26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

[Vapor]

People seem to like them....but there's two versions IIRC. The first is just like the regular SL, but made of the transparent blue plastic. SUPPOSEDLY (this is from YL), the plastic has a tendency to rattle at higher speeds. The other version is a ~35CFM version that spins slower, pushes less air and is probably quieter. May compete with the Nexus fans tbh, just it's transparent blue with LEDs

Both are probably safe bets for inexpensive yet good LED fans

[whitebrow]

Both are probably safe bets for inexpensive yet good LED fans

Thanks!

[Jedda]

Would be interested to see the yate loon M and H added to the comparison.
Quite a few folk choosing between the three specs of the yate loon buying from Petra all the time.

[Spanki]

Hey Vapor,

I noticed in your "Low Speed Fans Cooling a Processor" chart that the two Thermaltake fans out-performed the Yate Loon, but you seem to favor the Yate Loon in the All-Stars lineup... I'm just curious if this was due to the noise signature of the Thermaltake fans? or the lower CFM ratings in open air?

Thanks.

[Vapor]

"All-Stars" is a bit of a misnomer tbh....it was just a category to show that undervolted medium-speed fans are actually pretty good

And yeah, the TT fans do pull ahead, but neither are subjectively quiet at all (read post #2)....honestly never even thought of them for the best fans. I've had this pointed out to me a few times (TT fans beating the Yate, yet the Yate is in the All-Stars category), and each time I go to retest them I just can't say the TT fans are better than the Yate.

[stormcloud]

Awesome work thank you.

[Spanki]

"All-Stars" is a bit of a misnomer tbh....it was just a category to show that undervolted medium-speed fans are actually pretty good

And yeah, the TT fans do pull ahead, but neither are subjectively quiet at all (read post #2)....honestly never even thought of them for the best fans. I've had this pointed out to me a few times (TT fans beating the Yate, yet the Yate is in the All-Stars category), and each time I go to retest them I just can't say the TT fans are better than the Yate.

Thanks - I did see your comments/notes about them being high-pitched and/or clicky, so I assumed that was the issue. I have a similar issue with S-Flex fans... they seem to be 'quiet' fans, but from the recordings I've heard, there's a underlying and noticable tonal-motor-whine-niose going on.

Anyway, I took a chance and now have a Golfball on the way (very difficult to find the 120mm 2000, btw. I ordered it from performance-pcs, but they had to order it from germany). I'm hoping to tune it down into the 26-28 adjusted db range of your chart as a HSF cooler.

[P§I]

Awesome, thanks for the hard work. This is helping me to choose the right fans, thanks!

[Ambro]

Firstly I think everyone reading this has to be impressed with your unbiased efforts

Secondly - spotted a typo; you should change the graph title for high speed fans on open air to radiator (I pressume this is what it should be)

Finally ...

Exactly, perception is what's key here. The scale is logarithmic in order to quasi-linearize it to what we hear....but everyone's perception is different (and ever changing). This is one reason why a CFM/dB ratio is not applicable. (neither is a non-logarithmic scale)

That said, since ambient in a very quiet room is ~20dB, saying 50CFM at 30dB is a better ratio than 25CFM at below-ambient noise levels is also preposterous. This is where high speed fans 'win'

The few things that matter, IMO....are:
1) maxing out fan performance for how much noise do you desire/require
2) minimizing noise for an amount of performance you desire/require
3) have flexibility in fan performance (undervolting for 24/7 and 12V for benching)

Totally agree with you on this. I use the Panaflo H1BX (I call them FBA12G12H) for the logic you've stated.

When you need the juice it's there - I use the onboard fan controller on my board to run the 3X panaflo rad fans - normally the system doesn't need high flow to cool things down and hence it's virtually silent, but when I have the headphones on gaming during a 40+C aussie summers day I'm glad the extra CFM is there ......


EDIT - Point two - should have read post #19 & #20!!! first

[jmke]

Yeah, it does seem the Sharkoon and the ebmpapst do very well, they were black sheep in a way....didn't even notice that they beat out the Yate until I graphed it out

.

Your findings coincide with mine Sharkoon 2000 really shines, at low/high speed. The Noctua does okay in open air, but lags behind when pressure is needed (CPU cooling/radiator)

my results here:
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=516
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=421
http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=391

Keep up the good work

just quick note though, are you sure your decibel meter is not "A" weighed? dBA instead of dB? your results seem more in line with dBA, which is quite different from dB

[Vapor]

Yes, it is A weighted, I'll add that to the list of corrections I need to do. Thanks

Until I read your reviews with CPU tests, I honestly hadn't considered it....but frankly, it's arguably more important than just raw CFM ratings.

Anyway, part 2 has officially entered the planning stages. Not sure if I want to change the technique yet and carry over a few fans for reference points, or keep it all the same, gotta think that over.

[RobNyc]

conclusion is ?

[serialk11r]

conclusion is ?

Uh, did you see the charts? He just showed us which fans are good and which fans are bad. Before, people relied on other people's claims. "PANAFLOS ARE DA SHIEZ!" "your papst fans suck, they get owned by yate loons!!!"

Vapor, do you think there would be anything wrong with overvolting a fan? I was thinking of overvolting enermax marathons

[Vapor]

Vapor, do you think there would be anything wrong with overvolting a fan? I was thinking of overvolting enermax marathons

Hmmm...haven't thought about it....without some sort of testing (even subjective), I really have no clue

[fgw]

there is an article on spcr on the way they are testing airflow. they found out, the way it was done before was a bit misleading and changed it. still leaning towards the way you are doing this vapor ...

have alook at:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article734-page1.html

and the discussion on this article at:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...er=asc&start=0

btw. great job, vapor and very helpful - thanks for your work!

