Hello, hardly "die-hard" modding, but just got myself some 120 mm CM Sickleflow case fans for Christmas. Seemed to have a solid price / airflow / noise ratio. Any experiences with the said fans? Seasons greetings AsiJu
Yes i would stay away from them i learned my leason on those. Bought 12 of them most of them had a already hum sound but in between 2 months i needed to replaced (rma) 5 and after that 3 already had a hum as well. They are not wel balanced some or most of them are shaking, place them on a bence and they will walk a way lol. Regardless of above if you place them blowing air up, airflow case>outside, they will not stay long operational the fan is pulling to much on the sleeve bearing. These are the worsed fans i ever had now i use only noctua in my own case and i can say yes expesive but never had ever issues, stay long operational still use the first one and still kicking. And with the magnet inside the bearing no issues to use upside down. My 2 sence
^ uh oh, sounds bad. I read some reviews on them and they were generally positive, but of course that's no match for longer term first-hand experience (such as yours). There were oil-lubricated Noctuas that I looked at too, but their ratings (airflow / noise) were actually worse and the price was double of the CM's. Still, something accounts for that price difference... However I'm sure even the CM fans are better than my current ones (some cheap generic fans I had lying around that are loud as hell...). Don't need cutting edge, so I guess I'll try them and return / replace if they seem bad. Noctua it is then, if these fail. Thanks for the input!
Sure no problem. All i can say is that dont put to much weight on the airflow/ noice numbers on the packets. My experience on many brands of fans and types is that i would let go those numbers. Airflow for example is nothing more then waste if it comes to pressure value. Maybe in open air they can air displacement but when its mounted to a cpu cooler or water radiator they drop like a stone, you know what i mean? I did a test because long time ago i found out that on paper the replacement fan(s) had a better specs but when build inn the temperature increased so i found that weird. Then i put them on a table placed a piece of paper on top of the fan folded vertical against the fan, then i turned the fan on and measured how high then paper goes. Surprisingly the specs goes blanc and we talking in open air so think of the performance in a case. As well sound at what distance are recorded how was how it mounted during the test and many more. According to the notuas that i have placed are silent not deadly silent though but my harddisk is producing more noice WD black 1tb so on the end its fine. I hope you have no issues with these and perform at your liking, greez
^ aye, theoretical specs should always be taken with a grain of salt. Should be some indication tho. AFAIK high airflow fans are best for case cooling, whereas radiators / CPU coolers benefit from having high static pressure fans. So even a fan with high CFM / CMH rating may do very bad on a rad / heatsink if its static pressure is low, or vice versa (high static pressure fans with low airflow would do bad as a case cooler).
Update: the fans are in place and boy do I like them. A LOT quieter than my previous ones and nice airflow. Meaning I can use quite a bit more aggressive fan profile with these than I could with my previous fans (without having to use earplugs...) Cooler and more quiet computer equals a happy user
Work just fine here... though I have heard these have a high failure rate. Still, at this price, I'd be willing to replace them annually.
Ive got 6 of them in my TJ07 and they have been running fine for a couple of years. 4 of them push through a 480 rad and keep an i7 @ 4.9ghz and a 780GTX (voltage maxed out) nice and cool. Having said that I have now ordered some Bitfenix Spectre Pro's so il make a comparison once im back in the UK to fit them.
The values aren't exactly "theoretical"... They're real airflow valves. They're just achieved under "ideal" conditions. I used sickleflow fans in the past, and wasn't impressed in the least. They can move a crap-ton of air, but their airflow path is non-existent. Their blade design is great for displacing air, but they generate nearly no pressure and as such, no real airflow path. They're decent for "push/pull" forced air-cooling configurations since they move so much air but, they're best suited to case ventilation.
That's exactly what I'm using them for, case venting. However, as you stated, these fans aren't good for rads / heatsinks as they don't generate enough static pressure. I've understood these two properties are somewhat exclusive as far as fan and blade design goes. You can either get high airflow or high static pressure, to put it bluntly.
You can get both....it's just more of a challenge than settling for one or the other. You have to be able to sell the product and if the result is a case that sounds like a helicopter fleet taking off....you're not going to sell many. The only times high static pressure fans are beneficial to case ventilation is multi-GPU systems where you need to push air between the graphics cards or when installing a bottom mounted fan with a top mounted, exhaust oriented radiator.
