Best Case Fans?

[Mavrick007]

What do you consider the best brand, size, and type of case fan?

I have been looking at Panaflo case fans (specifically the L1A and the M1A), and Enermax case fans. What do you have in your machine?
What do you think about Panaflo and Enermax fans?

I am about to buy some fans and I would like to have some fairly quiet and efficient fans that blow sufficient cfms into the case. Right now I just have some Sunons but I'm thinking about really outfitting the case with some blowholes(thinking about a big 120mm on the side of an Antec case and maybe a couple of 92mm fans on the front blowing in, as well as a couple of fans blowing out in the back).

I saw the Enermax and thought for the price that they were a pretty good deal(you get them tailed and made with the molex connector, comes with a grill guard and is adjustable to the rpm that you want). The Panaflos look good, but price was a bit higher and you have to tail them yourself as well as get guards and screens and everything.

I'd like some comments to see what other people who are case modding are doing. Eventually I would like to get a window kit and put a cold cathode inside the case and still have alot of good airflow.

 

[Yossarian]

I haven't used Enermax, but Panaflo fans are high quality. I have an M1A above my heatsink, and 2 L1A's for case ventilation. They're quieter than the Sunons I used to run. System is an Athlon 1800.

Do you really need so much cooling? 120mm + 4x 80mm is overkill unless you have a serious overclock or you live in an oven.

Oh about the tailing, pcmods.com sells super easy to use pop-on tails, no soldering required.

 

[Mavrick007]

Hehe Of course I don't "need" to per se, but I was thinking about adding more fans, maybe scale them down a bit(a 92mm fan on the side, and 2 80's in the front as well as the back). I was just thinking about modding the case and if I do, I'm going to get a couple of extra fans now for future cases.

If I could find a good deal for the Panaflos, I would get some but I'm sort of leaning toward the Enermax cause of the price for what you get. I am making an order out to newegg and saw they have both panaflos and enermax there.

 

[Colt45]

im not sure if they still make them, but panaflo used to make 120mm fans that had an aluminum frame instead of plastic. made it looks better IMO, and stronger too.

 

[QTPie]

I'd use any cheap fan, no specific brand, although Panaflow is pretty good, but expensive.

If you don't like the noise, you can wire it to run at 7VDC, it's sure quieter.

 

[CubicZirconia]

<< If you don't like the noise, you can wire it to run at 7VDC, it's sure quieter. >>



It's slower too, right?

 

[jcmkk]

We'll, yes it's slower, but still cools very well. I usually run big 120mm fans at 7v instead of 80mm fans at 12v. They pump out the same or more air, and are a lot quieter. When are those fans that run off magnets gonna be out. They would be cool. I would go for some enermax fans right now because they are quality and you can adjust them down. If you are really serious about modding, a rheobus is a better option for fan adjustment.

 

[DrZone]

<< I'd use any cheap fan, no specific brand, although Panaflow is pretty good, but expensive.

If you don't like the noise, you can wire it to run at 7VDC, it's sure quieter. >>



Is there a guide somewhere that tells u how to do that ???

I'm very interested in slowing my heatsink fan down.. 7000rpm is just waaaay too loud !

 

[Colt45]

<<

<< I'd use any cheap fan, no specific brand, although Panaflow is pretty good, but expensive.

If you don't like the noise, you can wire it to run at 7VDC, it's sure quieter. >>



Is there a guide somewhere that tells u how to do that ???

I'm very interested in slowing my heatsink fan down.. 7000rpm is just waaaay too loud ! >>



normally:
yellow = +12
black = GND

7v:
yellow= +12
black= +5

with DC the voltage is the differential, or something like that.. i suck at explaining things.

EDIT: the above was for 4pin molex, not 3pin HSF's.

for the 3pin plugs, you cant do it really.. unless you like soldering, etc.

 

[QTPie]

I'd like to make a correct for wiring 7VDC.

