Quiet 140mm fans?

[Fallen Kell]

Just wondering what everyone has been using for quiet 140mm fans. Obviously there is the Noctua NF-P14, but is that the only one? Usually I use SilentPCReview for my quiet system research, but in this case, they have not done a 140mm fan roundup (and their quiet fan roundup in general is a little dated (late 2007)).

This is going to be to replace the 140mm case fan in a Antec Fusion Remote Max case (not to be confused with its little brother, the non-Max version).

I have decided to give my HTPC a little loving and upgrade some of it. I want it to be quieter and want HDMI v1.3 output connection from it to better integrate with my home theater components. Which has meant replacing the case with something that can fit tower coolers better, a new video card (still not sure what I want), and a new power supply (my 6 year old Seasonic S12-430W just won't cut it for a new video card). Thanks for any help.

 

[bloodugly]

The Aerocool Streamliner series are rated at 19.6dBA, but I've never actually tested one.

 

[Interitus]

http://www.petrastechshop.com/14yalod1cafa.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/14yalod1cafa1.html

They're OOS atm, but keep an eye out for em. I despise Petra's for this. Every time I need something half their website is OOS.

You can find them elsewhere, but there's a lot of hoopla surrounding whether the fans elsewhere are real Yates. Anyways, I bought the red LED version of that fan for my new build from Performance PC's, very happy with them

 

[Infrnl]

I think Noctua and skythe have some of the best 140mm fans right now. I was researching this not long ago, but do not recall my results exactly

 

[Fallen Kell]

That seems to all jell with what I have been reading everywhere. No one seems to have really done true reviews of 140mm fans. It is almost all purely he said/she said, and word of mouth. I find it incredibly impossible to go by the specs from the manufacturers. There is absolutely no consumer protections for the abysmal fabrications that most of them publish in terms of air movement, or sound level of the fans. Sure, they may have measured 19db, from 30 feet away, but they only publish the 19db part (which means it is 48db from 1 foot).

 

[RussianSensation]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iouv430ZBNU

 

[Fallen Kell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iouv430ZBNU

Too bad there are no models listed, voltages used, or SPL levels of the fans in operation. All we see is that the flow meter on the middle fan is moving slightly faster than the other two (and I am assuming that is an air flow meter and not a power usage meter)...

 

[Occ]

Yeah, there is very little info on 140 mm fans as far as I can tell. Amazon has a Yate Loon for $14 shipped. There is also a Cooler Master R4 series for $13 shipped. I was also looking at the Scythe Kazemaru, but I guess it won't fit in a 140 MM fitting since it's holes are lined up for 120 MM.

I need two 140 mm fans for my new case, but I haven't made much progress deciding which ones to get. The Octura fans look nice, but I don't really want to blow more than half the case's value on fans.

 

[Interitus]

While I don't have the tools necessary to give you hard concrete data, I can compare the 140mm Yates from Performance-PC to the 120mm Yates I have from both Petra's and Performance-PC's.

The 120mm's from Petra's I use as my reference fan. They're very quiet, even at 12v, but they are the medium speed models, so not exactly inaudible in the case at 12v. Most of the noise signature is a slight "whoosh" of air at 12v and a very faint vibration hum when run at 5v inside the case.

The 120mm's I've purchased from PPC's are the LED versions of the same fan model. I have both the blue and the red versions. The blue ones seem to be very close if not identical to the standard 120mm Yates from Petras. The red ones however, seem to give off a little more air turbulence noise. The motor hum is about the same, very quiet, however the motors on both the blue and red LED models seem to be more sensitive to positioning than the standard 120mm's from PTS. I have a P182 and the top exhaust fan occasionally exhibits some slight bearing noise. It's very intermittent and has been pretty consistent between different fans, so it's not limited to one sample. Again, both the red and blue LED versions exhibit this behavior across multiple samples. I can reproduce these results even in open air while holding the fans in my hands. I've tested probably 8-9 of each fan when examining them after receipt in the mail. Another thing to note, the red and blue LED models seem to get better over time, in a motor noise/vibration sense. Don't get me wrong, the bearing noise is hardly obtrusive. It usually rears its head in the form of a very faint (sometimes inaudible if your case is more than two to three feet away) hum and in some cases a muffled click (the click may be sample variance rather than the norm).

As for the 140mm's, I only own the red LED versions. I also consider these to be very good fans, close to the 120mm LED versions but with a bit more air turbulence noise. I don't think this is something that can be avoided due to the CFM rating, but keep in mind these are medium speed, not low speed. I'm sure the low speed versions would do better in this respect. I definitely don't consider them loud, but a fan controller is a good idea if you go with the medium speed model. As for motor noise and vibration, they're about the same as the 120mm LED versions, slight hum/possible click when mounted in certain orientations, but mostly unobtrusive.

