Case Fan Recommendations?

[Tweed]

Hey guys! I need advice on what case fan to get. I need 120mm fans, already have my eyes set on the Fractal Design venturi HF14 for 140mm fans in my case. Unless you have better that you recommend.

 

What do you guys recommend for 120mm fans? Will be using it as bottom intake, ontop of a dust filter. I want something super quiet while supplying excellent airflow. Would be nice if the color was black, but recommend me anything. Fractal Design too has it's venturi fans for 120mm in addition to the 140mm.

I've heard good things about be quiet! SilentWings 2, Fractal Design Venturi, and Noctua ofc.

 

What are the best on the market?

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, Tweed said:

snip

Noctua 120mm fans are generally held to be among the if not the best general purpose 120mm fans.

 

The Fractal GP line is actually in a number of cases better than the HF and the HP lines at perf/noise levels (while having much lower top end performance). Also available in all black or in black and white.

 

The EK Vardar fans are nearly unrivaled in the higher restriction use case situations (although the ML120/140 Pro fans from Corsair are their most recent competition).

 

The BeQuiet 120s are pretty decent as well.

[WoodenMarker]

A Silent Wings 3 or NF-S12A would probably be the best of the best but your system is only as quiet as your loudest component. If you're going with HF14's, the system is only going to be as quiet as those and you might as well get HF12's to stick with a similar sound signature. 

[Tweed]

10 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

A Silent Wings 3 or NF-S12A would probably be the best of the best but your system is only as quiet as your loudest component. If you're going with HF14's, the system is only going to be as quiet as those and you might as well get HF12's to stick with a similar sound signature. 

Do you have any opinions/knowledge on Phanteks PH-F120SP_WLED, NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS, or the Couger vortex?

I currently have planned out a Phanteks PH0F120SP_WLED for exhaust and 2 140mm Fractal Design HF14-BK as intake in the front of my case, and need 2 120mm for intake on the bottom of my case on top of a dust filter. 

I want something quiet while providing awesome airflow. When I'm looking for fans on pcpartpicker, do I look for something over 80cfm and under 25 dbA or is around 50cfm a good amount. Idk what is good for cfm, dbA, rpm, etc.

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, Tweed said:

Do you have any opinions/knowledge on Phanteks PH-F120SP_WLED, NoiseBlocker NB-eLoop B12-PS, or the Couger vortex?

I currently have planned out a Phanteks PH0F120SP_WLED for exhaust and 2 140mm Fractal Design HF14-BK as intake in the front of my case, and need 2 120mm for intake on the bottom of my case on top of a dust filter. 

I want something quiet while providing awesome airflow. When I'm looking for fans on pcpartpicker, do I look for something over 80cfm and under 25 dbA or is around 50cfm a good amount. Idk what is good for cfm, dbA, rpm, etc.

Those are also good options. The Phanteks and Cougar are optimized for higher airflow than the other fans mentioned while being quiet but not as quiet. NB-eLoops are also excellent fans but their usage is more specific to push and areas that need high static pressure--which is not what you're planning to use the fans for.

Vortexes provide a high amount of airflow while being quiet. NF-S12A's do the same but are much quieter and more expensive. 

Fan specs are generally unreliable. Look at benchmarks and in-depth reviews instead. 

The fans you're planning to get are a bit above average but aren't the best. Where are your priorities? Do you want the best of the best? Decent performance for the money? As quiet as possible or just quiet but as much airflow as possible?

[Tweed]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Those are also good options. The Phanteks and Cougar are optimized for higher airflow than the other fans mentioned while being quiet but not as quiet. NB-eLoops are also excellent fans but their usage is more specific to push and areas that need high static pressure--which is not what you're planning to use the fans for.

Vortexes provide a high amount of airflow while being quiet. NF-S12A's do the same but are much quieter and more expensive. 

Fan specs are generally unreliable. Look at benchmarks and in-depth reviews instead. 

The fans you're planning to get are a bit above average but aren't the best. Where are your priorities? Do you want the best of the best? Decent performance for the money? As quiet as possible or just quiet but as much airflow as possible?

Ok thanks for the helpful insight. I really appreciate it. I will look into more in-depth reviews rather than looking at the listed specs. My priorities I think are "as quiet as possible or just quiet but as much airflow as possible" but I also want "the best of the best." Because my case is known to have terrible airflow, InWin 805. 

