Push/Pull worth it?

[Artemis]

I have a Swiftech MCR-320 QP, and 6 HS Yates. Is it worth it to make it push/pull for how much more noise it would cause? I would be mounting it on the ceiling of my HAF932 by the way. plus if I do push/pull I would need to go buy more screws.

[Polizei]

With high speed Yates at 12v, probably not. With undervolted low speed Yates, yes.

[Artemis]

Do you think this is going to be as loud as my Megahalem and 2 HS yates? I have a fan controller so I can turn it down.

[Polizei]

Well, the way it works is for every time you add a multiple of the sound output, the dB amount increases by 3. For instance, 6 high speed Yates at 43dB or whatever it is on a 3x120mm radiator in push-pull at 12v will sound like 58dB (43 + (5 * 3)).

It honestly depends on how sensitive you are to sound, how much performance you want, and how much you want to spend. It's hard for one of us to say "Yeah, it's worth it" when you might be more sensitive to noise and you may want it quieter, or you might think the increase in noise is not worth a 2°C improvement on temps, or you might want to save the $20 it costs for 3 more fans and shipping.

[PiLsY]

I have 10 yates @ 1900rpm in push pull on a 360 and 240 - its damned loud. Not annoying, just loud. Air noise rather than anything mechanical. I just put my headphones or some music on . The pitch is much lower than 5 yates @ 2300rpm so its far less annoying and runs a little cooler too.

[eth0s]

Well, the way it works is for every time you add a multiple of the sound output, the dB amount increases by 3. For instance, 6 high speed Yates at 43dB or whatever it is on a 3x120mm radiator in push-pull at 12v will sound like 58dB (43 + (5 * 3)).

Well, this is totally wrong.

First, here is the Wikipedia definition of what a decibel is: "The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses the magnitude of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level. Since it expresses a ratio of two quantities with the same unit, it is a dimensionless unit. A decibel is one tenth of a bel, a seldom-used unit."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel

Second, when you add decibels, you are adding logarithmic values, and so you have to use the formula to add logarithms, meaning that you have to use the following formula: 10LogΣ(Log(A) + Log(B) + ... + Log(n)).

Third, if you do the math, every time the sound level doubles, the decibel level increases by approximately 3 dB. This is just a quirk of the math, and not really a scientific fact that can be applied to a formula.

Fourth: using the proper formula I found the following for you:

If one Yate Loon high speed fan operates at 40dB (http://www.dangerden.com/store/yate-...h-12.html#tabs),

then 3 High Speed Yate Loons will have sound level of: 45 dB

and 6 High Speed Yate Loons will have sound level of: 48 dB

@ Artemis:

Firstly: Adding 3 more HS Yates will increase your sound level to 48 dB. And 48 dB will be twice as loud as 45 dB. And, to me personally 48 dB is way too loud. (But 45 dB, is too loud for me as well.)

Secondly, according to MartinM210's testing of fans on radiators, 6 fans in push/ pull will give you 7-15% better performance than using just 3 fans. The question you have to ask yourself is: "Is 7-15% improvement in cooling worth making my fans twice as loud?" For some people the answer is yes, because they may need that extra cooling, but for others, the answer may be no, because they are happy with current performance. You have to decide for yourself.

And Thirdly: My advice is to get rid of those HS Yates, and get 6 Scythe Gentle Typhoons 1850's. Six GT 1850's have a sound level of 36 dB in total! Which is less than just one of your current Yates. And on a MCR320, the GT's will probably perform just as well, or maybe better than 3 HS Yates. Although, 6 GT 1850's will probably perform slightly worse than 6 HS Yates, but not much, and I doubt you would notice the difference in performance. So in conclusion I say: upgrade those fans to GT 1850's.

[Alexandr0s]

Secondly, according to MartinM210's testing of fans on radiators, 6 fans in push/ pull will give you 7-15% better performance than using just 3 fans. The question you have to ask yourself is: "Is 7-15% improvement in cooling worth making my fans twice as loud?" For some people the answer is yes, because they may need that extra cooling, but for others, the answer may be no, because they are happy with current performance. You have to decide for yourself.

The same results can also be achieved by adding a shroud, although this depends on the type of fan and the configuration.

And Thirdly: My advice is to get rid of those HS Yates, and get 6 Scythe Gentle Typhoons 1850's. Six GT 1850's have a sound level of 36 dB in total! Which is less than just one of your current Yates. And on a MCR320, the GT's will probably perform just as well, or maybe better than 3 HS Yates. Although, 6 GT 1850's will probably perform slightly worse than 6 HS Yates, but not much, and I doubt you would notice the difference in performance. So in conclusion I say: upgrade those fans to GT 1850's.

+1. GT's are just the best fans for liquid cooling. Yates are great too, especially if you're on a low budget, but even then I would suggest waiting and saving up for some GT's.

[Church]

eth0s: are you shure that 48 will be twice as loud as 45? I recall reading that double percieved loudness subjectively by humans is ~ 6dB. 3dB were just doubling sound pressure, not what human hears as double loud.
EDIT
Hmm, or even 10dB.

[Sadasius]

If you have fans that are undervolted then it can be really nice if you have the room to make it push/pull. But if you have really powerful fans then no it is not needed really unless you want to go extreme....like making rads hover!

[Polizei]

Well, this is totally wrong.

First, here is the Wikipedia definition of what a decibel is: "The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit of measurement that expresses the magnitude of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level. Since it expresses a ratio of two quantities with the same unit, it is a dimensionless unit. A decibel is one tenth of a bel, a seldom-used unit."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel

Second, when you add decibels, you are adding logarithmic values, and so you have to use the formula to add logarithms, meaning that you have to use the following formula: 10LogΣ(Log(A) + Log(B) + ... + Log(n)).

Third, if you do the math, every time the sound level doubles, the decibel level increases by approximately 3 dB. This is just a quirk of the math, and not really a scientific fact that can be applied to a formula.

Fourth: using the proper formula I found the following for you:

If one Yate Loon high speed fan operates at 40dB (http://www.dangerden.com/store/yate-...h-12.html#tabs),

then 3 High Speed Yate Loons will have sound level of: 45 dB

and 6 High Speed Yate Loons will have sound level of: 48 dB
.

First, whoa now, Einstein. Chill. No need to be condescending if someone's comprehension is off.

[Johnny87au]

Your better off with shrouds then push/pull, With a shroud you would only be losing about 8% performance comparing it with push/pull, also the noise/price wouldnt be worth it imho

[UrbanSmooth]

I'll be using 18 high-speed Yate Loon 120mm fans on three 360 rads in push/pull with shrouds on both sides of the rads. The Yates will be on a FC-2 fan controller with quad-splitter wires connecting four fans to each of the FC-2's 6 channels. Why am I doing this? Cooling three GTX 480s in 3-way SLI and an OCed i7, I want all of the help that I can get.

[Serpentarius]

here ... place similiar decibel and you'll a slightly higher db ... just insert the db and the amount of sources (e.g. fan)

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ad...ibel-d_63.html

[wesley]

Martin did a definitive test on shrouds/push pull. Worth a read.

http://martin.skinneelabs.com/Radiat...ng-Review.html

Wes