[SOLVED] Which motors are best for case fans: advanced hydraulic bearing, brushless, maglev, or other?

[alphacoyle]

Which last the longest, and which are quietest? Provide most cfm for the wattage, etc?

 

[jonnyguru]

You are mixing motor type with bearing type.

All PSU fan motors are brushless. Add to this that not all fans use the same controller IC.

Hydraulic bearing is typically the same as rifle or hysint bearing and is some times called "long life sleeve".

FDB is Fluid Dynamic Bearing and is patented by Panasonic.

Maglev uses magnetic energy to "float" the spindle inside the stator housing. This is patented by Sunon.

Obviously the maglev is going to last the longest because of the contactless nature of the bearing. FDB is a close second.

dual ball bearing last quite long as well, but often the bearing races make a "click click click" noise at low RPM.

You also need to take into consideration blade shape. Some fans provide more static pressure for PUSHING air through radiators. Others just "move air". Obviously the latter is quieter, but may not be able to force adequate air through a radiator without increasing the RPM which negates the lower noise.

 

[alphacoyle]

You're right, got those mixed up. It's just for a little 80x80x20 4 wire 5 pin proprietary Dell case fan that I think is getting weak, held a tissue up to the case grid and it didn't do anything but maybe at 4w it's weak by nature; found 3 manufacturers of it AVC which list the Advanced Hydaulic Bearing, Foxconn says Brushless, and Sunon with that Maglev; is one of these any better than the others? Not a major issue, but would like to move more air thru the case and it still be quiet.

 

[vMax]

I can vouch for the Mag Levs as I got them at launch a long time ago and they are still going strong with a very low noise profile!!! But now you have so much choice..

 

[alphacoyle]

So much choice, the seller I got my replacement fan from said "We have AVC and Foxconn’s. These fans were pulled from new units that were never used." I considered requesting AVC but then was like just leave it, and received a Foxconn, which is what's in it now, have read some bad reviews on the AVC; now if I had read your review before ordering would've went with the Mag Lev.

 

[jonnyguru]

So much choice, the seller I got my replacement fan from said "We have AVC and Foxconn’s. These fans were pulled from new units that were never used." I considered requesting AVC but then was like just leave it, and received a Foxconn, which is what's in it now, have read some bad reviews on the AVC; now if I had read your review before ordering would've went with the Mag Lev.

What are these fans going in? AVC or Foxconn? Those are usually little laptop coolers or massively loud server fans.

 

[alphacoyle]

Going in SFF Optiplex; 80mm case fan.

 

[jonnyguru]

Going in SFF Optiplex; 80mm case fan.

Yeah.. if you're using 80mm, all bets are off for low noise.

 

[Flayed]

I just got 2 news fans with SSO2 bearings whatever that means. It says MTBF 150,000h on the box

 

[jonnyguru]

I just got 2 news fans with SSO2 bearings whatever that means. It says MTBF 150,000h on the box

In other words, you got Noctua fans. SSO2 is just B.S. marketing for magnetic levitation.

 

[Phaaze88]

So that's what SSO2 is. Nice to know.

 

[alphacoyle]

You're right, got those mixed up. It's just for a little 80x80x20 4 wire 5 pin proprietary Dell case fan that I think is getting weak, held a tissue up to the case grid and it didn't do anything but maybe at 4w it's weak by nature; found 3 manufacturers of it AVC which list the Advanced Hydaulic Bearing, Foxconn says Brushless, and Sunon with that Maglev; is one of these any better than the others? Not a major issue, but would like to move more air thru the case and it still be quiet.

I must've got my info' crossed, it's supposed to be a 3 wire; the one I got is the same size and the 5 pin fit but it's 4 wire; my old one is only 1.5w Sunon, the new one is 3.84w and doesn't work with the motherboards fan controls; the only ways I could get it to work is to over-ride fan control which runs it 4000rpm, installed speedfan and got it down to 3000rpm; which isn't terrible as it's going to be across the room, but I'm relying on speedfan for it to work. It does provide the ventilation I wanted, and then some, but just found out that my old fan is temperature controlled so if it needed to run faster it would have. And delving into this mistake a bit deeper I went back and checked, eBay sellers have my exact specs listed for the fan I got except they are 4 wire 4w instead of 3 wire 1.5w; now I know to make sure it's 3 wire and having it out of the case I found an exact replacement, figure for $5 might as well get it now while it's all fresh in my head.