26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

[Vapor]

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.

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...)

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.

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.

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)