Case fan recommendations?

Sycoblackburn · September 30, 2020

I have an ibuypower prebuilt that I bought from bestbuy. BB980 is the model number. I was thinking about getting another fan and didn't see a recommendation list or tier list for that sort of thing. Is it all pretty much similar when it comes to case fans? A believe it has a fan controller as well.

ThiccPug · September 30, 2020

I believe most fans are similar, im a newb tho.

Any fan should do just look for one with decent RPM a good bearing and low noise level.
Thats basically all i have been doing lmao and all the fans i have used have been perfect.

GhostRoadieBL · September 30, 2020

most case fans are quite similar, there are some tiers but it's more for air pressure (when using water cooling or CPU heatsink) and noise

top tier $$$:

Noctua - anything from them is gold standard industrial built and will last for decades of builds even when in heavy dust and restricted

BeQuiet - super silent, basically as quiet as you can get a fan while still pushing air

Mid Tier $$ or RGB $$$$$:

Corsair AF lines - great airflow but seem to be more interested in RGB than performance and you pay a premium for the brand

Fractal Design - were the top tier a few years ago at the dawn of watercooling and just stagnated compared to Noctua and BeQuiet

literally everything else falls below these when it comes to performance and longevity. There will be outliers with great airflow and silence but come from cheap manufacturing processes

DIYPC fans look great, are very inexpensive, push a great amount of air at low noise and will probably run well but not a ton of faith when dust starts to build up in the bearings will they truck on through or just stop one day.

Demonic Donut · September 30, 2020

Noctuas are great fans. I have lots of them. The redux line from Noctua is great as a cheaper option. You just don't get all of the extras that come with the full price fans. Cable extension, splitter, low noise adapter, different mounting hardware and the rubber corners for the fans. Still great fans though.

The Arctic P12 and P14 fans have great reviews too. They are much cheaper as well.

I can't help with RGB fans, but expect to pay at least $40 a fan for anything decent.

ravenshrike · October 1, 2020

I second the Arctic line. Close behind Noctuas in terms of both cooling and audio performance for much cheaper. The only thing that's unknown is their longevity.