120mm Fan Testing on an MCR120 Radiator Round 6

[Martinm210]

Thank you for all the hard work/testing! Really appreciate it!
Seems like i have to switch my 2 excaliburs =)
Looking forward to the Scythe SS SL12H result as i have 2 SL12SH and they seem a little bit better at the same dBA regarding to:
SPCR

I got the SS tested last night, I can probably make that first in processing now that I'm done with the check in.

[nex_73]

I got the SS tested last night, I can probably make that first in processing now that I'm done with the check in.

Looking forward to it. Would be interesting to compare it against the excaliburs...

[Martinm210]

Scythe Slip Stream High Speed

Thanks to Hondacity for sponsoring the fan..

I've had this fan in my collection for a while, I've always liked the high numbers of blades.

NOISE LEVEL
Almost spot on the same as the yate medium which is good

NOISE QUALITY
I'm going to say average to below average. It has some pretty good areas where the sound is fairly smooth, but it also has some very faint motor buzz/tick on occasion. Nothing really pronounced, but there is some motor noise there. The higher number of blades does seem to smooth out the air a little bit, but I think their steeper pitch and minimal forward sweep isn't making the air noise as soft as it could be. Listen to the video for your own interpretation, noise quality is always pretty subjective.

EFFICIENCY
Poor, this fan is extremly power hungry per CFM. I almost had to switch my Amp meter from milliamps over to Amps as it approached hitting .4AMPs at 12V which is 4.5 watts where the yate medium is only drawing about 2 watts. You definitely want to check those fan controller specs before stringing a bunch of these together.

CFM/RPM
Seems to be a little better than the yate medium with the higher number of blades which is good.

OVERALL
Good, pretty similar to the yate medium with a bit more top end and less low end range. The only thing to really watch for is the power consumption which is almost 5 watts.

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NhoZyYLtw







UPDATE 11-27-2010

Scythe SlipStream High Speed-V (Vapor Sample)

Special thanks to Vapor for providing this sample. The one I tested previous was actually being used as a case fan for a little while, so it was good to get a nice fresh sample to compare.

It came in fairly close +-1dbA, but this test did perform better. Noise quality is much the same, so I'm not going to bother with rendering another video.

Anyhow, here are the results, I'll add this information to the original sample post. In general this sample shows a fairly strong CFM/dbA at lower volts compared to most fans, and sort of creeps up into the pack at 12V. Noise quality wise, I don't think it's quite as good as the yates for example, but it's all fairly close and subjective. It is a power hungry little fan though, all 4.5 watts much like the other sample.



COMPARED TO ALL

[nex_73]

Thank you! Time to shift fans to the SL12SH.
They will bring even more CFM at lower noice. power consumption i'm not so worried about...
To bad you don't have some to test (I will be using the 2 i have).

[Manicdan]

is this one of the only fans that really sees a CFM/RPM advantage?

it might be a power hungry and very aggressive fin design.

[Martinm210]

Thank you! Time to shift fans to the SL12SH.
They will bring even more CFM at lower noice. power consumption i'm not so worried about...
To bad you don't have some to test (I will be using the 2 i have).

You bet!
Sorry I missed the S model, I only have this one H right now...but I would expect it to follow a similar trend, if anything it would probably sound a little smoother at the lower RPMs where it's able to maintain higher voltages.

The excalibur would probably do better in a case fan scenario where there is very little restriction.. but the slipstream did much better on the MCR radiator for noise level.

[Martinm210]

is this one of the only fans that really sees a CFM/RPM advantage?

it might be a power hungry and very aggressive fin design.

It does seem to be a bit more aggressive, I just don't trust the CFM/RPM too much. I suspect some of that is just the RPM sensors poor accuracy. But it does point there a bit. I think power consumption is a factor of several things. The blade aggressiveness, the bearing friction, and the noise level. Energy in = Energy out.. Since this one isn't much different in noise, it's probably generating more heat..


I'd like to see a slipstream with really forward sweeping (reverse spiral) shaped blades. It seems like that's another GOOD character besides higher numbers of blades.

[nex_73]

It could be because the smaller center hub = smaller motor needs more power to get to the same rpm?
Hmm, i'm a little confused right now. Might just get it over with and order 2 GT15 instead.

[Martinm210]

It could be because the smaller center hub = smaller motor needs more power to get to the same rpm?
Hmm, i'm a little confused right now. Might just get it over with and order 2 GT15 instead.
But, then i noticed this. The batch you have are B4AP and B5AP, the only place here in sweden who has them in stock has the B3AP.
Should i go for them or wait for the B5 batch instead? Hmmm...

Interesting, I'm not sure if the B number is "Batch" or not I had my B5 AP-15 for over a year now, and the B4 is brand new It kind of makes sense though, but not ever having a B3...I couldn't say. All I know is there doesn't seem to be any noise differences that I could tell between the B4AP14 and B5AP15 other than my 15 has been a bit wonky at times.

I did stumble upon this weird looking AP-13 the other day, the center part of the hub is not open like the ones I have..?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCYTHE-D1225C12B...#ht_2181wt_877

[nex_73]

Disregard the batch, it seems to be the swedish store had the numbers wrong. (You where to fast quoteing me, before i removed it)
b2=800rpm, b3=1150rpm, b4= 1450rpm & b5=1850rpm

[Martinm210]

Disregard the batch, it seems to be the swedish store had the numbers wrong. (You where to fast quoteing me, before i removed it)
b2=800rpm, b3=1150rpm, b4= 1450rpm & b5=1850rpm

OK, that makes sense...

