it. It's roughly silent and so is the L1A that sits atop my SLK-800A CPU cooler. In both cases, the L1A Panaflos are doing the required job and adding no noise to my environment.

-- Tom

gojira · Post by **gojira** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 12:25 am

Have you tried the Panaflo 12V DC Fan FBK-12G12LH

I have a FBL-12G12L, a 12cm slotted Panaflo. I suppose it might be impressive at a full 12 volts. It seems to move a lot of air without too much mechanical noise. Of course, it is anything but quiet at that speed. At 5 volts it is totally ridiculous and unusable. It clicks more loudly than any fan I have yet tried. At 7 volts it is only slightly better. Still completely unusable. It would be audible even in a system with a Delta cooling the CPU. I don't think I have a 120x35 LIA to compare with this. I have to assume there is no comparison. OTOH, I am running an 8cm slotted Panaflo FBL-08A12M at 5 volts for CPU cooling and it does not seem to add noticeably to my (quiet) system noise. It is a very quiet fan with no clicking at 5 volts (even with my ear 2 inches away).

I also just tested my Antec 12cm fan and it is quite loud at all voltages although it doesn't seem to tick at 5. I am just mentioning that because I have heard reports of 12cm Antec fans being quiet.

The Superred 12cm fan from my Seasonic PSU also seems to have a severe ticking problem at 5 volts.

grandpa_boris · Post by **grandpa_boris** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 4:03 am

gojira wrote:
Have you tried the Panaflo 12V DC Fan FBK-12G12LH
I have a FBL-12G12L...

not the same thing, i suspect. i have FBK and they don't make any ticking noises @ 5V and just placing my hand into the airflow, it seems like more air than from either papst 4412 FGL or the 120mm antec (came with my sonata) at the same voltage. it seems to produce more airflow and no more noise than the 12dB papst 8412NGLE. and for less than $2 a unit, even if it did take me a few minutes of my time to splice in a usable power connector, it's a hell of a deal.

JC · Post by JC » Mon Oct 27, 2003 5:00 am

Those EAR thingies are instuments of Satan.

He definitely had a hand in their design.

I just had a go at the 5801K6's from McMaster-Carr with two Panaflo L1A's. I put the fans in with the isolators when the case was completely empty. Sore fingers, but did manage to successfully install them without breaking (the isolators, not the fingers). The problem came in after I finished building the system and started fine-tuning it for noise - swapping fans, etc. I had to use wire cutters on the isolators to remove the Panaflo's (not a big deal since I'd bought a pack of 20). But I gave up trying to isolator mount the next set of fans I was trying and went with regular case screws - I was unable to perform the necessary gyrations with a full case.

I suppose if you know exactly what fans are going in your case and can put them in with the isolators when the case is empty, the isolators are a feasibility. But I'm starting to look into other options for future systems. I mean, come on, hard drives can be decoupled without all that squeezing and pulling.

I'm considering using rubber grommets mounted in overdrilled holes for the fans. Since that's essentially how a lot of hard drive decoupling strategies work, I see no reason why it wouldn't work for a fan.

Additionally, when I had the fans mounted on the isolators I noticed there was some play in the area that mounts through the fan hole in the case. Initially I thought maybe I'd stretched them out when mounting them, but when I look at the specs for the isolators on McMaster-Carr I see that the section of the isolator in question ("Fan Plate Thickness C" on their diagram) is 1.3mm. Since the thickness of most cases is 0.8mm-0.9mm, the isolators are always going to fit a bit loose.

gojira · Post by **gojira** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 8:00 am

Seems you're right, grandpa_boris. The FBKs are apparently a discontinued older ball bearing model that came even before the unslotted sleeve bearing models. I guess I just wasn't familiar with the model numbers and thought it might be another slotted fan from Pana.

Care to divulge your supplier? Some guy is trying to sell them on Ebay for $11+ but I haven't seen them anywhere else. It seems ball bearing models may have less problems with low voltage ticking. Maybe the sleeve bearing models are not all they're cracked up to be. It's the bearing noise that would worry me.

I'm dying to find one of those May Jie Precision fans that the Finnish guy reviewed. Sounds to me like it may be time for a 5 volt shootout among some of these fans, although I don't think the MJs are available in North America.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 9:40 am

gojira wrote:Care to divulge your supplier?

I just bought 40 on eBay from RDR Electronics. It cost me $50 for the fans and $49 for shipping. I've got a few spares so I was going to offer one to Wumpus for testing but he seems disinterested. Also, the 38mm fan width seems to cause him to convulse with some sort of Delta flashbacks.

energy · Post by **energy** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 10:48 am

I just had a go at the 5801K6's from McMaster-Carr with two Panaflo L1A's. I put the fans in with the isolators when the case was completely empty. Sore fingers, but did manage to successfully install them without breaking (the isolators, not the fingers

Helps if you use some spit or soap on them before you try to pull them through