120mm exhaust fan recommendation?

pingu666 · 21 Dec 2015 at 10:14

So looking for a more mid - high volume 120mm fan for the back of my dads pc, couple of requirements

its actually mounted externally on a 120-80mm adapter, so i need a "full frame" ? so i can actually mount the fan, artic cooling style frame is a no go.

need it to be 3 pin and play nice with voltage control from the motherboard, which is variable voltage and not pwm.

current fan is a old nexus that does 1000rpm and 36cfm, looking at the corsair af series high performance at the moment, anything else i should consider?

guessing id need 1500 or above rpm to make a decent difference

philo-sofa · 21 Dec 2015 at 10:57

At 1500 RPM it would howl and barely make a difference over a 1200 RPM model, especially given you're trying to pull all that air through an 80mm hole. I'd suggest you want something that tops out at 1100 or 1200 RPM.

Ayahuasca · 21 Dec 2015 at 11:54

Anything above 1200rpm as above starts to get audible on most fans. I didn't realise how loud my 1900rpm scythe kaze jyuni's were till I replaced them with 1200rpm Noctua's. Thing is they seem to push a similar amount of air.

philo-sofa · 21 Dec 2015 at 12:34

Agreed Ayahuasca. TBH now that I think about it a bit more, putting a 120mm on an 80mm mount is actually likely to be worse than pointless. Unless there's a big grille right next to the mount, no extra air will actually be removed from the case by the outer 40mm of fan blade, which makes that extra length (for once) pointless. Worse, that 40mm will still generate noise, and because it's the fastest moving fan part it will generate a lot of it. Hence a 120mm fan is likely worse than pointless.

Best option then OP would be a good 80mm fan, which you should be able to take to 1400-1500 rpm whilst generating the same noise level of a 120mm fan. Basically match your fan size to your aperture size and then get a good fan with an RPM below the audibility limit. (1100 for a 140mm, 1200 for a 120mm, 1500 for an 80mm). Fan maker wise, I can't help more than a basic suggestion: looking a Noctua, Corsair or 'Silverstone Air Pentrator' label fan. However there are some pretty good sound/performance reviews out there, and if reading bear in mind you can ignore ‘static air pressure’ figures as it’s a case fan.

pingu666 · 21 Dec 2015 at 14:09

its a angled adapter, so theres 1 or 1 and a half inch from the fan hole, with no grill

http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?t...sories&type_sub=Fan Adapters&model=AK-M1812-4 thats the adapter, so while its not ideal it seems to be better than 80mm fan

danoliver1 · 21 Dec 2015 at 15:54

Just buy him a new case for xmas rather than messing about.

pingu666 · 21 Dec 2015 at 17:34

wish i could but i cant afford to, and "likes" his current case, which does look nice but is now crammed with stuff, so im stuck trying to make the best of things

its a coolermaster wave, and the cooking elements inside is the 390 and also a i7 at 4.5

flowrider99 · 21 Dec 2015 at 19:50

I like the Blacknoise Technologies Noiseblocker fans. I have the XL1 in my PC, very quiet 1000rpm fan.

avrc · 22 Dec 2015 at 07:27

I've got 6 of the noise blocker XL1's, they run fine at 5v which makes them super quiet. I saw only a 2C difference in CPU and GPU temps by running them at 12v in my case.