120mm Fan Testing on an MCR120 Radiator Round 6

[Martinm210]

Hmm, maybe PSU is culprit?

I'm not sure, but I had it do it's random shut down while in the bios menu (so it's not software), and it doesn't seem to be related to CPU load, just flat shuts down with or without any load. I also tried pulling each ram stick and the sound card, but it's still doing it.

It's weird, it'll shut down then try and restart multiple times for just a second all failing until I switch off the power for a minute...then it will start back up.

I'm almost thinking it might be the motherboard (DFI X48). If it was the PSU or CPU, I would think it would struggle more when under load, but load doesn't seem to have anything to do with it. The only thing that seems to make it worse is heat, but everything looks good there, open test bench and all the chips are under water and look good. I also have extra fans blowing over the board, etc.

UPDATE: My OCZ PSU went bad, borrowing one from the kids computer while I order another...

[Martinm210]

Yate Loon D12SL-12 UV Blue Straight Blade

Another OEM fan, but with blue UV plastic and Blue UV LEDs. You would think they would perform the same as the black plastic types, but it seems like these clear types never do...perhaps harder (less flexible) plastic is the cause. Hard to say because these types also have the less desirable straight blade from yate loon.

NOISE LEVEL
Is a bit higher than the yate medium, it's not really obvious listening, but the meter is giving it higher numbers

NOISE QUALITY
Good to average and similar to the other yates, no obvious motor ticks. Sounds like mainly air flow. Not quite as smooth as some of the higher blade type fans though.

POWER CONSUMPTION
I suppose it is to be expected with the LEDs, but power consumption is poor in comparison to the yate medium. It used just over 2 watts for a fair amount less air than the yate medium.

RANGE
Not very good, didn't want to start until just under 7V giving you a range of about 950RPM to 1400RPM. The normal black model SL gives much more range 675-1563.

OVERALL
While sound quality is decent, this fan performs fairly poorly compared to the black model curved blade (Non LED) version. I would not recommend the LED version, if you like yates...go for the black curved blade model, it's much better.

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMV03yZtvuM

[antiacid]

No need to ask with weapons pointed at them. Just buy enough of them
"Note: just for 1000 pc we cannot produce
When your demand is over 100.000 ps a year minimum, than we can investigate
better because we need to invest in many ways... technical / tooling" - response from Nidec Servo about possibility of 140mm GTs

so they're selling 100k/yr GTs then... Wow, didn't realize there were that many of us liking those fans :P

You'd think they'd use their reputation with the 120s to be an industry leader for 140mm... Oh well!

[Martinm210]

FYI, retested the GT14 in batch 4, this is how it compared. About 1CFM off, but pretty much the same:

[Manicdan]

so the other thread is just gone now, does that mean your PC is working again?

[Martinm210]

so the other thread is just gone now, does that mean your PC is working again?

Yeah, I "Borrowed" my son's PSU(Second family PC for the kids to play games on) and ordered a new Corsair 650TX this afternoon. My son's not too happy, but he'll get over it and I'm temporarily PSU patched until I get the new Corsair.

The OCZ 700 was dying after 2+ years of service, that was my problem. I guess that's not a horrendous lifespan, but I was hoping it would last longer. I'm going to give Corsair a try, never had one before.

[Martinm210]

Rosewill Black Medium Speed

This fan came out of a rosewill challenger case I bought on egg for my son's computer I built from leftover parts. The fan itself has nice curved blades and doesn't look all that different from a normal yate loon.

But that's where the similarities end...

NOISE LEVEL
About as bad as it gets, it was right up there with the worst of the worst.

NOISE QUALITY
Also very poor, while 4 and 5 volts was relatively smooth 6 & 7 volts had pretty strong harmonics, and medium to high volts also included a pretty strong motor tick. Not good.

EFFICIENCY
Fairly poor compared to the yate loons high quality

CFM per RPM
Suprisingly also fairly poor compared to the yate.

OVERALL
Poor. I really hoped this budget fan would be another option to the yate, but it's not. It might get you by in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend this fan..it just did not do well on a radiator..

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5sFco_d9I

[Martinm210]

Rosewill Clear LED Case Fan
This is the other Rosewill fan I pulled from my son's Rosewill Challenger case. It did better than the black version in noise level to my surprise, but still not very good... It looks nice..

NOISE LEVEL/CFM
Above average. Not quite as high as the black variety, but higher than most fans and a fair amount higher than the yate medium.

NOISE QUALITY
Has a strong motor tick present at all levels.

