Best 120mm fan?

[rustedzeke]

I am looking for one or two (depending on finances) 120mm fans to go in the top of my Corsair Carbide 500r case. I don't want fans suggested specifically for my system (i.e. people asking what is your system) but just a generally very good 120mm fan.

[watercooled]

What are you after exactly, airflow/pressure/low noise, and in what order? I'm just about to write up a quick review of fans I've just purchased, personally I'm looking at silence as a priority. There isn't really such thing as 'a good fan' which will suit every build. However, if you want silence, I'd happily recommend Scythe Kama Flow 900rpm version based on what I own. But also look at these reviews: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coo...roundup-2.html http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coo...roundup-1.html

[Greecean]

case fan - apache
rad fan - GT's

[snootyjim]

Check out SPCR. They highly recommended the Scythe S-Flow fans (and I've bought them), but then they're after silence. Is that what you're looking for?

[watercooled]

I've now posted the review I was talking about in my last post (didn't end up being so 'quick' ): Quiet 120mm fan review

Scythe S-Flex fans have been discontinued now, but the Kama Flow are apparently similar and very good IMO.

[rustedzeke]

I don't really care about fan noise a long as it's not excessive, I was more looking for airflow and just a very good all-rounder.

[snootyjim]

By and large then, don't worry. Noise and airflow are both proportional to speed, so there's no way you can get silent and powerful fans. If you get a really good one, then it might be touch quieter than another at the same speed, but not by a dramatic amount.

The most important thing is to get them at the correct speed. Take the Kama Flow that watercooled mentioned - he uses the 900rpm one. You could get one at about 1500rpm and still be very quiet, but the airflow through it would be dramatically faster. Obviously make sure you don't get something really cheap that will might have a squeaky bearing or something, but I don't think you need to worry too much about fan reviews and so on unless you're dedicated to cutting noise.

[rustedzeke]

Thanks people.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Another you need to consider is the bearing noise too. It can have a higher frequency component which can be annoying to some people.

You also need to consider the types of bearings. Traditional sleeve bearings are quiet,but do not last very long when the fans are pushed. For long term usage I would look at a fan with a noisier ball bearing or a FDB one which tends to be quieter.

[Pob255]

As people have said there's no such thing as "best" fan, there's fan that are better for (enter requirements here) but no one overall "best"
One thing to note is changing the speed is often a sign to which it is (but not always) generally if a buzzing or ticking gets louder as you reduce the voltage then it's more likely to be the motor, if it reduces as you decrease the voltage then it's probably the bearing.
However there's the issue of the fan itself, it could be that the buzzing or ticking is constant and the noise from the airflow/fan blades moving through the air is being reduced so making the ticking/buzzing seem to get louder.

On the subject of Yate Loon fans, I still think they are a great cheap fan option, the 1350rpm models are a good position for noise vs airflow.
When I did my led fan roundup Pob's (mini) LED fan round up I found the Yate Loon D12SL did have a ticking noise that seemed to get louder as the voltage was decreased.

Price can be a major issue esp when buying multiple fans, you can get the yate loon fans for just under £5 where as the scythe kama flow 2 are £10 and Cost can be a major factor.

All told I'd say for the OP look for something around the 1600-1500ish rpm fans if you plant to plug them into your motherboard and use some form of speed control or just run them on a fan controller (ie not running them at 100%)
That gives you the flex ability of running the louder for maximum cooling if needed, but lower for quieter daily operation.
If you don't want to mess around with speed adjustment then I'd stick to 1300-1200ish rpm fans this is a good balance of low noise still with good air flow.
and drop down to the 1000-800 rpm if you want near silent fans, although in this area motor and bearing noise become more noticeable than the fan noise and cost and higher quality fans become more key.

for low cost AC f12 http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-10777.html
Yate loon DS12L-12 http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...-pid-5755.html
NZXT 9 blade http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-11638.html

One thing to remember don't get sucked in by manufacture noise levels, just be cause fan A claims X dBA and fan B claims Y dBA that means nothing because there is no one standardised test for fan noise, the noise is in itself very subjective, on top of that it's very easy to change the results through slight variations in the method of the test and the environment it's taken in.
Same goes for air flow numbers, there's lots of ways the numbers can be changed through the test setup and environment.

[dipzy]

The new corsair fans are meant to be good i think, might get a few to see how they are