The environment and testbeds have changed slightly, so unfortunately results are not directly comparable, but this should still answer many questions about many of the most popular fans on the market.
Some test changes did occur!
1) CPU temps were ditched. It was an extraordinarily time consuming process that didn't really differ from the radiator test results.
2) Fans were tested from 5V to 12V in 1V increments. This is a change from Round 1's 4V-12V + minimum running voltage that was tested. Again, for the sake of reducing test time (min running voltage was a bit of a PITA and who runs their fans at <5V anyway?).
3) The dBA scale is, again, an artificial adjustment of raw data to 'consumerize' the data to numbers that we are more familiar with. My 30dBA is not exactly the same as Company A's 30dBA. Then again, Company A's 30dBA isn't the same as any other company's anyway I have used data from a few fans with known-good dBAs and come up with a simple linear conversion for the data....neither the order nor magnitude of differences is changed! Because the environment has changed from Roudn 1, so has the adjustment method. Again, it's not at all exact science, but it does make the numbers appear friendlier without actually changing them
Other notes!
Again, an MCR120 was used as the radiator. All fans were tested in pull in relation to the anemometer and the fans were tested in pull in relation to the radiator as well. If you're wondering why, I believe the thread linked above explains.
Again, all fans have undergone a 24-hour burn-in prior to empirical testing. This is because most people run their fans for a long time. Long-term performance is a lot more important than out-of-the-box performance. I did do 0-hour CFM and dBA tests at 12V and 7V though don't have the results listed....where it matters, I'll tell you.
All fans were also properly warmed up immediately prior to testing.
And if the fan is not listed, I haven't tested it...
2 exceptions: FN122 and FM123.
The Silverstone 'Debacle'
I have tested both the aforementioned FN122 and FM123 for Round 2 and have not listed their performance. I hate them with a passion. Neither are anywhere near their CFM ratings and the FM123 is more annoying to listen to than the 220CFM Deltas in Round 1. I'd go as far as saying it's more annoying than a crying baby. Unlike the baby though, you can kick it. At this point, the FM121, FM122, FM123, and FN122 have ranked among the most annoying or worst performing fans I have ever tested/used. They may all be lemons, but if the lemon rate coming out of Silverstone is 80%, you should stay away. If they are good representations, you should stay away. So ultimately, based on my experience with them, you should stay away. And I really don't have a bias...I actually like the FN121 quite a bit. Shame it has retarded siblings.
I wanted to exclude all Silverstones from this test, but because I was using an FN121 as a carry-over all-star comparison from Round 1, that was not possible. It actually did fairly well in this round-up as well. Go figure.
The Sleeve Bearing Grind
It's common knowledge that sleeve bearing fans have positional tendencies....mostly poor longevity when stored or used blowing up/down. It has to do with the lubrication not effectively lubricating the entire bearing. It's annoying.
They also have low MTBFs....so they've been arbitrarily punished when it came down to selecting my favorite fans. Yes, they're often less expensive...but that's because they're cheaper to make. No major 'punishment' but if it was an on-the-bubble tie for two fans, nod went to the non-sleeve bearing fan. That said, there are some EXCELLENT sleeve bearing fans available and all for under $10 a pop.
Sanyo Denki Makes Some Really Nice Stuff
I'll spoil one result for all of you upfront: the Sanyo Denki San Ace 1011 is king of the hill. And by hill I mean universe. It's really, really good. In addition to its insane empirical results (see below), it makes NO extraneous noises and undervolts like a champ. I have five and they all perform like this and they all start at 4V or lower. They could kick Chuck Norris's ass....silently.
They're ball bearings as well, so you don't have to worry about the sleeve bearing inconvenience. They also perform past their listed specs--something that's exceedingly rare in these SilenX days. Good luck finding any though...and when you do, they're $25 a pop. I also really like Sanyo Denki's Eneloop batteries (hey, I said "stuff" in the title, that implies plurality).
Not All About the Blades
Something I plan to explain further later....but 'static pressure' (realistically: radiator performance) is not ALL about the blade structure. A motor design difference (or just a bad motor design) can hurt radiator performance just as much as a bad blade design. Just want to prepare everyone for when I go into this further....
