Need help getting a 140 mm fan and lighting

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419Recon

419Recon

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Jun 13, 2014
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Alright so I am looking for a decent fan to use.
My case is the NZXT H440, I will have 3 Noctuas in the front, and two up top.
I am not sure what fan to use in the back as most noctuas aren't nice looking and that's the one I would have to look at.
I came across the NF-A14 iPPC-3000 PWM, will that work?
If not, what's a good reliable fan to use, preferably not LED.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608048&cm_re=noctua_140mm-_-35-608-048-_-Product
Also, I am wanting to get an RGB lighting system and had planned on hue, but since it's not compatible with H440, what would you recommend? Are Ebay LEDs trustworthy?
Here's my build http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Vftkbv
Edit: Or should I just try for water cooling?
 
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Darkbreeze
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Yes, I'll plug them into the mobo.
I am using the hero Vll and it has 2 pwm headers (http://goo.gl/ZZZQ7Z)
 
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I am looking into that fan now, I've heard about the website but the few RGB led's I've seen on there don't have reviews.
As well as it's quite expensive. I.e for the remote and a 12 inch led strip is 20 dollars.
Assuming I'd need more than one strip another is 15. So that's 35. I don't know if it would light the whole case as opposed as getting all four sides.
This is my first build so I'm not real sure about lighting. If two strips is enough then I'd definitely take it, but I don't want to order it and expect it to be enough and be disappointed.
 
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That Noctua fan moves a lot of air, but it's going to be loud as hell, look at the dB rating.

I would've said the Scythe Gentle Typhoon, but it looks like they discontinued that.

Best airflow/noise ratio likely belongs to the Prolimatech Blue Vortex ... depending on whether you think the color (non-LED) is a good look:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242011

SilenX makes another even quieter one, although airflow is less and if you ask me it's butt ugly:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226046


 
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That's what I was afraid of. I like the first fan the Blue Vortex, but it doesn't match the color scheme (red and black) unfortunately. But it got me looking, and I found Corsair AF140, and Cougar
Vortex
What's your thoughts on those?
 
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The Couger Vortex silent model looks like the best of the bunch to me ... good airflow and stays very quiet
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553004

... the regular version of that fan moves slightly more air and is slightly louder. You still likely will not notice either one that much, but I'd go with the quieter one because the airflow is almost the same.

The Corsair is a little worse off than both, so go for that one mainly if you like the look a lot better. It's louder but I don't think it's going to be terrible. In fact, depending on what the other three Noctua fans are, the noise level may be irrelevant; if they're super loud and you have one quiet fan, it'll make precious little difference. In that case, just get what looks good.

In my experience, fan noise is roughly:
<15 dBA = undetectable
15-20 dBA = whisper
20-30 dBA = regular computer fan sound
30-40 dBA = loud computer fan sound
40+ dBA = hope you like being in server rooms

(note that you don't simply add the noise levels together; e.g., 3x 15 dBA does not equal 45 dBA; it's a logarithmic scale, so 45 dB is more like 100 times louder than 3x 15 dB. This is why the loudest fan in your system basically sets the overall noise level.)



 
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Actually, that fan, as tested, is only a few DB louder than the stock cooling fans that come on the high end Noctua coolers, which we all know are the quietest fans on the market that still have very high cooling performance, as seen at the link below. 3-4db difference really isn't that much, probably not even noticeable by your ear in a closed case.

Plus, if he plans to use it as the rear upper (Not top, he already has two fans there) exhaust fan, and controlled by PWM, it's probably never going to be loud enough to hear much at all except under extremely high stress situations. And at those times, you really don't expect a quiet case. Most the time, it's not going to be much, if any, louder than any of the other Noctua fans.

