Case fan choice.

[Allshevski]

Hi, I've been looking for a good set of fans for a long time, asking tens of questions on LTT forums but every time I got an answer, I had even more questions. Now, most of my problems are resolved, however, I still can't choose one. I've got a few on my mind but let me explain the situation.

 

I want to reverse my case's airflow so I will have rear intake blowing directly into the CPU cooler. Then two fans at the front that will have that will exhaust air. I plan to cut a rectangular hole in the front panel and put some mesh in there to increase airflow. It will require some pressure but I don't know how much is too much for a normal fan. This way, there will be minimum turbulence as everything will flow from back to front with minimal negative pressure that I could make use of by taking some of the PCI-e covers off. Before my GPU was blowing to the front panel and then the hot air was redirected by the fans to the back which made no sense. I plan to buy Cryorig H7 or Hyper 212 Evo (which one will be quieter, cause less turbulence etc? Cryorig I suppose) and swap its fan with Noctua NF-P12 PWM (if you know anything quieter with this level of performance, please, tell me. Also, If I bought Hyper 212, I could mount 2 fans on it to reduce the strain on one fan by half.

 

I'd like to buy 3 same fans as my motherboard has only 1 controllable PWM header. Keep in mind that the grill will cause some trouble and may require minimal static pressure. My main goal is to achieve absolute silence even if the system is under load. Or, at least, I want to be as quiet as possible. Having read lots of reviews etc I couldn't find one that will perform the best as everyone are like "yeah, it's quiet but if you put it above 70% it's noisy etc." Like.. How noisy, define "quiet"..

 

Here is my list of candidates, but if you are 100% sure that some fan could give me the same performance and be even quieter, tell me. Keep in mind that I'll need minimal amount of pressure for the front grill.

 

Noctua NF-P12 PWM - Probably my favorite, 100% 5 star rating and excellent reviews. Even Linus used it in PC silencing video.

Noctua NF-F12 PWM - Not as good, lots of users say that it's one of the loudest fans when above 50%

Noctua NF-S12A PWM - Again, 100% 5 star ratings, excellent airflow and performance. I don't know how they will get with a grill.. But I suppose that the mesh won't affect the airflow that much.

Noctua NF-S12B Redux PWM - The same as S12A PWM but without rubber pads and mounts.. I will miss them..

Nanoxia Deep Silence PWM - That green and transparency.. Great for LED lighting. Not that popular but there is a review video. Author says that they are inaudible under 80% and even then, it's a quiet, nice tone. Love them.

be quiet! Silent Wings 2 PWM - 96% 5 star ratings, but they describe is as "very quiet even on highest RPM" and now, define quiet - quiet lawn mower quiet, quiet, whisper quiet, silent, dead silent? Are they audible at low rpm?

be quiet! Shadow Wings PWM - Looking at details, they may be as quiet as Silent Wings 2

be quiet! Pure Wings 2 PWM - not that good but lots of great reviews, no rubber mounting however..

 

Thanks in advance!

[IAcKI]

I use both the NF-F12 and the NF-S12's and they're great fans!!

[Allshevski]

Just now, IAcKI said:

I use both the NF-F12 and the NF-S12's and they're great fans!!

Define "great"  Especially at max speed. Please <3

[IAcKI]

3 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

Define "great"  Especially at max speed. Please <3

Well I have 3 NF-S12's in the front of my case with the LNA at around 40% and you can feel the amount of air they're pushing through at the PCI slots. They pushed my idle GPU Temps down around 10C and doing all this while being inaudible. Max speed Don't get me wrong you can hear them but the tone of them isn't annoying. The NF-F12's are at idle temps around the same noise level (I have a high idle room noise).

 

In summary, when idleing the loudest thing in my system is my h100i pump. After a 10 Hour stress test last night while still under full load with fans around 70% the only reason I could tell it was on is due to my LED Lights. My Mini fridge is louder than my PC which is a little annoying!

 

Edit: All this is with an LNA

Edited February 17, 2016 by IAcKI

[Allshevski]

1 minute ago, IAcKI said:

Well I have 3 NF-S12's in the front of my case with the LNA at around 40% and you can feel the amount of air they're pushing through at the PCI slots. They pushed my idle GPU Temps down around 10C and doing all this while being inaudible. Max speed Don't get me wrong you can hear them but the tone of them isn't annoying. The NF-F12's are at idle temps around the same noise level (I have a high idle room noise).