Subjectivity Need Apply
Empirical data says one thing...but it must be combined with subjective data as well. Often times murmurs, clicks, even motor thudding goes unnoticed by the test equipment. I'll report my opinion on each fan and back it up with what I can.
Don't Give Me a Hallelujah!
Do not take this as gospel. There are other reviews out there from other people and sites that test fans very well. SPCR's recent reviews (after the testbed update) are very nice and a good resource for super-low-noise folk. Cathar has also tested some fans on a radiator in the WC section...unfortunately he no longer appears active on this forum. His testing was top-notch work and even though our data didn't corroborate on every result, that's important. It means there's variability between individual fans and exactly why this shouldn't be taken as gospel. That said, our data does match significantly
Most importantly, trust your ears. If one fan sounds louder to you, that's what counts. Not what a dBA meter says--what your ears say. On the other hand, I wouldn't trust your hand for CFM measurements....at all. Really, don't do it...airflow patterns are more important than airflow quantity for what your hand will tell you.
A 250 Word Essay on Something You've Learned
Okay, I've learned a lot by testing some 50 fans with different designs. I really can look at a fan and its RPM spec and tell you how it will roughly perform. There are many key design features that lead to different fan characteristics. Blade design, motor design, bearings used, materials used, manufacturer, etc. Additionally, there are some 'rules' when it comes to approximating maximum fan performance (they're pretty damn solid ). I won't detail them here. Also remember I'm fairly reserved when it comes to passing judgement on a fan. So when I call out a fan without testing it, I'm doing it with extreme confidence because there is some glaring issue/problem/whatever with it.
One such example is the new Scythe Slipstream fans. If you have a moment, please compare CFM to RPM specs of the various fans in the series. Please remember that CFM to RPM is roughly linear, with a slight reduction in efficiency as RPM increases....now try the same thing for the Minebea series (very good CFM ratings ) and look at the numbers....tell me again those Slipstream specs aren't BS. I'm not saying they're bad fans. They may be very good in the open air, I haven't tested them....but I will say their specs (especially the 3 fastest) are in the league of SilenX and Silverstone. Their radiator performance will also be mediocre at best (probably why the Ultra Kazes were simultaneously introduced ). I don't know why manufacturers can get away with this...and worse yet, people believe them.
High Speed fans are starting to get less and less commonplace. Basically, for twice as much airflow resulting in at most 4-5C cooler temps resulting in only 20MHz higher on the CPU overclock, they're 10x as loud. And if you don't mind the noise, chances are every girl you'd ever meet does (unless you know sign language). That's why they're becoming less and less accepted. That said, they do have a use and on top of that there is such thing as undervolting, which is why the San Ace > Chuck Norris.
Open air:
Radiator:
Comments:
San Ace 1011 - They rock...none of my 5 had any extraneous noises at any voltage (basically the best sounding fans) and they perform awesome. At 5V, they push a lot of air and are essentially inaudible in a closed case. The blades ARE fragile....if anything gets in the fan while spinning, blades will break easily and these fans aren't cheap to replace. Do be careful.
Comair - They're beastly loud and push a lot of air. Essentially a server/benching fan.
Panaflo U1A - Carryover all-star from Round 1. Very good performer but gets whipped by the San Ace....rock solid, well built, and long-lasting NMB-MAT motors....not exactly a friendly noise profile though. Some of mine have problems undervolting as well.
Sunon 38mm - The 38mm available from Petras (and probably everywhere else...but saying Petras for model reference). It sucks....avoid it. Has a very annoying sound profile and performs poorly and well below specs.
Sunon 25mm - The 25mm variant also from Petras. It sucks as well....avoid it. Worse than the 38mm in nearly every respect so basically it's the reincarnation of your 2nd worst memory. Worst memory goes to the unlisted FM123.
Medium speed fans are slowly getting more and more accepted...people that used to get high speed fans now get these and many low speed users get these and undervolt. Also, another reason for adoption is that ot really does seem that these medium speed fans (60-80CFM at 12V) are stronger at the favored 40-50CFM range than fans built for that range. So you undervolt a little for 24/7 and get a great sweetspot of performance and noise, with the option to crank it up.
Middle speed fans are mostly where it's at....