Considering this,

Under full load, the NF-A14 iPPC-2000RPM PWM is, give or take, about 3 dBA louder than the NH-D15 with stock fans. The NF-A14 iPPC-3000RPM PWM on the other hand is about 6 dBA louder which is a little bit louder than what we were expecting but nevertheless, it's still very impressive for it's 3000RPM speed.
Click to expand...

it's actually probably never likely to see it's top speeds as a case fan or even close since it moves so much air at mid level RPMs, and considering the cooling demand likely to be presented to it will be relatively low with two other exhaust fans going, that the 43db noise level will probably be moot.


http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nf-a14-industrialppc/7
 
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Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPro PK-PS 140mm x 25mm Ultra Quiet PWM Fan is a much better choice. No other 140mm fan is as quiet at idle with equal RPMs and airflow and at full speed it's airflow to noise ratio is pretty much only beaten by the Thermalright TY-140. It has a 4.2dba at idle (700RPM) and 29.2 at full throttle (1500RPM)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/18565/fan-1180/Noiseblocker_NB-BlackSilentPro_PK-PS_140mm_x_25mm_Ultra_Quiet_PWM_Fan_-_400-1500_RPM_-_29_dBA.html

Obviously there are 140mm fans that are better in terms of overall performance or in overall noise levels, but taken as a whole, it's right there with Noctua and Thermalright and doesn't have any UGLY points.
 
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Just making sure, you're talking about the Noctua Industrial one I mentioned earlier right?
If that's the case I might go with that. As I will be using headphones whenever I game, so the fan noise won't bother me.
I like the noiseblocker you linked me too, but it's around the price of the Indurstial Noctua, so I just want to make sure I get my money's worth.

 
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Thanks, I wasn't sure what dBA was so, that helps a lot. :)
Yeah I wasn't too sure about the corsair one.
 
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I have that exact Cougar fan, and I'll be honest, it works very well and it doesn't have an extremely high decibel level even full on. What I don't like about it though is the "tone" of the decibel level. It's annoying to me and is for some reason just a different kind of noise. I pulled mine out and replaced it with Noctua. Actually I replaced them all with Noctua fans except the front 200mm cooler master fine which is just really damn decent for an included fan.

If Noctua ever releases a 200mm fan, it would of course instantly get swapped out, but it's still pretty decent for now. I don't think you can go wrong with either the Noctua or the Noiseblocker. Even the cougar would get the job done if you don't mind the orange killing the color scheme. All things considered, it probably doesn't really matter what fan you put there considering you already have two top exhaust fans (Your top fans ARE exhaust right?), so long as it's quiet and can move at least 40-50CFM. In fact, putting a third fan that's identical to your top two would make a lot of sense.

What are you planning to go with for the CPU cooler? You've already got plenty of case cooling lined out for a good solution so right now I'd think the CPU cooler would be the smart place to shift some investment funds, especially if you plan to overclock.
 
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Well I haven't planned the air flow yet. I figured the back would exhaust and the front would bring in. Top will probably be exhaust as you asked.
I plan on getting the Noctua NH D-15. It performs as good as most AIO's, and isn't too much of a wallet emptier. And I planned for a decent overclock on the 4690K so it should be able to keep it reasonably cool.
Thanks for the help on the fan.
What would you recommend for the lighting? I had planned on using Hue, until I changed cases and hue isn't compatible anymore (it requires a 5.25" bay)
I seen as someone (might have been you) recommended to check out frozencpu, which I did but the LED strips individually are a bit expensive and I don't know if two (I believe they're both about 12 inches) would be able to light up the case reasonably well or if I would need a third (they're 15 dollars each so I don't know if I'd want to pay that much just to light up my pc)

 
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Well, when it comes to PC lighting, there are three options.

1. Pay more and get good PC specific lighting that does what you want but isn't exactly "budget" friendly.

2. Get generic LED lighting strips that you need to wire into a power source like a 4 pin Molex connector. It's cheap, but it takes more of it to actually "light" anything, and wiring it in can be a PITA if you don't know how. Plus, you'll need to buy a 4 pin molex plug to wire to it.

3. Use LED fans, which sucks, and really doesn't light the internal components all that much.

4. Well, there really is no 4. Unless you want to use cathode ray tubes instead of LEDs.
 
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I'm alright with paying more, as I don't really have a budget (I had it and then I kinda blew past it haha)
I just want my moneys worth. I seen there were some phobya rgb led, for about 35 dollars and comes with I believe 5 meters of LED strip which is plenty. But I don't know how well they work. Then there's the one on frozen cpu which for about the same price I'd get two feet of led strips. I don't know if they're higher quality or something.
I just want to get something that is easy to setup, and I won't have to worry about replacing it within a few weeks or months.
 
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I appreciate the reply, but I have figured out what fan to get.
Thanks though, I really appreciate it! :)
 
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