Good maglev casefans

[Potted Rose Petal]

So I kinda disconnected my case fans right now because they were too loud. They were only stock fans as well.

However, now its summer and stuff will get warmer, I think its healthier for my pc to do a bit more cooling.

(rough specs, Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 2060, samsung evo ssd 1tb, tho there might be an upgrade to a higher end GPU, like 3070ti or smth like 40XX)

 

My case is a fractal design define r5, I plan to do it in a positive static pressure configuration to avoid dust (which is a slight problem rn lol), meaning one intake at the bottom and two in the front, one fan out at the back.

I cant really open the top since I always put stuff on there, so the only other option with slightly less pressure would be to open up the side hole that this case has and populate it with an output fan, but that would be even more fans and also not ideal noise-wise. Also, all intakes have a dust filter.

 

Its 4 fans I want to buy, and I dont want to spend above 100€, but below that would be even better... Meaning the max price is 25€ per fan. That should be fine even with maglev right?

 

So my question, what maglev fans are the best ones rn in my price range? tbh I am kinda overwhelmed by the ammount one can find. They dont need rgb since I wont see them anyway, which only gives me more options. My only requirement is them being fairly quiet and long-lasting as well as PWM so they can be slower or even off in idle config.

Edit: forgot to mention, they should be 140mm as well, since I am unsure if 120 will fit. Probably yes, but the ones rn are 140, so why take the risk.

 

And is it worth it to use a fan hub? I have 4 headers, so idk...

 

Thanks for the answers in advance!

Edited May 20, 2022 by Potted Rose Petal

[NorKris]

Phanteks T30

 

[Potted Rose Petal]

55 minutes ago, NorKris said:

Phanteks T30

 

oh whoops I knew I forgot something. It needs to be 140mm.

[NorKris]

1 minute ago, Potted Rose Petal said:

oh whoops I knew I forgot something. It needs to be 140mm.

then ur out of luck  

[Dogzilla07]

20 minutes ago, NorKris said:

then ur out of luck

Not at all,

21 minutes ago, Potted Rose Petal said:

oh whoops I knew I forgot something. It needs to be 140mm.

The new Corsair ML Elite are the only ones to fit the bill, until Phanteks comes out with the T30-140 later this year. The single LED color versions are ~25 eur a piece. They do however unfortunately seem to be ~$35 on Amazon. They're a bit uplifted never version, Hopefully they straightened out the small noise issues their predecessors had at higher speeds.

 

https://geizhals.eu/?cmp=2626210&cmp=2626206&cmp=2626195&cmp=2626193&cmp=2626191&cmp=2626182&active=0

 

[NorKris]

14 minutes ago, Dogzilla07 said:

Not at all,

The new Corsair ML Elite are the only ones to fit the bill, until Phanteks comes out with the T30-140 later this year. The single LED color versions are ~25 eur a piece. They do however unfortunately seem to be ~$35 on Amazon. They're a bit uplifted never version, Hopefully they straightened out the small noise issues their predecessors had at higher speeds.

 

https://geizhals.eu/?cmp=2626210&cmp=2626206&cmp=2626195&cmp=2626193&cmp=2626191&cmp=2626182&active=0

 

 

how do u know they are good tho? 

[Dogzilla07]

58 minutes ago, NorKris said:

how do u know they are good tho? 

I don't know how good they are, but I do know they're not bad, I'm going by their predecessor performance + the lack of negative experiences of owners of new ones.

 

Heck it's Corsair, if they had bigger problems, it would've blown up on reddit and on this forum already, tons of people buy them. The Arctic P12/P14 resonance issues popped up within 6 months of launch, same for some other ones. It's now been 6 months since these new Corsair launched, and Corsair had more mindshare than Arctic, or Scythe or Thermaltake had when theirs launched, so it's been more than enough time for any huge issues to pop up.

 

Now we just wait for decent 3rd party reviews to eliminate the possibility of moderate/small/niche problems, and for some performance metrics, but they don't seem worse than their predecessors. There is some preliminary below <"1st tier" independent results, and they seem promising vs the new Be Quiet! lightwings, but I'm waiting for more results to pop up to cross-reference (and ideally one of the "I tier").