Open air:
Radiator:
Comments:
Panaflo LH - Old fan that undervolts surprisingly well...has a few murmurs/ticks here and there. Only get it if you're into nostalgia or really aggressive (albeit useless) blade designs.
Sharkoon Golfball 2000 - The carryover king from last round gets beaten...by a few fans. Nonetheless it's still pretty damn good. No extraneous noises or ticks or anything, but the blades do make a bit more noise than competitors and it shows on the graphs.
SilenX 90CFM 18dBA - Just a plain sucky fan. Put it on a radiator and it sucks even more (really, really bad radiator fan...nearly 50% of airflow is lost on the radiator--worse than the Noctua 1200!). That said, it does not make extraneous noise and looks kinda cool. Has a cheap flimsy feel though. Also, the motor overheats. Also, it costs a lot. Also, the specs are WAYYYYYYY off, a big no-no in my book.
SilenX 74CFM 14dBA - Another bad fan. Not quite as bad or overrated as the 90/18 model, but the rest still applies.
Yate Loon D12SH-12 Curved blade from PTS - This is what Petras stocks mostly...it's a very good fan, especially for the price. Especially on the radiator. The 12V and 11V numbers are out-of-line with the expected and with what others experience and I can hear noticeable extraneous noise at those two voltages...probably something wrong with my fan specifically. I still like it too... Like most fans, it improved SLIGHTLY over its 0-hour test numbers.
Yate Loon D12SH-12 Straight blade from PTS - This is what Petras stocks occasionally...it's a very good fan, especially for the price. Especially on the radiator. Mine made no extraneous noises....it's SLIGHTLY better than the curved blade variant on the radiator, but SLIGHTLY worse in open air. I call it a draw overall. Like most fans, it improved SLIGHTLY over its 0-hour test numbers.
Yate Loon D12SH-12 Straight blade NOT from PTS - This is the D12SH-12 available from every place not named Petras Tech Shop. They DO use different suppliers and this fan IS different. It has different internals, scales differently with voltage and noticeably deteriorated from its 0-hour performance. It makes some noises I don't want my fans making: mainly light thuds and clicks. In fact, all but one non-PTS Yate Loon made extraneous noise. Oh, it also doesn't perform that well...look at the graphs.
Yate Loon D12SM-12 Curved blade from PTS - This is what Petras stocks mostly...it's a very good fan, especially for the price. Especially on the radiator. It's not as good as its ratings (56CFM vs. 70CFM rated) but overall the performance is very solid. Like most fans, it improved SLIGHTLY over its 0-hour test numbers. I really like this fan.
Scythe Minebea 1900RPM - Solidly built fan....my fan testing gets EXACTLY the same CFM as the ratings--which is shockingly refreshing. Very high MTBF...but like all NMB-MAT fans it exhibits a SLIGHT murmur or click Also has slightly higher than normal CFM loss on a radiator. Overall a very good fan though, definitely recommended and a VERY safe choice with it's longer-than-you'll-need-it MTBF and very good performance.
Scythe Minebea 1600RPM - Solidly built fan....my fan testing gets EXACTLY the same CFM as the ratings--which is shockingly refreshing. Very high MTBF...but like all NMB-MAT fans it exhibits a SLIGHT murmur or click Also has slightly higher than normal CFM loss on a radiator (slightly more so than the 1900). Overall a good fan though, but surprisingly not as good as the 1900...overall a safe choice with it's longer-than-you'll-need-it MTBF and decent performance.
Scythe S-Flex F 1600RPM - S-FDB bearings kick ass. Very, very little extraneous noise, relatively inexpensive, no positional oddities like sleeves, and fairly well sealed. They also don't have the radiator slow-down that the Minebeas exhibit. But they're also not empirically as good in open air. However, the entire S-Flex range is among my favorites. Very, very good fans that don't make extraneous noises nor cost an a lot.
Zalman ZM-F3 - The shocker of the whole group. Really, it came out of left-field. No fluke here either, Cathar got nearly identical results. No extraneous noise, magic-scaling above ~1600RPM, does well on a radiator, a mere $10 and available nearly everywhere and just overall great performance. A gem of a fan in many respects. It is a sleeve bearing though, it's only detractor.
