This project began with a goal — run an Intel Core i7 860 at 4GHz consistently in a room with ambient temperatures of thirty degrees centigrade (30°C), and without excessive noise. Among the air-cooled heatsinks, the Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B seemed to be the best choice at the time. The Megahalems Rev. B also comes with clips for two 120×25 mm fans, and clips for 120×38 mm fans are available, from other retailers. The Megahalems does not come with its own fans. This avoids wasting money on fans that may not meet the user’s needs, but it does raise the question, “What fans do I use?” I have collected a number of fans from a variety of places; they run from fancy to plain, expensive to dirt cheap, noisy to barely audible. I tested all of these on the Megahalems heatsink.
The Fans
Below is the list of fans tested, as used on the chart (in parentheses: blade count, fan size, airflow in cubic feet per minute – CFM – reported by manufacturer, and other information as appropriate; ‘N/A’ means ‘not available’):
120×25 mm fans:
Akasa Apache (PWM, 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 57.53 CFM)
Antec TriCool L (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, low setting, 39 CFM)
Antec TriCool M (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, medium setting, 56 CFM)
Antec TriCool H (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, high setting, 79 CFM)
Arctic Cooling 12L (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 37 CFM)
Bulk generic (from geeks.com, unbranded 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
CM BladeMaster (Cooler Master PWM, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 21.2 – 76.8 CFM)
CM R4 (Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP, 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 69 CFM)
Coolink SWiF2 (SWiF2-1201, 11-bladed, 120×25 mm, 55.44 CFM)
Delta WFB1212H (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 86.50 CFM)
Enermax Cluster (PWM, 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 23.86 to 53.02 CFM)
Enermax Magma (9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 69.15 CFM)
FDB-12-1300 (Thermalright 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 50.0 CFM)
FN-121 (Silverstone 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 53.24 CFM)
Gelid S12 (Gelid Solutions 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 37 CFM)
GT-1150 (Scythe/Nidec-Servo 9-bladed Gentle Typhoon, 120×25 mm, 37.1 CFM)
GT-1450 (Scythe/Nidec-Servo 9-bladed Gentle Typhoon, 120×25 mm, 45.9 CFM)
GT-1850 (Scythe/Nidec-Servo 9-bladed Gentle Typhoon, 120×25 mm, 58.3 CFM)
Magma + Cluster (Enermax 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
MassCool FD12025 (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 52.05 CFM)
MechaTronics 120 mm (MXA1225L12D FSR, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
Nexus Real Silent (D12SL-12, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 36.87 CFM)
Noctua NF-P12 (9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 54.3 CFM)
Noctua NF-S12B (7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 59.2 CFM)
Noctua P12 + S12B (120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
NZXT (DF1202512RFLN, 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 47 CFM)
OKGear 2wire (1710 rpm, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
OKGear 3wire (1525 rpm, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
Papst 25 mm (4412FML, 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 67.1 CFM)
Papst 32 mm (4312 MS, 5-bladed, 120×32 mm, 82.4 CFM)
RFA-120BL (Rosewill 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 74.48 CFM)
RFX-120BL (Rosewill 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 43.5 – 87.5 CFM)
SA-9G1212P4G03 (Sanyo Denki PWM 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 32 to 130 CFM)
SA-9S1212F401 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 70.6 CFM)
SA-9S1212H401 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 86.51 CFM)
SA-9S1212L401 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 48.1 CFM)
Scythe generic (AD1212DS-A73GL(6TCL3), 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 46 CFM)
S-FLEX 1200 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 49.0 CFM)
S-FLEX 1600 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 63.7 CFM)
S-FLEX 1900 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 75.0 CFM)
SlipStream1200 (Scythe 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 68.54 CFM)
SlipStream1600 (Scythe 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 88.11 CFM)
SlipStream1900 #1 (Scythe 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 110.31 CFM)
SlipStream1900 #2 (Scythe 9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 110.31 CFM)
TT-A2018 (Thermaltake 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 38.6 to 93.7 CFM)
YL D12SH-12 (Yate Loon 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 88 CFM)
YL D12SL-12 (Yate Loon 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 47 CFM)
YL D12SL-12 LED (Yate Loon 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, 47 CFM)
ZM-F3 (Zalman 7-bladed, 120×25 mm, CFM N/A)
120×38 mm fans:
Centaur (Japan Servo CNDC12Z7RP, 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 124 CFM)
EBM 38 mm (EBM Papst W2G110-AF45-19, 5-bladed, 120×38 mm, 105.9 CFM)
MechaTronics 38mm (MD1238H12B, 9-bladed fan with 13 vanes to direct airflow, 120×38 mm, 174 CFM)
NMB Panaflo Med (FBA12G12M-1BX, 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 86.5 CFM)
SA-9G1212E1011 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 118 CFM)
SA-9G1212G101 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 137 CFM)
SA-9G1212H101 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 99 CFM)
SA-9G1212M101 (Sanyo Denki 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 74 CFM)
Servo Centaur (Japan Servo CNDC12Z7RP, 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 124 CFM)
Servo Round (Japan Servo SCNDM12B4, 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 106 CFM)
Ultra Kaze 1000 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 44.44 CFM)
Ultra Kaze 2000 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 87.63 CFM)
Ultra Kaze 3000 (Scythe 7-bladed, 120×38 mm, 133.60 CFM)
140×25 mm fans:
Evercool RSF-14 (11-bladed, 140×25 mm, CFM N/A)
Kaze Maru 1200 (Scythe 11-bladed, 140×25 mm, 61.30 CFM)
Kaze Maru 1900 (Scythe 11-bladed, 140×25 mm, 104.54 CFM)
Kaze Maru 2 1700 (Scythe 9-bladed, 140×25 mm, 92.4 CFM)
MassCool FD14025 (7-bladed, 140×25 mm, 27.2 to 47.8 CFM)
Noctua NF-P14 (9-bladed, 120×25 mm, 64.9 CFM)
X-Silent 140 (Thermalright 11-bladed, 140×25 mm, 60.42 CFM)
YL D14SH-12 (Yate Loon 7-bladed, 140×25 mm, 140 CFM)
YL D14SM-12 (Yate Loon 7-bladed, 140×25 mm, 62 CFM)
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