RPM
Has no RPM wire..

RANGE
Similar to the clear LED yate, the range is very small. While I don't have RPM data (it came without a wire), it was a fair amount smaller in range than the yate medium.

EFFICIENCY
Like the yate LED, consumes a substantially higher amount of power per CFM.

OVERALL
Very small range, higher than average noise level, and fairly poor noise quality. Looks nice though..

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr7cKldijpg

[Boulard83]

These are really some awesome review Martin !

Are you going to test teh Triebwerk ? I own 3 on my TFC360 and i want to see how it compare. I also have 1850 GT's and UK3 but the UK3 are tiking even on a rehostat controller. PWN seems worse.

[Church]

I've heard already before that yates with leds are noiser then normal ones .. but what can be the reason of it? Shape of blades same, engine same. I wonder how that transparent plastic used as material for frame and blades can impact noise :/. Less rigid/more vibration prone? Material resonates to something? Is it generic trend for other major fan makers aswell?

[Philwong]

Yeah, I "Borrowed" my son's PSU(Second family PC for the kids to play games on) and ordered a new Corsair 650TX this afternoon. My son's not too happy, but he'll get over it and I'm temporarily PSU patched until I get the new Corsair.

The OCZ 700 was dying after 2+ years of service, that was my problem. I guess that's not a horrendous lifespan, but I was hoping it would last longer. I'm going to give Corsair a try, never had one before.

Kudos to a dedicated reviewer!

Phil

[Manicdan]

Yeah, I "Borrowed" my son's PSU(Second family PC for the kids to play games on) and ordered a new Corsair 650TX this afternoon. My son's not too happy, but he'll get over it and I'm temporarily PSU patched until I get the new Corsair.

The OCZ 700 was dying after 2+ years of service, that was my problem. I guess that's not a horrendous lifespan, but I was hoping it would last longer. I'm going to give Corsair a try, never had one before.

i support corsair PSUs, have a 620HX that i needed because my 2900xt on water overvolted and overclocked, was killing the PSU, literally, it sounded like a fax modem. this one is going strong, even though i dont use it for such a load anymore.

PS i think im about to smash my roswell fans, any objections? didnt think so

[Martinm210]

i support corsair PSUs, have a 620HX that i needed because my 2900xt on water overvolted and overclocked, was killing the PSU, literally, it sounded like a fax modem. this one is going strong, even though i dont use it for such a load anymore.

PS i think im about to smash my roswell fans, any objections? didnt think so

Good to know. I thought the OCZ was a pretty good supply, but over the course of the last few months I noticed I had to back off my OC and was getting random lockups, etc. I think it was very gradually dieing and I didn't know better. I was blaming the processor for wearing out.

Now that I'm sitting on the temporary, life is great. It's amazing how important a good stable PSU is and how much headache one failing will give you.

I will never buy another OCZ PSU again, this one has caused me way too much trouble. Corsair here I come..

[Martinm210]

FYI,
I retested my Wonky GT15 as part of this batch 4, and this is what I got. I first ran through with my 1V normal increments, then I went back and specifically tried to pinpoint the resonance RPMs. They are there, and hopefully it's just this wonky sample I have. I found roughly 6 strong 3-4dbA resonance points that are very isolated. Rolling off the voltage by .1V is usually enough to make it go away.

Hopefully this is just this sample and it's from sitting on the shelf too long. I won't include this in the round until I've had a chance to try Vapor's samples. The 14 didn't seem to do this, although I didn't go back and check like I did this one:



And this is how the last two GT15 and the two GT14 tests compare. Fairly comparable down below 25CFM, but the two GT15 test were still off by a good 3CFM at 12V...something is off with it's bearing I think..just can't get two test to match up.



Makes me wonder if the frame change in the new batch was to eliminate these spikes or if it was for something else..

[Martinm210]

Panaflo NMB-MAT FBA12G12U Ultra High Speed

I've had this one in my collection for a while, thanks to Hondacity..:applaud:

Gotta throw in some of the super high speed fans in there. Now that I've got the hotwire anemometer, there's really no limitation. It can read up to 4000 FPM, so no problem with the high speed stuff.

NOISE LEVEL
On the low end was slightly higher than the Yate, but up higher was about average, seems to follow the pack trend pretty well, although it does extend that CFM line a ways out there, it is built for one thing...HIGH FLOW.