 

https://www.igorslab.de/en/corsair-icue-ml120-rgb-elite-in-test-money-shoots-no-goals-or-maybe-yet/4/

 

" I tier reviewer" (GamersNexus, VSG (Techpowerup)

" II tier reviewer" (Igorslab, Der8auer, possibly Hardwarecanucks last video, HWCooling)

" III tier reviewer" (all the good youtubers)

" IV tier reviewer" (rest)

 

P.S. I haven't had the time to sit down and try to properly evaluate all the good youtube review channels, and a few written ones, so it's quite possible some might be 2nd tier, and I'm kind of torn on Igorslab if it's more like 2.5 tier). And HWcooling is more like 1.5 just on the account of having the most industry, or industry-like equipment. Additionally I wrongly didn't take into account channels that do really good overall cooling review, but they don't do separate fan reviews, so my tier list is quite imperfect. I've pretty much just focused on singling out the Best on the Planet, and close to Best on the Planet (Highest potential).

 

And before I get misunderstood, Highest accuracy noise-normalized performance with elaborate methodology is the primary reason for 1st, or some of the 2nd tier reviewers. (Things like noise spectrum analysis, compiled P/Q curve, fixed mic stand, noise isolation chambers/material/rooms, multiple fan pieces of the same fan series, and a few other things).

 

For everything else, and incidentally closely connected to this topic and to @Potted Rose Petalneeds, tier 3 are plenty good, and accurate. They are indispensable for the medium-small problems like x or y axis resonance noise issues, vibrational noise, loud IC, other motor bearing problems, reduced impeller size, cabling, modularity, general performance and a few other things.

[Potted Rose Petal]

5 hours ago, Dogzilla07 said:

I don't know how good they are, but I do know they're not bad, I'm going by their predecessor performance + the lack of negative experiences of owners of new ones.

 

Heck it's Corsair, if they had bigger problems, it would've blown up on reddit and on this forum already, tons of people buy them. The Arctic P12/P14 resonance issues popped up within 6 months of launch, same for some other ones. It's now been 6 months since these new Corsair launched, and Corsair had more mindshare than Arctic, or Scythe or Thermaltake had when theirs launched, so it's been more than enough time for any huge issues to pop up.

 

Now we just wait for decent 3rd party reviews to eliminate the possibility of moderate/small/niche problems, and for some performance metrics, but they don't seem worse than their predecessors. There is some preliminary below <"1st tier" independent results, and they seem promising vs the new Be Quiet! lightwings, but I'm waiting for more results to pop up to cross-reference (and ideally one of the "I tier").

 

https://www.igorslab.de/en/corsair-icue-ml120-rgb-elite-in-test-money-shoots-no-goals-or-maybe-yet/4/

 

" I tier reviewer" (GamersNexus, VSG (Techpowerup)

" II tier reviewer" (Igorslab, Der8auer, possibly Hardwarecanucks last video, HWCooling)

" III tier reviewer" (all the good youtubers)

" IV tier reviewer" (rest)

 

P.S. I haven't had the time to sit down and try to properly evaluate all the good youtube review channels, and a few written ones, so it's quite possible some might be 2nd tier, and I'm kind of torn on Igorslab if it's more like 2.5 tier). And HWcooling is more like 1.5 just on the account of having the most industry, or industry-like equipment. Additionally I wrongly didn't take into account channels that do really good overall cooling review, but they don't do separate fan reviews, so my tier list is quite imperfect. I've pretty much just focused on singling out the Best on the Planet, and close to Best on the Planet (Highest potential).

 

And before I get misunderstood, Highest accuracy noise-normalized performance with elaborate methodology is the primary reason for 1st, or some of the 2nd tier reviewers. (Things like noise spectrum analysis, compiled P/Q curve, fixed mic stand, noise isolation chambers/material/rooms, multiple fan pieces of the same fan series, and a few other things).

 

For everything else, and incidentally closely connected to this topic and to @Potted Rose Petalneeds, tier 3 are plenty good, and accurate. They are indispensable for the medium-small problems like x or y axis resonance noise issues, vibrational noise, loud IC, other motor bearing problems, reduced impeller size, cabling, modularity, general performance and a few other things.

So considering all that, is there anything that speaks against the Corsair ML140 Pro without rgb? It has pretty good ratings as far as I can see, only thing different is that it has no rgb, which I dont need anyway...

