Case fans that aren't $20!

[walk2k]

I know everyone loves those fugly brown Noctuas but, IMO a fan shouldn't cost more than like $5, maybe $10 for a premium fan, and since I need 4 of them right now I don't feel dropping $90 to upgrade my @#$ing fans, which are about 8yrs old now and starting to make some noise..

So what I need is:

1. 120mm 4-pin to replace the fan on my Hyper 212 Evo. (it makes clicking noises at certain RPMs, and I want something with more cooling power, temps will reach low 90C's in prime..)
2. 120mm 3-pin case fans x2
3. 140mm 4-pin case fan x1

(Motherboard has a 4-pin CPU fan, one 4-pin Cha_fan and two 3-pin Cha_fan headers)

Now for #1 I'm willing to pay a little more, maybe $20 even since it's for CPU. But the others....nah.

 

[XavierMace]

Unfortunately your opinions are at odds with reality. Corsair AF120 Quiets aren't bad, but they're still about $16 each. NZXT Aer F's aren't bad either, $18. You could do an Arctic F12 at $7 for #2 I guess if you're that set on pinching pennies. For #3 your "best" option given your pricing guidelines is probably the Arctic F140 at $14. $5 isn't happening for a 140mm PWM fan.

If you're really wanting to go the cheap route, try to find somebody throwing out the stock fans from a case or see if you can take apart your current ones and replace the bearings.

 

[walk2k]

$12-14 is fine for the 140mm and the CPU fan.
$8-10 is fine for the 120mm case fans. but 2 for $16 vs $40, that's not pinching pennies that's pinching lots of dollars..

this what I found after spending way too much time on newegg.. you'd think f'in fans wouldn't be so complicated..

Cooler Master SickleFlow 120 - Sleeve Bearing 120mm Blue LED Silent Fan
$8 ea.
for the 2x 120mm case fans

MasterFan Pro 140 Air Flow with Jet-inspired Fan Blade, Speed Profiles, Exclusive Silent Driver, Rubber Mounting
$13.50
for the 140mm top fan

EVGA FX 120mm Fan, Teflon Nano-Steel Bearing, Improves Chassis and Radiator Performance (400-HY-FX12-KR)
$20 for the CPU fan, this thing has high speed/CFM..

• Speed = 500-2400RPM
• Airflow = 74.82 CFM (MAX)

 

[Crono]

1. CRYORIG QF120 Performance ($13)
2. Raidmax RX-120SR-GY ($5.25) or for non-sleeve bearing Arctic F12 ($7.49)
3. Arctic F14 140mm PWM PST ($9.17)

 

[Lordhumungus]

I can't speak to absolute performance, but I like to use Enermax Marathon Enlobal fans in my Storage/HTPC builds because the blades can be popped off the hub for cleaning. Acoustics are reasonable too.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Raijintek Boreas beta 120mm fan for about $8 on newegg. This one can also be used as cpu fan because its claimed air pressure is quite high (2.24mmH2O @1500rpm).
There's also 140mm version of it, called Boreas alpha, but it costs twice as much. Both are using sleeve bearing.

 

[JimKiler]

you are right there are a lot of overpriced case fans, but there are good deals too. I have a couple of those cooler master sickleflow fans and for the price they work fine. The sleeve bearing will not last as long as other bearings but again for the price it will not matter to most specially if your motherboard is controlling the speed so it is not full blast.

 

[UsandThem]

Fractal Design fans are pretty decent for case fans, and not too expensive.

 

[walk2k]

Thanks for the replies!

Here's what I ended up with. There were a few other good options, these were best for me, based on price/availability/etc..

Arctic F12, 120mm 3-pin case fans x2, on sale for $6.74 ea (booya!)
Arctic F14, 140mm 4-pin PWM case fan, $9.50
EVGA FX 120mm, 4-pin PWM CPU fan, $20.
total with tax $46...

The Arctics are well reviewed... one of my requirements for at least one of the 120mm case fans was to have a standard square casing since I use a snap-on dust filter on the side-panel fan..

For the CPU fan, I looked at a ton of options, including Cooler Master "Jet flo" and Corsair "SP" fans, and a Delta fan that has SICK static pressure (over 10mmH2O!) but would have probably been WAY too loud.. The stock fan on the Hyper 212 Evo has 2000rpm, 83CFM, and 2.7mmH2O, so something less than that probably would not have given any benefit.. the EVGA fan above is rated at 2400rpm, 75CFM and 4.0mmH2O, a bit less CFM but significantly more SP.. hopefully it will help (and if not at least it fixes the clicking noise issues..)

 

[mdram]

i just bought my first noctua, its worth it

 

[ao_ika_red]

EVGA FX 120mm, 4-pin PWM CPU fan, $20

i just bought my first noctua, its worth it

Yea, this Noctua NF-F12 in Amazon and Newegg is also sold for $20.

