Quiet LED fans

[Lost4words]

After a few quiet LED case fans and a quiet LED CPU fan...120mm

Any ideas?

[Ttaskmaster]

TBH, most fans make roughly the same amounts of noise once you go above 1000rpm and start pushing airflow through grilles, meshes, radiators and the like. Since it's the airflow itself that causes the most noise, those are the elements to focus on if you want silence.

Corsair do a variant of the ML120s with LEDs, and their LL120s are quite similar. Both are reckoned to be quite good, though slightly below the plain ML120s.
Phanteks also offer LED add-on frames in the form of their HALO range, so you can use pretty much any 120mm fan.

Personally I'm not a fan of LED fans, though. I prefer my lights done differently, so that's about all the insight I can offer.

[Lost4words]

In what way do you like your lights done differently? Thanks

[Jonj1611]

Corsair do some quiet AF120 quiet edition led fans, might be what your looking for?

[Ttaskmaster]

In what way do you like your lights done differently? Thanks

I just prefer other components to be lit. Rings of light around fans don't match my personal aesthetic, but mine are also tucked away behind radiators, so most of the light would be wasted.

I have a twin-strip ring around the top of my reservoir, with a lit silicon decoupler at the base of the pump beneath, lit RAM, and a few strips tucked away for the option of subtle area lighting behind the case front. I also have a couple of custom-built ARGB effect strips placed strategically elsewhere for an 80s TV/movie feel.

[cptwhite_uk]

Just to make it clear there are 3 types of LED fans:

Fixed colour LED fans - i.e. red, green, blue. Take their power from the fan header typically with no additional cabling, this is the most basic

RGB fans - 4 pin plug for voltage, red channel, green channel and blue channel

aRGB fans - 3 pin plug (like above but with 1 of the pins blocked off) (voltage, ground and data lines)

aRGB is what you're aiming for - assuming your motherboar supports it. You can get kits with a fan controller (to support upto 8 aRGB fans) and a remote for manual control if your motherboard doesn't support aRGB, for around £33. Gamemax do a set, and they're also a reasonable quality too.

[Ttaskmaster]

RGB fans - 4 pin plug for voltage, red channel, green channel and blue channel
aRGB fans - 3 pin plug (like above but with 1 of the pins blocked off) (voltage, ground and data lines)

I imagine these will be like other RGB connectors, in that 4-pin is 12v and 3-pin is 5v... meaning don't put one on the other's header, and don't connect either of them the wrong way around!!!

I also understand that NZXT and Corsair use proprietary connectors for at least some of their RGB fans, as Aqua Computer make a fan hub specifically for these two brands. Others might also (Phanteks?), but I'd have to look further.

[cingur]

Following!this seems like a very interesting thread

[Spreadie]

You could always just buy the best performer on the market and add a Halo Lux frame to it.

[Ttaskmaster]

You could always just buy the best performer on the market and add a Halo Lux frame to it.

That was my thinking - The best performing fan will depend partly on what you have it blowing through, but will probably not be an RGB/LED one...

[ik9000]

Bit fenix spectre LED (non-pro) were very quiet. 120mm diameter Spectre Pro fans also not bad for more airflow at the 120mm size.

[cptwhite_uk]

They seems very reasonable for the price - £10.99 at OCUK

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfe...fg-11c-bx.html

[ik9000]

it's a different version from the one I was thinking of, which came in well under 20dBA but it will hopefully still be ok.

[Lost4words]

Old motherboard so no new fancy ports on it.

Bought a pack of 3 Corsair AF120's.

Loud at stock so chose 'silent' in bios which did quieten them a bit but also dimmed them too.

[ik9000]

Old motherboard so no new fancy ports on it.

Bought a pack of 3 Corsair AF120's.

Loud at stock so chose 'silent' in bios which did quieten them a bit but also dimmed them too.

do they not allow separation of the LED power from the fan? That's a bit poor if not

[Ttaskmaster]

do they not allow separation of the LED power from the fan? That's a bit poor if not

AF120s are old tech. I also believe they are single colour LED only, so predate RGB and all the associated proprietary connectors.

In short, this is what Mummy and Daddy had to use when they were your age...!!