 

Also, I found out my motherboard does have 4 fan headers but no 4 PWM headers. So I kinda have to get a fan hub I guess. Best bet would be to get one from corsair I guess, but is there anything to watch out for? Like, iCue compatibility or smth? Those ones do not have iCue

[WoodenMarker]

4 hours ago, Potted Rose Petal said:

Also, I found out my motherboard does have 4 fan headers but no 4 PWM headers

What motherboard are you using? Most modern boards have plenty of pwm fan headers and the 3600 is far from old. 

Have you tried lowering fan speeds instead of just turning them off?

[thrasher_565]

10 hours ago, Dogzilla07 said:

I don't know how good they are, but I do know they're not bad, I'm going by their predecessor performance + the lack of negative experiences of owners of new ones.

 

Heck it's Corsair, if they had bigger problems, it would've blown up on reddit and on this forum already, tons of people buy them. The Arctic P12/P14 resonance issues popped up within 6 months of launch, same for some other ones. It's now been 6 months since these new Corsair launched, and Corsair had more mindshare than Arctic, or Scythe or Thermaltake had when theirs launched, so it's been more than enough time for any huge issues to pop up.

 

Now we just wait for decent 3rd party reviews to eliminate the possibility of moderate/small/niche problems, and for some performance metrics, but they don't seem worse than their predecessors. There is some preliminary below <"1st tier" independent results, and they seem promising vs the new Be Quiet! lightwings, but I'm waiting for more results to pop up to cross-reference (and ideally one of the "I tier").

 

https://www.igorslab.de/en/corsair-icue-ml120-rgb-elite-in-test-money-shoots-no-goals-or-maybe-yet/4/

 

" I tier reviewer" (GamersNexus, VSG (Techpowerup)

" II tier reviewer" (Igorslab, Der8auer, possibly Hardwarecanucks last video, HWCooling)

" III tier reviewer" (all the good youtubers)

" IV tier reviewer" (rest)

 

P.S. I haven't had the time to sit down and try to properly evaluate all the good youtube review channels, and a few written ones, so it's quite possible some might be 2nd tier, and I'm kind of torn on Igorslab if it's more like 2.5 tier). And HWcooling is more like 1.5 just on the account of having the most industry, or industry-like equipment. Additionally I wrongly didn't take into account channels that do really good overall cooling review, but they don't do separate fan reviews, so my tier list is quite imperfect. I've pretty much just focused on singling out the Best on the Planet, and close to Best on the Planet (Highest potential).

 

And before I get misunderstood, Highest accuracy noise-normalized performance with elaborate methodology is the primary reason for 1st, or some of the 2nd tier reviewers. (Things like noise spectrum analysis, compiled P/Q curve, fixed mic stand, noise isolation chambers/material/rooms, multiple fan pieces of the same fan series, and a few other things).

 

For everything else, and incidentally closely connected to this topic and to @Potted Rose Petalneeds, tier 3 are plenty good, and accurate. They are indispensable for the medium-small problems like x or y axis resonance noise issues, vibrational noise, loud IC, other motor bearing problems, reduced impeller size, cabling, modularity, general performance and a few other things.

i had a corner snap off on my artic p140 fan...so there built cheaply. i got a bunch of packs of artic fans so we will see how well they really are...

[Potted Rose Petal]

5 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

What motherboard are you using? Most modern boards have plenty of pwm fan headers and the 3600 is far from old. 

Have you tried lowering fan speeds instead of just turning them off?

Just looked it up again, seems like I was tired yesterday since I misread the docs. They sorted them by header orientation, not by pwm/dc, which in hindsight makes no sense anyway. The MB is https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-X570-GAMING-PRO-CARBON-WIFI/support#manual

The fans rn are kinda weirdly powered, they are powered by sata power. So not even connected to the mb. I accidentially powered them off when I disconnected sata bc I removed all sata drives...

Honestly I have been meaning to replace the fans from the day i bougth the case lol. I kinda want at least 3 and also dust is a problem as I said, so positive pressure would help as well. Temperature wise I have never noticed a difference with the fans rn on or off (in winter only tho). My cpu cooler has a pretty nice fan, that does most of the work rn I believe.