OMG YATES RULEZZZ!!!!1111111BBQ
I've gotten to the point where I get what I can lay my hands on. I've got so many fans lying around my wife thinks I'm going to film an 80's hair band video. Some fans have a lower decibel rating but the sound they put out is a) more annoying or b) doesn't mesh well with the other moving parts in your rig.
General rule of thumb is to get a fan that's faster than you need and slow it down, either by lowering voltage to the fan or
PWM control). You can always speed it up when you need to. Slow it down by hardware fan controllers like the sunbeam rheobus, fanmate, etc. which are normally voltage controls, software like speedfan or motherboard addons, which are normally PWM, or
switching up wires (the least useful, since you can't adjust the fan speed on the fly).
notes: 1) Some fans react poorly to PWM and get a faint *click.* 2) Most digital fan controllers like the CoolDrive, Hardcano, and Sunbeam Theta control fan speeds via PWM. The Sunbeam Theta is pretty freakin cool though.
Scythe, Noctua, and some Arctic Cooling FDBs are considered by a lot of people the best noise/lifespan/dBa ratio, at least for fans you can find at multiple retailers. And the "high" rpm Noctua NF-S12-1200 can be hard to find in stock.
Yate Loon SL's are budget, but quality fans but they have a certain...I don't know...when they're run at full speed I just don't like the way they sound. Most people undervolt them anyway.
Consensus is that the Nexus low speed are undervolted Yate Loons and you're just paying a rebadging premium, but I seem to remember there was a woman who described exactly how they weren't undervolted...I'd love to find that thread again.
There's also the holy grail of 120mm fans, the
Sanyo Denki San Ace, that's pretty tough to find but talk to Zepper or GY and they may be able to hook you up. It's a 120x38 (instead of the common 120mmx25mm) though so that can nix some plans in tight spaces. Oh, and when I say it's that good, it's because when you slow it down, the amount of air it pushes with virtually a whisper is better than 95% of the fans out there.
Hell, I don't know. I've gotten bitter in the fan department, mainly because my PSU is whining and my 8800GTS dumps too much hot air in the case.
And I separated my collarbone.
So anyway, get the freakin S-Flex, you'll love it.
I highly recommend Performance-PCs.com. Not because of their prices, but because they're run by a guy that really gives a crap about his products and his customers. Hank's gone above and beyond a few times for me, and I'll gladly pay those prices to get that service.
-z