First truly Comprehensive 140mm Fan Comparison/Review

[Curufinwe_wins]

http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/6622/tested-71-case-fans-of-140-mm-round-up-big-fans

 

Check it out guys, should be interesting. Obviously it isn't perfect, but SPCR has done next to nothing with 140mm fans, and it's always good to have a real comprehensive comparison.

[Curufinwe_wins]

This is perhaps the most amazing and awesome aspect of the review. Testing comparison at 7V.

 

The winner? Fractal Design's GP-14 fans (Famous for inclusion on the Define Series cases)

 

Pretty amazing to think a relatively budget fan preformed this well compared to others on the market...

 

[WoodenMarker]

On 5/15/2016 at 5:35 PM, Curufinwe_wins said:

This is perhaps the most amazing and awesome aspect of the review. Testing comparison at 7V.

The winner? Fractal Design's GP-14 fans (Famous for inclusion on the Define Series cases)

Pretty amazing to think a relatively budget fan preformed this well compared to others on the market...

Voltage/rpm is arbitrary. What matters is performance to noise. 

[Curufinwe_wins]

7 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Voltage/rpm is arbitrary. What matters is performance to noise. 

I know.... but the fan was not only the highest performance but also only 2 dBa out of the top for noise.

 

The issue I have with their only efficiency testing is it was at 30 dBa which is imho way too far up the loud spectrum to be a useful measurement (at least for me...)

 

I wish SPCR would update to have much better testing on the new range of 140mm fans on the market today, but they haven't.

 

 

NOTE: Those images are of the best of the best from the 71 fans they tested. The GP-14 is no where near the worst at noise in this test obviously.

[Curufinwe_wins]

@WoodenMarker Do you remember the people on here a few months back that were swearing by the GP-14 fans? I remember some coming in and talking about tearing them out of the cases before the commercial release and they were super excited when it was actually available.

[aisle9]

Good to see the Aerocool DS line finally getting some love. I've shied away from them in the quest for a silent rig (aside from that stupid WD Black drive), but I still have a 140mm hooked up and set to kick in when temps exceed 65C. They move air like crazy, and the LEDs actually look pretty good.

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, aisle9 said:

Good to see the Aerocool DS line finally getting some love. I've shied away from them in the quest for a silent rig (aside from that stupid WD Black drive), but I still have a 140mm hooked up and set to kick in when temps exceed 65C. They move air like crazy, and the LEDs actually look pretty good.

Gotta get rid of all spinning rust in your system. Go NAS or go home haha.

 

JK but kinda seriously. Huge difference.

[aisle9]

1 minute ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Gotta get rid of all spinning rust in your system. Go NAS or go home haha.

 

JK but kinda seriously. Huge difference.

I should just suck it up and buy a 2TB Samsung 850 Pro. Who really needs food anyway, right?

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just now, aisle9 said:

I should just suck it up and buy a 2TB Samsung 850 Pro. Who really needs food anyway, right?

That sounds like a terrible idea... Hell I'm running a semi-archaic M500 as my bulk ssd. 

 

But yea, nas in a different room solves like 100% of all problems... You can even buy an SSD for caching...

[Deli]

Still don't get it how can your compare a 3000rpm Noctua to a 600rpm Noiseblocker at fixed voltage!!

 

Even using the 30Db setting. I doubt the 600rpm Noiseblocker can generate that much noise even at full speed. This really isn't a fair apple to apple comparison.

[Curufinwe_wins]

35 minutes ago, Deli said:

Still don't get it how can your compare a 3000rpm Noctua to a 600rpm Noiseblocker at fixed voltage!!

 

Even using the 30Db setting. I doubt the 600rpm Noiseblocker can generate that much noise even at full speed. This really isn't a fair apple to apple comparison.

Obviously you can't and thus those fans aren't on that list...

 

 That's why at least the 7v comparison is useful because that is the 500-800 rpm range for most good standard fans (obviously the ultra low rpm models aren't always there). 

 

Against its not a perfect review by any means but it's a heck of a lot better than basically anything we have seen other than spcr's very out of date 5 140 fan comparison. 

[WoodenMarker]

11 hours ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

@WoodenMarker Do you remember the people on here a few months back that were swearing by the GP-14 fans? I remember some coming in and talking about tearing them out of the cases before the commercial release and they were super excited when it was actually available.

They still vouch for the fans. The fans are probably great but I'm still waiting for better data. 

8 hours ago, Deli said:

Still don't get it how can your compare a 3000rpm Noctua to a 600rpm Noiseblocker at fixed voltage!!

Even using the 30Db setting. I doubt the 600rpm Noiseblocker can generate that much noise even at full speed. This really isn't a fair apple to apple comparison.

These readings are from 10cm away to get clearer results. At the usual 1m distance, much better audio equipment is required.

 

I still have my doubts for the testing methods in this article. I much prefer the real world comparison that SPCR does with the fans on a Thermalright Archon heatsink. 

[Curufinwe_wins]

4 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

They still vouch for the fans. The fans are probably great but I'm still waiting for better data. 

These readings are from 10cm away to get clearer results. At the usual 1m distance, much better audio equipment is required.

 

I still have my doubts for the testing methods in this article. I much prefer the real world comparison that SPCR does with the fans on a Thermalright Archon heatsink. 

As do I, but not to be blunt but SPCR has basically been sitting on its ass for the last year and a half.