26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

**ziddey** · 03-21-2007, 02:02 AM

wow nice! Shows off how good yates are with radiators too in the low noise category. good good

**Vapor** · 03-21-2007, 02:13 AM

Originally Posted by ranker

Could you include the Scythe S-Flex F fans in the next round up Vapor? I'm curious to see how these stack up against the rest of the field.

So right now what would be the "best" fan to use with my Thermochill PA120.3 and my MCR-220 radiators? I'm not sure how to define "best" by looking at the graphs alone.

I hope to be able to test the various Scythes in the next batch. Minebea, S-Flex, and DF.

I was hoping to allow people to draw their own conclusions as to what is 'best.' With all things NOT GRAPHED being 'equal,' the best low speed is the FN121. The Yate may push more air through a radiator, but when considering cooling performance, you need to consider both radiator CFM (for case airflow purposes, or if you use a shroud where the hub/air dispersion pattern can be ignored) and CPU temps (how well it cools a 'radiator,' not just how much airflow it can get through it). On top of that, the Sharkoon Golfball 2000 and ebmpapst are also very good in the same CFM/cooling range, plus can scale to higher performance (but more noise).

However, considering the Yate Loon pricing....they cannot be ignored at all.

Originally Posted by SparkyJJO

Very nice writeup Vapor, been looking forward to this.

If you are going to test some more fans a little bit later, PM me if you want me to pay for that coolermaster fan that I requested be tested

Thanks

I will consider the your offer on the Coolermaster (I want to test it, but may not need user contributions...)

Originally Posted by Navig

Just wanted to say great job! Much thanks!

Saw it mentioned, if you could at some point add the venerable Sanyo Denki, that'd be great.

Compensating for something? Naw...

Thank you

I definitely want to more ~100CFM fans as the Panaflos are kinda lonely. The San Ace and various Sunons will hopefully be in the next comparison.

Originally Posted by xlink

so it looks like the yate is best for open air then...

I have to disagree....FN121 beats the Yate in open air, and two medium speed fans beat the FN121 at most speeds as well. Considering their price, Yates should not be ignored though.

Originally Posted by ziddey

wow nice! Shows off how good yates are with radiators too in the low noise category. good good

Like I said above....radiator tests only show CFM pushed through the radiator. Based on the CPU tests, I firmly believe that's not the whole story when looking for the best fan to cool a radiator (whether or not that's a WC radiator or the radiator component of a HSF)

**stone_cold_Jimi** · 03-21-2007, 04:34 AM

Very nice work, old chap, must have taken you an age!

I used a pair of Papst at 1500 rpm on a BlackIce Extreme 2 rad for a long while; CPU dT between idle and load (folding) was always 15C whatever the ambient. Nice fans.

My other general purpose fans are Vantec Stealth, again 1500 rpm. They seem to do the business without too much racket.

**IanY** · 03-21-2007, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by afireinside

Yeah out of my 5 yates one of them is noticeably louder bearing wise and it pisses me off. But then again you can get almost 5 yates for the price of one papst...

Two Yates for one Papst, my friend. Yates are about $6 stock and about $7 braided and sleeved. Papsts come sleeved and ready to go at $14 per fan. Of course, I don't pay retail... but that's a seperate issue.

**Marci** · 03-21-2007, 08:48 AM

Vapor - favor fella... make/model of sound meter and accompanying mic used, and same for anemometer (thermal or vane?)?? Measured as center velocity of the duct, or did you make a traverse?

**Vapor** · 03-21-2007, 08:54 AM

Anemometer: Mannix DCFM 8906 measured at the center of the duct in a pull config (push had weird results and the Delta tri-blade [spins in the other direction] actually had negative FPM airlfow readings

). Tried to have it setup for the least restriction and turbulence possible....I'll see if I can put together a tranverse setup and see what that results in.

Sound meter: Reliability Direct AR824....all-in-one, no accompanying mic

**lowfat** · 03-21-2007, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by IanY

Two Yates for one Papst, my friend. Yates are about $6 stock and about $7 braided and sleeved. Papsts come sleeved and ready to go at $14 per fan. Of course, I don't pay retail... but that's a seperate issue.

$6? ouch, we can get them for under $3 in Canada usually.

**IanY** · 03-21-2007, 09:18 AM

$3 for a Yate Loon?

That's awesome

NCIX has the medium speed for CA$10 and the low speed for CA$8.

http://www.ncix.com/search/?q=yate+l...ice=Max.+Price

**deeznuts** · 03-21-2007, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by IanY

$3 for a Yate Loon?

That's awesome

NCIX has the medium speed for CA$10 and the low speed for CA$8.

http://www.ncix.com/search/?q=yate+l...ice=Max.+Price

Yates go for $3-4 here in the US.

**Vapor** · 03-21-2007, 09:46 AM

Yeah....even though they're not the best in their group, that pricetag demands attention, especially for people buying multiple fans at once.

