whats the best 120mm fan for rad?

[Zohan2000]

what 120mm fans are the go to for a 360mm rad? planning an upgrade in the future and want to watercool it but am stuck at what fans to use, will be in a lian li pc o11XL so 6 fans will be on rads with the 7th on the rear for either exhaust or intake, ive looked around on google and thats only showing old info, will probably be using 2 EK PE 360 rads with distro-plate cooling a 3700x and possibly a 2080Ti

 

 

everything will be aircooled till i save up enough to watercool the mobo, cpu and gpu

[Nas]

EK fans are a good bet, they have great static pressure and are quiet enough for most use cases. Noctua NF P12s are a great alternative if you want quieter fans, but bear in mind they are more expensive.

[Mateyyy]

NF-F12 and Silent Wings 3 offer a good balance between performance and noise, so I'd check these out. They are on the pricier side though, so keep that in mind.

[SolarNova]

Best fans currently available when measured by noise:performance are the Noctua NF-A12x25

They can be run at 1000rpm dead silent, up to 1300rpm with minimal noise, at 1500 they sound like ur 'average' corsair and other 'high end fans' at around 1000 rpm. And top out at 2000 rpm where they are still quieter than competitors but i wouldnt run them at that speed all the time unless ur wearing headphones.

[Zohan2000]

how would the corsair ML fans go?

[WoodenMarker]

12 minutes ago, Zohan2000 said:

how would the corsair ML fans go?

They perform pretty well but aren't very quiet if you're sensitive to noise. What are your priorities? Budget?

[Zohan2000]

At the moment I'm currently planning, don't really care for rgb, just want good airflow for the rads and a good fan for the rear

[WoodenMarker]

9 hours ago, Zohan2000 said:

At the moment I'm currently planning, don't really care for rgb, just want good airflow for the rads and a good fan for the rear

Budget?

Make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

[bowrilla]

On 4/19/2020 at 7:28 PM, Mateyyy said:

NF-F12 and Silent Wings 3 offer a good balance between performance and noise, so I'd check these out. They are on the pricier side though, so keep that in mind.

I second this and add the NF-S12A PWM and NF-P12 PWM. The Silent Wings 3 are my absolute go-to case fans of choice.

 

I'd like to add a small tip: don't look for max static pressure at ridiculously high rpm. They don't matter unless you're willing to wear sound proof headphones all day long. You'll probably run your radiator fans around the 400-800rpm range not 1.400-1.800rpm. It doesn't matter if fan x has double the static pressure at 1.800 or 1.900rpm. You'll never run it at those speeds. Don't go for the high speed fans, go for low speed and choose the fans with high enough static pressure and low noise.

 

P.S.: static pressure is not a linear function of the fan speed. You can't just interpolate thism value.

[Zohan2000]

13 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Budget?

Make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

at the moment just planning so dont really have a budget just yet, am thinking about spending that extra on 6 EK vardar fans and use 2 3fan splitters for the fans on the rads and get some random decent airflow fan for the rear fan spot

[WoodenMarker]

14 hours ago, Zohan2000 said:

at the moment just planning so dont really have a budget just yet, am thinking about spending that extra on 6 EK vardar fans and use 2 3fan splitters for the fans on the rads and get some random decent airflow fan for the rear fan spot

If you just have money to blow, NF-A12x25's are about as good as it gets. 

[Zohan2000]

9 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

If you just have money to blow, NF-A12x25's are about as good as it gets. 

after looking at the price per fan i think ill go with ek fans haha, over $70 AUD per noctuia fan vs $37 for one of EKs rgb fans, will go for something without rgb so probably $24aud per fan

[bowrilla]

4 hours ago, Zohan2000 said:

after looking at the price per fan i think ill go with ek fans haha, over $70 AUD per noctuia fan vs $37 for one of EKs rgb fans, will go for something without rgb so probably $24aud per fan

Where the heck were you looking? Newegg lists the NF-A12x25 PWM fans for 39,60 AUD.

[Zohan2000]

39 minutes ago, bowrilla said:

Where the heck were you looking? Newegg lists the NF-A12x25 PWM fans for 39,60 AUD.

now that is confusing, on mwave, PCcasegear and scorptec they have the fan listed at $69-$75

[WoodenMarker]

4 hours ago, Zohan2000 said:

now that is confusing, on mwave, PCcasegear and scorptec they have the fan listed at $69-$75

Newegg's pricing seems to not account for GST. It's still usually cheaper than other retailers but shipping can take longer. If you would prefer to save some money, P12 PWM's are well priced. 

https://www.amazon.com.au/ARCTIC-ACFAN00135A-Value-Pack-Pressure-Optimized/dp/B07HC7P3HJ

There's also a PST variant for daisy chaining if you don't want to use a splitter for more fans. 

https://www.amazon.com.au/ARCTIC-Standard-Noise-Case-Black/dp/B07HC782D5

If you have more to spend and don't mind the wait, GT's are among the best: https://www.newegg.com/nidec-d1225c12b5ap-53-case-fan/p/1YF-009G-00003?Item=9SIAAESAT86375

[Zohan2000]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Newegg's pricing seems to not account for GST. It's still usually cheaper than other retailers but shipping can take longer. If you would prefer to save some money, P12 PWM's are well priced. 

https://www.amazon.com.au/ARCTIC-ACFAN00135A-Value-Pack-Pressure-Optimized/dp/B07HC7P3HJ

There's also a PST variant for daisy chaining if you don't want to use a splitter for more fans. 

https://www.amazon.com.au/ARCTIC-Standard-Noise-Case-Black/dp/B07HC782D5

If you have more to spend and don't mind the wait, GT's are among the best: https://www.newegg.com/nidec-d1225c12b5ap-53-case-fan/p/1YF-009G-00003?Item=9SIAAESAT86375

was gonna use 2 of EKs or cablemods splitters for 3 fans and have the 2 rads each controlled and have the rear fan have its own fan header, was gonna wait till i at least got $2500AUD but with how my PC has been behaving recently i might have to start buying things now and see whats slowly dying in my current rig

[RejZoR]

Looking at fans (preferably high pressure ones with large blades) that have square frame is important for radiators. For fans like Silent Wings 3 I recommend making a thin shroud to fill the gaps on sides of the fan frame otherwise you'll have pressure leaks on the sides. It's not massive, but why waste performance if you don't have to. Silent Wings 3 are great fans tho.

 

Vardar fans from EK are also really good and have square frame.

[SolarNova]

3 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Looking at fans (preferably high pressure ones with large blades) that have square frame is important for radiators. For fans like Silent Wings 3 I recommend making a thin shroud to fill the gaps on sides of the fan frame otherwise you'll have pressure leaks on the sides. It's not massive, but why waste performance if you don't have to. Silent Wings 3 are great fans tho.

 

Vardar fans from EK are also really good and have square frame.

One of the good things about Noctua NF-A12x25's is that they come with a but load of hardware included.

 

Total contents:

 

The fan

30cm sleeved extension cable

4 pin sleeved Y cable

A Sleeved low noise adapter cable

Anti vibration mounts (used instead of screws)

Normal fan to case screws

Anti vibration gasket for radiators.

 

The only thing it doesnt come with is radiator screws, since they usually come with ur rad.

 

And ofc Noctua 6 year warranty.