[Vapor]

Yeah, I saw that they changed their method...using the case as a duct should work well, but for some reason their 120mm fan results aren't doing as well as their 80mm fans (well, they literally are, but 80mm fans are at/beating spec while 120mm fans are lagging kinda behind in some cases)...haven't figured that one out yet. I probably missed something, initially read the article in a hurry before I left for work.

When I first observed the 'spun air' issue (it was with a counter-clockwise spinning Tri-Blade Delta that spins the air SO MUCH that I was getting negative airflow results....it moved the anemometer's blades more due to the rotational movement of the air rather than the forward movement), I thought of a series of grills that would negate all spin (essentially a large scale version of a UV filter combined with a fine mesh grill), but also figured it would kill airflow too much. I recently saw the Mythbusters ep where they use a giant array of straws for essentially the same purpose and that would work as well...though also be restrictive. However, having the radiator test in place already, I really wanted a test that wasn't hampered with any impedance.

So I just reversed the order....had the fan pull air through the anemometer with a shroud/duct in between. Nothing's lost, the shroud/duct is big enough that it doesn't get skewed from the backdraft of most fans (the big-big Delta even got spot-on results).

Anyway, I'm glad they changed their results to now get repeatable results that are truly useful (the Noctua results from before....frustrated me a lot to say the least....and I could repeat them too with their old test method). Their intention is complete noise removal/suppression, so true CFM results don't mean as much....they need more sound signatures than anything else (which I don't have the means to properly do).

Someone in that thread made a very good point I'd like to reiterate here: nearly all fans push the same amount of air at the same RPM. This is completely true. That's the one way I feel confident in looking at a manufacturer's specs and calling "BS" w/o testing (if they look realistic....Thermaltake's are easy).

My purpose behind this is not the ultra-silent spectrum....but giving XS users data that says: "hey, this fan really isn't what the manufacturer says it is....here's some other fans that perform well for what you're looking for." Everyone knows their own noise limitations, or what kind of fan performance they need....they can choose their own fans.

/soap-box

I like their new method I look forward to reading their updated reviews, always like the originals until I saw that Noctua result.

[Spanki]

Someone in that thread made a very good point I'd like to reiterate here: nearly all fans push the same amount of air at the same RPM. This is completely true. That's the one way I feel confident in looking at a manufacturer's specs and calling "BS" w/o testing (if they look realistic....Thermaltake's are easy).

That may be true - in open air (case fans) - but my primary concern is finding fans that perform the best on a HS or radiator while still having a reasonable noise level/signature. And this is where your test has proved very usefull to me, where the Noctua -> golfball (for example) at the same rpm range, produce wildly different results.

Edit: more to the point - same dbA range, whether or not that's exactly the same rpm.

My purpose behind this is not the ultra-silent spectrum....but giving XS users data that says: "hey, this fan really isn't what the manufacturer says it is....here's some other fans that perform well for what you're looking for." Everyone knows their own noise limitations, or what kind of fan performance they need....they can choose their own fans.

Exactly. Of course I still don't know what a golfball (and some of those other) fans sound like, but I will today or tomorrow .

Thanks again for your efforts.

[Vapor]

...my primary concern is finding fans that perform the best on a HS or radiator while still having a reasonable noise level/signature. And this is where your test has proved very usefull to me, where the Noctua -> golfball (for example) at the same rpm range, produce wildly different results.

Edit: more to the point - same dbA range, whether or not that's exactly the same rpm....

Very good points, thanks

BTW, to everyone who has said "Thank you" in some form or another, you're very welcome

[XBrit]

BTW, to everyone who has said "Thank you" in some form or another, you're very welcome

Thanks also, the review is very useful.

If I may ask, did you consider either of these fans? On paper, their specs seem very good.

http://www.silenx.com/ixtremaprofans.asp?sku=ixp-74-14

http://www.thermaltake.com/dcfans/Co...2329/a2329.htm

[t1no]

I am looking for some blue led fans.. choosing between the yate loons 120 (38.5 CFM, 25.4 dBA) and the Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm LED Fan (Blue) (78 CFM, 21dBA) or??
Thanks,

[Vapor]

Thanks also, the review is very useful.

If I may ask, did you consider either of these fans? On paper, their specs seem very good.

http://www.silenx.com/ixtremaprofans.asp?sku=ixp-74-14

http://www.thermaltake.com/dcfans/Co...2329/a2329.htm

I did consider testing the SilenX....but they're pricey and DEFINITELY overspec'd (everybody knows that by now)....but was interested in testing them for the sake of testing how overspec'd they are. The Thermaltake I didn't test because, well, just didn't seem interesting to me. Non-solid housings have never really been appealing and we know it's completely overspec'd (like all their fans).

I am looking for some blue led fans.. choosing between the yate loons 120 (38.5 CFM, 25.4 dBA) and the Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm LED Fan (Blue) (78 CFM, 21dBA) or??
Thanks,

Two very different fans there....the Yate is built for quiet operation why the Thermaltake is just a standard 78ish CFM blue fan. The Yate will be MUCH quieter, but also only move half as much air.

[t1no]

but also only move half as much air.

But enough for case fans?

[RobNyc]

the SilenX fan is not listed here and I read its probably 1 of the best

[Vapor]

the SilenX fan is not listed here and I read its probably 1 of the best

SPCR didn't think it was that good IIRC....

Regardless, the specs mean nothing....they don't even list RPM specs on their newer fans

They only list specs the typical user can't verify

[Spawne32]

silenx