Best 120MM fan

Noise to performance ratio, what do you think is the best?

 

http://www.hardware.info/nl-NL/articles/amdnY2ptZGea/Vergelijkingstest_67_casefans/7

It's a Dutch site, but all info is in the table. It gives CFM per dB. Browse back or forward a page to get different tables.

 

the sharkoon golfball 2000 seems to be a very good compromise. and dont forget yate loon, they are more on the quiet side, but their price is pretty much unbeatable.
here is a test of a lot of fans, with real measured dba and airflow numbers.

 

i'm quite fond of the Aerocool Xtreme Turbines that i use. not exactly silent... but god can they move some air.

 

Can you post the test please?

Thank you.

 

sorry, i somehow forgot to paste the link into my post, here it is:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=137832

 

Sort of depends on what you want to do with the fan. The test kwak linked to is great reading.

I personally use Yate Loons everywhere, as their price is absolutely unbeatable (4 for $15 USD!). The peformance/noise ratio is superb as well. I use 3x Yate Loon SM's on the radiator, and 4x Yate Loon SL's as casefans. Undervolted they're almost completely silent.

 

I have a vantec stealth 120 mm and a 80mm in mine and i find them very quiet. even at night the noise is very very low. my keyboard makes 5 times the noise of my computer. it's running 4 fans right now and still much much lower in noise than my keyboard.

 

Noctua NS-S12-1200

nexus 120

-scheherazade

 

• SPCR's Fan Roundup #4: 120mm Fans II
• 120mm Fan Roundup: 17 Fans Compared

 

I have tried a few 120mm so far, and Noctua is one of the top. Silverstone also is great, my last I bought is this one, Thermaltake Silent Cat LINK
I bought an ANTEC Tricool a month ago and it's just noisy and doesn't move the amount of air you would expect for the noise it makes! Cheap fans are not worth it!


EDIT: BTW how did they calculated this, not much of theses number are real!

I have the Silverstone FM121, rated 110CFM at 39.5dB at 2400rpm. ---> 110/39.5=2.78 cfm/dB.

Antec Tricool (that I also have), 2000 rpm, 79CFM, 30dB (Real dB it is a lot more!) ---> 79/30=2.63

Plus, I find this quite useless because at 1000rpm will still move a number of air but almost noiseless. So this proove something?

 

you can't really compare fans just by dividing cfm by dB because dB is a logarithmic scale, it will definitly favor the louder fans.

and fan manufacturers are notorious for exaggerating their ratings.

 

fix speed
sharkoon silent eagle 1000 for best of both worlds air flow and for being well...silent
variable speed
zalman ZM-F3

 

I'm using 120mm Silenx iXtrema LED Pros (72cfm@14dbA) and 80mm NoiseBlocker S4s (44cfm@32dbA). A lot of people put down Silenx fans saying their specs are way over-exagerrated, but tbh they are the best fans I've ever used and you can hardly hear them, even if their specs aren't 100% accurate. The only downside is the price, and availability.

I was very disappointed with the NoiseBlockers, they sound much much louder than their specs suggest.

 

72CFM @ 14dB? Yeah, that sounds extremely optimistic. My Yate SM's are rated 70CFM @ 33dB, and these specs are supposed to be pretty accurate. The SL's are rated 28dB @ 47CFM. Yates are also splendid for undervolting. They run at 3v if you want them to!

 

I've got some Silenx iXtrema LED Pros and I'm not impressed with them at all... the specs they state on the website and packaging are way off... i put an 80mm one in the roof of my stacker and it was buzzing like a b***h.. it would only shut up if it was horizontal. The 120mm ones just don't move enough air..the coolermaster LED ones move more and sound the same.
I got some non-LED 80mm ones for my Silverstone Lascala17 but they were noisier than the akasa ones i had in there.. plus they moved less air..!!
Not buying SilenX again..

CustomPC reviewed case fans a few months back and Sharkoon GolfBall series came out on top for DB/Sone : CFM ratio and good price..

 

I agree about the Antec TriCool and SilenX not being exactly good. I have three TCs that came with my P180 case and added one SilenX at the front to generate the airflow for good cooling.
Sure, on low the TCs are very silent but in cost of performance and if you turn them high they become too loud for my taste. That's why I have them running on medium currently but not happy with the cooling and still a tad too noisy for me. Then the SilenX, which I have bought after reading it's pretty good specs I am disappointed with. Yes, they must push quite some air as I notice the temps dropping with it running, but jeez it's creating so much noise! Few weeks back I was able to not have it running but now as the weather went mad here in Germany last few days I had to plug it in again otherwise the temps were too critical. So I am also looking for four new 120mm fans take place in my case with a good noise/performance ratio. Going to read the reviews which have been posted by kwak and Nexus and then will make my decision.

 

i have always used akasa amber series, they are silent and the 120mm move alot of air.

 

Can't go wrong whit the Noctua, only 8db at 800rpm but 1200rpm move 50~65cfm (85mm³). Dead silent and keep my pc cool. Plus it's double sleeve Liquid beering. Newest stuff.

 

I've considered, and seen the Yate Loon's in action, but for me the turn of is aesthetic. I mean, bright orange fan blades... i almost always choose function over form, but i have to take a pass on those.

The golfball fan will always be my number 1 choice.