Choosing fans for my Silent Base 800

[nster]

What I need:

I'm looking for exhaust fan:. 
- Rear (120 or 140 w/120 mounts)
- (optional) Top 140mm fan 

 

120mm PW, 140mm SP, HP and HP II have been less than satisfactory. With a 140mm PW at the top, it's not too bad, but I'd like to improve further. I think I might get another Phanteks 140XP for the top, but I'd like to find an adequate rear exhaust first. I may try a few old Noctuas and see how they fare

 

My hardware :

I7 3930K 3.8-4.2Ghz
Dark Rock Pro 3 with 2*135mm fans 
Silent Base 800 with 2*140mm Phanteks XP fans for intake
GTX 970 MSI gaming 
EVGA P2 750W

 

Fans I've tried so far:

Phanteks 140SP (2 non-LED, 4 LED), HP (2), HP II (4), XP (2)
Be Quiet 120mm and 140mm PureWings 
Be Quiet 120mm and 135mm SilentWings that came with the DRP3

 

My experience:

140mm XP>PW>SP >>> SPw/LED~HP~HP II
Last three are unusable
600~900RPM range during my subjective testing
Tested as intake in the front of my SB800
PWM vs VR didn't effect acoustics

 

Others-
120mm SW fan was better than 120mm PW or 140mm HP/HP II but cant be mounted to case
135mm SW fan was best out of all the fans but cant be mounted to case

[Curufinwe_wins]

Instead you should mod the case for real airflow so you can actually run fans at low speeds without temp's sucking.

 

Fractal's GP-14 is a good fan to try out. 

[suchamoneypit]

Give Noctua fans a try, I have several friends I've recommended them too, and they are pretty much inaudible.

[nster]

I'm actually liking this case, the only thing that's disappointing, cooling-wise, is that the front intake is heavily restricted, but switching the PureWings to PH-F140XPs actually improves that a lot, and if I'm doing something REALLY GPU intensive, I can always open the door in front of the fans. I'm contemplating cutting some of the metal restricting the fans' airflow as I don't use the HDD cage anyways, but I'm a bit weary of that

 

Are modern Noctuas better than the old ones? I don't remember well, but I think I might have the F12s or P12s or something like that around somewhere, would they be representative or should I try something like the A14s or something?

 

Are the GP-14s in the Define R5? I'll have to go listen to them and make a comparison to the fans I have.

[Curufinwe_wins]

4 minutes ago, nster said:

snip

Yes the A14 is better, and yes the GP-14s are the stock fans on the R5. Note they don't have isolation mounts at stock so that can help as well.

 

I would really recommend modding the front for more airflow, restricted air in front not only hurts temps but literally makes your fans louder at the same rpm. 

 

This is hilariously easy to test just by holding your hand in front of a fan outside your case.

[Moonzy]

the retail version of the silent wings comes with adapter for you to be able to mount it on your case

the ones that come on the cooler doesnt have that adapter

[Cyracus]

noctuas and phanteks perform about the same in my experience

[nster]

2 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

noctuas and phanteks perform about the same in my experience

Which fan models have you had experience with?

 

Is the Noctua A14 PWM a good one to get? or should I stick with the ULN one? I'll also try the GP-14 and try and compare everything

[Cyracus]

Noctua F12 and A14 pwm and the Phanteks 140 and 120 xps and 200sp. I'd get the pwm, can always throw a uln adapter on it if you want it to run slow as hell, imo they aren't that loud...of course having kids I could have turbines in there and it wouldn't be too loud lol, but I can't tell the difference between Noctuas and Phanteks without looking