Best quiet 140mm case fan x4

[trzasku]

I am building a near silent PC running an Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler. I want to fill the 3 front and the rear slot of my Define S case with some good quiet fans to achieve some strong positive pressure to avoid dust. I want to run all those fans at about 30% to keep the PC as silent as possible. I am not looking for the most quiet fans out there (it is easy to have a silent fan that does not move air), but for those which noise/performance ratio is the best.

 

At the moment I have the two GP-14 fans that came with the case, they are pretty quiet at 33%. My question is: 

• Will there be a audible difference if I change this two GP-14 for something high-end or should I just buy 2 more of them to fit the design (I do not like to have different fans on the front) ?

 

I think the best noise/performance 140mm fans are (price in my country):

• Be Quiet! Pure Wings 2 $11
• Fractal Design Dynamic GP-14 $16
• Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2 $23
• Noctua NF-A14 $24

But I am not sure which of them should I choose. I do not want to overpay for something that is only a slightly better than my GP-14 case fans. What would you buy in my situation?

 

I was looking for some up to date fan comparison but almost every chart is different. Can you recommend me a good chart with the most popular quiet fans?

 

[Hackentosher]

Noctua is the best of all of those, as for a chart, I'm not sure. You may be able to find a biased one on the company web page for one of those.

[Aytex]

None of thoes

Phanteks PH-F140XP_BK 140mm

[Scottonpc]

Be Quiet! Silent Wings 2

[ivan134]

You don't have the Fractal-Design Venturi HP-14 in your country?

[paddy-stone]

I agree with the noctua suggestion, very very good fans, shift a lot of air and are so quiet

[trzasku]

And what whould you choose on second and third place? (I also care about looks and good case fit).

[Curufinwe_wins]

22 minutes ago, Aytex said:

None of thoes

Phanteks PH-F140XP_BK 140mm

Phanteks PH-F140HP is better that the XP by a lot (although it is more suited to heatsinks than case fans with it's odd shape)

 

But uhh

 

Noise (at top speed)

Silent Wings 2>GP-14>Pure Wings 2> Noctua NF-A14 (yes you heard that right at top speed the Noctua is the loudest on this chart).

 

Performance (at top speed)

Noctua NF-A14>GP-14>Silent Wings 2>Pure Wings 2

 

Performance (at similar noise levels)

 

NF-A14=GP-14>Silent Wings 2>Pure Wings 2

 

For the price the GP-14 fans are fantastic (although they are lower consistency and quality than the noctua's).

[Curufinwe_wins]

3 minutes ago, trzasku said:

And what whould you choose on second and third place? (I also care about looks and good case fit).

Oh and the GP-14's are available in black...

[Aytex]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Phanteks PH-F140HP is better that the XP by a lot (although it is more suited to heatsinks than case fans with it's odd shape)

 

But uhh

 

Noise (at top speed)

Silent Wings 2>GP-14>Pure Wings 2> Noctua NF-A14 (yes you heard that right at top speed the Noctua is the loudest on this chart).

 

Performance (at top speed)

Noctua NF-A14>GP-14>Silent Wings 2>Pure Wings 2

 

Performance (at similar noise levels)

 

NF-A14=GP-14>Silent Wings 2>Pure Wings 2

 

For the price the GP-14 fans are fantastic (although they are lower consistency and quality than the noctua's).

still cheaper than noctua :^)

[trzasku]

@Curufinwe_wins do you have some charts, how do you know all of this? If the GP-14 fans are really that great that is fantastic because I only have to buy 2 more instead of 4 other fans (I want all the same fans).

[Curufinwe_wins]

7 minutes ago, Aytex said:

still cheaper than noctua :^)

Yerp.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709043

 

Although the first gen ones sell for like 60 bucks on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ2KE7057

 

6 minutes ago, trzasku said:

@Curufinwe_wins do you have some charts, how do you know all of this?

1. Old review on scpr: covers some of the fans you listed (note never at near top volume) http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

2. Top end noise is easily located and decently accurate (GP-14 is ~18 dbA, SW-2 ~16 dbA, PW-2 ~19 dbA, A14 ~24.6 dbA.)

3. Pure Wings are just always inferior to Silent Wings (lower end fans)

4. Experience around the forum (and personally with most of these fans) helped place the GP-14 in the stack (there is a group of very die hard lovers of it out here.)

 

[trzasku]

We are talking about the GP-14 from Fractal Design right?

[Curufinwe_wins]

4 minutes ago, trzasku said:

We are talking about the GP-14 from Fractal Design right?

Yep

[WoodenMarker]

If you can afford it, go with SW2's. It doesn't really get better for 140mm case fans.