If the SPCR recommended 120mm fans article was updated today

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Shaman
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If the SPCR recommended 120mm fans article was updated today

Post by Shaman » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:09 am

What fans would be at the top? The Slipstreams? Any others?

jessekopelman
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Post by jessekopelman » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:33 pm

I'm sure Nexus would still be up there. Maybe Yate Loon, too, in terms of bang for buck. Based on all the forum love, I'd expect Noctua as well, but they are certainly going the other direction in terms of price/performance.

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Post by thejamppa » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:15 pm

Nexus would be high on all 80, 92, 120mm categories. (as would Yate-Loons as YL's are basicly same than Nexus, just slightly faster spinning generally and different sticker)

Scythe S-flex would be in 120mm ( 800 and 1200 rpm fans )
Slipstream 120 ( 800 - 1200 rpms )
Kama-flex for 80mm fans

NoiseBlocker BlackSilent X1 ( 1000 rpm ) 120mm
BlackSilent XE 1 ( 1500 rpm ) 92mm

Sharkoon "Golfball" SilentEagle 1000 120mm

Those would be pretty high ranked. All have been reviewed in SPCR in some point, except Sharkoon golfball I think, which has got in-forum respect pretty much like 120mm NCB fan by GlobalWin / Lieberman.

Shaman
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Post by Shaman » Tue Jan 20, 2009 9:48 pm

Thanks for the input guys. :)

Thejamppa, you say all fans have been reviewed by SPCR except the Sharkoons. Can you point me to the review of the Slipstream(s)? I haven't seen a review of one, or of any 9-blade fan for that matter. (that would be a nice fan round-up, no?)

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Post by jessekopelman » Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:13 am

Shaman wrote:Can you point me to the review of the Slipstream(s)?
Fan Roundup #5

Shaman
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Post by Shaman » Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:29 am

jessekopelman wrote:
Shaman wrote:Can you point me to the review of the Slipstream(s)?
Fan Roundup #5
Thanks, that completly passed me by. :shock:

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Post by ryboto » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:30 am

Did they test the Ultra Kaze? I'll check. But what I'm curious about is the Scythe Gentle Typhoon series. They're up on newegg...I'm close to pulling the trigger on one...might pick up a few fans and try them all out in the end though.

edit: yep...reading the ultra Kaze again...I know I must have already read that review..

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Post by Compddd » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:35 pm

Please let us know how the Typhoons are! I am very interested in them as well. Why hasn't SPCR reviewed them officially yet?

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Post by thejamppa » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:54 pm

Compddd wrote:Please let us know how the Typhoons are! I am very interested in them as well. Why hasn't SPCR reviewed them officially yet?
Probably due lack of samples and lack of time. They get eventually done them. That you can be count on.

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Post by lubej » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:17 am

I can't decide between Scythe Gentle Typhoon series and slip stream series.

if I look specification on scythe web site than gentle series is more quiet.

What will you buy?

Thank you.
br

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Post by spookmineer » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:38 pm

I don't know the Gentle Typhoon series, but from testing here you can hardly go wrong with the Slipstreams.

Slipstream 1200 RPM
Some people reported ticking in the 800 RPM version, 1200 and a fan controller seems better.
Conclusion recommends the 1200 RPM version.

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Post by Sylph-DS » Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:18 am

I would say the Slipstream and the Nexus are about equal, all things considered. They're both about the same price. Supposedly the slipstream does slightly better in performance, but then there's also a pair of fan mounts in the package with the nexus real silents.

I'm sticking with Nexus at the moment because I've used them for quite a while now, and they've never failed me. On top of that I guess you could say I've got an affinity for Nexus as a company, both because it's the only Dutch (I'm Dutch) PC silencing company I know of, and because of the quality of their products.

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Post by EarlZ » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:54 pm

The Zalman F3's would be on the top list, they are pretty good.. infact better then the S-Flex line at the same volts/rpm

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Post by jhhoffma » Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:45 am

Zalman has a quiet fan? Every single Zalman fan I've ever heard, whether case fan or mounted to a heatsink has been horrible for buzzing.

It'd be interesting to see a decent review of these compared to the current crop of quiet fans.

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Post by Riffer » Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:48 pm

jhhoffma wrote:Zalman has a quiet fan? Every single Zalman fan I've ever heard, whether case fan or mounted to a heatsink has been horrible for buzzing.

It'd be interesting to see a decent review of these compared to the current crop of quiet fans.
I agree. I haven't had any luck with Zalman, I think their testers must be deaf.

