120mm Fan Testing on an MCR120 Radiator Round 6

[Martinm210]

Sanyo Denki San Ace 9G1212M101 38mm

Special thanks to the finisher for sponsoring this fan

NOISE LEVEL
Relative to the yate medium, it's up to 2dbA louder at the lower end, about the same in the middle, and about 1dbA better at the high end and extends a fair amount beyond reach of the yate. Relative to the other fans tested, it was louder than average from about 4-6V, about average 7-9V, and slightly better than average from 10-12V

NOISE QUALITY
Very much like the 9G high speed, has a fairly pronounce motor noise at lower volts that doesn't really clean up until about 10-11V. While this is very subjective and extreme silence based testing, I have been recording every fan at the same Zoom H1 100% manual, low cut on, 12" distance. This fan has a more pronounced motor noise at lower volts, and I wouldn't recommend running under about 10V, it is really best suited running at 12V if possible. I do think the San Ace motor noise is generally smoother than that of the UK3 or PanoU. The UK3 has much more of a "Tick" where the San Ace is more of a motor bump as it turns. A few folks have expressed their own personal experience as one that they can barely here this noise I'm talking about.... So...take the noise quality notes with a grain of salt and listen to the videos with the understanding that this is worst case scenario testing here (absolute silence with an ultra high sensitive microphone) These types of noises are much less noticeable in a system where there are a multitude of there masking noises or ambient noises. As always, in order to split hairs, the testing sensitivity is turned up a notch. My suggestion is to find a similar fan you have on hand, and set the volume level to match what you are used to hearing, then start playing the videos and listen in..

OVERALL
Variable noise level and noise quality, with top notch build quality. Regardless, I much prefer the 9S, 25mm variety over these 38mm variants. The 9S models have exceptionally good noise quality in comparison. If you happen to be a San Ace fan "Fan", I would highly recommend looking more at the 25mm San Aces. While they did produce a higher noise level, I think their noise quality is far superior. The 9SH model also produced more CFM at 12V than this 9GM model did..

VIDEO LINK
Not yet processed at YT, but this link should work when it's ready:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaH1_qjMU5o

NOTE: I was not able to record RPM data in this test. I recorded what I could.








COMPARED TO ALL FANS TESTED SO FAR