Good, quiet replacement CPU fan (120mm)

[IAmTheTofu]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a quiet replacement fan for my CPU. It needs to be 120mm. Also, can you use case fans as CPU cooler fans, assuming they'd fit? My Cooler is a Cryorig H7. The fan in general is just loud, even after new thermal paste.

Thanks

 

[techgeek]

I'm a big fan of the Corsair SP series fans. They are ideal for heatsinks and radiators because the SP stands for Static Pressure. They are meant to push / pull air through restricted airflow areas. They come in a Performance series and Quiet series.

As for case fans, Corsair also has their AF series fans (AF = Air Flow) and they also come in Performance and Quiet editions.

 

[IAmTheTofu]

I'm a big fan of the Corsair SP series fans. They are ideal for heatsinks and radiators because the SP stands for Static Pressure. They are meant to push / pull air through restricted airflow areas. They come in a Performance series and Quiet series.

As for case fans, Corsair also has their AF series fans (AF = Air Flow) and they also come in Performance and Quiet editions.

Would this be a good cheaper alternative? PCPartPicker says it pushes 69.7 CFM of air at 2000 RPM and 19 decibels.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0026ZPFCK/?tag=pcpapi-20

 

[techgeek]

While those number look good, manufacturers aren't too accurate when it comes to giving specs for fans. So they could vary quite far from the provided specs. Have a look at this link:

AnandTech Radiator Fan Roundup

These fans were tested with the H80 closed loop cooler. The result are still relevant to your usage since you want this for a heatsink.

 

[William Henrickson]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181039

You said good and quiet! Don't cheap out now!

 

[techgeek]

Here is another link to a larger roundup:

Fan Roundup

The second chart is all the fans that they've tested (103). I've linked the Efficiency page of the document, because this gives the airflow at 30dB, you'll see Corsair's SP Quiet edition is fifth in efficiency.

 

[William Henrickson]

Those results are on a Watercooled radiator, which is much more dense than an air heatsink, and noise is not a part of the testing.

Should go PWM on the fan as it will be plugged into CPU_Fan on the motherboard and most will not do DC control which means 100% speed. You want it to be able to idle at 650rpm or so.

 

[techgeek]

I don't know what motherboards you buy, but every motherboard I've ever owned control both DC and PWM fans on the CPU headers. In fact all the newest ASUS boards auto detect the fan on the CPU / CPU_OPT headers, you don't even have to specify in the BIOS. Though I generally agree that PWM fans are better for CPU fans since they can be tuned for lower speeds than DC fans.

Also both links I provided do in fact make acoustics part of the testing.

Though I'd agree that the average radiator is more restrictive than the average air cooler, a fan attached to a air cooler is going to have more restriction to air flow than if it was used as a case fan. Thus the link to a review that makes air restriction a priority in testing.

 

[William Henrickson]

Makes sense. My GA-Z97X-UD3H, and another AM2+ Ggiabyte did not do DC on the CPU_Fan. I happened to have the CPU_Opt that did do DC, as I run SP120x2 3-pins.

His chart is valid for recommendations, I am only speaking on experience with running these at 600rpm being completely silent.