Coolink SWiF-1202 - Crummy fan...horrible excitation at many random voltages (hence the data line jumps back and forth), just not a good performer in general either. Similar to the Akasa Amber from Round 1--and in looks, I wonder if there's a pattern?
Antec Tri-Cool - Mediocre fan. Makes more (normal and extraneous) noise than I'd like but it's nothing too bad. "H" is 12V, "M" is at just under 9V and "L" is at like 5.5V. If I had a case full of them, I'd upgrade, but maybe not get overnight shipping.
Low speed fans are also getting more popular. For one, with undervolting, many become truly inaudible...and others conveniently run at ideal CFM (and with good/great dBA) at stock volts. They're easy on the ears and especially popular with watercoolers and those with MANY fans in their case. Additionally...most people have realized that even with 40CFM on the CPU cooler, you're getting within a few degrees of what an obnoxious 100CFM fan would do.
Open air:
Radiator:
Comments:
Sharkoon Golfball 1000 - The baby brother of the king of Round 1 performs well. It has a MINOR murmur that I could only hear when super close to it. At low speeds, the blade design does create a slight whiffing noise that hurts its numbers. A good fan...though nothing spectacular.
Silverstone FN121 - An All-Star from Round 1 seems to have continued to do very well...despite its retarded sibling fans too. In fact, I think it got slightly better with age. No extraneous noises or excitation of any kind and very good empirical data both on and off the radiator.
Noctua S-1200 - I have always been harsh on this fan. Although it continues to do well in the open air and even with it's awesome low-pitched barely-there noise profile, I will continue to be hard on it. Open air rarely happens....even a fan filter or a non-wire fingerguard will hamper this fan horribly. Noctua even recognizes this and has introduced a new line built for radiators/HSFs/real-life. It's a good fan with a very serious design flaw.
Yate Loon D12SM-12 Curved blade from PTS - Yes, exact same fan from the medium speed fan post....see that reference. It's a great fan, even if it is sleeve bearing.
Yate Loon D12SL-12 Blue frame and LED not from PTS - This is the darker of the two varieties from places like Jab-Tech. Like other non-PTS Yate Loons, it performed poorly and differently from PTS varieties. Internals and characteristics differed too. Not impressed with this fan. Considering a better fan for the same price is available from Petras, this fan should be avoided.
Yate Loon D12SL-12 clear frame and blue LED not from PTS - This is the lighter of the two varieties from places like Jab-Tech. Like other non-PTS Yate Loons, it performed poorly and differently from PTS varieties. Internals and characteristics differed too. Not impressed with this fan. Exhibited noticeable excitation as well. Considering a better fan for the same price is available from Petras, this fan should be avoided.
Yate Loon D12SL-12 Blue frame and LED from PTS - This is the translucent blue framed SL from PTS...its a 1200RPM variant because Yate Loon says higher RPM versions perform poorly due to material differences. (the previous two are higher RPM versions...hint hint). This fan performs pretty well but is incapable of being 'silent'....I suspect that this is due to the materials used. This is pretty nice LED fan.
Yate Loon D12BL-12 not from PTS - This is a ball bearing version of the D12SL...only available from places like Jab-Tech. Like other non-PTS Yate Loons, it performed poorly and differently from PTS varieties. Internals and characteristics differed too. This fan flat out sucks.
Yate Loon D12SL-12 All-Orange (not from PTS) - This is an all-orange version of the D12SL-12. I did not get it from PTS, though it was the only non-PTS Yate that I could not visually tell apart from the PTS fans. It also performed fairly well...although it had problems becoming 'silent.' Overall a confusing fan....it performed pretty well and very unlike its fellow non-PTS fans. Considering every other YL not sold from PTS did not test well AT ALL, I'd probably avoid it in case it was a fluke.
Nexus D12SL-12 - Also all-orange. A cherry-picked 1000RPM variant of the Yate Loon D12SL-12. Superb noise profile...no excitation or extraneous noises. Though empirically it didn't do great for some reason. I definitely liked this fan a lot.
Sunbeam Blue LED fan from Petras - A competitor to the YL D12SL-12 Blue LED...a bit more high-strung and a brighter blue. Like the YL, it has problems going 'silent' though it makes little extraneous noise. I'd probably get the YL over it....