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, Tweed said:

Ok thanks for the helpful insight. I really appreciate it. I will look into more in-depth reviews rather than looking at the listed specs. My priorities I think are "as quiet as possible or just quiet but as much airflow as possible" but I also want "the best of the best." Because my case is known to have terrible airflow, InWin 805. 

It looks like you should be looking at all NF-S12A's and forgoing 140mm's or SW3's if you want as quiet as possible. 

If you want more airflow, try getting a hold of Gentle Typhoons. NF-A14's and NF-S12A's are also good and SW3's come in High Speed variants.

[Bcat00]

I would recommend the nf-p12 from noctua. They are by far the most balanced fans i've ever come across in terms of noise to airflow ratio. Even at 500rpm, they still push significantly more air then the venturi fans.

[Tweed]

                    120mm                                                  dBA                   CFM                     RPM

• Noise Blocker NB-eLoop B12-PS                  21.2                     58.1                     400-1500
• Fractal Design Venturi HF-BK                        25.3                     83.4                     1400  
• be quiet! Silent wings 3                                  16.4                     50.5                     1450
• Phanteks PH-F120SP                                    24.2                     54.4                     1300
• Cougar vortex                                                17.7                     60.4                     1200

                    140mm                                                  dBA                   CFM                     RPM

• Noise Blocker NB-eLoop B14-PS                  24.28                   83.92                   1200
• Fractal Design Venturi HF-BK                        26.5                     118.2                   1200  
• be quiet! Silent wings 3                                  15.5                     59.5                     1000
• Phanteks PH-F140SP                                    19                        82.1                      1200
• Cougar vortex                                                16.4-19.2            55.5-70.5              700-1200

I'm going for a batman theme'd build, so black, gray, maybe a hint of another color like dark blue or something. I really like this build http://pcpartpicker.com/b/FCsJ7P . I want something that fits my build color, quiet, and provides the best airflow. IF you have any other fan recommendations id love to hear it. the cougar vortex, i don't like the orange color it has on the tips, fractal design venturi according to the specs on pcpartpicker, the dBA seems pretty high but obviously it has the best cfm/airflow. be quiet silent wings 3 just came out. noise blockers were someone that recommended it to me, but the white kinda erks me a bit, same with the phanteks but those have an LED version that i may pick, but they do have an all black version.

[Guest]

The 3rd one. bequiet! Silent wings.

 

Now, be quiet!! 

[Tweed]

2 minutes ago, Anirban said:

The 3rd one. bequiet! Silent wings.

 

Now, be quiet!! 

lol i just updated the post. i accidently posted it before it was complete

[bgibbz]

If I had to pick from that list, the be quite ones are a good option. Consider noctua nf-f12, those have been my favorite fans for a while now. They are silent, powerful, and have a excellent build quality. Unfortunately, they literally look like crap, but if you buy the black industrial versions and slap a chromax kit on they look great. 

[WoodenMarker]

If you need a lot of airflow, Vortexes are a good cheap option that is fairly quiet. 

Otherwise, SW3's would be my recommendation as the most well rounded for quiet operation and airflow.

[Tweed]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

If you need a lot of airflow, Vortexes are a good cheap option that is fairly quiet. 

Otherwise, SW3's would be my recommendation as the most well rounded for quiet operation and airflow.

Do you think silent wings 3 have good airflow? they are the quietest of the bunch, but they have the least cfm at about 50 cfm. Idk if that's a bad number or not but from the choices it has the least airflow. And my case has terrible airflow, only intake is from the bottom of the case (2x120mm) and exhaust is on the back (1x120mm).

[WoodenMarker]

3 minutes ago, Tweed said:

Do you think silent wings 3 have good airflow? they are the quietest of the bunch, but they have the least cfm at about 50 cfm. Idk if that's a bad number or not but from the choices it has the least airflow. And my case has terrible airflow, only intake is from the bottom of the case (2x120mm) and exhaust is on the back (1x120mm).

They have a good amount of airflow and should be fine for most things. They're hard to go wrong with. 

Unless you're running the fans at full speed, their rated cfm shouldn't matter as much and fan specs should be taken with a grain of salt anyway.

 

It seems like you already made a thread for this--they have been merged. 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Tweed said:

before it was complete

Damnation of you!!