 

[walk2k]

Yep, but the Noctua is only 1500rpm, and rated about 55CFM (they don't publish the static pressure, that I can find..) the stock 212evo fan is better than that so the Noctua might be a good case fan (for $20..) but no point is replacing the cpu fan with it... the EGA FX I used for that is 2400rpm, 75 CFM and 4.0mmH2o... (and the Arctic case fans were $6-9, not $20)

AND it seems to work. CPU temps under load have dropped 4-5 deg C. the fan isn't exactly quiet, but it isn't any more obnoxious at full blast than the stock 212evo fan, maybe even a little bit better.. (plus the annoying rattle is gone).

The Artic fans are super nice and it's great to finally use the Q-fan feature to slow them down at low temps (the old case fans were not controllable)

 

[mindless1]

You can get a 4 pack of Coolermaster 120mm x 25mm case fans for around $13. They're a budget sleeve bearing design but reasonably well balanced. They average 4.5 to 5 stars over thousands of reviews on 'egg and Amazon.

I wouldn't put one on the CPU 'sink.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103052
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b000o8i474

 

[lehtv]

Arctic BioniX F120 PWM is excellent value (only $13-14 a piece with 6 year warranty) and super quiet with a wide RPM range. Haven't tried these myself yet but they look very promising. You can also easily string them together with the included connectors, so you could have say 3-4 of them all connected to the same PWM mainboard header without purchasing additional cables.

 

[mdram]

Yep, but the Noctua is only 1500rpm, and rated about 55CFM (they don't publish the static pressure, that I can find..)

try the noctua website, it has static pressures
https://noctua.at/en/products/fan

i went with the NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
3000rp, 105cfm,

 

[ao_ika_red]

Yep, but the Noctua is only 1500rpm, and rated about 55CFM (they don't publish the static pressure, that I can find..) the stock 212evo fan is better than that so the Noctua might be a good case fan (for $20..) but no point is replacing the cpu fan with it... the EGA FX I used for that is 2400rpm, 75 CFM and 4.0mmH2o... (and the Arctic case fans were $6-9, not $20)

Good find on EVGA FX. I can't find them locally, though. I'm from Indonesia, btw. The Noctua that I offered to you only had 2.61mmH2O@1500rpm, so it's probably better if you need quieter fan.

After further wandering around the net I found a rather unique Enermax DFPressure 120mm PWM fan. It has plethora of features that only cost me $10. Some newegg reviewers stated that this fan has short lifespan but considering its price probably I will have a go with this and compare its performance with other fans of mine. Review on its actual performance.

Ah, it's still available on Amazon, but its price is ridiculously high.

edit: forget about the Enermax DFP, it raised a lot of red flag on every online retailers (it had very short lifespan). In the end, I traded my Redux with Noctua IndustrialPPC 3000rpm.

 

[chrisjames61]

I know everyone loves those fugly brown Noctuas but, IMO a fan shouldn't cost more than like $5, maybe $10 for a premium fan, and since I need 4 of them right now I don't feel dropping $90 to upgrade my @#$ing fans, which are about 8yrs old now and starting to make some noise..

So what I need is:

1. 120mm 4-pin to replace the fan on my Hyper 212 Evo. (it makes clicking noises at certain RPMs, and I want something with more cooling power, temps will reach low 90C's in prime..)
2. 120mm 3-pin case fans x2
3. 140mm 4-pin case fan x1

(Motherboard has a 4-pin CPU fan, one 4-pin Cha_fan and two 3-pin Cha_fan headers)

Now for #1 I'm willing to pay a little more, maybe $20 even since it's for CPU. But the others....nah.

If you want to go cheap look on eBay for Yates Loon.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Digikey is also an option, they have fans in all sorts of voltages and sizes and specs. You may need to add your own connectors though but that's not really a big deal.

Ex: https://www.digikey.ca/products/en/...ColumnSort=1000011&page=1&stock=1&pageSize=25

(not sure if that link will work, if not just look at their product list and go under fans then you can filter for 12v)

Best thing with them is you do save money if you buy more.

 

[Burpo]

I use these and they work really well. Ball bearing, up to 2500 rpm & 99 CFM.

https://www.moddiy.com/products/ADDA-120mm-x-25mm-Black-PWM-Fan-(300-to-2500-RPM-99CFM)-.html

 

[JimKiler]

There are definitely so many case fans out there that it makes it hard to find the gems.

 

[bfun_x1]

If you want to go cheap look on eBay for Yates Loon.

That's what I'd get. Good performance for the price if you can find them.

Amazon has 5 for $20.

https://www.amazon.com/Bleev-5-pack...UTF8&qid=1522078190&sr=8-3&keywords=yate+loon

 

[chrisjames61]

That's what I'd get. Good performance for the price if you can find them.

Amazon has 5 for $20.

https://www.amazon.com/Bleev-5-pack...UTF8&qid=1522078190&sr=8-3&keywords=yate+loon

Yates Loon are really good value if looks are secondary.