Scythe Minebea 1100RPM - Solidly built fan....my fan testing gets EXACTLY the same CFM as the ratings--which is shockingly refreshing. Very high MTBF...but like all NMB-MAT fans it exhibits a SLIGHT murmur or click Poor radiator performance due to higher than normal CFM loss on a radiator (much more so than the 1900). Overall a good fan though...overall a safe choice with it's longer-than-you'll-need-it MTBF and good performance.
Scythe S-Flex E 1200RPM - S-FDB bearings kick ass. Very, very little extraneous noise, relatively inexpensive, no positional oddities like sleeves, and fairly well sealed. They also don't have the radiator slow-down that the Minebeas exhibit. But they're also not empirically as good in open air. However, the entire S-Flex range is among my favorites. Very, very good fans that don't make extraneous noises nor cost an a lot.
Scythe S-Flex D 800RPM - S-FDB bearings kick ass. Very, very little extraneous noise, relatively inexpensive, no positional oddities like sleeves, and fairly well sealed. They also don't have the radiator slow-down that the Minebeas exhibit. But they're also not empirically as good in open air. However, the entire S-Flex range is among my favorites. Very, very good fans that don't make extraneous noises nor cost an a lot. Admittedly the "D" variant is a little underpowered 12V for my tastes...
Enermax Marathon - Positional quirks in the weirdest ways...subpar performer. Overall a mediocre and forgettable fan like all of Enermax's fans.
In Round 1 I made a graph of "All-Stars" that was originally misinterpreted....all I did was take the best from each class and put them together to show that the best medium speed fans were the best overall performers. Turns out, people took the name "All-Stars" not-so-literally and thought they were my recommendations. They may have been the better fans empirically, but at the time they weren't my recommendations. I wouldn't have recommended the U1A at all (too loud and undevolts poorly) and the YL SL I had tested made a few funky noises every so often and was getting worse over time. That and it just wasn't up to the performance that the Sharkoon and ebmpapst were exhibiting, so why would I recommend it?
Well, the number of AWESOME fans in this roundup was a lot higher and these are true recommendations with reasons listed below
FWIW, the order in the chart legend is the order of my personal preference as well.
Open Air favorites:
Radiator favorites:
Comments:
All-purpose awesome fans: San Ace 1011 - This fan really is in a league of it's own....yeah, the Zalman may 'catch up' on the radiator...but the San Ace isn't a sleeve bearing and is overall better construction. It is the real deal and somehow better than every other fan...ESPECIALLY in open air.
Zalman ZM-F3 - The surprise of the bunch catches up to the San Ace on the radiator, but overall it's still not quite as good....though definitely an awesome, awesome fan.
Scythe S-Flex F - Another great fan a lot like the Zalman, but also not a sleeve bearing fan. No excitation, no extraneous noise....just a great fan (gets near-'silent' at 5V too, which is rare for a medium speed fan).
Yate Loon D12SM-12 Petras - An unbeatable value....98% the performance of the S-Flex and the Zalman for fraction of the cost. It's overrrated (surprising considering the SL is slightly underrated), but a very, very good fan
Scythe S-Flex E - The silent-friendly fan of the bunch...easiest to make 'silent' while also having great otherwise performance. It's also a wonderful S-FDB bearing fan that has little downside.
Case fans: Scythe Minebea 1900 - A great performer in open air but falls back a little on a radiator...great MTBF, non-sleeve bearing fan and a good price.
Scythe Minebea 1100 - Also a great open air performer that falls back noticeably on a radiator....great MTBF, non-sleeve bearing fan and a good price.
Silverstone FN121 - I rue giving this company any accolades, but the fan does perform once again. Unlike its sibling fans, it actually is rated appropriately too. It gets 'silent' in a hurry and makes no extraneous noises. It does fall back a little on the radiator and is sleeve bearing.
Radiator specialist: Yate Loon D12SH-12 from Petras - Included the data from the straight blade version just to keep the atypical 11V and 12V numbers from the curved version from dissuading anybody. This is a very, very good fan on a radiator with surprisingly little CFM loss (has to do with the low CFM:RPM ratio in the open air ). No extraneous noises at a great price with performance better than the Minebea 1900 on a radiator puts this on my favorites list
Yate Loons are a big deal. In modern computers, we've shifted toward numerous large, quiet fans...so price becomes more noticeable in end-cost. And they're the least expensive fans you can buy, come in many varieties, and ultimately, pretty damned good. Actually...some are great and others suck.
