Replacement for a termaltake thunderblade...

[z999]

hi,
I've got a pretty nice PC which I've just bought (Q6600@3.6GHz inside an antec 900) but I made a mistake; I have a TRUE 120 to keep my cpu cool (keeps it at the edge - 38-40 idle and 65 on 100% for a couple of minutes) and a tt thunderblade. Now the thunderblade is VERY LOUD!!! At the beginning I could suffer it, I'm used to the humming when I go to sleep but now it's been a while and it got filled w/ dust and it began making click noises (brobably out of balance) so I cleaned it, also replaced thermal paste and everything (gotta mention, the TRUE's fan bracket is really annoying) but now the fan makes even more noise......................................... so I've decided I'm replacing it and now I have a problem, as I said I keep my cpu pretty close to the edge so I need a good fan (if it would have a red LED it would be a great bonus) to replace it.
I'm limited in my choice to things I can find in israel, and especially in the store I'm buying in. now I have the (pricey) option of an antec tricool which looks good (one day I'll get longer cables to get all the switches out of the case for a kind of fanbus) or a scythe sf;ex, problem is the store only got the sff21d and 'e' versions which are slow. which would be the best to replace my fan?

edit: I don't know if it's any good but I've also got zalman zm-f3bl as an option.

 

[richardscott]

you could try a leafblower? or mabee just see what your other fans are like you never know they might be good enough.

 

[geofelt]

The TRUE does not need a lot of airflow to keep the cpu cool. They sometimes come a bit concave, so you might check that and consider lapping it if it is not reasonably flat.
Noise comes primarily from a fan spinning at high rpm. You could try something like a Zalman fanmate which is a cheap way to adjust the speeds exactly. I find that a constant speed is less objectionable than letting the mobo spin up the fan under load. My cpu just gets hotter under load, but never throttles itself. If you have a fan that runs about 900-1000rpm, it will be very quiet. You should be able to keep the Antec fans at low or medium at most.

Also, thermalright has a nice clip to attach the fan. It comes with their new coolers, but you can order one separately for $5:
http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_page/product_page/product_accessories.html#u120_fan_holder

 

[z999]

the bracket is not available in israel so it's not an option for me.
my problem is that the fan is not entirelyconnected to the mobo, so it can read it;s speed (2000 f-ing RPM!), I'll chack out the speed controller but it's a bit pricey for me (and will have to be at the bottom of the case because of the way the antec 900 is built but I'll check it out.
what I wanted to know is whether the fan will be good enough for such an OC (and you say it will) and whether it's quiet like the rest of the case.
one last thing I want ot mention (and already wrote) is that I plan on extending the switches cords out of the case for a simple fanbus.

 

[V3NOM]

scythe slipstreams? aerocool streamliners?

 

[geofelt]

The Zalman fanmate is about $4 in the us. You can buy or make a 12v to 7v power connector that will reduce the speed of the 2000 rpm fan. Google is your friend to see how. www.silentpcreview is a good site for info on quiet computing and components.

I would not bother with an external fan speed controller. Once you have the speeds set to your liking, they are not needed any more. I did that once, and it was not worth the bother and expense.

 

[z999]

scythe s-flex, and I just found out there is a store in my country that has the zalman fanmate. but just to make sure, I think my fan is out of balance meaning every couple of seconds there's a 'kchh' sound - will it help?

 

[geofelt]

scythe s-flex, and I just found out there is a store in my country that has the zalman fanmate. but just to make sure, I think my fan is out of balance meaning every couple of seconds there's a 'kchh' sound - will it help?

I don't know why your fan should make a sound every few seconds. If it were out of balance, I would expect a sound every revolution. I suppose it could be resonance, and in that case the fan would be no good to use. Yate loon fans are cheap, good, and widely available. Scythe and noctua are also good. Antec is just ok. The purpose of a fanmate is to reduce the rpm of a fan to your best balance of cooling and noise. It does this by reducing the voltage through a rheostat to the fan.

 

[z999]

can I just connect a potentiometer to the red cable and adjust it?