Quietest Case Fans?

Kendo Nagasaki · 25 Jan 2006 at 15:08

I have a Lian-Li PC-60 Plus case and i'm looking to replace the fans in my system as its too noisy.

The fans I have are:

- 1 80mm rear case fan;
- 1 80mm top case fan;
- 1 120mm front (HDD) case fan;
- 1 fan on Leadtek 7800GT Graphics card;
- 1 CPU cooler fan - Zalman CNPS9500-LED;
- 1 fan on DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-D motherboard;
- 1 Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W PSU.

It is my first build and i'd like to replace the case fans to help reduce the noise. Can anyone suggest which fans are the quietest to use - LED fans would be a bonus but i want it to be as quiet as possible.

Or is there anyother alternatives?

Thanks

hogfather · 25 Jan 2006 at 15:19

Akasa ambers are among the very quietest - 120mm and 80mm variants push a lot of air too.

Nexus Silenx are a bit pricier, but also a little quieter - I have a 60mm one and its silent, but not pushing much air.

In my opinion the ambers are the best all-rounders.

alexakasloth · 25 Jan 2006 at 15:27

I agree, ambers are good. The fan on your graphics card is probably pretty noisy aswell. Check to see if it is.

DannyW · 25 Jan 2006 at 15:39

Im after some quiter case fans, got 2 at the front and 1 at the back 80mm.

Also the Leadtek card is near silent... i cant really hear mine, and it doesnt seem to get loud on games either, still runs games under 60* aswell.

Roll · 26 Jan 2006 at 15:42

Agree with others, the Akasa (Amber) Quiet fans probably give the best price/noise balance.

Sure there are others around which are even quieter, but you'll have to pay a lot more for them than the Akasas.

pcoltrane · 26 Jan 2006 at 15:45

If you want the ultimate quiet fan you want to go Nexus. Both the 120mm and 92mm fans they do are exceptional.

hogfather · 26 Jan 2006 at 15:47

The 60mm nexus is also unbelieveable - spins so fast yet silent. Pricey though :/

pabloB · 26 Jan 2006 at 22:26

marc mercer said:
If you want the ultimate quiet fan you want to go Nexus. Both the 120mm and 92mm fans they do are exceptional.

Indeed they are, see this exciting thread discussion

sunnpat · 26 Jan 2006 at 23:56

you may find that your CPU fan will be the loudest. I just put in two Akasa Ambers and they are damn quiet. I am still trying to fiddle around with my Zalman 7700 to reduce the noise.
May be worth while to get a fan controller. That way when you are gaming etc.. you can turn them up and when you need silence just turn them back down.

Just an Idea

Legless · 27 Jan 2006 at 00:18

I use the Akasa Amber fans, 120mm & 80mm fans, and find them very quiet...

kbc · 27 Jan 2006 at 00:24

You have a good amount of fans in your case also I heard the DFI chipset fans are pretty loud. 80mm fans are noisier than the 120mm ones in most cases... I'm using Akasa Amber 120mm fans myself, pretty quiet I guess...

... But that's drowned out by my 90 decibels graphics card fan...

New cooler needed I think.

n3x · 27 Jan 2006 at 09:26

yeah i bought some 120mm ambers to replace the antec fans in my lanboy, cant really hear much of a differece tbh, maybe very slightly quieter but they do push abit more air through the case which is nice... im gonna get myself a fan controller as most of the noise isnt the fans themselves but the air rushing past the vent holes in the front of the case!

farooqm · 27 Jan 2006 at 11:49

Yep,
1. Akasa Amber Case Fans...
2. Arctic Cooler for you GPU
3. Not sure if you can change your DFI chipset cooler for a Zalman Passive Cipset Cooler.

If you can change the above 3 you'll certainly quieten the overall noise down quite a bit and not cost you tooo much.