Looking for affordable, quiet 120mm fans (in the US)

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:25 pm

Before you tell me to search, I have, there's simply too much outdated and conflicting info here to be helpful (lets face it, there's too much info, period!), so I figured I'd try and ask my specific question here and pinpoint exactly what I need.

Rundown: 120mm, LED/Non-LED doesn't matter, under 30dba, over 40cfm, under $10 (ideally), no fan controllers, no undervolting, nothing fancy, and I'm in the US (not Europe). I've hit svc, newegg, 3dcool, and frozencpu, I don't know who else to check.

Side note: supposedly the Akasa 'amber' fans are coming to the US soon, and I really like the reviews on those (the 120mm = 18 dba and 45 cfm, I'm sure those numbers are a little optimistic but still fall within my needs) but I'm getting really tired of waiting, I want to finish this system up now, and maybe revisit the Akasa's later.

Anyway, thanks in advance for throwing some ideas my way

len509 · Post by **len509** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:04 am

The Yate Loon 120mm Low Speed (D12SL-12) is very quiet and inexpensive.
TekGems
Jab-tech
PCTek Online

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:30 am

Great, now I'm torn between that yate loon and the cooler master SUF-S12 fans. The thing that concerns me is the TLF-S12 series, which practically list the same specs, have pretty bad reviews on newegg (non-standard screw size, isnt' as quiet as claimed, doesn't move anywhere near as much air as claimed). Are they (basically) the same fan? I can't seem to find any information if they are or not.

Also, has anyone checked out the Sunbeam SLF-12B on svc, claiming 21.75dBA and 48.21CFM? Sounds unrealistic to me. Can't find a single review anywhere.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:56 am

Hello,

I have only used one CoolMaster, and it was a bit noiser than any of the Yate Loons -- it had a low purring sound, whereas the Yate Loons only seem to make air noise.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:05 am

NeilBlanchard wrote:I have only used one CoolMaster, and it was a bit noiser than any of the Yate Loons -- it had a low purring sound, whereas the Yate Loons only seem to make air noise.

Thanks for that. I've been pretty happy with CM's rifle bearing series, fairly quiet, move decent air, but it doesn't appear the 120mm fans have them yet (only the 80mm's). Also the more I see on CM's website about their UV series and their LED series, the more I'm convinced they're the same fan (and that's not a good thing)

Does anyone have more info on when the Akasa's are coming stateside, or any more info on the sunbeam fans? I did manage to find 1 review on the sunbeam and it was positive.

3DCool keeps trying to push the SilenX series but they're way out of my budget, and from what I see nothing more than someone else's undervolted fans.

ultraboy · Post by **ultraboy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:17 am

Among all the fans you're looking at, Yate Loon D12SL-12 is probably at the top of performance list (noise wise). Unless 'look' of the fan is also important to you, YL is a good choice. Btw, Yate Loon D12SL-12 also come in black version (in case you don't like orange

) - though I think black Yate Loon mostly come in a 2 wires variety.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:45 am

ultraboy wrote:Among all the fans you're looking at, Yate Loon D12SL-12 is probably at the top of performance list (noise wise). Unless 'look' of the fan is also important to you, YL is a good choice. Btw, Yate Loon D12SL-12 also come in black version (in case you don't like orange ) - though I think black Yate Loon mostly come in a 2 wires variety.

Like the ones on that pctek website? Those appear to be black judging by the picture, however it could be an old picture

I don't really care too much about color, orange, black, blue, or even amber if Akasa ever comes. I just want to get accurate information on the spate of products in this field. I have to admit I do like the sunbeam's on svc's website, but their model number is eerily similar to CM's model number scheme.

So basically I'm narrowed down to the YL D12SL-12, the Akasa Amber AK-183-L2B, or the Sunbeam SLF-12-B.

ultraboy · Post by **ultraboy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:16 am

Here's some comment on Akasa Amber. I've also seen the Sunbeam fan in a local shop here (though not 'listening' to the fan), I can't say it makes any special impression.

I guess my suggestion is don't wait for (relatively) unknown fans when there's a known good fan available and it's not expensive.

Just my 2 cents.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:45 am

ultraboy wrote:Here's some comment on Akasa Amber. I've also seen the Sunbeam fan in a local shop here (though not 'listening' to the fan), I can't say it makes any special impression.

Well one person said the Akasa is a YS tech but I don't think the Akasa *amber* is a YS-Tech, is it? Too bad you didn't get a chance to listen to the sunbeam fan, I'm really thinking hard about that one now...frontrunner.

hofffam · Post by **hofffam** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:26 am

Glassvial - it seems to me you are trying to find a reason not to buy the YL D12SL-12. Why? It is clearly the favored 120mm fan at SPCR, either under the Nexus brand or its native brand. You can buy them as Nexus for $18 or so or as Yate Loon from Tekgems for $11. No one here trusts the manufacturer spec for noise for any brand of fan - so you should not buy any fan based on the manufacturer's noise spec. Only RPM and perhaps CFM have any real value.

