Can anyone recommend me some decent fans for my case?

buzzard777

Honorable
Mar 10, 2013
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10,510
When I first built my rig, I had definitely planned to purchase extra fans in the future since I didn't have the money at time of purchase. I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to all the brands of fans, so I'm asking for help on what fans/controllers to buy.

So here are my preferences:
-Decent air flow. I'm trying to keep my CPU and NB a lot cooler. (60-70+ cfm)
-Quiet. Seriously quiet... once you hear a stock Phenom II heatsink fan on full load you will despise noisy fans in their entirety.
-Gotta have blue LEDs 😉
-I'd like to keep the budget at ~$100 or so to leave room for shipping and taxes.

Now for my case specs:
HAF 912

So my side panel can fit a 140, the rear exhaust is a 120 and the top and front can accommodate 200mm fans. Unfortunately for me, my mobo only has 3 fan connectors other than the CPU fan. In other words, to get the 4 fans I want, I'll need a fan controller. An alternative could be to use molex to 3-pin for the 200mm. I know big fans are quiet, but I'm not sure of the noise which would result from running it at 100%

What I've come up with so far:

2 CM Megaflows for the 200mm fans - $40 total

CM Sickleflow 120mm for exhaust - $9

CM R4 140mm for side panel. - $12

NZXT Sentry Mesh fan controller - $30

Why coolermaster fans you ask? VALUE! ...but seriously, they're supposedly really quiet and that's what I'm going for here. The 120mm is the loudest at 19db

The prices above were from NCIX and ended up hitting about $115 after taxes and shipping. I looked this up on Newegg and the price was practically the same, but NCIX is better shipping-wise since I live in Canada and it's closer.

So, any suggestions?

Edit: Probably will end up scrapping the controller and just using the 4-pin resistor cable that came with my zalman heatsink with a 200m and the molex adapter.
 
If you are looking for a very quiet fan that moves a good amount of air, I would without a doubt recommend the Cougar Dual X-Blades 120mm Blue LED Fan. I purchased one about a month ago to put in my Define R4 because it looked very promising and I gota say the thing is simply amazing. at 100% the fan is sooo quiet; within 5 feet it is BARELY and i mean BARELY audible (keep in mind this is at 100%!) and beyond that it is inaudible. It has amazing build quality, colors, led color, sleek shiny sleeved cable, etc. I will probably never buy anything other than cougar fans now because of this fan's quality. Seriously, 64 CFM for a 120mm and under 17 dBl for sound. Check it out now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553012
 
I have that fan controller and it works great so far with 5 x Corsair AF 140mm Quiets.
Would consider the new Corsair LED quiet edition fans for your 120 and 140 spots.(come with resistors).
NCIX doesn't have any atm unfortunately.
I've used CM 120's and 140's before and they are definitely not 19db more like 30's.
Megaflows are fine since you really don't have a choice pairing them with a HAF.
Update NCIX has Corsair led fans now!