Replacing case fans

[MikoKuch]

Hello forum,

 

A few months back I built my first PC and I've been pretty happy with how it performs for the money. Of course, it wasn't long until I started messing around with it again. I did more cable management, installed the old hard drive from my laptop, attached my fans using rubber screws etc. Of all the changes I made, I still couldn't figure out a way to make my stock Zalman fans (I'm using a Zalman Z11 HF1 case) run quieter. The rubber screws helped slightly, but they can still get very very loud when under load. So I decided to replace my case fans. I did some research and it raised a lot of questions.

 

Originally, I was just going to get 3 Corsair AF120 quiet edition red LED fans (my system has a sexy red glow and I want it to stay that way) to replace my 2 3-pin (stock Zalman) exhausts and my front molex (stock Zalman) intake. I've read lots of good reviews about them and what got me interested in them the most was that JayzTwoCents used 12 of them in his PC and it runs silent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aDID5S41_A). JayzTwoCents however, uses the non-LED version. This raised a couple of questions:

 

How quiet do the Corsair AF120 quiet edition fans run, especially under load?

Is there a difference in the noise level between the LED and non-LED versions of the fans?

I noticed that the LED ones do have a slightly higher decibel value, which leads me to the next paragraph:

 

I discussed this with one of my friends. He took a look at the fans, compared them to a few other fans and wasn't impressed with the decibel values. He compared them to the fans in the Noctua NF series and CM Sickleflows. I haven't heard many good things about the Sickleflows (noise levels and glow intensity depending on the RPM) which ruled that option out for me. I told him that I don't like the lack of red LEDs in the Noctua fans and the ugly colors that Noctua uses, and he told me to install red LEDs inside of my case (which will supposedly also make the glow more intense) and either spray paint the Noctua fans black or get the NF IndustrialPPC fans. This raised even more questions:

 

Since the Sickleflows have lower dB but are loud according to reviews, so are the dB values just theoretical or do they actually matter?

Is it a good idea to spray paint fans? I heard that it can screw up the balance of the blades.

Is it really worth paying extra for those Noctua fans and installing LEDs inside of my case just for the lower dB?

 

So I guess it all boils down to: Should I get the more pricey Noctua fans and install LEDs, or will the AF120s suffice?

 

If you guys have any other ways to achieve what I'm looking for, please let me know. I know my demands may be a bit complicated, but all I want is a quiet system that has a red glow.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Update: I just rewatched the video, and if I end up going with the Corsair fans, I'll probably get an SP edition fan for the front intake because I have a dust filter, and a hard drive cage with two hard drives in front of it.

[slightlyjaded]

The decibel levels quoted vary depending on the company's testing methodology. I can testify those noctua industrials push more air through my H100i, at about half the RPM. (replaced the fans last friday) The fans that came with the rad were corsair SP120's. Unless I'm running the noctua's at max revs, they're pretty silent up till about 1200-1300rpm.

 

They're not cheap however at about twice the price of the corsairs.