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Are aftermarket fans worth it?

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My new build is based on a corsair air 540 case and h110 cpu cooler. The stock fans are fine, and the temperatures are good for now (i am willing to overclock it), but they are pretty loud.

So I am considering to buy new high-end fans, but there seems to be a lot of misinformation in this domain, like people telling all the time that noctua are the best, even through in most actual comparison reviews I have seen, they are just above average.

 

Anyway since I don't know enough about fans to make a bold choice on my own, I am considering to buy five NF-A14 FLX, 2 for the h110 and 3 for the case obviously. Is this a good choice? I want the thing to be performant and quiet (no kidding).

 

But now I am wondering if it is really worth it to put more than $100 in fans? Will I notice a real difference, like more than 20% quieter? Or can I expect this thing to just be silent? Will there be a tangible gain performance wise, compared to the stock ones which are not that bad?

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Depends on the brand of stock fans, from what I understand NXZT and Fractal Design have great stock fans. Corsair I would change in a heart beat.

 

Noctua, Be Quiet!, Cougar, Silverstone and Bitfenix are good brands.

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Totally worth it.

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LED Fan=So much swag

Case:Define R4 | MOBO:ASRock z75 Pro 3 | CPU:i7-3770k 4.0GHz | CPU Cooler:H100i | GPU:970 Strix | RAM:Hyper X 16GB | 


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it will run cooler and be ALOT more quieter than a stock cooler

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My new build is based on a corsair air 540 case and h110 cpu cooler. The stock fans are fine, and the temperatures are good for now (i am willing to overclock it), but they are pretty loud.

So I am considering to buy new high-end fans, but there seems to be a lot of misinformation in this domain, like people telling all the time that noctua are the best, even through in most actual comparison reviews I have seen, they are just above average.

 

Anyway since I don't know enough about fans to make a bold choice on my own, I am considering to buy five NF-A14 FLX, 2 for the h110 and 3 for the case obviously. Is this a good choice? I want the thing to be performant and quiet (no kidding).

 

But now I am wondering if it is really worth it to put more than $100 in fans? Will I notice a real difference, like more than 20% quieter? Or can I expect this thing to just be silent? Will there be a tangible gain performance wise, compared to the stock ones which are not that bad?

They wont change the temps much, but the sound difference is huge.

CPU: i7 3770k@ 4.6Ghz@ 1.23v - GPU: Palit GTX 660ti - MOBO: Asrock Extreme 4 - RAM: Corsair vengeance 8GB 1600Mhz - PSU: OCZ 650watt - STORAGE: 128Gb corsair force GT SSD/ 1TB seagate barracuda 7200rpm

                                                                                         COOLING: NH-U14s/ 3x Noiseblocker blacksilent pros/ Silverstone Air Penetrator/ 2 corsair AF120s

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it will run cooler and be ALOT more quieter than a stock cooler

 

ALOT2.png

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It depends on how important cost, performance, and noise are to you. NF-A14's would be my #1 choice in this scenario for good performance and low noise--that is, if price isn't that much of an issue.

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Yes.

n0ah1897, on 05 Mar 2014 - 2:08 PM, said:  "Computers are like girls. It's whats in the inside that matters.  I don't know about you, but I like my girls like I like my cases. Just as beautiful on the inside as the outside."

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