Upgrading Case fans, need suggestions

[Sagekilla]

The fans on my Thermaltake Kandalf are loud... They're tolerable, but loud and I'd like to upgrade them to something quieter and possibly better airflow. The case has two 120mm fans (intake and exhaust) and a 80mm right above the exhaust. There's also a 80mm on the top, but I'm thinking of just getting rid of it due to airflow/noise concerns.

I was thinking of getting something like this for the 80mm fans, but I was wondering if 35 dBa is a loud or not...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811999108

For the 120mm, I have no clue because theres way too many to pick from. Does anyone know any other sites that have a large selection of fans? The 90mm selection is pretty small on newegg and the 120mm are just mind boggling...

Any help will appreciated!

 

[yourmothersanastronaut]

35dba is quite loud. If you're looking for more quiet, then look for fans around 20-25dba.

You could try Performance PCs. They have a pretty balanced selection of all sizes of fans, and most of them come pre-sleeved in the colors of your choice. Very nice deals.

And going to lower-flow fans shouldn't be too much of a problem in your case. From what I hear, the Kandalf is pretty decent at cooling. Good luck finding fans!

 

[Sagekilla]

Thanks for the link... I doubt I'm ganna benefit from increased airflow though, I have a pretty crappy wiring job because of how I [forced to, mind you] wired the hard drives. Unfortunately the HDD cables couldn't reach the top cage and I'm too lazy to find a longer cable.


I'm checking the site right now and they don't seem to have any 90mm fans, would a 92mm fan fit?

 

[chuckshissle]

Get this baby. It's high-performance low noise fan.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product-fan.htm

I have the FM121 and it's the best fan I have used. Won't settle for anything else.

 

[rwaritsdario]

The problem is that in yourcase specs the fans are under 20db wich should be whisper quiet. This enermax fan should proove more airflow but no less noise.

Since the fans in your case are already very silent I think getting a fan controller to make them spin slower would be the way to go here. But you should still watch out for case temps.

 

[hesido]

I got a similar problem. I have a coolermaster centaurion case, and the front 80mm fan seems to be the loudest of all components. I want to change the front fan with a quite one, but I also want to make use of my P5W DH's fan control feature, which is able to handle 3-4 fans (haven't looked at the exact number but should suffice) The motherboard also supports a quite mode using its remote which lowers all the fan rpm's in one click. But to be able to use this feature, I need to find fan's that connect to motherboards.

What should I be looking for? Buying an external fan control seems to be waste of money when one has paid over 200 quids for a M/B.

 

[DaveUK]

Ignore the above for 120mm fans.

The quietest tested fans at SPCR are Nexus 120mm.

Buy some of those, and use an inline fan voltage regulator to set the voltage to 7v instead of the stock 12v.

Ahhhh, blissful silence

One important thing to note: 80mm fans tend to be louder because they have to spin at a higher RPM to provide the same CFM airflow as a 120mm fan.

Therefore, you'd be better off removing the 80mm exhaust fan entirely, and running the Nexus at 12v, than having 1x120mm and 1x80mm spinning at a slower speed (eg running at 7v).

 

[1Tanker]

Thanks for the link... I doubt I'm ganna benefit from increased airflow though, I have a pretty crappy wiring job because of how I [forced to, mind you] wired the hard drives. Unfortunately the HDD cables couldn't reach the top cage and I'm too lazy to find a longer cable.


I'm checking the site right now and they don't seem to have any 90mm fans, would a 92mm fan fit?

90/92mm are the same...interchangable. I find a good place to buy cooling stuff...fans especially, is FrozenCPU.

This is their fan page:

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l1/g36/Fans.html?id=qpXSRrGo


GL

 

[mcgruff]

These are good if low cfm will do akasa 120mm.