What are your favorite case fans, fan controllers, fan mods?

[NoizyBoyStatic]

These are my favorite forum discussions because you don't have to be super knowledgeable to chip in. If you could please tell us why they are your favorite, post a picture or a link to the fan you are talking about, state the size, and also say if they come apart or not for easy modding, painting, or flocking. Also If you have a favorite fan controller or fan mod feel free to list them also.

I only use 140mm fans these thermal rights were my favorite because they are quite they have excellent performance and they matched my motherboard which is why I bought them. My main complaint is I don't know if the screw hole are made to mount in 120mm slots or what but they are very awkwardly placed and I had to make custom brackets with rubber washers to get them to fit.

Then one day I was cleaning my case as I do on a monthly bases even though I have dust filters and accidentally powered up the computer with a screw driver laying in the case and broke one of the fan blades. so at this point I decided to give Noctua a try even tho they are super expensive but everyone was ranting and raving about how great they are so I gave them a shot and absolutely love them and understand why they are so popular.

I still believe they are way over priced which is ridiculous if they at least dropped it by 5 dollars it would be fair I don't know if I believe the performance to price ratio is worth it.

But I am building a Black & Purple themed build and the Noctuas are molded together and can't be taken apart to dye. So I am either going to try the black industrial Noctuas with a fan controller or get some 140mm fans that can be taken apart to dye them.

I have heard, read and suggested by friends who are owners to try the Ek Varders they say I will love them, but they are only available in 120mm which is a huge problem for me but my buddy says they are working on a 140mm now that should me coming out soon or next year. I hope so unless some one has something cooler or better these are what I am leaning towards trying next.

 

[NoizyBoyStatic]

Does any one know when the Ek Varder's 140mm release date is? or atleast what their website is so I can ask them.

 

[NoizyBoyStatic]

Wow its really sad no ones chimed in these are the best discussions you get to voice your opinion no technical support just fun telling everyone your favorites so people can look at it the future and pick what they like come on people I know you can do this, tomshardware is one of the better forums.

 

[synphul]

The vardar are typically used with radiators. Hopefully a 140mm version will emerge but there's also more of a market for 120mm wide radiators (whether 120, 240, 360 etc) and are capable of higher static pressures than larger fans.

I like the phanteks ph-f140sp for rear exhaust fans. Plenty of air and nice and quiet. (Not so much for horizontal orientation)
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/phanteks-case-fan-phf140spbk

The be quiet silent wings 2, same thing. Good airflow and quiet.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-case-fan-bl063

The noctua industrials are good for airflow, not always the most quiet. The redux p140s pwm (either 1200/1500rpm) are nice fans, decent two tone gray scheme, good tonal properties. Prefer to use them with a fan controller though since the 1500rpm models can get a little louder on full speed. Still move a ton of air at roughly 7v and quiet right down. Nice heavy frames.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-case-fan-nfp14sredux1500pwm

I was a bit concerned at first because there are no rubber corner mounts and the typical rubber mounts I use wouldn't work well in the slotted attachments of the enthoo pro case (others use this method too). I haven't 'hard' mounted fans as in screwed them directly into a case without isolating them somehow in years. No reason to worry though, the fans are so smooth no vibration moves through the case. Which is really as it should be, if a fan is so horribly imbalanced that it's vibrating the case, rubber pads/screws are just a bandaid for a poor quality fan.

They're really not overpriced, the redux and standard beige/maroon noctua's are in the $20-23 range. Looking at other fans, there are fractal's, phanteks, even corsair af140's are $20. Corsair doesn't make horrible fans but for $20 choosing between noctua and corsair isn't difficult at all. Not to mention some others are offering 5yr warranties but noctua offers a 6yr even on its' redux line. Many offer less than that. The industrial ppc are a bit more but they're premium industrial fans too. Noiseblocker has some low end lines for around the same price but the eloops are well over $30 in many cases.

The up front investment may not be cheery at roughly $20 a fan regardless of manufacturer but it's well worth it for quality fans. Beats $8-10 cheapos that die or go bad and get loud and the relief of quietly cooling a case for several years, I won't miss the extra $20 put into a couple of extra case fans over that time. Sadly I don't think any of these I've mentioned come apart for easy painting/modding. Some adventurous people carefully tape them off and paint them anyway with decent results but ymmv and of course a warranty means squat once they get painted/altered.

How visible they are will depend on the case. Each case is different but I was concerned about color matching and then come to find out once everything is inside the enthoo pro you can hardly see the fans anyway. A tinted window can have an effect as well. Looking at the fans inside my case through the tinted window panel even with led's full on white, the gray noctua's and stark white phanteks look identical. Oddly taking a photo with a camera, the camera picks up the difference and shows the phanteks stark white as if the window tint has no effect which surprised me. Photos and real life are very different in that regard.