High Airflow Fans or Static Pressure Fans

Zuhayr378

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May 15, 2014
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I really don't get the difference (between HAF fans and SP fans (or what they really are), so can somebody tell me what static pressure is, it is REALLY CONFUSING ME. I understand that high airflow fans means more air coming into your case or something at a better rate (or at least I'm guessing XD), but seriously, which one should I choose and for what reasons.

Sorry, I'm kinda new to this computer stuff. I'm building a PC this summer.
Thanks!
 
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Ah, you are both right, yet both wrong. There is 2 ways to develop pressure. Either have fan blades designed to do so or turn up the speed. The Noctua NF-F12 has high pressure, yet lower volume, and spins rather slow, 900 rpm is good. The NF-S12 has low pressure but high volume, and high speed, say 1600 rpm. The 2 fans have totally different blade designs. Now take the Cougar vortex, has a blade design somewhere in the middle of the 2 Noctuas. It will achieve basically the same pressure as the F12, and the same airflow as the S12, but only does so by spinning at 2000 rpm, because if it spun at 900 the pressure would be substantially lower than the F12, and at 1600 the cfm would be lower than the S12. All because the blades are not...
High airflow fans are for open environments. Static Pressure fans are fans that are for CPU coolers and radiators along with any other place that has airflow restrictions (it has a lesser air flow performance, but when it comes to radiators and CPU coolers, it performs better than air flow optimized fans). Static pressure fans have a focused flow.
 
static pressure is the force the air can pushed out of the fan.
High air flow is a measurement of cubic feet per minute of air the fan can move at its peak.

usually a High static pressure fan will have a High CFM also. the reasons to get a High static pressure fan is if you need to blow air through a radiator/CPU cooler or even Pull air through a screen filter. these area's are where you need the pressure.
 

Zuhayr378

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May 15, 2014
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Do you guys recommend getting high airflow fans or static pressure fans to cool my gpus where the fans will be placed on the HDD CAGES of my case. BTW, thanks for the responses guys, makes a lot more sense now!
 

it is not true that the high static pressure have less air flow. the link below will prove this. this is the High sp i purchased for my cooler. SP is Max. Air Pressure: 4.65 mmH2O and a CFM of Max. Air Flow: 97.5 CFM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106153R
 
get the High static pressure because you need to draw air though obstacles.

EDIT: word of caution though, if your GPU is styled to vent the hot air in the case adding fans could hinder the cooling more. But if your GPU is a reference design cooler then the fans will help a lot.
 


Static Pressure fans such as the Silverstone AP123 would be a good choice for you.
 


In general, static pressure fans don't have the best air flow performance.
 


When I was looking for my High static pressure fan there were many that had 62 CFM or better. Most stock fans will not push this because of the noise issue. I must disagree with you on this point.
 

Karadjgne

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Ah, you are both right, yet both wrong. There is 2 ways to develop pressure. Either have fan blades designed to do so or turn up the speed. The Noctua NF-F12 has high pressure, yet lower volume, and spins rather slow, 900 rpm is good. The NF-S12 has low pressure but high volume, and high speed, say 1600 rpm. The 2 fans have totally different blade designs. Now take the Cougar vortex, has a blade design somewhere in the middle of the 2 Noctuas. It will achieve basically the same pressure as the F12, and the same airflow as the S12, but only does so by spinning at 2000 rpm, because if it spun at 900 the pressure would be substantially lower than the F12, and at 1600 the cfm would be lower than the S12. All because the blades are not designed to be specialized in 1 area, but general to both.

So, you have high sp fans that spin slower, quieter, less cfm, high cfm fans that spin slower, quieter, less sp, and general fans that spin faster, louder, high cfm/sp. Both right, both wrong, but that's ok.
 
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