For Molex 4-pin connector:

Both BLACK wires are ground or 0V
Yellow is 12V
Red is 5V

In order to get 7VDC, you connect 1 pin to Yellow and 1 pin to Red
so you get 12V-5V = 7V.

 

[John]

I use the Panaflo 80mm's from bgmicro. I think they were 25.00 for 10 of them. The are super quiet, and put out plenty of air.

 

[compuser]

I have heard people rave about Panaflo but haven't used any. I've used Enermax thermo control 80mm fans and except for it's ridiculous temp. to RPM ratios, i must admit that they have been very very quiet at default speeds of around 1800RPM. However, I got sick of the lackduster speed and...

I just started a different thread regarding the mod I just made on my 2 fans to bump up the speed to it's max 3100RPM speed (MBM in my case reads 3200 and 3400rpm).

At this speed, the air flow is pretty decent and they are definitely not noise screamers like some others even at max. speed.

 

[Risforrocket]

I have done everything well with my computer but noise control.

I would tell you to not do the 7 volt trick because the power regulation is too important to mess with by pumping current around like that. But I'm particular with regards to reliability.

I use the Sunon 80mm B2 case fans but really they are too loud, I now have two Vantec Stealth fans in front and two Sunon 80mm B2's in rear and there is my Enermax 425 (or whatever) power supply with it's two fans and my processor fan which is a Papst.

I could remove my front fans and perhaps use the Stealth fans for my rear fans but youknow, I like lots of cooling.

Would have to run tests to be precise.

I recommend not using a rheobus because you can buy quiet fans instead that use less power and run at specified voltage.

Tell us how you come out, I think water cooling the processor is probably the way to go but heck, I DO have other things to do with my day.

 

[Mavrick007]

Well I think water cooling would be the way to go as well for the cpu and video, it would make your machine alot quieter. The only thing is start up costs and which one to purchase. If I knew which to go for, I would probably go in that direction but I have only read up on it a bit.

So what people are mostly saying is that alot go for the Panaflo fans but some people could care less what fan they put in their machine. I would still like to try the Enermax fans out if they offer good airflow.

What size fans do you use mostly? Any case modders out there who have cut holes in the sides or the front?

 

[Mavrick007]

My new case that is coming has 2 fans in front(vertical on bottom), 2 in back (vertical in middle), and one on the side. They are all 80mm Antec fans. Do you think that these would be sufficient for good airflow or should I switch them with other brands or types(sizes)?

 

[Nefrodite]

antec stealth 21db fans

since i'm shopping for case fans i guess i'll just add to this thread. are the specs accurate for this fan? yes i value silence more then anything else.

 

[Auric]

There are only three good designs that I know of and those are the sleeve types from Pabst, Panaflow & EZ Fan. You have to start there because there are other "quiet" fans but they are less efficient and just running slower and pushing less air to achieve lower noise. It helps to do do a bit of research comparing the noise, airflow and features of those you have on hand to what you want. A single size from one manufacturer might have ten models in the same series with different speed, bearing type, RPM sensing, thermal variable, connectors, etc.

 

[Cat13]

I replaced the Sunon's that came with my case (cyberpower 1030 w/ 420w psu) with L1A's. My temps are the same but the noise is down. I am using the enermax adjustable as my hsf on an ax-7, but after playing around with the speed, I set it to half to keep my cpu at the temp I want but keep the noise down as well. I am getting ready to change out the two fans in the psu to L1A's also, hopefully that will knock out some noise also. Overall the system is quiete and cool.

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: Nefrodite
antec stealth 21db fans

since i'm shopping for case fans i guess i'll just add to this thread. are the specs accurate for this fan? yes i value silence more then anything else.

I'll check out the antec fans tonite. If that's the same specs as the ones that come in the Antec 1080 case then it looks like they're pretty sweet fans, quiet and push a fair amount of air. I also have some Sunon 80mm fans that I'm going to put in there too so that I have a bit more intake.

 

[Nefrodite]

whoops i meant vantec. grumble i gotta go dremil shopping. must slice blow hole for 92mm fan