120mm & 140mm "Quiet" Fan Round Up

Come One & Come All, as it's time for me to take on the task of doing a fan round up. This has been a slow burner as my time is slim this year but I've been testing a multitude of fans over the course of the last 6 months or so, and it's time for me to post the results, gut the liars, & give props to those who deserve it.

Testing Methodology

Today we'll be testing 4 aspects of these fans:

• Sound Pressure Level (recorded in dBA) measured at 0.3M in a 20.2dB-A environment with results adjusted to 1M distanced

• Airflow (recorded in CFM) recording in Free Air environment
• Static Pressure (recorded in mmH20)
• Heat Tolerance (testing done at 30*C) via incubator

The Testing Equipment

All Equipment Was Purchased & Owned By myself:

• Extech HD300
• Extech HD755
• Extech 407750 SPL Meter Lab Adjusted.
• Kintrex IRT0421 Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer
• Universal Enterprises DM383B Digital Multimeter
• Mastech HY1803D

All of my tests are done for a 30 minute period and logged both digitally & in analog fashion to ensure anomalies are caught. While some may argue that a heated environment is not needed, I have experienced otherwise, with a high ambient some low quality bearings produce ample noise. At least enough to become noticeable, most likely due to the provided oil in the bearing changing in a way which negatively effects the resistance experienced in the bearing.

I also test all of the fans in the Vertical / Upright or | position except during subjective noise tests where I use both the vertical/upright ( | ) & horizontal/flat ( -- ) positions to listen for any bearing noise, ticks, or other obtuse noises.

The Test Subjects:

120mm Category:
All fans purchased on my dime, except the one's marked by a asterisk (*).

• Antec True Quiet 120mm
• Antec True Quiet Pro 120mm
• Arctic Cooling F12 Pro
• BeQuiet Silent Wing 2 120mm*
• BitFenix Spectre 120mm (non-LED model)
• BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm (non-LED model)
• Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition
• Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition
• CooLink SWiF2 120mm
• CooLink SWiF2 120mm PWM
• Cougar Vortex Hyper-Spin 120mm
• Cougar Vortex HDB 120mm
• Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm (Non-LED)
• GeLID WING 12 (Blue non-LED)
• Nanoxia FX EVO 120mm 1300 RPM
• Nanoxia FX EVO 120mm PWM
• Nexus Real Silent 120mm
• Noctua F12-PWM
• Noctua P12-PWM
• Noctua S12B-FLX
• Noiseblocker Multi-Frame M12-PS
• NZXT FN-120
• Phanteks T12FS
• Rosewill Hyperborea 120mm
• Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP14
• Thermalright X-Silent 120mm
• Thermalright FDB-1600
• Thermaltake ISGC 12
• Zalman ZM-F3-FDB*
• Zalman ZM-SF3*
• Zaward Golf Fan G3 120mm

140mm Category: (sorry for this one being slim, I didn't have enough cash to buy all the fans I wanted to.)

All fans purchased on my dime, except the one's marked by a asterisk (*).

• Antec True Quiet 140mm
• BeQuiet Silent Wings 2 140mm*
• BitFenix Spectre 140mm (Non-LED model)
• BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm (Non-LED model)
• Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition
• Cougar Vortex Hyper Spin 140mm
• Cougar Vortex HDB 140mm
• Enermax T.B. Silence 140mm (Non-LED model)
• GeLID WING 14 (Blue-Non LED model)
• Nanoxia FX EVO 140mm 1000 RPM
• Noctua P14-FLX
• NZXT FN-140
• Phanteks F14TS
• Rosewill Hyperborea 140mm
• Scythe Kaze Maru 2 140mm Low Speed
• Thermalright TY-140*

• Xion AlphaWing 140mm (Non-LED model)
• Zalman ZM-F4* (actually a 135mm, but included cause I have it.)
• Zaward Golf Fan G3 140mm

In the next few posts I will do my best to describe the fans in detail and outline any issues they may have as well as what their true bearing type is.

120mm Fans

Antec True Quiet 120mm

Antec True Quiet Pro 120mm

Shortly after the launch of their True Quiet fans to the market, Antec released the True Quiet Pro models, which are a "minor" update in my opinion, but some would consider them rather major. Antec launched a marketing campaign to show off how smooth the bearing of this fan was, showing it last longer than the competition when turned off in a horizontal test. Unfortunately, Antec didn't actually put that much effort into bearing choice as it's simply a very nice sleeve bearing that has a magnet added to the end of the shaft for stability and a sealed chamber.

