What's the best 80mm and 92mm fan?

The hardware you use to cool your CPU. not cooler :)

Nice. Also good timing, considering I might be needing some 80mm fans in the near future :)

Now I have a dilemma. Modders HELP!!!

Chassis: ATCS 840; on the floor of the case:
-two Gentle Typhoon 1450rpm 120mm OR
-two Antec Big Boy 200mm ??????? maximum airflow of course :D

On the youtube Big Boy does not seem that noisy,...
I do not wish to have a screaming PC...

The goal is to cool two "395" Nvidias in the next year. Each should be a 420W monster.

I know you can't review every fan out there, but given the concerns about noise & the comments on FDB being quieter, any chance of someone looking at the thermalright fans at some point?

Originally Posted by Kyocera
Now I have a dilemma. Modders HELP!!!

Chassis: ATCS 840; on the floor of the case:
-two Gentle Typhoon 1450rpm 120mm OR
-two Antec Big Boy 200mm ??????? maximum airflow of course :D

On the youtube Big Boy does not seem that noisy,...
I do not wish to have a screaming PC...

The goal is to cool two "395" Nvidias in the next year. Each should be a 420W monster.

because Quad-SLI has such a proven track record for being awesome....oh wait.

Realistically, I'd say the bigboys if you can squeeze them in - they're very quiet at low RPM mode and shift a lot of air even on the lowest setting.

Yay! Yet another article I paid for!

Originally Posted by Baz
because Quad-SLI has such a proven track record for being awesome....oh wait.

Realistically, I'd say the bigboys if you can squeeze them in - they're very quiet at low RPM mode and shift a lot of air even on the lowest setting.

I hope this Big Boy advice does not have the IGN vendetta inside. :) :) :)

yup, quad SLi has proven to be a havoc!! (a money ransacking one) :) :)
I was eyeing the Hydra technology about this one; quad Gt300. The only unknown variable is if this works with a "395", since they join two processors on one card in a different manner,...

I'm interested in BigBoy at the highest setting, your graph shows 38dcB; and I doubt that an ATCS840 with two of them would not be a Scream..
Otherwise I'll buy two 120mm Silent typhoon 1450; (they have a really pleasant sound).

Being a ventilation engineer and knowing how much I like tinkering with my computer at home 'water cooled monter Icore7'.

Fans are limited, ie electric fans have a maxium rpm, fans that are bigger move more air because of blades are larger but run at the same maxium rpm.

Computer fans noise bassically comes from air movement and a little on friction, so depending on how big your case is could depend on the noise level. Basically if you have a small case, the air (vol=m3/s) through your machine is the same as a larger cased pc but the air in the small pc case travels through a lot quicker (vel=m/s) than that of the larger one.

The point i'm trying to get acros is the fans tested are not in any case and the case sizes can affect the noise level.

Anyway when your talking about noise/performance 'who cares' along as it goes like a speeding train.

Tip: Bigger fan the better, more air = cooler pc

Eeven better, go for water and don't be affraid of trying.

Matt

Might as well just chuck your PC inside a refrigerator. Wait for wireless displays and decent wireless power, and you have your fridge cooled solution.

No Xilence Red Wings? Really? :(

I wonder if Noctua are going to read this? I have a few of thier fans and i'm quite dissapointed they didn't do too well.

no, 140mm round-up?

what about arctic cooling 9L ? 26.7 CFM @ 19.0 dB(A)

nice article.. that antec 200 is kinda overkill =p

reading all the reviews on the different sized fans im very suprised by the poor performance of the noctua fans. I thought they were highly regarded but i am now wondering what all the fuss is about?

Originally Posted by matt.bungle


The point i'm trying to get acros is the fans tested are not in any case and the case sizes can affect the noise level.

Anyway when your talking about noise/performance 'who cares' along as it goes like a speeding train.

Tip: Bigger fan the better, more air = cooler pc

Matt

Yes case size and fan positioning can affect noise level but we're not testing cases here we're testing the fans so it's useful data for everyone and not just people with say an Antec Twelve Hundred

I think quite a few people do care about noise performance when it comes to PC cooling. We're not talking here about an outside airconditioning unit, we're talking about a PC that will sit a few feet from your ear.

Unfortunately as we've found, many larger fans available for PCs are not better than smaller ones.read this

I have 2 Noctua fans push pull on my Noctua NH-u9b cpu cooler. My AMD Phenom II 550 x2 is overclocked from 3.1 to 3.9 ghz and it runs 40 c idle and never higher than 49 c during intense gaming multitasking or what ever. I was surprised by the test untill i saw the chart at the end Noctua amongst quietest and coolest running max speed. I'm happy with Noctua. but this review is great it gives me another brand to look for when i build my next rig.

Originally Posted by Combatus
Yes case size and fan positioning can affect noise level but we're not testing cases here we're testing the fans so it's useful data for everyone and not just people with say an Antec Twelve Hundred

Uh.....

Get your fans, a case representative of the target audience (say Antec 1200).

Put fans on case, put case in anechoic chamber.

Report noise levels in terms of delta dB

Thus you are providing a real world comparison between the fans, just like the boys and girls at bit-tech have been doing for years. edit for CPU coolers

Next up, a water block cooling test using an uncalibrated spit covered fingertip....

I can remember when Bit-Tech was the source for VALID technical information. It's been going downhill since Dennis bought it.

Originally Posted by matt.bungle
Being a ventilation engineer and knowing how much I like tinkering with my computer at home 'water cooled monter Icore7'.

Fans are limited, ie electric fans have a maximum rpm, fans that are bigger move more air because of blades are larger but run at the same maxium rpm.

Computer fans noise basically comes from air movement and a little on friction, so depending on how big your case is could depend on the noise level. Basically if you have a small case, the air (vol=m3/s) through your machine is the same as a larger cased pc but the air in the small pc case travels through a lot quicker (vel=m/s) than that of the larger one.

The point i'm trying to get acros is the fans tested are not in any case and the case sizes can affect the noise level.

Anyway when your talking about noise/performance 'who cares' along as it goes like a speeding train.

Tip: Bigger fan the better, more air = cooler pc

Even better, go for water and don't be affraid of trying.

Matt

Just to add to this, cut of grill and fan positioning in proximity to the grill has made a big difference in some of the chassis I've worked on.

In a couple 5mm aluminum chassis we had stamped with a honeycomb for the grill, we noticed a significant difference in noise when we had the fans planted up against the grill compared to ducted at 1cm or more. I don't believe it was from chassis vibration, as this was pretty thick metal. Different fans seem to react more severely to restrictive situations. This specific situation was in an open top and rear rack mount case, the volume changed once it was sealed and assembly completed of course, but the point of interest lies in the grill.

@Toka: The point I'm trying to make is, fans will be affected differently by their mounting environment, it's not necessary to make a chassis mount test per-se, but a least bolt a plate inhibiting airflow to reference the affected numbers.

It is important that these articles remain relevant. I send charts like this sometimes over to the idiot sales team so they have some idea as to what they're doing when a customer asks for upgraded fans.