Replacing stock fans...

[Tim]

My goal is to replace the three stock lian-li 120mm fans that came with the rocketfish full tower case with higher airflow fans while maintaining it's original quietness. All three fans I get will be hooked up to a controller so I can tune the speeds if necessary.

• The first fan is for the front intake, which is a little restricted by a filter, and even more restrickted when the door on the case is closed. So I would need a fan that works well with restriction here.

• The second fan is the one that blows air over the video cards with what seems to be moderatly heavily restricted. (I plan on modding the side panel at some point to put a 120mm fan on, but having a good fan now won't hurt)

• The third fan is the exhaust with no restriction on the airflow at all. It will be handling pretty much 95% (estimated) of the exhaust duties of the case.

Which fans do I get? TYIA.

 

[Jessica69]

Maybe the Zalman F3 fans? Good airflow....don't know how they'd do as purely case fans, but they kick when used on radiators.....

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: Jessica69
Maybe the Zalman F3 fans? Good airflow....don't know how they'd do as purely case fans, but they kick when used on radiators.....

I have the F3's on my rad. Like you said, I think there might be something better for the case.

On a personal note, perhaps you've forgiven me for the case issue? I honestly think we both misunderstood each other on that.

 

[EarthwormJim]

You can use one of these for the exhaust fan: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/fans2.php?idx=111

Other than that check out vapor's fan review on xtremesystems: http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...howthread.php?t=171661

San Ace's would probably be a good place to look for the intake. I think that Arctic Cooling PWM fan is the best exhaust fan.

I honestly like the fans that came with the case. They're pretty damn quiet at 7v, and seem to do a good job of pushing air. They won't run at 5v though (they're ball bearing so that's why).

 

[Zepper]

Very hard to find the Sanyo 1011s any more - Petra's and ThermalFX have been OOS for a while. Unless you want to pay $90. for a used one on fleaBay. re. F3. They move more air than most med. speed fans. Not as low noise as I was hoping, but probably good enough for most if cranked back a bit. They have unbalance weights too - pull 'em!

You might also want to try one of the C-M 110 CFM fans that I reveiwed here: http://www.techimo.com/reviews/ in the front - the main review is under the black one while any differences (little except colors and lights) are highlighted in the LED one. Watch SVC.com for the best price generally available on them. Recently the LED version was going for $10.00. If I didn't have plans for them, I could sell you one of mine and beat SVC by a bit at the bottom line - sorry...

.bh.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Are we limited to 25mm or can we use 38mm anywhere?

Assuming 25mm only, Sflex F on intake at 7 or 9v, Slipstream 1600 on the rear at 9v or a 1900 at 7v, I'm overdoing the flow on that one slightly just because you have a LOT of intake. Not sure about the side, would like a pic of the grill.

Assuming 38mm in both places, Scythe Ultra Kaze 2K at 7v.

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Are we limited to 25mm or can we use 38mm anywhere?

Assuming 25mm only, Sflex F on intake at 7 or 9v, Slipstream 1600 on the rear at 9v or a 1900 at 7v, I'm overdoing the flow on that one slightly just because you have a LOT of intake. Not sure about the side, would like a pic of the grill.

Assuming 38mm in both places, Scythe Ultra Kaze 2K at 7v.

Sorry for the noobish questions here, but I'm probably going to pick up the Ultra Kaze 2k's for this.
1. When you say at 7v, I'm assuming that's similar to turning it half-way down on a fan controller?
2. How loud will they be at said levels? (if you know from personal experiance, I'm looking up their rated DBA as we speak)

AS far as the side fan goes, I've decided on modding the side panel to mount a 250mm 19dba 100cfm fan. The side fan duct that comes with the Rocketfish case is just too restrictive to allow any type of good airflow.

Here's the next set of questions. I have zalman F3's on my MCR-320qp radiator thats mounted in the top of my case and I have them inhaling. That rad is starting to collect a LOT of dust and I'd rather have more than the one rear exhaust when I have the 250mm fan installed on the side panel. What would be the downsides to turning them around to push air through the rad and out the top of the case? Also, just how low can I tune those fans down and still be effective on a NON-overclocked CPU with a northbridge in the loop?

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: theplaidfad

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Are we limited to 25mm or can we use 38mm anywhere?

Assuming 25mm only, Sflex F on intake at 7 or 9v, Slipstream 1600 on the rear at 9v or a 1900 at 7v, I'm overdoing the flow on that one slightly just because you have a LOT of intake. Not sure about the side, would like a pic of the grill.

Assuming 38mm in both places, Scythe Ultra Kaze 2K at 7v.

Sorry for the noobish questions here, but I'm probably going to pick up the Ultra Kaze 2k's for this.
1. When you say at 7v, I'm assuming that's similar to turning it half-way down on a fan controller?
2. How loud will they be at said levels? (if you know from personal experiance, I'm looking up their rated DBA as we speak)

AS far as the side fan goes, I've decided on modding the side panel to mount a 250mm 19dba 100cfm fan. The side fan duct that comes with the Rocketfish case is just too restrictive to allow any type of good airflow.

Here's the next set of questions. I have zalman F3's on my MCR-320qp radiator thats mounted in the top of my case and I have them inhaling. That rad is starting to collect a LOT of dust and I'd rather have more than the one rear exhaust when I have the 250mm fan installed on the side panel. What would be the downsides to turning them around to push air through the rad and out the top of the case? Also, just how low can I tune those fans down and still be effective on a NON-overclocked CPU with a northbridge in the loop?

I can't give you a dbA with the 2Ks at 7v but, I can say for sure that they're very reasonably quiet.

With that much intake I doubt there would be much if any drawback to flipping the fans to push out.

I can't give you a concrete answer as there are too many variables but, I would say 9v should absolutely be no problem, 7v should be doable, lower probably not.

 

[Bluefront]

Well I've got one of those cases...... the Lian Li fans are pretty good. As far as getting more airflow at the same noise level goes, good luck. More airflow usually means more noise. Not much you can do about that.

Manufacturer's specs on CFM and noise are mostly fantasy. At medium speeds, airflow noise is more than the bearing noise (usually). So if you need more airflow, it'll be noisier.

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: Bluefront
Well I've got one of those cases...... the Lian Li fans are pretty good. As far as getting more airflow at the same noise level goes, good luck. More airflow usually means more noise. Not much you can do about that.

Manufacturer's specs on CFM and noise are mostly fantasy. At medium speeds, airflow noise is more than the bearing noise (usually). So if you need more airflow, it'll be noisier.

I'm thinking you're probably right... especially since I definately plan on doing the 250mm side panel fan mod. I'll keep the Lian-Li fans. 1 Lian-li fan exhaust and 3 zalman f3's exhausting should take care of the exhaust duties, and the 250mm 100cfm side fan and the front intake lian-li should be fine for the intake. Thanks for talking me down on spending some extra $$