what 120mm fan to recommend?

[idlehanz]

What about the new Akasa Apache Fan??

[Pob255]

I've been looking at that, mainly because it's a 120mm PWM fan, so I'm considering it for my cpu cooler fan.
But I've yet to find any reviews or here from anyone who's used one.

[ritchiem]

I've been swapping all my fans for nexus fans, super quiet. After I did that I had to move to samsung HDs the seagate write noise was to much to bear I agree with SPCR that the Noctura's are not as 'buttery' smooth.

[pipTheGeek]

I have recently purchased one of these. They have a Sony made "Fluid Dynamic Bearing", which should be quieter and last longer than either a sleeve or ball bearing. The fan is also available in 3 different speed ratings. Sadly I haven't had mine long enough to tell if it is going to last well.

[Pob255]

The S-FLEX is very good, clarification on the speeds, it comes in 3 different models, 900rpm, 1200rpm and 1600rpm
the faster the more air and noise.
from my experience the 900rpm is so quiet you need to have your ear next to it to hear it, however the air flow is very low
the 1600rpm is still low noise and move a good amount of air but is not slient.
the 1200rpm one is a great ballance between low noise and air, however they are also the hardest to get hold of and tend to be the first to sell out when they are in stock.

[Salty_Pepperpot]

If noise REALLY doesnt matter, then get cheap and cheerful XD. Any brand of fan (with the amount your putting in that system) should keep it cool enough, but it could get rather loud

If youa re looking for quieter, but high preformance then Yate-Loons, they are a very good brand.

Also take a looka t Noctua p12's, zalman f-3's and Sythe S-flex's

[Mutley]

Another vote for Noctua fans...but again a bit pointless as noise i not an issue. I replaced the Antec Tri-Cool fans that came in the P-182 case with the Noctua ones. The motherboard controls all three against case or CPU temps, and it works very well.

I would suggest that high CFM isn't necessarily what you are looking for, if you want effective cooling, especially for exhaust - I've a vague memory of reading somewhere that negative pressure in a PC case is a "Bad Thing" for heat, so you'd need to make sure you were blasting lots of cold air in....could be total BS of course...

[Pob255]

I would suggest that high CFM isn't necessarily what you are looking for, if you want effective cooling, especially for exhaust - I've a vague memory of reading somewhere that negative pressure in a PC case is a "Bad Thing" for heat, so you'd need to make sure you were blasting lots of cold air in....could be total BS of course...

Yes and no, it depends on the design and layout of your case.
The Antec p182 is a negative pressure case, at least in the main "cell" where the motherboard is, the lower cell where the psu and hard drives are is actually equal or positive pressure.
Negative pressure works by fans sucking air out of the case, the lower pressure inside causes new air to get drawn in trough any avaible hole.
Positive pressure works by fans sucking air in, raising the pressure inside and forceing air out of any holes.
The issue with cooling is to move the air through the case and not leave it trapped any where.
eg if you had a large air vent in the bottom of a side panel then a positive pressure design will not work so well with only fans pushing air into a case, as the air getting pushed in at the front by your fans is just going to flow out again without getting near the hot cpu.
If you only had fans sucking air out, then the air would get sucked in through the vent and not through the front, leaveing your harddrive in an air pocket to heat up.
The above is simplified but that's the basic principle.
ideally you want to blow air over hot components and suck away the resaulting hot air.
One thing to say about positive pressure cases is they are far eaisier to manage dust build up, you need to filter all the fans drawing in air, but as the resaulting positive pressure forces air out of every crack and hole dust does not get in.
With negative pressure you tend to suck air in from every hole so to reduce dust you'd ideally need to seal or filter every crack and hole which is not very easy.

[PeterStoba]

Yate loon low speeds at 4quid a pop are the best for you I'd say

[Pulse]

I'd have to go with the Akasa Apache's whilst their not the cheapest, extremely low noise and high airflow means they are very good, thinking about getting 2 or 3 for my Antec 900

[Jonessie]

I use Excellence (I think I spet that correct) and recently Arctic Cooling, which are just awesome fans. not too expensive.

[redders6600]

I have the sharkoon silent eagle 2000 - they have good airflow and don't make too much noise, and they also look quite interesting!

[bandsaw]

Got three of them Akasa Apache jobs a few days ago... I don't know how best to "review" them though.
They provide more airflow and are quieter than two AcoustiFan things and I'd say that noise-wise they're about the same as a Noctua NF-S12-1200 but provide more airflow. The colour scheme is different but I couldn't care less what colour they were as they're hidden in the case!

Two are PWM-controlled (one CPU, one system) the other is on a 3-pin header and runs at 1,300rpm - not exactly silent at 1,300rpm but I'm happy with 'em.

[no_numb]

Yes and no, it depends on the design and layout of your case.
The Antec p182 is a negative pressure case, at least in the main "cell" where the motherboard is, the lower cell where the psu and hard drives are is actually equal or positive pressure.
Negative pressure works by fans sucking air out of the case, the lower pressure inside causes new air to get drawn in trough any avaible hole.
Positive pressure works by fans sucking air in, raising the pressure inside and forceing air out of any holes.
The issue with cooling is to move the air through the case and not leave it trapped any where.
eg if you had a large air vent in the bottom of a side panel then a positive pressure design will not work so well with only fans pushing air into a case, as the air getting pushed in at the front by your fans is just going to flow out again without getting near the hot cpu.
If you only had fans sucking air out, then the air would get sucked in through the vent and not through the front, leaveing your harddrive in an air pocket to heat up.
The above is simplified but that's the basic principle.
ideally you want to blow air over hot components and suck away the resaulting hot air.
One thing to say about positive pressure cases is they are far eaisier to manage dust build up, you need to filter all the fans drawing in air, but as the resaulting positive pressure forces air out of every crack and hole dust does not get in.
With negative pressure you tend to suck air in from every hole so to reduce dust you'd ideally need to seal or filter every crack and hole which is not very easy.

Ah when I built my first pc (about 5 years ago) the concensus then was that you wanted a flow of air round rather than just having all in or all out. Because of this I have front intake and rear exhaust, the front of my case is completely perforated. Is this no longer considered best practice?

[Pob255]

No that's fairly standard, esp in newer case layouts, good eg is the antec 300, solid side panels and mesh front

I forgot to mention the 3rd setup which is netural pressure, it's quite hard to fully achieve.

Most cases reguardless of pressure use a fan at the front, to focus inflowing air over the hard drives to keep them cool
Then have a rear fan to extract hot air from around the cpu area, this helps keep the air flowing through the case and reduce the amount getting drawn in from other vents.


There's a lot of arguement over which is better, in the past negitive pressure was not so good for cooling as all cases pritty much used the psu above the motherboard layout, which means there's not a lot of places to put extraction fans
You want any fan that's sucking air out to be as close to the source of hot air as possible to be most effective, which is where the newer psu below the motherboard comes in.

[Roobubba]

The one main downside of negative pressure that I've heard of (ie take this next bit with a pinch of salt as it's internet gossip rather than founded on my own experimentation) is that graphics cards can't get enough air for their intakes in some cases. This isn't so much of a problem with positive pressure, although that has 'other issues' of its own.

Roo