The interesting part about this fans design is that the blades are fused to the exterior ring which then hovers above the frame. Unfortunately, that makes this fan only suitable for a push scenario because the ring will rub against surfaces and get caught in a pull scenario. By a country mile, this was the quietest fan in terms of sound profile, in the line up. I was at over joyed with that fact, even though it wasn't a leader in any other category.

• Speed = 1200 RPM
• Airflow = 46.3 CFM
• Static Pressure = 0.66 mm-H₂O
• Sound Pressure = 18.8 dB-A
• MTBF = N/A
• Bearing = N/A, discovered Sleeve Bearing

Arctic Cooling F12 PWM

Anyone around here Remember when Arctic Cooling was the thing, and their coolers were recommended to everyone on a budget? Well if you don't, don't feel too bad, cause they were not that great back then and the tradition continues.

For a bit of fun, I took apart my old F12 Pro fan to find out it wasn't a real FDB fan and the trend continues, the F12-PWM while looking pretty good, is nothing more than a rifle bearing. Like wise, the small bearing caused a noticable amount of a grinding noise causing this fan to be rather unpleasant to listen to. Combined with it's rather poor performance & cheap design, I couldn't recommend it at all.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1350 RPM
• Airflow = 57 CFM
• Static Pressure = N/A
• Sound Pressure = 0.3 Sone (~25dB-A @ 1000hz, but not an accurate statement.)
• MTFB = N/A
• Bearing = Fluid Dynamic Bearing, discovered as Rifle Bearing

BeQuiet Silent Wing 2 120mm

BeQuiet is probably a new name to some of you in North America, but luckily I have a friend at BeQuiet and he was more than willing to send me a set of Silent Wing 2 fans knowing good well that I would rip them apart if they were bad or not up to the listed specs. What I'm glad to say is that these fans are not only used in BeQuiet's Dark Power Pro P10 PSUs, but they are also built by one of the best OEMs in the industry, Protechnic. These fans did have a low frequency bearing hum in both of my 120mm & 140mm fans. While this may be due to them shipping all the way from Germany, I've heard it in other samples that were sent to EU guys, so I have a feeling it's part of the design.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1500 RPM
• Airflow = 50.5 CFM
• Static Pressure = 1.67 mm-H₂O
• Sound Pressure = 15.7 dB-A
• MTBF = 300,000Hrs @ 25*C
• Bearing = Fluid Dynamic (confirmed)

BitFenix Spectre 120mm

Well, here's the second victim in my round-up of false representation of a product; these are not FDB fans but merely a rifle type design. They lack the essential components to make them an FDB, mostly a sealed bearing. Like wise, when it came to performance, these guys were pretty loud considering what they were rated for. I would have liked these fans to be an FDB, or even good for that matter, given the price. They simply were not. A rule of thumb folks, if it says it's an FDB fan but it's cheaper than $20-25 USD, MSRP; it's probably not a FDB fan or HDB fan. The bearing on this fan also had a significant amount of noise. Not enough to become bothersome, but definitely noticeable. The blade design led to some chopping as well at 1000 RPM.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1000 RPM
• Airflow = 43.5 CFM
• Static Pressure = 0.62 mm-H₂O
• Sound Pressure = <20dB
• MTFB = N/A
• Bearing = Claimed FDB, actually Rifle

BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm

Bitfenix's second offering to the market, this time a branch of fans targeted at enthusiasts. While these are not marketed as "silence" oriented fans. Unfortunately, BitFenix is using the same bearing as before, and it's not an FDB. Like wise, the fans has an enormous amount of air resistance noise caused by the veins & I do believe, the blade design. Like wise, the shapes of the ridges on the blades are not aeronautically designed and look to be more there for looks than anything else, so I'm not sure really what BitFenix is doing here. This isn't a performance design but neither is it a silent design. Somewhat middle of the road, but it costs far too much for what it is.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1200 RPM
• Airflow = 56.22 CFM
• Static Pressure = 1.24 mm-H₂O
• Sound Pressure = 18.4 dB-A
• MTBF = N/A
• Bearing Type = Claimed FDB, actually Rifle