In my testing: one thing became very clear, the one variable for determining quality is place of purchase. Petra's Tech Shop Yate Loons outperformed the others by quite a bit. And most importantly...they performed differently. They had different physical characteristics.
Simply, Petras has different Yates than everyone else.
Further investigation and chatting brought up this important fact: Petras is the only retailer to deal directly with Yate Loon. Other retailers (Jab-Tech, P-PCs, etc) unfortunately use a middle-man. This middle-man can apparently sell them fans at costs below what Yate Loon would sell to them, so the business choice was clear.
Why did Petras stick with Yate Loon directly? Not sure...but we should be glad they did. Their $4 Yate Loons are among the best-as-tested fans, competing and beating fans 2-6 times their price. Furthermore, they really don't have any 'bad' qualities other than being sleeve bearing (which isn't a bad thing for most people, but it makes a difference for some).
How are PTS fans different from non-PTS fans:
1) different voltage scaling. 12V may be similar...but at 5V the non-PTS fans spin noticeably slower (but aren't that much quieter, if at all). This could be a good thing, but it does sacrifice tunability in the mid-range.
2) different radiator performance. The fans may have identical blade structures, but put them both on a radiator and suddenly the non-PTS is sucking wind. PTS Yates have CFM-loss numbers comparable to most 38mm-thick fans. They're excellent on radiators.
3) different performance growth over time. 0-hour numbers are very similar. That is, take the out of the box, plug them in and test, and they appear to be the same. Run them both for 24-hours and retest and like most fans, the PTS Yates get 1-2% better. The non-PTS fans drop back nearly 10% and often develop odd noises. Ultimately, performance for the long-term is important, not performance right when you get them. PTS fans have a major advantage here.
4) external appearance. There are minute differences in external appearance, the 5xx are very noticeable, 6xx less so, and 7xx nearly or exactly identical. This means that new fans are no longer externally discernible. This is not a good thing...at least with the older fans you could pick them up, look at them, and know which one was the good one.
5) internal appearance. PTS has done a take-down of some of the various offerings and the internal differences were shocking. Nothing 'bad' necessarily, but it was clear they are very different fans.
So yeah, they're different fans, let's see some graphs and show the performance discrepancies.
Open Air:
Radiator:
CFM vs. CFM-loss%:
(hint for this graph: separate them into two separate groupings: black plastic fans and clear plastic fans...)
Okay...I think I've said enough on the subject and I'll let the numbers do the talking
amazing man... where can i get those san ace fans?
There's a whole host of US distributors listed on the Sanyo Denki website. In Europe, they have a presence in France and Germany, and affiliates listed in most other European countries. Contact details are in the links.
Nice results, this just confirm that the SFF21F would be a great all-purpose fan for the watercooling crowd with the Yate from petra's the basement bargain as well... I'm also surprised by the good results of the Zalman and this is a fon I can find more easily around here so it's something to consider if I need some in the future.
Vapor, great review you saved me from buying some sleeve bearing fans. you should test the A.C. Ryan fans, i'd love to know what they're actual specs are. also, take a look at the specs of the new cooler master fans you'll rotfl
__________________ XS WCG Rules: #1: don't pull fart_plume's finger #2: Dave aka Movieman, don't give him your phone number if you like your hearing XS WCG Note: There are 2 sets of points, WCG and Boinc. WCG = 7x Boinc
Project: Dark Matter (<- link) - Asus Maximus II Formula, Intel X3330 3.9ghz @1.32v under load, corsair dominator ddr2 1066 4gigs, evga gtx260 core 216, pc p&c 750W, TRUE Black, Lian Li v1200b
can u test this air pusher? http://inventgeek.com/Projects/IonCooler3/Overview.aspx It's not really a fan, but it moves air. i wanna try out this project, but there are no comparisons comparing it to the san ace and this one. I wanna see how much static pressure it has as well, because i personally don't think that it'll be able to push through a rad, but it'd be helpful if you could confirm that. great review btw
Great job man, another great review Too bad i didnt see these reviews before i bought my YL D12SM12's from jab-tech They make a very annoying "humming" sound on my radiator that constantly changes from loud to quiet and they dont feel like they push any more air than my D12SL12 Time for some San Aces!