 

In summary, when idleing the loudest thing in my system is my h100i pump. After a 10 Hour stress test last night while still under full load with fans around 70% the only reason I could tell it was on is due to my LED Lights. My Mini fridge is louder than my PC which is a little annoying!

Thank you <3

[IAcKI]

Just now, Allshevski said:

Thank you <3

Any other questions I will be more than happy to help!

[Allshevski]

10 minutes ago, IAcKI said:

Any other questions I will be more than happy to help!

Probably none.. But.. Let me think for a moment.. No, none ^^ By the way, I'm surprised at the intel stock cooler performance. This little guy alone didn't let my CPU throttle and burn keeping stable 80-82 degrees while running at quiet profile. It took it like 5 minutes to heat up so much that my motherboard decided to put his speed on 100%.. Tiny hero <3

 

Edit: But I'm sill waiting for more answers :c Ohh.. I love nanoxia ones so much.. Every single one of them.. But two fans are not too much...

[Guest]

Can I ask why your GPU blows hot air to the front of the case?

[Allshevski]

3 minutes ago, adamjp said:

Can I ask why your GPU blows hot air to the front of the case?

Because Gigabyte decided to make excellent cooling system and then to not make rear exhaust so all hot air is blown to the front and side panel..

[EdInk]

36 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

-snip-

Fan noise has a close relationship with case design. Clear cut-outs for fans are less noisy as with the mesh design air passing through mesh will cause turbulence = noise amplified with increasing fan speed. See article old but i think it's still quite relevant

[Allshevski]

3 minutes ago, EdInk said:

Fan noise has a close relationship with case design. Clear cut-outs for fans are less noisy as with the mesh design air passing through mesh will cause turbulence = noise amplified with increasing fan speed.

I know. The case's airflow is great, the only thing I complain about is that bloody solid front panel. I'm not going to cut a hole and then leave fans exposed. It will be:

1. ugly

2. risky

 

Edit: and mesh is on the second place after no grill so I'll be more than happy! ^^

[EdInk]

2 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

I know. The case's airflow is great, the only thing I complain about is that bloody solid front panel. I'm not going to cut a hole and then leave fans exposed. It will be:

1. ugly

2. risky

Neither am i asking you to cut a hole, just some traditional info but it appears you already know this.

[Allshevski]

Without it there will be no airflow at all. The case is BitFenix Nova. High quality fans will minimize the noise anyway.

 

[LukaH]

43 minutes ago, IAcKI said:

I use both the NF-F12 and the NF-S12's and they're great fans!!

same.

 

With noctua you get a lot of added content low noise adapters, Y-splitters, anti-vibration mounts, extensions and the a fan i guess. The NF-F12s are upgrades from the NF-P12s. They are quiet and can spin at ridiculous low speeds (talking about the NF-F12 the NF-S12s dont undervolt that well) you can run them at 5% (150rpm). 

 

but I should mention that noctua are the only premium fans i have owned (i have 8) so far so there might me better options out there (and cheaper).

[IAcKI]

Just now, LukaH said:

same.

 

With noctua you get a lot of added content low noise adapters, Y-splitters, anti-vibration mounts, extensions and the a fan i guess. The NF-F12s are upgrades from the NF-P12s. They are quiet and can spin at ridiculous low speeds (talking about the NF-F12 the NF-S12s dont undervolt that well) you can run them at 5% (150rpm). 

 

but I should mention that noctua are the only premium fans i have owned (i have 8) so far so there might me better options out there (and cheaper).

That's much like me, i have 5 in my case. I have a single AF120 as it's in a highly visible place. Always heard great things about BeQuiet!

[LukaH]

4 minutes ago, IAcKI said:

Always heard great things about BeQuiet!

yeh me too would be my next choice.

[Allshevski]

1 minute ago, LukaH said:

same.

 

With noctua you get a lot of added content low noise adapters, Y-splitters, anti-vibration mounts, extensions and the a fan i guess. The NF-F12s are upgrades from the NF-P12s. They are quiet and can spin at ridiculous low speeds (talking about the NF-F12 the NF-S12s dont undervolt that well) you can run them at 5% (150rpm). 

 

but I should mention that noctua are the only premium fans i have owned (i have 8) so far so there might me better options out there (and cheaper).