NOISE QUALITY
This is an excellent example of why noise level alone doesn't cut it. These high speed fans are not meant to be undervolted and have an extremely strong motor tick. Looking at the NOISE LEVEL graph alone you could conclude that running this fan 7V would give you roughly the same thing as a yate medium at 12V. Noise level yes, noise quality..NOT EVEN CLOSE. The fans are all generally made to perform optimally in one area, very few actually do well everywhere, and this one is no different. I would not recommend undervolting this fan below 9V, the motor is extremely ticky at low volts.

RAW POWER
This fan is built for power. Were the yate medium is cranking out 32CFM through the radiator, the Panaflo is pushing 51 CFM at 12V. Almost twice the air flow.

OVERALL
This fan is a power house, but it's not one you want undervolt because of stong motor tick. If you want raw power and really don't care much about noise, this fan fits the bill nicely. But in light of the whole noise quality thing, it's a pretty gritty/ticky fan undervolted, but smooths out pretty well by the time you get to 12V.

Bottom line, huge raw power with average noise level per CFM but not a good fan to undervolt (noise quality suffers below 12V). She likes 12V...so give her what she wants or she'll chop your finger off..

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpGB0QRY4Fw

[Martinm210]

Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000

I've had and used these fans for my past radiator testing, they are a good value fan for 3000RPM speeds, but...like most ultra high speed fans...have a strong tick when undervolted.

NOISE LEVEL
About average, slightly higher than the yate medium and about 1dBA higher than the Panaflo U.

NOISE QUALITY
Poor when undervolted, it has that typical 38mm fan tick when undervolted although I'd subjectivly say it's not as strong as the panaflo. Still not going to be anywhere nearly as smooth as a good 25mm fan at lower speeds.

**Bing has noted that a good PWM controller may go a long way in eliminating the motor tick. I will check into this. If I can build a remote (no computer necessary) PWM controller, I will retest..

EFFICIENCY/POWER CONSUMPTION
Seems to match pretty well with the Yate down low, but it extends that trend a LONG ways up there, drawing about 7 watts at 12V, so make sure you're watching and looking at your fan controller specs. Many fan controllers can only handle 20 watts or so, so you could easily exceed that amount with just 3 fans in series causing failure in the controller.

RANGE
Exceptionally good RPM range from 950RPM to 3000RPM.

OVERALL
A good value 3000RPM fan, but it's very ticky at lower volts. The Ultra Kaze 2000 is much better on the motor tick, but not nearly as smooth as some 25mm fans. I would recommend using the fan at 12V and leave it there if you can handle the noise level.

Bottom line, good value 3000RPM fan, but noise quality suffers when undervolted.

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVCChUNwsa8

[Martinm210]

UPDATED NOISE LEVEL CHART

[damtachoa]

Can you update your fans list with rating? So we can know which one is the best.

[Martinm210]

Can you update your fans list with rating? So we can know which one is the best.

I'm not sure I can. I can do noise level, and had thought about some sort of bar chart system for specific CFM levels, but noise quality (which I personally thick is almost more important) can't be quantified and very subjective. I suppose I could make up some sort of subjective noise quality rating, but that's pretty complex. How do you ranking noise quality for a fan that has motor tick vs one that has resonance issues vs. one that may only have one problem voltage but fine at 12V, etc.

For now, I'm going to make you work for it. You have all the same data I have now..Look at the master Noise chart, then listen to the videos..and make your own conclusion.

I do have some favorites in my back pocket from the fans tested so far, but I'm witholding judgement until I get them all done and have time to sort through all the data.

Working thread...to be continued...

[Manicdan]

your data points are saved just like we see in the tables? per voltage?

so if we try and show "whats the fastest speed at [38, 40, 42] decibels" it wont be easy?

[MagisD]

Why do i see into my head manfacuter reps refreshing over and over waiting to see who wins.

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[Martinm210]

your data points are saved just like we see in the tables? per voltage?

so if we try and show "whats the fastest speed at [38, 40, 42] decibels" it wont be easy?

Yes, but that's only noise level. I don't think you can quantify noise quality which is the motor ticks and annoying stuff and very different from what the meter reads.

For example, pull up the Panaflo U at 7V and the yate medium at 11V. Both read roughly the same CFM and the same noise LEVEL, but quality is VERY VERY DIFFERENT.

You have to listen to the audio to do that part, there is no way to measure that that I know of other than subjectively rating it somehow.

[Martinm210]

The Vapor box has arrived...



I've got my work cut out for me..

[antiacid]

ohhh I know who's going to be up late tonight

keep it up! it's much appreciated

[zalbard]

The Vapor box has arrived...

I've got my work cut out for me..

I can't wait!