CooLink SWiF2 120mm

Here's another EU brand that some of our US readers today may not know a whole lot about. What may be interesting to some of you is that these guys are actually closely related to Noctua as they're a brand of Kolink who is one of Noctua's parent companies along with Rascom. Either way, had me a bit uneasy as well, like Bitfenix, they promised more at their price than what others could offer when it came to the bearing. What CooLink calls a "Hydro Dynamic Bearing" is nothing more than a sleeve bearing with a copper core & magnet added for stabilization. Other than that, the standard voltage controled model wasn't too bad (more on the PWM model next) but the cable sleeving was quite litterally just a "loose" rubber tube. Not sure why, makes a somewhat decent fan seem very cheap.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1200 RPM
• Airflow = 55.4 CFM
• Static Pressure = N/A
• Sound Pressure = 18.2 dB-A
• MTBF = N/A
• Bearing = Hydro Dynamic Bearing, actually an advanced rifle bearing.

CooLink SWiF2 120mm PWM

Here's the PWM varriant of the fan from above, the biggest distinction between these two siblings is that the PWM model has the ability to reach a lower & higher RPM value than it's brother, as well as produce a greater amount of airflow & static pressure for the added RPMs, but the blade & housing design is all the same. Like wise, the bearing is the same here. Unfortunately, this fan experiences the same issue many PWM models do, at low to mid range (20% duty cycle to 70% duty cycle) speeds, you hear an audible tic that will most likely annoy many folks.

Rated Specs

• Speed = 1700 RPM
• Airflow = 75 CFM
• Static Pressure = N/A
• Sound Pressure = 27.1 dB-A
• MTBF = N/A
• Bearing Type = Hydro Dynamic Bearing, actually an advanced rifle bearing.

DeepCool UF120

Now this is going to be a shocker for some of you, this product is actually pretty good, and sold by Logisys of all folks as the SF120. They're both the same fan, as I have both and the Logisys even comes in a Deep Cool branded box with a logisys sticker holding it closed. While not a revolutionary fan, it's a pretty solid entry to the market. Quality bearing with minimal noise except at low RPM due to being a dual ball bearing but it does have some fancy bells & whistles to cut back on vibrations. For what it is, and the relative performance, the fan costs a bit much though. Like wise, this is another PWM fan that has a bit of ticking to it, though it was only at the 20% duty cycle, and otherwise handled the other duty cycles fine.

Rated Specs:

• Speed = 1500 RPM
• Airflow = 70.5 CFM
• Static Pressure = 1.8 mm-H₂O
• Sound Pressure = 27.8 dB-A
• MTBF = 70,000 Hrs @ 40*C

Noctua F12-PWM

Noctua P12-PWM

Noctua S12B-FLX

Noiseblocker Multi-Frame M12-PS

Rosewill Hyperborea 120mm

Scythe Gentle Typhoon AP14

Thermalright X-Silent 120mm

Thermalright FDB-1600

Thermaltake ISGC 12

Zalman ZM-F3-FDB

Zalman ZM-SF3

140mm Fans

Antec True Quiet 140mm

Arctic Cooling F14 PWM

BeQuiet Silent Wings 2 140mm

BitFenix Spectre 140mm

BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm

DeepCool UF140

Enermax T.B. Silence 140mm

Noctua P14-FLX

Rosewill Hyperborea 140mm

Thermalright TY-140

Zalman ZM-F4
 

reserved for testing results

Quote:

Originally Posted by CramComplex 

Good stuff! Need to know if there are fans out there that are for the budget conscious and can replace the AP-15s.

These fans are all going to fall into a 300 RPM category of 1300-1600 RPM, so none of them will directly compete with the GT AP-15's but the AP-14's are in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elohim 

This looks promising, you have a decent selection of fans, too
Interesting @ the Arctic Bearing, i was always wondering how they can sell a FD Bearing that cheap. Will you post pics of the disassembled fans?

I'm looking into that right now.

Currently I have an ancient P&S that runs off AA batteries and hands that are none too stable for the kind of picture perfect photography to see inside the bearing itself.

If I can get something sorted out, I'll be linking to them as separate posts in this thread.

Other brands (like BitFenix) have also been lying to folks as well, their fans are not FDB either but merely a sleeve bearing.

As for that section, I'll finish it in the future but I'm actually going to work on the main write-up of the testing data.