I recently bought three YL D12SL-12 from Tekgems and was amazed how quiet (even at full speed) they are compared with a 80 mm L1A Panaflo and a Enermax 120mm fan.

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:47 am

Nexus fans move very little air. If you're looking for something closer to 40cfm or so and inexpensive I would get a Panaflo 12cm L1A and ramp it down with a fan mate to the desired air flow/noise level. Papst fans are also good as far as noise/air flow goes, but are quite expensive. I got my Papst 4412FGL awhile back from directron when it was at $15, so it wasn't expensive. They're not silent at 12V, but are practically inaudible in my Antec case anywhere from 5-7V. Unfortunately, they seem to have gone up in price since then.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:20 am

hofffam wrote:Glassvial - it seems to me you are trying to find a reason not to buy the YL D12SL-12. Why?

Keeping my options open, I'm not avoiding the YL. It would be nice if there were reviews or opinions on OTHER fans than the YL, such as the sunbeam I mentioned

Let me put it this way, a lot of people like Fords, it doesn't mean I drive one.

It is clearly the favored 120mm fan at SPCR, either under the Nexus brand or its native brand. You can buy them as Nexus for $18 or so or as Yate Loon from Tekgems for $11. No one here trusts the manufacturer spec for noise for any brand of fan - so you should not buy any fan based on the manufacturer's noise spec. Only RPM and perhaps CFM have any real value.

he Nexus is over budget, and under the CFM level I'm looking for. And sometimes the mfr's don't lie (I know, it's rare!)

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:24 am

stromgald wrote:Nexus fans move very little air.

That's what I was concerned about.

If you're looking for something closer to 40cfm or so and inexpensive I would get a Panaflo 12cm L1A and ramp it down with a fan mate to the desired air flow/noise level. Papst fans are also good as far as noise/air flow goes, but are quite expensive. I got my Papst 4412FGL awhile back from directron when it was at $15, so it wasn't expensive. They're not silent at 12V, but are practically inaudible in my Antec case anywhere from 5-7V. Unfortunately, they seem to have gone up in price since then.

I don't think Papst's are sold in the US (?) and I'm not going to be using a fan controller, undervolting, or anything like that, it's gonna be straight 12V. I don't think any of the vendors listed thusfar have the Panaflo 120mm L1A fan?

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:06 pm

Since you are not going to undervolt you should probably get a nexus 120 with ~ 38 - 42 cfm. It will be quieter than the others because at 12v its only at 1100rpm or less.

Otherwise a yate loon D12SL-12 would be a good choice with more air flow.

A Coolermaster SUF-S12 would also be fine.

Papst can be purchased in the US at www.quietpc.com, but they are on the expensive side.

The akasa amber is made by ys tech. There is a review at www phoronix.com and ys tech is clearly visible on the akasa label. I've never seen one for purchase in the US.

If you still can't make up your mind, just buy a coolermaster and a yate loon, and if they are too noisy then you know you should have gone with the nexus. - FG

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:11 pm

frankgehry wrote:Since you are not going to undervolt you should probably get a nexus 120 with ~ 38 - 42 cfm. It will be quieter than the others because at 12v its only at 1100rpm or less.

Otherwise a yate loon D12SL-12 would be a good choice with more air flow.

A Coolermaster SUF-S12 would also be fine.

Papst can be purchased in the US at www.quietpc.com, but they are on the expensive side.

The akasa amber is made by ys tech. There is a review at www phoronix.com and ys tech is clearly visible on the akasa label. I've never seen one for purchase in the US.

If you still can't make up your mind, just buy a coolermaster and a yate loon, and if they are too noisy then you know you should have gone with the nexus. - FG

Papst are $26.95/ea on that site, definitely out of my price range. Thanks for the heads-up on the Akasa's being ys tech, it looks like the ys tech part number is km-121225lb, if that's correct, but again no vendors in the US that I can find. Also thanks for the phoronix site, some good info on there.

Again, Nexus is out of my price range (cheapest I've seen around is $15+ ea) and don't move air I want, and now that I see the cooler master SUF series is idential to the TLF, and the bad reviews on the TLF, that's gone from consideration also.

I know this isn't life and death but it's also not an easy decision

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 1:41 pm

You will find some negative reviews of the coolermaster suf-s12 here, but generally they are good. I have one and its very good, but samples vary - cheap fans don't have good quality control. Same goes for the yate loons with the exception of the nexus.

I would get the orange yate loon D12SL-12s from www.tekgems.com since they have a little more air flow than the coolermasters. If you don't need a 3 wire fan (rpm sensing) then you can get black D12SL-12s from www.pctekonline.com - FG

clarkkent333 · Post by **clarkkent333** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:46 pm

Stay away from the Coolermaster's. I just got 4 of the blue ones from SVC and they have the most annoying grinding noise I think I've ever heard. It's even worse @ 7v.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:46 pm

80 or 120mm? SUF or TLF model? Where they in the original coolermaster packaging? Did you break them in?

cotdt · Post by **cotdt** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:51 pm

the coolermaster aluminum fans beat the yate loons in noise per cfm, but they are thicker. these fans are not the coolermaster fans sold in most stores, in fact these are pretty hard to find.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:02 pm

cotdt wrote:the coolermaster aluminum fans beat the yate loons in noise per cfm, but they are thicker. these fans are not the coolermaster fans sold in most stores, in fact these are pretty hard to find.

