I've heard about many good fan choices for radiators here and there i hear a lot of Noctua, Scythe, and Corsair mentioned. my issue is all of these are fairly expensive fans, anyone have other suggestions that are cheaper with little to no compromise on sound and performance?
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would you be able to speculate necessary fan speed as this will definately play into whether or not bargain fans are worth considering. i'll be using a triple rad paired with an i5 that i want 4.7+ out of, i probably wouldnt have to run them anywhere near max speed or would i?
Anything with a high static pressure rating. Bitfenix spectre's, noiseblockers, new xspc range, silverstone ap's, there are heaps to choose from.
Out of anything I prefer noiseblockers - great performance and reasonably cheap. Plus the power cables are braided and detachable to the fan.
When I was looking for 140mm fans a good while back I found these: BGears B-Blaster. Ball bearing fans, no PWM. A little over 5 Watts a pop, 100+ CFM and great static pressure. I ended up using the Akasa Viper fans though, PWM and less loud. Expensive though, the B-Blaster is less expensive, about 10 bucks. The 120 mm variant usually sells for less.
Then there is always the thicker industrial fans like the Delta fans, but these are soo loud you don't want to be in the same room. Like the 120x38 mm Delta PFB1212UHE-F00. 252 CFM and stupid expensive. Delta have much cheaper variants too, but they are still very loud.
Best radiator fans in the 120 mm size I've tried are easily the PWM variant of the Scythe Grand Flex (SM1225GF12SH-P). 600-2400 RPM. Beasts on any radiator. I've cooled an overclocked 4820K and a 290 on a 2x120 thin rad with two of these no problem (swiftech rad). I think Amazon stock them, though they tend to be a bit expensive there. I got mine fairly cheap at a local store.
Yeah, Yate Loon is probably the best cheap option. Should be available for low price almost everywhere. You get what you pay for.
I suffer from short term memory loss Pawmaniac Don't kill me T_T Lol jk, I actually just wanted to make a new thread specifically for this topic so I could get input from various people and really didn't expect you to show up again I appreciate the input you give you good ol lurker you. I just find it to be healthy practice to hear from more than one person before deciding though I must say you really know your stuff :P As for the radiator I will probably use something like an alphacool or swiftech in 30mm which you suggested in the gtx 980 thread since i made budget and can afford to get a little more. when i add the 980 into the loop ill be adding another radiator so that shouldnt affect fan choice. As for temps I don't really know what I would be comfortable with as I've always had AMD which need the temps much lower. I usually just take what everyone considers the "safe max temp" and try to stay 10c+ below that. Also thanks for the video link.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8147/fan-500/Delta_Mega_Fast_120mm_x_38mm_Fan_-_252_CFM_-_Bare_Lead_PFB1212UHE-F00.html?tl=g36c435s1109&id=pVcu3uct
Dear god Anarekist I don't need to cool a nuclear power plant! O_O that price is out of the question but if I ever need something insane i know where to look lol
@Pholostan I'm looking for 120mm fans so i looked up the 120 of the b-gears which looks to be very solid for the price and definately worth the consideration!
12V, 4.80A
Holy balls. I'm not sure if my whole laptop even uses that much power.
First, a waring. Never go by the manufactures posted numbers for airflow or pressure, it's all trash, or ever just go by someone's offhand. Demand science.
Yeah, most fan vendors who sell to "computer enthusiast" are a bit fast an loose with the specs. They all seems to measure them differently, and during independent testing they pretty much never measure up. The only ones who pretty much have numbers that have something to do with reality are the big makers who supply industry etc. Like Yate Loon who make a fair amount of fans every year. Or Nidec Servo (they make the Scythe Gentle Typhoon among others). Minebea Matsushita, Delta etc. They all also supply numbers that are measured according to industry standards etc, and usually are comparable.
The biggest problem for us who want science is that it is not easy to really test fans. To actually do real science you need some very expensive equipment. The next best thing of course is to use fans in real worlds situations (like the great Martin of the Liquid labs) and measure very carefully, be aware of error margins etc etc. A lot of work. Really a lot of work.
Not to mention all the flak you'll have to deal with when you tell people that their shiny expensive bling bling fans are really not that good...
Yeah I think they are decent for the price. Probably louder and worse reliability than say a Gentle Typhoon, but also cheaper. Should be available for less then ten bucks.
Noctua best fans hands down, no compromises no debates! NF F12's or the 140MM version
i'm either going with the corsair 780t or phanteks enthoo luxe both have a fan hub (780t having an actual controller phanteks having a motherboard controlled hub with suplimental molex power) so i'm covered there! and as far as noctuas go i like their sound signature but the performance vs sound level is eh at best. Would take Yate Loons over Noctuas any day the price of a Noctua isn't worth it.
The Enthoo Luxe is more of a watercooling friendly case so I would say go for the Luxe
(and if you don't mind me linking you to another topic, I built a watercooling loop in an Enthoo Pro which is the same frame internally as the Luxe and I made a build log for it if you are interested in the possibilities the Luxe can give https://teksyndicate.com/forum/build-pc/my-watercooling-build-log-phanteks-enthoo-pro-watercooling-build/192353)
I'm not afraid of drilling some holes and adding some brackets to the 780t it's just coming down to which one i like more. i'm starting to lean more towards the enthoo for its psu cover, and lighting options (that's how close of a tie it is to me); though i've heard horror stories about how easy the windows scratch. I do like how the 780t supports more fans and more rads as this build won't be a 1 rad build forever it's just to get it started. I'm really torn between the two and at this rate it's going to come down to a coin toss.
@pholostan, things like this are why I don't trust anyone trying to sell me something. I bought some cougar fans a few months ago to replace some failing fans in my build, they are great don't get me wrong but the specs aren't accurate at all especially when it comes to static pressure.
Primo is too expensive for my taste if i wanted to spend over 200 on a case i'd get a case labs XD
lmao you caught what i did there with my words ;) yeah caselabs is insane I would love to have one but i don't have that sort of income to blow so much on a case, and along those lines the 780t is already pushing my comfort level on price which is another reason i like the luxe more, as my original case budget was 150.
Sad part is CaseLabs apparently makes surprisingly little profit on each case. Aluminum is goddamn expensive compared to East Asian steel.