Not sure if that helps you out any, but it's about all I can say about mine.

I use a controller on all my mediums and keep them at the bottom end ~4.8v unless I need the extra cooling. That's why I purchase the mediums, to have that extra headroom if I need it.

I typically game with them still on low unless its summer, I currently have a P182 with all of the 120mm's ~4.8v with a e8400 at stock and a 5850 with 4 HDD's. Temps are very good. (Don't recall numbers off hand as I'm on break from class and not at home.)

At around $9 a piece, the Yates from PPC's won't break the bank to at least try them out.

 

[Retrosmith]

Too bad there are no models listed, voltages used, or SPL levels of the fans in operation. All we see is that the flow meter on the middle fan is moving slightly faster than the other two (and I am assuming that is an air flow meter and not a power usage meter)...

Hi Fallen Kell, the video that you see is one I did for a worklog over at TBCS
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19902

Kinda funny to see it over here as it doesn't make sense out of context of the worklog. The speeds that you see are done with a vintage anemometer which measures wind speed for mining operations. (again made sense if you see the mod) I was looking for a relative measure of the speeds of the fans, not an absolute measure.

The fans in the video are as follows with manufacturer's specs clockwise from top:
Yate Loon D14SL-12, 1000 RPM, 46.9 CFM, 25 dBA, 0.5A
XIGMATEK XLF F1453, 1000 RPM, 63.5 CFM, 16 dBA, 0.3A
YATE LOON D14SM-12 , 1400 RPM, 62 CFM, 29 dBA, 0.7A
Thermalright X-Silent Fan, 900 RPM, 60.42 CFM, 20.9 dBA, 0.14A

The companion video that tried to show sound signature from 10" away and 2" away is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDeINlrCSTc

I can grab additional details like power usage (killawatt meter) if its helpful. Granted it was a coarse analysis done mostly for a cross check and to see if it was useful on video.

What I can tell you is thermalright is quietest with the 1000rpm yate loon in close second. The 1400 yate loon has a consistent sound signature but is moderately loud in comparison. Because its a constant noise, I think it would get lost in the background noise of a room. The Xigmatek had layered audio signature that whined and rattled. Mine may have been bad but I don't recommend it.

The speeds were relative shown in the video so I'll leave it to your own analysis. The Xigmatek fan, at least the one I have, is not close to the specs listed if the others can be considered some type of reference.

Hope this helps. If you need any other details, feel free to ask here or hit me up at TBCS where I go by Mach.

 

[zagood]

Nice, Retro.

How hard would it be to "tune" each fan to the same flow rate using the anenometer and a fan controller? What I'd like to know is which fan is the quietest/has the best sound signature at the same flow rate.

 

[Retrosmith]

It'd be a little bit of trial and error but not too bad if I can get a fan controller to dial them in. To my ears, the Yate Loon SL and the Thermalright we're pretty close in sound. I'm guessing the SL and SM are the same fan but with a different resistor internally like Noctua's LNA and ULNA. They're just inline resistors. Its just a guess tho.

 

[ehume]

I have a nice batch of 140mm fans. My favorite is the Thermalright. If you need more push, you might try one of the new Kaze Maru 2 fans. They are not the same as the Kaze Maru, which is a shame, because I love those fans.

The one problem with the TR and the KM's: you cannot position them pointing up, so you cannot use them as top exhaust or bottom intake fans unless you are willing to put up with some motor noise and some frame vibration. It sounds and feels like the fans are being abused, and won't last so long. But position them "vertically," pushing air horizontally, and they are great fans.

If you want/need a bottom intake or top exhaust 140mm fan, I see no alternative to the Noctua P14.

I also have an Evercool Red Scorpion and a Masscool 140mm ball bearing fan. The Red Scorpion seems pretty weak to me. With the Masscool you get ball bearing noise.

As an alternate I am impressed with the Zalman ZM-F3 sleeve bearing fan. It is the last fan I bought (of course), but it is quiet at speed and has a resistor wire to calm it down. It gets very quiet with a fan controller. The best thing is that it shows no signs of having difficulty at any orientation, including pushing air up.

I have no experience with Noiseblocker fans, but they generally come well reviewed. And Enermax will be releasing a 140mm fan next month.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, looks like this is actually the most comprehensive tests on the net at the moment for 140mm fans. I'll let everyone know about the Noctua 140mm (I ordered the monster heatsink they have with the 140mm and 120mm fans). Not sure if I am going to use those fans on the heatsink. SilentPCReview has a pretty good write-up on the heatsink. The Nexus 120mm seem to be quieter and push more air than the 140mm Noctua (unfortunately...might be that they got a fan from a bad batch).