Your favorite silent 120mm fan?

S.P. wrote:
>>> Looking to get a couple of 120mm fans that can push a decent amount
>>> of air but is still quiet. Any recommendations? I've looked at
>>> several sites but a lot of the manufacturer ratings look too good to
>>> be true. Eg. Thermaltake Thunderblade rated at 78cfm at 21dBA. Is it
>>> really that efficient?
>>> Thanks.
>>
>> no, they are not as quiet as they claim but they do move some air
>>
> Check out Panaflo fans by Panasonic. High flow, low noise. The
> deeper the better. See if you can use a thicker fan, like one or
> more inches. I used them several times and recommend them to my
> friends and clients.

i have a few of these and like them other than the fact they are in basic
black. I have a couple of the thunderblades with leds on a case (replaced
the stock thermaltake 120s) and they light nicely, nice flow, but are a bit
more noisy than i like. I have the Panaflow on an XP-120 and it rocks
(great cooling) with the 38mm depth. Quiet for what it is and the
performance it provides. even at my advanced years, i still like a bit of
flash though, so the panaflow is boring!

S
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Pabst fans.

"Joe Yong" <NO_flyingbuick_SPAM.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:zMtnf.15761$OK6.13622@trnddc03...
> Hi all,
> Looking to get a couple of 120mm fans that can push a decent amount of air
> but is still quiet. Any recommendations? I've looked at several sites but
> a
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Why are Panaflo fans so often mentioned? What is particularly special
about them? Do they have extra long lives, or low noise, or what?
And what is a "hydro wave" bearing?

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David Maynard writes:

> That I couldn't tell ya. Just don't know but I wondered about depending so
> much on a circulating fluid the first time I saw it.

The spec talks about reducing wear due to axial loads thanks to their
wavy-plate thing, but it also seems to say that radial loads and wear
are unaffected.

> Which reminds me of all the machines with fried GPUs I've worked on and
> when I ask if they heard anything I often get "yeah, it used to make a hell
> of a racket but that eventually went away."
>
> Yeah, it 'went away' when the fan seized up and the card cooked itself.

My GPU fan makes a soft noise at times; I don't know why. Are GPU
fans normally ball-bearing fans?

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Mxsmanic wrote:

> David Maynard writes:
>
>
>>That I couldn't tell ya. Just don't know but I wondered about depending so
>>much on a circulating fluid the first time I saw it.
>
>
> The spec talks about reducing wear due to axial loads thanks to their
> wavy-plate thing, but it also seems to say that radial loads and wear
> are unaffected.

Yes, but I wouldn't think the radial load is the most problematic.


>>Which reminds me of all the machines with fried GPUs I've worked on and
>>when I ask if they heard anything I often get "yeah, it used to make a hell
>>of a racket but that eventually went away."
>>
>>Yeah, it 'went away' when the fan seized up and the card cooked itself.
>
>
> My GPU fan makes a soft noise at times; I don't know why. Are GPU
> fans normally ball-bearing fans?

Ya know, I never bothered to check when I was in the throws of repairing a
system,
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David Maynard writes:

> Yes, but I wouldn't think the radial load is the most problematic.

Isn't it significant in fans that are mounted with the axis of the fan
horizontal? I thought I read that this was one reason why sleeve
bearings are best used for fans with the axis of the fan held
vertical.

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Mxsmanic wrote:

> David Maynard writes:
>
>
>>Yes, but I wouldn't think the radial load is the most problematic.
>
>
> Isn't it significant in fans that are mounted with the axis of the fan
> horizontal? I thought I read that this was one reason why sleeve
> bearings are best used for fans with the axis of the fan held
> vertical.
>

I'm not sure we're using the term "radial" in the same context they meant it.

Just looking at it the fluid is going to work on the long (axle) bearing
surface, where the ball bearing would be in a ball bearing fan, but not
have much effect on the ends and end seals.

As for orientation, I suppose the theory is that the weight of the rotating
assembly is applied to one side of the bearing when the fan is horizontal,
but not when vertical, increasing wear. The fluid bearing would reduce that
as the axle is not in actual contact the bearing surface.
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Jack writes:

> I do also. I can take a little noise for the longer lasting quality.
> What brand do you like?

I'm not an expert on brands; I'm always interested in recommendations.
Usually I just look for double ball-bearing in whatever I get, and
eyeball it to see if it looks well made if there's one on display. If
there's a brand out there that lasts three or ten times longer than
the competition, I'd certainly like to hear about it. I don't care
much about noise; I just want to ensure that the computer is always
well within the comfortably-cool range.

Even very good fans seem to be quite inexpensive compared to the rest
of the computer, so I don't see any reason to buy anything less than
the best. Maybe OEMs gain something by saving a few pennies when they
buy cheaper fans, but that kind of logic doesn't apply to homebuilt
machines, where it makes a lot more sense to spend the extra money and
buy top quality.

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Enermax adjustable.
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John Doe wrote:

>>I can't believe they can really do the testing necessary on a fan
>>cost under $8. An MTBF of 400,000 hours implies a mean time to
>>failure of more than 45 years. It might be like hard disks, where
>>the MTBF is based on the fact you replace them after their service
>>life (typically 3 or 5 years).
>
>
> Are you looking for a salesman?
>
> Your argument about fans being cheap doesn't apply to hard drives.
>
>
>>That figure of 400,000 hours might well be based on your replacing
>>the fan after one year. It might well be pure bull.
>
>
> You replace the fan after one year because it's dusty?

No, you might well have to replace it after 1 (probably more like 3 years)
because that is the end of its useful life, *if* you want to get an every of
400,000 hours (45 years) without a fan failure.

The MTBF in this case is quoted as 400,000 hours, which is 45 years. But the
useful life is probably only 3 years maximum. So you would need to replace it
after 3 years.

I very much doubt the useful life is as long as the guarantee period in this
case, which is why I find the guarantee of 6 years a marketing gimmick. They
might as well make it 100 years - it would make no practical difference.


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Dave (from the UK) wrote:
> John Doe wrote:
>
>>> I can't believe they can really do the testing necessary on a fan
>>> cost under $8. An MTBF of 400,000 hours implies a mean time to
>>> failure of more than 45 years. It might be like hard disks, where
>>> the MTBF is based on the fact you replace them after their service
>>> life (typically 3 or 5 years).
>>
>>
>>
>> Are you looking for a salesman?
>>
>> Your argument about fans being cheap doesn't apply to hard drives.
>>
>>
>>> That figure of 400,000 hours might well be based on your replacing
>>> the fan after one year. It might well be pure bull.
>>
>>
>>
>> You replace the fan after one year because it's dusty?
>
>
> No, you might well have to replace it after 1 (probably more like 3
> years) because that is the end of its useful life, *if* you want to get
> an every of 400,000 hours (45 years) without a fan failure.

Oops. that was supposed to be:


No, you might well have to replace it after 1 (probably more like 3 years)
because that is the end of its useful life, *if* you want to get an AVERAGE of
400,000 hours (45 years) without a fan failure.

Sorry, the word AVERAGE got replaced by EVERY, which was not what I meant.

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Dave K MCSE.

MCSE = Minefield Consultant and Solitaire Expert.

Please note my email address changes periodically to avoid spam.
It is always of the form: month-year@domain. Hitting reply will work
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 >> Stay informed about: Your favorite silent 120mm fan?