No they weren't...didn't think it was necessary until after I had fully realized Petra's fans are different and superior.
I did have 14 for my case build and informally tested them and can tell you they perform exactly like their SM sibling...just ~48.5CFM at stock vs. ~56.3CFM. The SM@4V = SL@5V and the SM@8V = SL@10V. Everything between has the exact same curve and performance. The SL does get near-'silent' at 5V, but otherwise is the same fan with SLIGHTLY less top-end. The fans are so similar I wouldn't recommend one over the other...just get whichever is needed to balance airflow in the case to your liking.
To all those recommending fans...I'll note the recommendations
Yes, awsome job Vapor. Good to see my asumptions of the Zalman ZM-F3 were correct. Only problem with those is they really get loud when turned up. However, with 2 Zalman exhausting the case and 3 YL-SL in through a radiator, the YL don't pull enough to balance the Zalman anyways.
Some Deltas are in Round 1. They're beastly...but don't undervolt particularly well (even the tri-blade LE). I must say that Deltas ratings are really consistent with mine...I can calibrate my equipment for any one Delta and every other one gets its exact ratings. NMB-MAT fans get theirs too on the same calibration...really enjoyable to see that YL SL and FN121 and a few others also get their ratings on the same calibration, so it's also good to see a few consumer fans accurately rated (well, consistently...I'm sure SilenX is accurate with w/e calibration they use ).
Yate Loon write up added....didn't say anything I hadn't said before, but it's good to have it all in one place I reckon
It's finally up!! Huzzah!! Thank you very much for your hard work Vapor
EDIT: So Vapor, after you mentioned ""I really can look at a fan and its RPM spec and tell you how it will roughly perform"" could you give me your opinion of the specs of these fans? do they seem legitmate? ---> http://www.nanoxia.com/?go=fx12&cat=products&lng=en
__________________
## I still have the same basic hardware but little of this info applies anymore. 3-26-09. ## CPU----Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU----@ stock, will overclock soon----G0, L737B292 stepping Water Cooling----Swiftech Apogee GT cpu block (with bowed base O-ring)----Swiftech MCR320 QP radiator----Laing DDC-2 pump + Petra's DDCT-01s top----3 Scythe SFF21F D12SL-12 fans----Masterkleer 7/16" ID (5/8" OD) Tubing Motherboard----DFI LANPARTY Dark P35-T2RS VideoCard----EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB (512-P3-N801-A1)----@ stock, will overclock soon----using Forceware 174.16 drivers Memory----2x 1GB some generic Crucial DDR2 borrowed from a friend temporarily Hard Drive----Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB hard drive Case----LIAN LI PC-A05B black aluminum case (modded quite a bit) Miscellaneous----Razer Lachesis mouse----Saitek Eclipse keyboard----NOIDpad "THE EVOLUTION" mousepad----Dell 2005FPW LCD----Lite-ON LH-20A1S drive----Corsair 520HX power supply----Kingwin KF-2000-BK hot swap rack Audio----Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra speakers----Creative X-Fi Xtrememusic soundcard----Audio-Technica ATH-A500 Headphones Worklog----http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=142025 Pictures + More info----http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=7362
hi vapor, thanks for that really great round-up!
i would be also be very intereted in your opinion about the nanoxia ones and the scythe ultra kaze series. so maybe you could lost some words on them?? thanks
I have used data from a few fans with known-good dBAs and come up with a simple linear conversion for the data....neither the order nor magnitude of differences is changed! Because the environment has changed from Roudn 1, so has the adjustment method. Again, it's not at all exact science, but it does make the numbers appear friendlier without actually changing them 
Also has slightly higher than normal CFM loss on a radiator. Overall a very good fan though, definitely recommended and a VERY safe choice with it's longer-than-you'll-need-it MTBF and very good performance.
you saved me from buying some sleeve bearing fans. you should test the A.C. Ryan fans, i'd love to know what they're actual specs are. also, take a look at the specs of the new cooler master fans you'll rotfl
Time for some San Aces!
).
Linear Mode
