Looking for quiet yet powerful case fan - is that an oxymoron?

[fonzerelli_79]

i have two pcs in my room

in my 3.2 p4 ive got a thermaltake fan that i got with my power supply - its a great little fan - too good infact, its waayyyyyy tooo noisy. It does my head in!!!

My other pc (3000xp) has got one case fan built in (its a coolermaster case) but i need to add another as occasionally the pc switches itself off and ive found out that its the case temperature which is causing this (either that or its the cpu fan - as the fan i got with the chip wasnt a brand name)

can anyone reccomend some some good quiet fans - also, do you think that the overheating is due to the cpu fan being poor?

any help would be appreciated

thanks

kevin

[steve threlfall]

Papst or panaflow fans from www.tekheads.co.uk

Very quiet and they shift a fair bit of air.

[skattrd]

Papst or panaflow fans from www.tekheads.co.uk

Very quiet and they shift a fair bit of air.

Don't buy fans from tekheads - if you want the fans they stock get them from extremecooling - their sister company that does free shipping

Dorothy Bradbury also does good quiet fans as well.

What heatsink do you have on your cpu?

[steve threlfall]

Don't buy fans from tekheads - if you want the fans they stock get them from extremecooling - their sister company that does free shipping

Dorothy Bradbury also does good quiet fans as well.

What heatsink do you have on your cpu?

*swears* fiddlesticks guess where i bought a new fan earlier

ah well i needed a floppy aswell i suppose.

[fonzerelli_79]

thanks for the links

does anyone know if a poor cpu fan is more likely to be causing my pc to occassionally switch off than just the general heat inside the case

[Aaron]

If possible, get 120mm fans. Bigger fans means they can move slower whilst still shifting the same amount of air. And slower means less noisy.

[fonzerelli_79]

thanks for the tip

there is a space at the top of my coolermaster for a fan - but right now i have usb connections going through it - and i use them there all the time so im reluctant to replace it with a fan - though obviously a fan at the top of the case would make more sense.

Suppose i could always look into getting a side panel for my case which has a space for a fan in it.

[steve threlfall]

thanks for the links

does anyone know if a poor cpu fan is more likely to be causing my pc to occassionally switch off than just the general heat inside the case

Possibly. If you have a rubbish heatsink/fan or both then your processor may be overheating. High temps inside the case are less likely to cause resets. Having a good airflow in the case with at least two case fans- one drawing air in at the front and one expelling it at the back will keep your case temps down and help with the cooling of the processor.

Download a temp monitoring program such as http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/winbond.html and tell us what temps your getting.

[fonzerelli_79]

will do
(im at work but ill download it when i get home)

[crossy]

thanks for the tip

there is a space at the top of my coolermaster for a fan - but right now i have usb connections going through it - and i use them there all the time so im reluctant to replace it with a fan - though obviously a fan at the top of the case would make more sense.

Got a cheapish Antec 12cm from PC World, it's rated at 70CFM @ 2.8dBA which is pretty good, and I'm using this as a bottom-mounted intake on my CoolerMaster-210 case. I'm actually waiting for delivery of a Thermaltake Thunderblade (or is it Thunderball?) 12cm fan which is rated at 78CFM @ 21dBA. If these figures aren't b/s then that's one spectactularly good fan - way better than the Pana's or Papst's, (or Zalmans come to that!)

I'll reserve judgement until it comes, at which time the Antec comes out.

Crossy

[fonzerelli_79]

didnt want to wait a few days for delivery

so i went to maplin maplin and got a akasa heatsink for £15 - its working fantastic (after my standard one hour fight removing the old heatsink!!) - my jedi senses were correct in that it was a cheap heatsink that was causing it

i also bought a 120mm fan and another thermaltake fan to beef up my cases

[steve threlfall]

didnt want to wait a few days for delivery

so i went to maplin maplin and got a akasa heatsink for £15 - its working fantastic (after my standard one hour fight removing the old heatsink!!) - my jedi senses were correct in that it was a cheap heatsink that was causing it

i also bought a 120mm fan and another thermaltake fan to beef up my cases

Nice one mate. Do monitor your temps tho to alert you to any potential problems- helps no end.

[pdug175]

if you can get hold of the antec ones which they put in the sonata and BLKQ (or whatever cases) your onto a winner.

[fonzerelli_79]

Nice one mate. Do monitor your temps tho to alert you to any potential problems- helps no end.

when i first bought the case/motherboard/cpu etc ive got just now i did - but i got lazy after a while and didnt really bother

i really should get into the habit of it

[skattrd]

If you get mbm - motherboard monitor (try google) that puts a temp monitor in your taskbar so its easy to keep an eye on them

[myth]

thanks for the tip

there is a space at the top of my coolermaster for a fan - but right now i have usb connections going through it - and i use them there all the time so im reluctant to replace it with a fan - though obviously a fan at the top of the case would make more sense.

Suppose i could always look into getting a side panel for my case which has a space for a fan in it.

What case do you have?