Zalman noiseless fans?

[HyunYu]

Does anyone know how the Zalman noiseless fans work in theory and in practice? Thanks in advance.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: HyunYu
Does anyone know how the Zalman noiseless fans work in theory and in practice? Thanks in advance.

bump

 

[WobbleWobble]

The Zalman fans are sleeve-bearing rather than ball-bearing. Sleeve bearing fans are generally quieter but have a shorter life span.

They simply work at lower RPMs so they push less air but are less noisy at the same time. Take off the quiet-mode adapter which reduces the voltage to the fan and it's much louder because it'll be running at a higher RPM and push more air (so there is more turbulance noise as well).

They're decent fans, I have a couple of the 92mm and 80mm ones. Matched with great heatsink designs, they make good quiet cooling solutions.

P.S. They're not "noiseless" as they claim. But they're pretty darn silent! Quietest fans I've ever worked with! But at the same time, they don't push a lot of air.

 

[ReiAyanami]

or u could just use any plain old 80mm's and 5 volt / 7 volt mod em if u got a spare soldering iron.

although as the RPM is then less than half after modding, would the life span of a sleeve bearing fan be extended? or would the substantially lower voltage eventually not be able to push the fan blades at all after a few years of dust build inside?

 

[EeyoreX]

Sleeve bearing fans are generally quieter but have a shorter life span.

Just as an aside, the average MTBF for a sleeve bearing fan is about 50,000 hours. That's almost 6 years. It may not seem like that long, but I'd think you'd probably have replaced it before it went bad...

And of course they work in theory... In practice I understand they are pretty good. I have a Zalman "SuperFlower" heatsink and decided to forgo the included 92mm fan for a larger 120mm fan, so I have no real experience.

\Dan

 

[JeffCos]

I have 2 80mm's 1 intake in back running without the noiseless adapter and the exhaust in the front with the adapter. Also have a Zalman HS, don't remember exaxtly which one, but with it turned all the way up to 2500rpm my HD Wd 80 gig is still the loudest component in my system

 

[GiZzO]

avg 50k hours? not a standard sleeve bearing fan, maybe a very good hybred sleeve fan if that, like for example the sintered oil impregnated sleeves found in Nidec and Papst. Avg life span in a standard sleeve bearing like this one found in Zalman (haven't found out who there manufacture is) in likeable testing environment would be 15k-10k hours. Of course in real world drop that significatly throw in dust, heat, drying out, odd mounting positions, abuse (like us holding the hub down to stop a fan), inbalancing, uneven wear, manfucture defect. Im sure you've experanced it you got a fan with your case maybe a Sunon sleeve fan MTBF 20k it barely last 6 months before it starts to whine. Only look at the MTBF as a general benchmark, don't expect near that lifespan (or maybe even half specified in some cases).

Generic Brand Sleeve: ~8k
Nidec Sleeve: ~25k
YS Tech: ~20k
Sanyo Denki: 28k
Sunon Sleeve: ~20k
Delta Heavy Duty Sleeve: ~33k
Nidec NBR: ~55k <-hybred sleeve
Papst Sintec :~45k <-hybred sleeve
Panaflo Hydro: ~33k <-hybred sleeve

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