Do you mean these? Cooler Master Link

SVC has them, but they're $20 ea (ouch):

http://svc.com/aaf-b12-e1.html

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:23 pm

The 120x38mm version draws 1.0A, weighs 420g, cost $20+ and puts out ~ 55cfm @ 1200rpm. A yate loon D12SM-12 puts out >= 55 cfm @ 1650rpm (70 cfm at www.yateloon.com) and costs less than half as much.

I assume you are going by mfg. specs because as far a I know the alum. coolermasters have not been reviewed with/compared to the D12SM-12 either subjectively or quantitatively here or elsewhere. - FG

I have seen the fan mentioned here as quiet but qualified with "I haven't really had a chance to listen to it..."

So your post is based on what evidence?

This post is not very conclusive -
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... olermaster

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a ... =156&num=1

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:18 am

glassvial,

Are you near a CompUSA retail outlet? If so, then try a Mad Dog WhisperFan for $10 and no shipping fee. These are basically Yate Loon D12SM-12's. The two that I have are decently quiet up to 8V or so and definitely move more air then the admittedly quieter Nexus. But some at SPCR have not had as good luck with this fan for noise.

As I recall, the packaging is such that you can try the fan, but return it if it is too noisy.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:30 pm

I am near a CompUSA, but I'm not going to be undervolting.

I'm going to be giving...a certain store...a call tomorrow to find out what the status is of bringing the Akasa ambers to the USA, a few weeks ago they said "10 days" and, well, it's been way over 10 days at this point. So if there's still no ETA in sight on those, then it looks like I'll probably be going with the YL D12SL-12's (and I might get one of those sunbeam fans just for the hell of it to try out as well). At least with the above-mentioned store, when (if!) the akasa ambers come in, I *can* listen to them in person before I buy, and I'm sorry if I've been harping on them, I'm just very curious how they sound!

Also want to say thanks for all the ideas and pointers thusfar, I appreciate it.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:33 am

Still several weeks out (minimum) for Akasa's hitting the states. Looks like I'll be ordering a few YL's and a few Sunbeam's.

Also if it helps, I called SVC and they gave me the numbers off those sunbeam fans: DF1202512SEDN. The RPM speed on them is only 1200RPM.

frankgehry · Post by **frankgehry** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:32 pm

DF = Dynaeon Fan or Top Motor - not an especially quiet brand. I would like to have an Akasa amber just to have one, but I don't expect it will be quieter than a good yate loon sample. Dual ball bearing fans have or soon will surpass the manufacturing precision and sample to sample consistency of sleeve bearing fans like the yate loon but at the moment you can't get a 1200rpm JMC or Bi-Sonic. You can get a 1600 rpm JMC but since you don't want to undervolt the extra speed would be a problem. - FG

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:11 pm

frankgehry wrote:DF = Dynaeon Fan or Top Motor - not an especially quiet brand.

I figured it was made by someone else

I would like to have an Akasa amber just to have one, but I don't expect it will be quieter than a good yate loon sample.

We may find out in the coming weeks, I'm just tired of waiting.

glassvial · Post by **glassvial** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 8:23 am

Ordered 5 YL's and 2 Sunbeams.

OTMOPO3OK · Post by **OTMOPO3OK** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:01 am

Hey sorry to resurect the old thread but i'm currently deciding on sunbeam fan too. And also whether to get YL SL or SM version.
I need sunbeams for Heatercore since they move a lot more air than YL SLs at same noise level (i saw a good review somewhere here but can't find it again).
And then couple of YL SLs or SMs for power supply, exhaust fan.

glassvial, how quiet are they compared to each other and whatever other fans u have?
thanks a lot

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:45 am

Greetings & welcome to SPCR,

If you want a quieter fan, and can get by with a 1350RPM limit, then the low speed version is the one to get. The medium speed unit has a limit of ~1650RPM and is also very quiet -- the only real difference is the RPM range, from 5-12 volts.

If you are looking for an even quieter fan for about the same price, the GlobalWin NCB fan is also very good.

What's your case like?

OTMOPO3OK · Post by **OTMOPO3OK** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:43 am

Thanks for a welcome,
well right now it's a design only i'm gonna build it out of MDF. Aiming to have maybe 2-3 fans total + the pump (haven't decided which yet, currently use Hydor 30H = noisy)
I'm also thinking about abandoning the whole WC idea completely unless i find pump with less hum.
I don;t really trust globalwin, so i'm gonna go with 10 YL SL + 2 Sunbeams (i need to replace all fans in 2-3 systems + DIY LCD Projector)

Looking for affordable, quiet 120mm fans (in the US)

Looking for affordable, quiet 120mm fans (in the US)

So how are the fans?