**lowfat** · 03-21-2007, 09:53 AM

Originally Posted by IanY

$3 for a Yate Loon?

That's awesome

NCIX has the medium speed for CA$10 and the low speed for CA$8.

http://www.ncix.com/search/?q=yate+l...ice=Max.+Price

Directcanada.com has the low speeds for $2.76

but they sell out very fast when they get them in.

**ChaosMinionX** · 03-21-2007, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Vapor

Like I said above....radiator tests only show CFM pushed through the radiator. Based on the CPU tests, I firmly believe that's not the whole story when looking for the best fan to cool a radiator (whether or not that's a WC radiator or the radiator component of a HSF)

Air pressure has to do alot with fans as well as CFM when looking to mount on a radiator, or say in the tuniqs case in the center of the radiator. Especially with 120mm Delta's probably the only way to go for the maximum cooling on one of those ,and probably the best for a tuniq because it has a ton of air pressure for a 120mm. The smaller 96mm and down have much better air pressure because of their size, and delta makes some that hit almost 30~ mmH2O....Ive used several fans from vantec, to thermaltake and silverstone as well as some coolermasters and the delta is loudest and nicest fan ive used. At medium its bearable because im in the process of sound proofing my case with akasa sound dampening stuff.

EDIT: Awesome work though vapor.

**rvd** · 03-22-2007, 04:58 PM

A lot of work went into this, thanks for doing it.

**ign0** · 03-22-2007, 06:34 PM

excellent work and thanks for so much information about fans.
I liked Big Typoon fans and the golf. and ADDA has some low noice fans
(green for low speed and yellow for midium speed ) fluid bearing. Did you see any of them.
By the way I also wonder how thermaltake silent cat and AC fans compared with them

and I'm also wondering did you record the rpm's of the fans during the test. or the corresponding voltage to the cfm or dB.

Thanks again for the hard work went thorough. the information helps a lot.

for another guy: BT stock fan is the low speed fan (1300 rpm) come with BT the first revision.
and BT vx stock fan should be the higher speed adjustable (2500 rpm) one come with 2nd revision (vx)

**Getttosmurf** · 03-23-2007, 12:37 PM

Thanks for the great review vapor !
Would like too se the Enermax Warp UC-12AEBS in the test though bought 3 of them to replace my nexus fans ( 1000rpm yate loons )
Havent tried them on my rad yet but it seems they push alot of air without much noise.

qoute from http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/r...ax_Warp_1.html

"WARP, the recently introduced first fan series based on ENLOBAL (magnetic-barometric) bearing technology changed the world of cooling. Its' revolutionary new "ENLOBAL" bearing technology, which rotates the fan, in contrary to all other bearings, by magnetic fields"

//
Smurf

**jacky89** · 03-24-2007, 02:30 PM

I have the Thermaltake Big Typhoon fan among a bunch of other 120mm including 2 different Yate Loon, GlobalWin, and Scythe. I got to say that the Thermaltake Big Typhoon stock fan is a miracle fan. It is so freaking quiet yet blows more air than the GlobalWin and the two Yate Loons. The Scythe blows more than the TT but is much louder. I love the TT Big Typhoon fan.
Now from your review, I am curious to try out the Sharkoon Golfball! Thanks!

**[XC] leviathan18** · 03-25-2007, 07:11 PM

yes the tt bt fan is pretty nice... but my sanyo denki are the best

**Death^Dread** · 03-25-2007, 07:14 PM

what are the diffuser blades on the deltas supposed to do?

**Dekara** · 03-26-2007, 05:16 AM

Great review Vapor, congrats!

**apexracing** · 03-26-2007, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by Death^Dread

what are the diffuser blades on the deltas supposed to do?

If you paid attention and understood what you read, you'd realise the diffusers get this, diffuse the airflow. Diffuse, as in spread out.

**oshox** · 03-26-2007, 09:18 PM

Love the tests. Shows clear results throughout. Much appreciated.
For your "next batch," I for one would appreciate a couple of 120x38mm fans in the mix. See if they're worth it. Size matters, right?
Specifically, I'd like to see the Sanyo Denki Ace and Sunon KDE1212PMB3-6A.

**kuhla** · 03-26-2007, 10:31 PM

Awesome work Vapor. *goes off to post links to this threads at other forums

*

**Deathknight** · 03-27-2007, 09:11 AM

Great work!

Originally Posted by [XC] leviathan18

sanyo denki san ace

I agree, would love to see this fan compared against the others.

**Vapor** · 03-27-2007, 09:53 AM

Thanks for the kudos everyone

I'm noting all your recommendations too, no worries

**Spawne32** · 03-27-2007, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by Vapor

Thanks for the kudos everyone

I'm noting all your recommendations too, no worries

Can we send you a fruit basket?

Thread: 26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Rate This Thread

Display

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions