Quiet case fans with LED's, do they exist?

Hi,

I've got a tarty PC case with a nice side window and a few blue LED Coolermaster fans. Problem is, the PC sounds like a helicopter :)

I'm investigating quiet PSU, HSF and HDD silencers but I'm also looking for some quieter 80mm fans (case has no 120mm mounts). I'd ideally like quiet ones (current ones are about 28dB so anything around 20 or less) which have blue LED's in them. There's plenty of quiet fans about, and plenty of noisier ones with the LED's, does anyone know where I can get quiet ones with blue LED's?

Cheers,
8bit

Antec 120mm are quiet and have LEDs so imagine they do a 80mm as well but dont guarantee them to pump much air around as they will probably have a low CFM

Don't forget fan gaskets (they are cheap), as half the time it's the fan noise resonating through the case that's causing the loudish noise, rather than just the fan movement itself.

Ill echo nomadd on this one, check the fan grilles (sp?) out, they are almost always the main culprit of noise.
Antec do 80mm fans too :)

thx all, I'll check out the antec fans.

Bit puzzled tho - by gaskets do u mean those rubber things that u can stick round the edges of the fan where it meets the case? I bought some of those earlier this year and they made no difference at all. Bought one for the PSU as well, which made similarly little difference.

as for fan grilles I just have the standard looking chrome ones you get on most fans, can this really make a difference?

thx again
8bit

Are the chrome ones made out of wire which are removable? If they are they hardly restrict at all. If it was a stamped grill then yes it prob would make a difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 8bit

thx all, I'll check out the antec fans.

Bit puzzled tho - by gaskets do u mean those rubber things that u can stick round the edges of the fan where it meets the case? I bought some of those earlier this year and they made no difference at all. Bought one for the PSU as well, which made similarly little difference.

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But is that because you have noisey fans and a noisey PSU...?

I have an Enermax fan which has two quiet fans and an adjuster for the fan speeds. It's literally silent in operation. Gaskets would only make a difference if you already has reasonable quiet kit to start with, which it sounds like you haven't. Try unplugging stuff to isolate the noise, and the type of noise. If it's 'air flow' type noise, then yes, that's the fans/frames, and your only option is to buy some quieter units (Zalman, Papst, etc., etc.) Maybe try one at first, just to see if it makes a difference (of course, make sure you have all the other case fans disconnected at the time you try it. Even so, if you have noise from the PSU it might still be difficult to tell...)

Having said all that, CPU coolers tend to be the noisiest things. You OK there?

Nomadd

shogun,

yes the grilles are as you describe, wire removable ones. I have CoolerMaster Neon fans, the "quietest" PC world had to offer! Not sure if it is them making the noise tho, I was installing new kit recently and couldnt be bothered wiring up and removing the side panel fan each time i went inside the case and I can't say I noticed much difference.

nomadd, my CPU cooler has a 6cm fan, the plan at present is to get one of those 6cm-8cm mountings and stick a (quiet) 8cm fan on instead. Not spending big cash on it just now, saving for Athlon64 setup. I also have a radeon 9800pro, one of the generic looking ones that comes on a red PCB with a trapezoidal HSF (ATi reference one I think), any idea how much of the offending racket that's likely to be contrbuting?

Incidentally, in case it helps anyone else I tried sticking some of that Akasa PaxMate silencing rubber foam matting all over the inside of the case, which made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 8bit

nomadd, my CPU cooler has a 6cm fan, the plan at present is to get one of those 6cm-8cm mountings and stick a (quiet) 8cm fan on instead. Not spending big cash on it just now, saving for Athlon64 setup. I also have a radeon 9800pro, one of the generic looking ones that comes on a red PCB with a trapezoidal HSF (ATi reference one I think), any idea how much of the offending racket that's likely to be contrbuting?

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I've never owned an ATI 9800, but from what I've read, they are supposed to be pretty quiet, so I don't think it's big factor. As regards the CPU fan, all I can say is that the 'quietish' (or so I'd read) Intel stock hs/fan in my upgraded PC drove me nuts: it was clearly louder - and more irritating - than my case fans. I plonked a large Zalman 7000 Cu with it's frameless 92mm fan on and peace has been restored; cools better than the stock Intel too, even with the fan running at under 2000rpm. Still, if you are saving your pennies due to an impending upgrade, you might want to hold fire on all this, as it can get a bit pricey. Save you cash for bits you can port over to your new PC.

Apart from CPU fan noise, I think case fans are the next noisiest things. After them, PSU fans. Then hard disks. Then... You get the idea: concentrate on the worst offenders first, and see how you go.

Nomadd

Thanks once again all,

I've just bought a SilenX 8cm fan and a 60-80mm mounting bracket to swap the 60mm turbine fan on my HSF with, will see how that goes. I guess I can always use that with the new CPU and HSF so long as its a 60 or 80mm fan that the new one takes.

Chrz,
8bit