[mikeo01]

Hi all, I recently got into case modding and using UV light, and now I can see my LEDs are really going to effect the UV coming from them.
My fans are all Xigmatek XLFs, they're very nice looking fans but according to Xbit labs they don't actually fair too well.

I will be and have dropped my case fans significantly, although I love LED fans I now only want bare minimum, power consumption + noise.
I have two top fans and two front fans. PWM may be a nice addition but I have voltage control so not exactly essential.

I am looking to sell all my XLFs to have some good fans that'll do well at a low RPM and spin up under load to produce a good CFM rate. My XLF for my heatsink is a higher RPM and CFM fan, so anything to replace that too.

XLF - 61cfm ~ 63cfm
Xbit tells me they hit 25cfm

I want to replace dual top fans for 120mm ones, preferably coloured blade or if anyone can suggest cheap pain I can use to modify them?
Front fans 140mm~150mm fans, again I will want to paint these if it's easy.

CPU fan, 120mm unless a 140mm fan can attach to it, something with umf.

What I have seen so far, no idea about them.

Xilence Red Wing/2 Component fans
Coolermaster Sickleflow (LEDs are very dim I used them before)
Akasa Viper

Cheap fans are a must here, I need 5 nice fans, but can't spend £50 on just fans, so <£10. Preferably £5.

Thanks all

unless it's best to stay with mine

NOTE: Forgot to mention, there is now no way for air to come through the sides, it has to come through the front, top or rear, I have sealed everything else off. (Acrylic window)

 

[Elohim]

What? so because Xbitlabs says they are average you want to change your system?

Anyway:

these are some decent silent case fans:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm-enermax-uctb14-tbsilence-case-fan-twister-bearing-super-silent-15-dba-turbine-blades
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm-enermax-uctb12-tbsilence-case-fan-twister-bearing-super-silent-11-dba-batwing-blades
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120mm-thermalright-fluid-dynamic-bearing-fan-at-max-800rpm

 

[iamhollywood5]

wait seriously? Xigmatek lies that badly? I just bought 6 Xigmatek FCB fans for my case because I thought they were 60 CFM... now I wanna return them for false advertising =/ Should have read more reviews...

 

[mikeo01]

Thanks Elohim for the links. These are the fixed RPM fans? 45CFM seem quite low and from the looks of it on their site the static pressure is low at low RPM, I may go with the PWM versions if I can find them as cheap they seem like decent fans

as long as I have at least two decent intake fans (to get some fresh air in) it should be OK for me.

They're also very nice looking fans!

iamhollywood5: They seem to push some air, for example they push a lot more air than my Arctic F12 and my very old Bitfenix Spectre (most awful fans that ever existed).

But I did find the static pressure is kind of low on them, for a case fan unobstructed but I have quite thick dust filters. The only fan I found decent was my XLF 88CFM fan (seems like they are only supplied with their heatsinks).

EDIT: The xigmatek fans are decent mind for their price, at full speed they're OK. But for me at full speed it doesn't make a massive difference to temperatures

 

[Elohim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamhollywood5

wait seriously? Xigmatek lies that badly? I just bought 6 Xigmatek FCB fans for my case because I thought they were 60 CFM... now I wanna return them for false advertising =/ Should have read more reviews...

They are just a pretty average but relatively cheap fans.

@Mike:
The Enermax fans have a very smooth bearing (and are pretty cheap), wich is in my opinion the most important part when it comes to "quiet fans". The differences in "static pressure or Airflow to soundpressure level" is really not that big with most fans.
IF you look at two different fans at 20dBA soundpressure level.
Fan A pushes 25CFM and fan B pushes 28CFM at that sound pressure level.
If fan A has the superiour bearing in terms of a smooth sound and fan B makes a slight ticking noise, then i would always get Fan A.
The 3CFM difference is negligable, but the if you want a quiet computer you dont want any bearing noise, and the pure Soundpressure Measurings of most these tests doesnt tell you anything about how annoying a fan might sound.

