Sound level of 120mm fans???

[SlimRocka]

I have been considering the Panaflo 120mm fan's for my Sonata case, but wanted some input on how loud they were before I ordered. What is an alternative 120mm fan that would be quiet??

 

[WobbleWobble]

Consider buying a fan controller and manually controlling the fans. Even on fan-only, the fans get higher voltage than what I think it needs.

 

[pspada]

The Aluminum Evercool 120mm is what i use - it had one of the best db to cfm ratios.

 

[s2kpacifist]

Sunon fans are pretty quiet, at least less than 30 dBs. I'm not sure if Silenx makes 120mm fans, but if they do, they are probably equal to or quieter than the Panaflos.

EDIT: sorry meant voltage-dropped Sunons!

 

[klah]

I have tried one each of the Papst FGL, Panaflo L1A and Vantec Stealth 120mm fans. The L1A seems a little louder at 12v than the other two. I have the Papst and Vantec hooked up to a fan controller running near 7v and I can not hear them.

 

[Dman877]

I have a Sunon high speed (110 cfm or around there) and a Panflo Medium speed (86ish cfm). Both are pretty loud. IMO, best option is to get medium speed fans and use a fan controller. I'm doing that with 2 panflo medium speeds and they are very quiet (still a bit louder then a 80mm L1a) at 7v.

 

[RalfHutter]

You'll probably want to stick with low speed 120mm fans. You rarely need more airflow than they deliver. Look for the "L1A" Panaflo, or the Enermax adjustable or the low speed Evercool. The Papst (4412, I think) is another good, albeit expensive alternative. I run all my 120mm fans on controllers and rarely give them more than 5-7 volts. That's more than enough cooling for my P4 setups.

 

[tracerbullet]

Originally posted by: klah
The L1A seems a little louder at 12v

I tried something similar - the stock Antec fan, the Panaflo, and the Vantec Stealth. I think Stealth was quietest, then Panaflo, then the original Antec.

I have to be honest though, if I did it again, I wouldn't spend the money to replace the Antec fan. While it may make more noise than the others, when you have the case all together and running with everything else, I'd call it "silent" to begin with. For me anyways, it wasn't worth the upgrade. Nowhere near the bang-for-the-buck as any of the other fan swaps were (video, power supply, CPU, etc.)