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Old 11-21-15, 02:52 AM   #1
Piwoslaw
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Default Efficient& quiet PC fan design

I'm using 120mm PC fans to increase the airflow over my heating system's radiators. Some of the fans have become too loud - I'm assuming the bearings are worn, as I clean the dust off twice a year. I'd like to replace them with fans that will be both quiet and efficient (best airflow at lowest current draw), but from looking at a few I see that quiet just means lowering the rpms, which also reduces the airflow.

Are there any particular designs I should be looking for? Number of blades, special blade shapes, bearing types, etc.? 140mm fans are too large, unfortunately

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Old 11-21-15, 10:30 PM   #2
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I hunted around for a while, then pulled the trigger here:
Gelid SL PCI 02 PCI Slot 2 x 120mm Fan GPU Cooler 2 x Slim 12 UV Blue Fan New | eBay

I was building a htpc out of my youngest son's old supercomputer of doom. For all you gamers out there, it has a name: ROG crosshair IV formula. The stock CPU fan screamed like a banshee due to the small case without room for his fan sandwich heat sink. Once I put these two babies in and bathed the area in cool air, the thing became much more well mannered.

The fans are rated at 48 cfm each at 1500 rpms at 12vdc. They have hydro dynamic bearings to keep them extra quiet and for long life. I run them at full speed, but they can be fed less dc to slow them down. They will start and run with 5vdc, at which point they are all but inaudible. At full 1500 rpm, they are rated at 23dB at however far away they measured. For what it's worth, the two case fans together are still quieter than the stock 80mm fan, even after it slowed down to around 4000 rpm.

Due to a cramped case, 20 or 25mm thick fans wouldn't fit where I put them. I didn't try to cram them in a PCI slot, they went in a side wall. If I had more depth, I might have still chosen these fans. If you want max airflow at a certain decibel level, look for deeper fans with lots of swept blades. Arctic f12 and scythe slipstream come to mind, both move 20 or so more cfm at the same SPL.


Last edited by jeff5may; 11-22-15 at 05:28 PM..
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