[Manicdan]

I did stumble upon this weird looking AP-13 the other day, the center part of the hub is not open like the ones I have..?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SCYTHE-D1225C12B...#ht_2181wt_877

i just did a google image search, most pictures are the same one as your link, which makes me believe thats an older revision (hence why everyone uses that image)

[Martinm210]

i just did a google image search, most pictures are the same one as your link, which makes me believe thats an older revision (hence why everyone uses that image)

Good! thanks!

FYI,
Updated master chart:

I'm not messing with formatting until I'm done though. Every time I drop another curve on here excel reformats everything, so there's no use until it's done.

[Church]

It's interesting to see 2 fans singled out from the rest. GT as lone best, and CM Excalibur as lone worst . I see no wonders in most of fans being about the same performance/noise wise .. but it still amazes me HOW nidec servo managed to pull off making fan that much better compared to those from rest of industry. After all, similar requirements from product and resources in projecting/manufacturing it usually leads to similar designs/materials/performance (as big pack of most of the fans with rather similar results illustrate).

[Manicdan]

It's interesting to see 2 fans singled out from the rest. GT as lone best, and CM Excalibur as lone worst . I see no wonders in most of fans being about the same performance/noise wise .. but it still amazes me HOW nidec servo managed to pull off making fan that much better compared to those from rest of industry. After all, similar requirements from product and resources in projecting/manufacturing it usually leads to similar designs/materials/performance (as big pack of most of the fans with rather similar results illustrate).

its also kinda odd how the gentle typhoons have such a large motor housing.

so less surface area means the same CFM has to move air faster, yet we hear less!!

i think its time we ask them (with automatic weapons) to make some 140mm 3000rpm versions

[Church]

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

[SiGfever]

I remember not that long ago reading a thread by a premier tester of the watercooling community stating that he was tired of testing and was giving it up. I sure am glad that it was only a very short vacation and not retirement.

This community is a better and more informed place with you here. Thank you.

[Martinm210]

Thanks! I might have to go build another dune buggy after all these fans too...lol!

[Martinm210]

Cooler Master Blade Master

Special thanks to twich12 for sponsoring this fan..

This is a higher speed PWM capable fan with sort of a wave style blade with a really good RPM range.
PACKAGE
Comes in a clear plastic box with your typical printed insert. Also comes with rubber/foam type corners that can be peeled and stuck to the corners for some vibration absorption and your standard self tapping case mounting screws.

NOISE LEVEL
A bit worse than the yate medium at low to mid speeds, but the lines cross and it's actually a fair amount better at high speeds. Appears to have high speed strengths.

NOISE QUALITY
Seems to have a fairly pronounce motor tick present that never really works itself out completely. The blades sound good and smooth, but the motor has some ticking which is more noticeable at lower levels. Perhaps this is better using PWM rather than reducing voltage...I'm not sure.

RANGE
It's worthy to note this fan has really good range from about 500 to 2100RPM is what I got tested on the radiator which is really a broad range.

OVERALL
I think the fan's noise/cfm strengths are tuned more for higher speeds where it was fairly good. The noise quality is my only concern as the motor tick may be annoying to some people. Listen to the video and make your own judgement, sound quality is very subjective.

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3peLNN5FJx8

[charles_h]

I remember not that long ago reading a thread by a premier tester of the watercooling community stating that he was tired of testing and was giving it up. I sure am glad that it was only a very short vacation and not retirement.

This community is a better and more informed place with you here. Thank you.

+1

My thoughts exactly. It's so great to see Martin back, doing his thang.

I may not be active in these threads but I thoroughly enjoy them for their wealth of objective info - Cheers Martin!

[Kenjiwing]

Martin,

Have you tested the 1850 Gentle Typhoons? I see a GT14 in your chart and just want to know if they're still as good as before.

[Martinm210]

Martin,

Have you tested the 1850 Gentle Typhoons? I see a GT14 in your chart and just want to know if they're still as good as before.

I did, but at least with the first few tests...I was having trouble repeating the results. One test came in better than the 14, while the other was a pretty good match. I actually retested both of them in this batch 4 round, but I haven't processed the data yet. Vapor is sending me two newer 15's so I figured with my wonky results on my old (shelved for a long time) fan, I'd just wait on the new fans to be sure I get it right. Then I'll have two new samples to test back to back. I think they are roughly the same from what I know right now.

[BrokenArrow]

This graph is fantastic. No pun intended. Thank you Martin for all the hard work and dedication.

[Martinm210]

Thanks!

FYI, it may be a little delay in getting these last batch fans processed. My main PC has suddenly started turning off randomly to a point where it won't even run for 5 minutes... acts like a power failure. That PC has all my spreadsheet data and video files, so I'm going to have to shift focus from testing to PC troubleshooting. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I started getting some shutdowns about a week or two ago when the house was getting warm. I thought it was heat related, so I back the OC down from 3.6 to 3, to stock at 2.4 and reset the CMOS to defaults. Things seemed to be ok for a few days until this evening when it started all over again only much worse.

Anyhow, going to be a little quiet on the updates with this fan testing until I get my main PC back in operation to a point where it's at least stable enough to do some work again..

To be continued....Computer down!..

[Church]

Hmm, maybe PSU is culprit?