 

[mikeo01]

Ah right thanks for clearing this up. I was never really sure about the fan bearings. What bearings should I avoid in terms of sound and pure durability?

Does CFM really matter that much for case airflow? Because I am looking for quiet for normal use I see my idle temperatures are slightly higher than I personally want them to be. I noticed if I ramp up my RPM on my case fans it makes little difference, around 2-3c different in components temperatures.

If I ramp up my CPU fan it knocks down the temperatures a lot more even alone. So I am thinking I may have a dead spot somewhere where the air just sits. Rear exhaust fan makes zero difference.

 

[mikeo01]

I may give these a shot for the CPU heatsink

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/140mm-thermalright-ty-147-case-fan-silent-7-blade-dual-ball-bearing

 

[nleksan]

Sleeve bearings are the quietest when working properly, although FDB's can be very quiet as well. Ball bearings, on the other hand, are the most durable and can put up with a ton of abuse, at the expense of a few dB.

 

[mikeo01]

Thanks

what is this Enhanced Hyper-Flow Bearing thing? I found some very very cheap Thermalright fans on Amazon for only £5 (same price as when I bought my Xigmateks)

http://www.thermalright.com/html/products/fan/ty-147.html

OR I can spend an extra £2 and get this one http://www.thermalright.com/html/products/fan/ty-143.html

I am thinking of using it for the front intake and CPU heatsink because it can mount on 120mm holes. Unfortunately it definitely won't fit at the top so will have to think of something for that.

Would it be worth just using one fan for the CPU cooler?

 

[mikeo01]

I decided these fans (TY-143) are just too good to miss, 130CFM and I assume they have around 2.0 mmH2O static pressure according to a review done on here, if it's the same as TY-140

 

[nleksan]

They are probably sitting around 2.5-3.25mmH2O, but I couldn't give you a solid number. They are definitely very nice fans, and some of the best large-heatsink fans out there period! Keep in mind, though, that you won't be getting 130CFM and Silence at the same time...

FORTUNATELY the TY-143 scale down as well as the 141, but unlike the latter the 143 have a significant amount of headroom should the need for more airflow/cooling arise!

Personally, I go Push-Pull always, because there is generally a 15-30% performance boost (air cooling is likely at the lower end of that range), you get better performance at a LOWER speed than with just 1 fan, and you have that extra thermal headroom to crank up the fans should the need arise. With 2 fans in push-pull, you are effectively maintaining the higher level of static pressure and airflow velocity across the entirety of the heatsink, instead of having air slow down as it passes through (and having already absorbed heat, this "slower air" is essentially "wasting space"); also, the extra fan's resulting increase in airflow velocity results in a much higher amount of turbulence across the fins of a heatsink, disrupting any boundary layer and ensuring that the air actually contacting the heatsink is cool, instead of having a layer of air molecules that are already heated up acting as the transfer agent.

 

[mikeo01]

Thanks for such an informative answer, sounds like I may have made the right choice. The 130CFM really did jump out at me, but like you said the ability to ramp up the RPM when needed gives me a silent but potentially powerful cooling.

I currently had Xigmatek XLS which is rated at 88CFM, my other fan on the other side is a bit weak.

I have currently pre-ordered 4 of these and am thinking of using two in the front and two for the CPU heatsink. Because of the irregular dimensions it'll mean that it'll fit in perfectly at the front, plus the orange look is a bonus!

You stated that I will get good performance at low speed, so push/pull with these sound good. Also I was thinking because it's slightly larger than my heatsink will my northbridge and VRMs benefit from this also?

Thanks +rep

 

[nleksan]

I am glad to be of help.

Yes, the extra swept area of the fans that doesn't blow across the heatsink should be beneficial for the VRM temps. Not as good as a dedicated VRMA cooler/fan, but better than a passively cooled heatsink.