2 x 140mm or one 200mm fan

[Bungle11]

Hi Chaps,

I just got the Phanteks EVOLV ITX and the supplied 200mm fan is far too noisy (25db). I can hear the fan and air move. Therefore which will be better:

2 x 140mm be quiet! BL056 Shadow Wings 140mm Quiet Fan Mid Speed (17.4db)
1 x 200mm with a rating of about 18db

Help needed on the make of 200mm needed.

Or should i use a 7v regulator to reduce my fan speed, and will this let enough air into the case?

I already have one be quite! PWN 140mm exhausting air out the back. This runs at about 400 rpm through the mb; and it make no noise.

 

[geofelt]

Noise comes from fans running at high rpm.
Try using something like a zalman fanmate which has a rheostat that will let you set the best balance between cooling and noise.

There are second order differences, but most fans will deliver similar cooling at the same rpm.
For quiet computing go to http://www.silentpcreview.com/
for good tests on quiet vs efficiency.

As to two 140mm fans, in theory they should perform similarly since the fan surface area is the same.

What do you have in the case that needs cooling?
I have a GTX980ti and a i4-4790K.
My 180mm only intake fan runs at about 900rpm and does the cooling job.
It is not silent, but quiet enough to not be objectionable.

 

[Bungle11]

Noise comes from fans running at high rpm.
Try using something like a zalman fanmate which has a rheostat that will let you set the best balance between cooling and noise.

There are second order differences, but most fans will deliver similar cooling at the same rpm.
For quiet computing go to www.silentpcreview for good tests on quiet vs efficiency.

As to two 140mm fans, in theory they should perform similarly since the fan surface area is the same.

What do you have in the case that needs cooling?
I have a GTX980ti and a i4-4790K.
My 180mm only intake fan runs at about 900rpm and does the cooling job.
It is not silent, but quiet enough to not be objectionable.

I have a modest build. running a xeon 1231v3 (roughly the same as a i7 4770 but cheaper) and a gtx 960. running a h97 so i won't be overclocking, i just need some airflow.

 

[turbopixel]

Its not only the rpm and size that matters. There are other factors like if fans are directly mounted or with damping elements and how the bearing and blade technology is. And it is not just the db, but the kind of tone its producing. There are some very quiet types, but the kind of tone it gives is annoying. You definitely should lower the speed from UEFI/Bios. It does not need to operate on fastes mode. If you want, look for fan controller, which gives you the ability to control fan speed. Or get PWM version of fan, then your motherboard should handle it. PWM needs 4-pin connection, so you may have only single one.

So, if you are serious about getting a silent system, check some sites rating such fans. I have myself made my rig quiet, still not perfect, but its quiet now. After reading the web and such, I got 2 times NoiseBlocker NB-ELoop B12-2 and NoiseBlocker NB-ELoop B12-1. There are faster versions, but they aren't silent anymore. These are 120mm fans.
> http://de.pcpartpicker.com/parts/case-fan/#m=288&s=120

Here from same creator 140mm versions
> http://de.pcpartpicker.com/parts/case-fan/#m=288&s=140

 

[MolnarP]

FYI
2x140mm fans have bigger surface.

140x3.14x2
vs
200x3.14

What really matters is Noise, and the ammount of air they move (CFM). You have to balance that out by your own personal prefs.

Peter

 

[Budgetguy]

MolnarP is incorrect. A 200MM fan has a bigger surface area than two 140mm fans. And 200mm fans are deeper as well most of the time (30mm vs 25mm). But there aren't many quality 200mm fans unfortunately.

The correct way of calculating surface area is:
Radius^2*pi
So for a 200mm fan that is:
100^2*pi=31416mm^2
And for a 140mm fan that is (the *2 is because of 2 fans)
70^2*pi*2=30788mm^2

And actually you have to consider the depth of the fan as well so the difference would then be much bigger.