Question Replace ak500 fan with TL-C12C-S?

[CosmicLego]

Hello there. I'm working on my first build. I have an ak500 cooler and a bunch of thermalright TL-C12C-S argb fans. I bought them for the price and addition nap case airflow, but was wondering if replacing the stock fan on the ak500 with one of these would reduce performance?

The ak500 fan has a max rpm of 1800 while the thermalright only go up to 1500. Does that make a huge difference?. I'm considering ordering a single 120mm argb of higher quality but also don't want to spend the money.

 

[Lutfij]

Static pressure for;
thermalright TL-C12C-S argb
is 1.53.

Deepcool fan on the AK500
is 1.2.

You should be good to go with the Thermalright fans.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

The Tl-C12C-S has a rating of 66CFM and1.53 mm air pressure . Your cooler fan has a rating of 69CFM and 2.19 mm air pressure. So you would be reducing cooling effect, but dont ask me by how much.

 

[Paperdoc]

NOT a good substitution. Here's why.

Fans have two important specs: Max air flow, and max pressure. Both pertain to operating at max speed, but at different conditions.

Max air flow is ONLY at ZERO backpressure (air flow resistance due to things in the path, like fins of a cooler heatsink); at any actual backpressure the real flow is less.

Max pressure is the maximum backpressure that will allow almost no air flow. Beyond that much flow resistance the fan delivers effectively NO air flow.

If you draw a graph of air flow versus backpressure, the line between max Air Flow at Zero backpressure, and Zero Air Flow at max backpressure, is ROUGHLY a straight line. So try to sketch a graph with two lines, one for each of those fans. Both start at Zero backpressure with nearly identical max Air Flow: AK500 at 69 CFM, TL-C12C-S at 66. They reach the limit of ZERO Air Flow at very different backpressures: AK500 at 2.2mm water, TL-C12C-S at 1.5. So the Thermalright TL-C12C-S completely stops blowing air at 1.5 mm backpressure, and at that backpressure the AK500 can still deliver air flow of about 22 CFM. More importantly, at lower backpressures (yours is likely between 1.0 and 1.5 mm water) the AK500 can blow a LOT more air through the CPU heatsink fins - at 1.0 mm backpressure it's about twice as much.

In that application - blowing air through the small spaces between fins of a heatsink -the "pressure" fan design of the AK500 is far superior to the "air flow" design of the Thermalright TL-C12C-S.

 

[CosmicLego]

NOT a good substitution. Here's why.

Fans have two important specs: Max air flow, and max pressure. Both pertain to operating at max speed, but at different conditions.

Max air flow is ONLY at ZERO backpressure (air flow resistance due to things in the path, like fins of a cooler heatsink); at any actual backpressure the real flow is less.

Max pressure is the maximum backpressure that will allow almost no air flow. Beyond that much flow resistance the fan delivers effectively NO air flow.

If you draw a graph of air flow versus backpressure, the line between max Air Flow at Zero backpressure, and Zero Air Flow at max backpressure, is ROUGHLY a straight line. So try to sketch a graph with two lines, one for each of those fans. Both start at Zero backpressure with nearly identical max Air Flow: AK500 at 69 CFM, TL-C12C-S at 66. They reach the limit of ZERO Air Flow at very different backpressures: AK500 at 2.2mm water, TL-C12C-S at 1.5. So the Thermalright TL-C12C-S completely stops blowing air at 1.5 mm backpressure, and at that backpressure the AK500 can still deliver air flow of about 22 CFM. More importantly, at lower backpressures (yours is likely between 1.0 and 1.5 mm water) the AK500 can blow a LOT more air through the CPU heatsink fins - at 1.0 mm backpressure it's about twice as much.

In that application - blowing air through the small spaces between fins of a heatsink -the "pressure" fan design of the AK500 is far superior to the "air flow" design of the Thermalright TL-C12C-S.

Thank you for the detailed response. I did end up keeping the fan as stock after further research. Your response justifies my decision and is a great explanation.

 

[Paperdoc]

You're welcome. Glad you have your problem solved.