What's better than a Noctua NF-A14 PWM?

[Gerr]

I have a pair of these in the front of my H440, but they still struggle to bring in enough fresh air even at max RPM due to the restrictive front intake airflow of this case.   I know a new case with a mesh front would be best, but are there any fans out there that would be better as intake fans in my H440 without sounding like a turbine engine?  The sound of my current fans is acceptable, but don't want to get much louder.  Suggestions?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Anything that isn't multiple ugly shades of brown

 

I like Corsair's fans

[Gerr]

The way the H440 is setup, you don't see the intake fans from the side window unless you are looking at it from an extreme angle, so color is not an issue.

[Mick Naughty]

3 nf-12's. Or anything decent in an 120mm format. Ill trade you three.

[Skiiwee29]

Not really. Noctua is pretty much the top of the line when it comes to static pressure and air flow. 

[Gerr]

Will 3x120mm outperform 2x140mm?

[Mick Naughty]

Depending on speeds of each, sure. Always prefer 3 to 2 in my air540s. Noticed quite a difference but that was with crap corsair. May try their new stuff but I doubt it got any better. 

[thorhammerz]

20 minutes ago, Mick Naughty said:

Noticed quite a difference but that was with crap corsair. May try their new stuff but I doubt it got any better. 

The ML series have very comparable performance (in terms of airflow and static pressure), but comes with a hefty price tag ($30-35 each for the LED ones) and can get loud as hell if you go above 50-60% RPM.

 

They do come in LED variants though .

[ImNotThere]

from 2 to 3 isnt a huge difference and 2 larger fans will be quieter than 3 smaller fans

[Gerr]

Right now, airflow is more important than noise, but don't want too much more noise.

[Mick Naughty]

Everything is cheap so just try both options. Shitty 120's or good ones. Or some sort of supposedly better 140 if you can find one.

[Stefan Payne]

THe only thing that comes to mind are the old Scythe (Nidec) Gentle Typhoons and be quiets Silent Wings.

[mariushm]

There are better fans, but not necessarily more silent... and not really at 25 mm thickness. You have some good choices if you go with 38mm thick fans.

 

The specs are these for NF-A14:

 

Airflow 140,2 m³/h  (82.5 CFM)

Airflow with L.N.A. 115,5 m³/h   (67.5 CFM)

Acoustical Noise 24,6 dB(A)

Acoustical Noise with L.N.A. 19,2 dB(A)

Static Pressure 2,08 mm H₂O  (0.081")

Static Pressure with L.N.A. 1,51 mm H₂O  (0.059")

 

 

 

60$ buys Sanyo Denki SanAce 140 (109P1412M101)  - ball bearing, 1900 rpm,  117.0 CFM (3.31m³/min or 198.6m³/h)  and 0.209" (5.3 mm H₂O)  but at 38 dB(A) - of course, you can use fan controller to adjust rpm by lowering voltage and make it more silent (and then of course, specs also lower and would be more in line with the noctua fan).

 

Or you can go nuts and spend 46$ on a Delta Electronics PFM1412DEB7 -   ball bearing, with PWM control,  254-282 CFM (7.2..8 m³/min or 480m³/h) at max rpm , and 42..51.5 mm H₂O - that's at maximum rpm which is  6500 rpm and up to 70dB(A)

But since you have PWM, at same 1000-1900 rpm it will still have a lot of static pressure and push a lot of air.

 

Both would be better by the sheer fact that they're 38 mm thick but they'd also be slightly noisier because of the bearing.

 

[W-L]

44 minutes ago, Gerr said:

I have a pair of these in the front of my H440, but they still struggle to bring in enough fresh air even at max RPM due to the restrictive front intake airflow of this case.   I know a new case with a mesh front would be best, but are there any fans out there that would be better as intake fans in my H440 without sounding like a turbine engine?  The sound of my current fans is acceptable, but don't want to get much louder.  Suggestions?

If you don't mind a slightly thicker fans the noiseblocker e-loops are very good options next to Noctua fans, as for other quite options the Fractal Design Venturi's are ones I usually recommend.

http://www.blacknoise.com/site/en/products/noiseblocker-it-fans/nb-eloop-series/140x140x29mm.php

[Stefan Payne]

1 minute ago, W-L said:

If you don't mind a slightly thicker fans the noiseblocker e-loops are very good options next to Noctua fans, as for other quite options the Fractal Design Venturi's are ones I usually recommend.

http://www.blacknoise.com/site/en/products/noiseblocker-it-fans/nb-eloop-series/140x140x29mm.php

AFAIR, according to other People,those eLoops are only good/silent if they can blow onto something or something like that. But they suck at sucking.

 

There was something like that said in some (German) Forums.

[W-L]

Just now, Stefan Payne said:

AFAIR, according to other People,those eLoops are only good/silent if they can blow onto something or something like that. But they suck at sucking.

 

There was something like that said in some (German) Forums.

They are pressure optimized fans but I never heard that before, where they are better in a push config than pull. 

[Dabombinable]

You could always go with a high RPM delta fan. But they are a bit on the noisy side.....

[Stefan Payne]

11 hours ago, W-L said:

They are pressure optimized fans but I never heard that before, where they are better in a push config than pull. 

They aren't bad, just noisy.

 

And according to those people, worse than normal fan in such configuration for example as a front fan in a case...

 

As upper fans blowing out of the case, they are fine however....

 

11 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

You could always go with a high RPM delta fan. But they are a bit on the noisy side.....

Airflow causes noise.

Thus higher airflow cause more noise...

Edited October 14, 2017 by Stefan Payne
missed half a sentence

[Dabombinable]

6 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

They aren't bad, just noisy.

 

And according to those people, worse than normal fan in such configuration for example as a front fan in a case...

 

As upper fans blowing out of the case....

 

Airflow causes noise.

Thus higher airflow cause more noise...

Some of Delta's fans spin at very high RPM (3000RPM+), and there is only so much you can do to keep a very high RPM motor uiet.

[mariushm]

17 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Some of Delta's fans spin at very high RPM (3000RPM+), and there is only so much you can do to keep a very high RPM motor quiet.

The one i linked to goes up to 6500 rpm. But that's why it has pwm wire, to only go that fast when it's needed. At 20% (minimum pwm speed), fan would most likely spin at less than 1000rpm . It will be slightly noisier at any rpm compared to the noctua due to bearing type and wing profile (and because it's built stronger to be capable of 6500 rpm if needed), but most likely will also have higher static pressure than the noctua at any rpm 

[WoodenMarker]

On 10/13/2017 at 3:39 PM, Gerr said:

Will 3x120mm outperform 2x140mm?

Yes, that's usually the case. NF-F12's would be better. Gentle Typhoons would also be good if you can get a hold of them. 

On 10/13/2017 at 8:27 PM, Stefan Payne said:

Airflow causes noise.

Thus higher airflow cause more noise...

Most of the noise is from motors and bearings as opposed to airflow.

[Mick Naughty]

What's the exact reasoning behind this again? What makes the think the fans are many up to par?

[Stefan Payne]

7 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Most of the noise is from motors and bearings as opposed to airflow.

Depends on the Motor/Bearing.

There are some very quiet Motors and Bearings out there.

[Dabombinable]

4 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Depends on the Motor/Bearing.

There are some very quiet Motors and Bearings out there.

But not at high RPM, unless the manufacturer decides to do the good thing and use more than 4 poles inside the fan motor.

[Stefan Payne]

59 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

But not at high RPM, unless the manufacturer decides to do the good thing and use more than 4 poles inside the fan motor.

https://www.bequiet.com/en/casefans/720

 

Like that??