So, one of my case fans in the NZXT H440 (assuming FN V2) just had one of the blades snap after I slightly touched it with the dust filter. I’m still waiting for a response from NZXT on the ticket I opened. Bought the case a little over a year ago but just in case they refuse to replace it I’d like to ask you guys for recommendations.
I know Noctua are considered the top of the line but I’m not paying 20€ per fan (if I have to buy one I’m replacing all 3 front intake fans).
Does anyone know what the difference between all the be quiet fans is? (Silent Wings, Shadow Wings, etc)?
Requirements are as stated in the title: cheap, good and silent, and 120mm (I can mount 140mm too but they don’t cover the whole front/HDDs).
For now I have a 120mm Corsair SP installed but even with the resistor added it’s way louder than the fans that came with the case and temps are meh).
No, no… They are cheap, they are nice… But we are talking NZXT H440 case. You want good static pressure to pull air inside the case. Owning a bunch of Fractal Design fans - no… They barely push through my front dust filter alone…
Same thing… 800rpm or 1000rpm won’t push any air through that very very limited intake…
Like @thro suggested I would try the Fractal fans. I’ve haven’t used them myself, but many have praised the price-performance ratio of those Silent Series fans. Especially if you can use some fan controller etc. to adjust the fan speed.
There’s also EK-Vardar. I have two of these in my DYI case atm. They are model F2-120 1450rpm versions, non PWM if I remember right… They are ok, I bought them for radiator use originally, but due to some design mistakes in my case they now act as 2 intake fans and they seems to do their work just fine. 100% the sound is noticeable, but not bad. Then again, due to the mentioned design mistakes in my case I have to quite loud extra fans to help cool the CPU, so tbh currently I can’t say how silent the Vardar fans are.
And here is the link for the EK fans I mentioned. I didn’t find the model I have, maybe they have discontinued them…
The case comes shipped with 3x 120mm & 1x 140mm NZXT FN V2 fans. They’re not for static pressure and so far the temps were absolutely fine. The Corsair SP I use as a temporary replacement is way too loud and the temps weren’t good enough to justify the noise.
For that price I’d probably just go with Noctua.
Also 20€+.
The two being? I’m assuming good and silent but not exactly budget-friendly.
They’re way overpriced here. (20€+)
Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like this is one of the “choose 2 out of 3” situations. I’ll think it over and keep your suggestions in mind when browsing.
These are the HDD temps with the 2x FN V2 (100% rpm) + 1x SP (50% rpm) now.
Static pressure sounds like the way to go in theory as the HDD bays block like 80% of the front intake, but CPU/GPU temps are very good regardless (40-44°C on the CPU, ~50°C VRM and ~40°C on the GPU while gaming). The CPU and VRM temps only go up while transcoding videos but they’re of no concern (~70°C on both CPU and VRM).
Not an option with my setup. Interesting suggestion, though.
The temps were fine with the fan config so far and I want to keep the cost down to a minimum.
They’re cheap, no doubt about it. 4x for the price of 1x Noctua. But reviews suggest getting the PWM version as they non-PWM are noisy at 100%, which is what I’d use them at. Just straight plugged into the fan hub of my case which goes directly to the PSU.
I was hoping there’s kind of a “one fits all” solution, especially as I haven’t seen any fan reviews lately (which had me thinking “I guess there are a few go-to fans by now, so new ones aren’t worth reviewing”).
Just like some time ago when people asked for recommendations for a cheap CPU cooler for mild OCing on an i5, they were told to just buy the Hyper 212.
First: there’s no cheap and good. If you want good (Noctua and Noiseblocker are my recommendations) you’ll have to pay.
Second: that tower is chocked for air, the front panel is solid and there’s only a narrow strip open on the right side. The intake fans have to spin like crazy to compensate, it’s stupid. Instead of buying fans I’d buy a new tower.
No, definitely not happening. Just bought it last year. And as I mentioned before, the GPU and CPU temps are fine despite the HDDs and front panel blocking air flow, even during heavy loads.