Okay, thank you. But does anyone happen to know how NF-F12 compare to NF-P12? While lots of users say that P12's are excellent, not many of them are happy with F12's :c They cost the same, F12 spin faster and have a lot more static pressure, but are louder. And have rubber pads. Uhh.. Why life is so hard...

[IAcKI]

Just now, Allshevski said:

Okay, thank you. But does anyone happen to know how NF-F12 compare to NF-P12? While lots of users say that P12's are excellent, not many of them are happy with F12's :c They cost the same, F12 spin faster and have a lot more static pressure, but are louder. And have rubber pads. Uhh.. Why life is so hard...

Honestly never considered them, just presumed they were a lower model due to no rubber pads

[LukaH]

4 minutes ago, Allshevski said:

Okay, thank you. But does anyone happen to know how NF-F12 compare to NF-P12? While lots of users say that P12's are excellent, not many of them are happy with F12's :c They cost the same, F12 spin faster and have a lot more static pressure, but are louder. And have rubber pads. Uhh.. Why life is so hard...

I'd get the NF-F12s here is why:

 

they have the SSO2 bearing instead of SSO should be an upgrade and the bearing is the most important part in my opinion

yes they are quieter but at the cost of fan speed you will not be running the fans at full speed all the time anyway (took a shot in the dark) so the noise factor is determined by the fan curve you have set (if any)

the NF-F12s are meant for static pressure which they are superior to the NF-P12s 

 

so if they cost the same just get the upgraded P12's aka F12's

 

[Allshevski]

2 minutes ago, LukaH said:

I'd get the NF-F12s here is why:

 

they have the SSO2 bearing instead of SSO should be an upgrade and the bearing is the most important part in my opinion

yes they are quieter but at the cost of fan speed you will not be running the fans at full speed all the time anyway (took a shot in the dark) so the noise factor is determined by the fan curve you have set (if any)

the NF-F12s are meant for static pressure which they are superior to the NF-P12s 

 

so if they cost the same just get the upgraded P12's aka F12's

 

Yeah, okay.. I'll probably set the curve to minimum

also.. Found that:

Hmm.. 3 S12A's and one P12 or F12? 3 P12's and one F12? Or 4 P12's? Oh.. I don't really like these F12's.. Just.. Uh.. :c

[LukaH]

Don't know why would the P's have better case ventilation if the F's beat them in airflow and static pressure but whatever.

Ok here is what i would do if i had a do over with my setup. I'd get all NF-F12 PWM (because of the udervolting the S12A can spin at 33% or 500rpm minimum) set them up with speedfan which gives you the best flexibility when it comes to fan curve at least that is what works for me. If you are worried about the noise speedfan can turn fans off completely but i'd just run them at the lowest possible rpm if i am idling. and since you are looking for silence I'd go ahead with speed fan.

The only thing I am not sure about is with the NF-F12s they are great in push for radiators but not as good in pull (+3°C) maybe the P's are better at pull dunno.

 

but it is your money and i am just a guy on the internet I said what i think is better now it is up to you

[Allshevski]

17 minutes ago, LukaH said:

Don't know why would the P's have better case ventilation if the F's beat them in airflow and static pressure but whatever.

Ok here is what i would do if i had a do over with my setup. I'd get all NF-F12 PWM (because of the udervolting the S12A can spin at 33% or 500rpm minimum) set them up with speedfan which gives you the best flexibility when it comes to fan curve at least that is what works for me. If you are worried about the noise speedfan can turn fans off completely but i'd just run them at the lowest possible rpm if i am idling. and since you are looking for silence I'd go ahead with speed fan.

The only thing I am not sure about is with the NF-F12s they are great in push for radiators but not as good in pull (+3°C) maybe the P's are better at pull dunno.

 

but it is your money and i am just a guy on the internet I said what i think is better now it is up to you

No.. I'm sorry, but it's just for the peace of my mind.. Just type "are f-12 loud" and full page of results will pop up. After typing "are p-12 loud" no one complains ^^ so.. Oh well.. still don't know whether to buy S12A or P12 for my case.. P12 probably.. nice pressure, good airflow.. But S12A's are quiet.. And move a lot of air.. And others? ;c

 

I'm kind of sad now.. Uh.. But.. Feel like the P12 will be the best option for me.. Thank You anyway..

And.. Don't take me wrong, I feel guilty that I don't listen to you and may turn out unhappy by ignoring you but..