Fan Testing Commencing GTs vs Noctua vs Silverstone vs Yate

[Martinm210]

First, a very special thanks to the following people for sponsoring this upcoming Test:

Gentle Typhoon AP-15 - Hondacity
Noctua P12 - Masika
Silverstone AP-121 - MagisD

Thanks guys

And the contenders and Tools:

I plan to simply employ HD video recording from my Canon T2I and run the fans through their voltage sweeps, also stopping specifically at 10,20,30cfm increments for a spectrum noise profile comparison.

Will we have a new king?? The blade densities look promising. Any guesses?..

I'll share something by the end of the weekend for your perusal..
Cheers!
Martin

[ScottALot]

Are you measuring airflow through the radiator too?

[Martinm210]

Are you measuring through the radiator too?

Yes, it will be testing through the radiator. The entire test will compare noise qualities vs radiator air flow. My anemometer vane probe is on the outlet side of my radiator box.

There are plenty of open air tests out there, I prefer focusing on the radiator performance since it makes such a huge difference.

This is the video framing I'm thinking of...something similar to this:

[Martinm210]

Anyhow, if you have any suggestions...now is the time..

As usual, these tests can only happen in the wee hours of the morning in the darkest quietest corner of my bedroom closet...so I figured I'd try to either run them tonight or tomorrow night and start uploading videos/results Sunday.

[affiliate13]

You know you couldnt have picked a better moment to do this.
There was a guy on another forum asking Nocutas vs GTs.
Now we will be able to get a definitive answer.

Thanks Martin!

[Martinm210]

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one. These two fans seem to have some unique fin shape/densities. I've always wanted to try a Noctua since my first round of tests...would be nice to have some good competition against the GT with it's supply problem..

[Huww]

I'm looking forward to your results. I thought the soundmeter on your phone was a cool idea.

The comparison will be nice since it seems like every online store I use has been out of GTs for awhile now.

[Sadasius]

Bravo! Nice setup for testing. Looking forward to results. Thanks again Martin!

[ScottALot]

Definitely keep that setup and do more fan reviews! I really enjoy the setup.

[ryan92084]

very much looking forward to this

[kroks]

Great test
Can you compare water temperature at a given dB level? I'm not sure you'll get enough air at low speed for your anemometer

[Martinm210]

Great test
Can you compare water temperature at a given dB level? I'm not sure you'll get enough air at low speed for your anemometer

No, not thermal testing...that would take way too long. Since my last round I did purposely reduce the opening to my flow chamber outlet. This has given the anemometer.

That's the cool thing about the anemometer, you can calibrate it for different duct sizes. It does have a minimum air speed, but you can tweak the duct size way down if you're interested in looking at very low flow rates.

Since my last round I've done just that, so I'm able to read a bit lower CFM levels..

[Martinm210]

Thanks guys...hope you like the new video formats when they are done.

Great test
Can you compare water temperature at a given dB level? I'm not sure you'll get enough air at low speed for your anemometer

No, not thermal testing...that would take way too long. Since my last round I did purposely reduce the opening to my flow chamber outlet. This has given the anemometer. So I am sticking with the air flow based testing for now, but I'm open to some playing around with stuff like shroud testing and push/pull noise comparisons..etc. Those sorts of things are of interest to me. Masika was gracious enough to donate for two P12s, so I plan to at least test the P12s in a push/pull setup after this initial round.

That's the cool thing about the anemometer, you can calibrate it for different duct sizes. It does have a minimum air speed, but you can tweak the duct size way down if you're interested in looking at very low flow rates.

Since my last round I've done just that, so I'm able to read a bit lower CFM levels..

[Martinm210]

I also have these new Rosewill fans I pulled out of a Rosewill Challenger case I just bought for my son's computer (Budget build using mostly old parts I had lying around). Considering you can buy similar models for a little as 4 fans for $10 ($2.50 each), and since I already had them, I figured I'll throw these into the round as well. I'll look for two categories of winners, the best cfm/noise fan and the best budget fan..

It's only fitting of my budget build I'm working on...if they work well, I may buy some more. Never thought there would be a fan that's cheaper than a yate loon, at $2.50 per fan that 10X less than the P12s that cost $24 each..

We'll see how they do..I kind of like the clear minus the LED part, nice smooth blade surfaces for such a cheap fan.

[Vapor]

Looking forward to this

I'm guessing the Gentle Typhoon wipes the floor with the other three, but maybe the AP121 will surprise. I wonder if removing the majority of those air directing blades on the AP121 would improve performance on a radiator.

[MagisD]

Chop that ap-121 up in the name of science if you have to. ...i just want destruction shots lol....

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[Martinm210]

If it doesn't perform well I will...

Have dremel, will sacrifice!

[Vapor]

Here's to hoping

[Martinm210]

Figured anything you call a "Round" ought to have a proper weigh in..

If weight has anything to do with bearing/motor quality, the GT is looking pretty good.

Interesting how the acrylic rosewill fan is lighter(I guess it makes sense), curious what that means (if anything) for noise. I was pretty happy with the old clear yate's noise qualities, unfortunately it was so low in RPM...you couldn't really test it.

Anyhow, the weigh in is done...the contestants are warming up in their respective corners.., unfortunately there are no weight classes here..lightweights..heavyweights..all go head to head..

[Vapor]

Gotta say I'm rooting for the Rosewill Black now that I see the two newest additions

Don't like LEDs but I do like low prices, and I do like NewEgg (Rosewill is their house brand), so go Rosewill!

[penguins]

i would be interested to see how older fans that i used to use for wcing compare to new fans, lol also interested in those rosewill !

[Hondacity]

oh nice....welcome back to testing..

[vhaarr]

Ahh, what better way to start the day than fresh review charts! Can't wait for the results

[prava]

You are the man, Martin!

BTW, do you work as an engineer or something? I swear the first time I started looking at your analysis I could not understand of it

[Martinm210]

You are the man, Martin!

BTW, do you work as an engineer or something? I swear the first time I started looking at your analysis I could not understand of it

Thanks, yes..I'm a civil in transportation(not related at all to this stuff), and that makes two of us.. I don't know what the heck I'm doing either, just experimenting and learning as I go..

FYI, I got the videos & audio recorded last night and working on combining them. Should have some videos to share later this evening or tomorrow.

I'll start looking at the numbers after the videos go up and create some charts.