On the other hand, the Nexus people must have sensitive hearing, because I haven't purchased anything yet from them that wasn't good.

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Post by EarlZ » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:24 am

jhhoffma wrote:Zalman has a quiet fan? Every single Zalman fan I've ever heard, whether case fan or mounted to a heatsink has been horrible for buzzing.

It'd be interesting to see a decent review of these compared to the current crop of quiet fans.
Give the F3 a try, they are like gems!

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Post by ekerazha » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:09 am

Compddd wrote:Please let us know how the Typhoons are! I am very interested in them as well.
"+1"

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Post by ntavlas » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:09 am

Actually the f3 is quite a decent fan though I wouldn`t say better then the sflex.

The 1000rpm fan that came with my lian li case was also suprisingly good. Very smooth motor.

As for 4pin pwm fans, Skythe ships one with their mugen 2 cooler with the blades of the slipstream.

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Post by DrCR » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:49 am

Maybe Zalman has started up a program similar to Belkin's? ;)

There are several options, but I find a slipstream @ <700rpm a nice route currently. I've transitioned away from YLs myself, but they are a good option if you're just starting out and on the cheap.

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Post by EarlZ » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:54 am

ntavlas wrote:Actually the f3 is quite a decent fan though I wouldn`t say better then the sflex.

The 1000rpm fan that came with my lian li case was also suprisingly good. Very smooth motor.

As for 4pin pwm fans, Skythe ships one with their mugen 2 cooler with the blades of the slipstream.

Goto xtreme systems and look for vapor's fan review, you'ed be surprised that the S-Flex isnt really any better than the F3's

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Post by Engine » Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:10 pm

I have had a few Slipstreams die untimely bearing-wear deaths - wherein they still spin, but produce enough vibration to no longer remain silent - so I lean toward the Nexus for my own purposes, but recommend the Noctuas [with their 150,000 hour MTBF] when I'm building for others, unless it's a situation in which high static pressure is needed, as in tightly-spaced CPU heatsink fins, and the "new" Noctuas are an improvement over their predecessors on that count, as well.

Has anyone else experience premature deaths of their Slipstreams? The most recent example is about nine months old, and mounted in a machine that's only on for a few hours a day. [By way of comparison, the spare Antec tri-cool I use on my dual processor P3 1.4-S has run 24/7 for a couple of years now, without discernible deterioration.] I'd just like to have a better idea of whether or not I'm experiencing a statistical anomaly, as I've not really heard of others having these problems.

It's worth noting all the owners I've had complain of premature Slipstream death owned multiple pets, and had greater dust concerns than normal; although all were cleaned regularly, I cannot logically eliminate this as a factor.

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Post by DrCR » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:07 pm

I just took a glance at Vapor's review. Been a long time since I been around xtremesystems, and a long time since I've seen Cathar's name come up. I spent most of my time at ProCooling backing in the WCing era.

If you look at the graphs, you will note the brick wall that is reached at ~22 dBA. 22dBA isn't exactly a leafblower, but it's certainly not stoked-out grade quiet either. Based on their sound testing, the ZM-F3's sweet spot is at noise levels far beyond what most of us SPCRers care for. If you just want a non-Delta-screamer rad config, which in recent years has been come a universal trend, the ZM-F3 looks like a fine choice and would make sense for it to be attractive for non-SPCR-quiet grade use.

EarlZ, I would recommend you view tech sites, reputable tech site, in context of their knack. I am not going to post on SPCR concerning, say, a phase-change-based OCing project. In the past, anything posted as "quiet" on any site other than basically just SPCR was simply laughable. While it is certainly not on that level overall nowadays, it is still important to consider the differences in focus and preference between communities.

Goofy problem Engine considering Nexuses are serving you just fine. Must just be a lemon batch. :?:

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Post by merlin » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:37 pm

If there's one negative about my gigabyte mobo, it's the lack of voltage based fan control that once used to be available. Since we're discussing good fans, I was wondering what the top pwm fans would be, or even better, good budget ones. Sadly I've not seen a pwm yate loon out there, because I'd jump on that. I guess the nexus would probably be on the list.

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Post by jessekopelman » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:20 am

merlin wrote:I was wondering what the top pwm fans would be, or even better, good budget ones. Sadly I've not seen a pwm yate loon out there, because I'd jump on that. I guess the nexus would probably be on the list.
Hard to say. Given that it has the lowest price and the lowest minimum speed rating of the PWM fans, I'm thinking Scythe is the best value here. Of course it depends on application, as Artic-Cooling has nice features like PWM daisy-chain and fluid-dynamic bearings.

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