# Best 120mm quiet fan



## brucethemoose

Budget?

EDIT: Since you're looking at Noctuas, I'll assume the budget is high.

2 of these, if you can afford it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001Q6RUVO/

EDIT2: But a 140mm fan on the front of that Define R5 is more cost effective. For ~$15, the Phanteks F140MP is supposed to be good, and the Thermalright TY-14x fans are good.


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## falcon26

How are BeQuiet fans like the pure wings 2?


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## brucethemoose

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26*
> 
> How are BeQuiet fans like the pure wings 2?


Pretty good, I think.

But with the R5's dust filters, that 140mm Phanteks might be better. It's one of the few static-pressure optimized 140mm fans out there.


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## ggwp

Noctua S12B redux 700... dont worry your vain brain, its not only the greatest fan ever made, its also uniformly gray.

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=93&lng=en


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## Lefik

Doublepost


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## Lefik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ggwp*
> 
> Noctua S12B redux 700... dont worry your vain brain, its not only the greatest fan ever made, its also uniformly gray.
> 
> http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=93&lng=en


I disagree. Those Noctua fans are not good for radiators at all. They're not bad fans; but the blade design doesn't give good static pressure.

OP, I would go for Gentle Typhoons, SilentWings 2s or Noiseblocker Multiframes for the H55.


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## brucethemoose

^ That, and it's a 700 RPM fan. Most fans sound the same at that speed, and they barely move any air (especially through a radiator).

So it's actually a terrible choice for an H55 fan


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## ggwp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lefik*
> 
> I disagree. Those Noctua fans are not good for radiators at all. They're not bad fans; but the blade design doesn't give good static pressure.
> 
> OP, I would go for Gentle Typhoons, SilentWings 2s or Noiseblocker Multiframes for the H55.


Im confused, why are you suggesting a radiator fan with static pressure. OP asked for a "all around quiet and good airflow" and an "intake fan". Maybe its a language barrier for me, but I thought that meant a case fan. A fan with high static pressure will not create good airflow, instead it will cause turbulance inside the case.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brucethemoose*
> 
> ^ That, and it's a 700 RPM fan. Most fans sound the same at that speed, and they barely move any air (especially through a radiator).
> 
> So it's actually a terrible choice for an H55 fan


Again OP asked for a quiet fan, and I gave it to him. And yes most fans sound similar at 700 (difinately not the same for someone like me with sensitive ears) but the noctua S12B moves more air than most other fans at that speed, since the design is optimised for the lower speed. If hes planning to run the fan at higher speeds then it comes in the regular 1200rpm jet airplane version as well.

Anyway its not true that 120mm 700rpm "barely moves any air". It moves more than enough to create great airflow in a case. I run 3 S12Bs (1 front, 1 bottom, 1 exhaust back) at 450rpm in my Fractal Design Define R4 and thats enough to create the airflow needed for my passive PSU, passive GPU (R9 270) and my i7 4790k at 4.6.

--

If i missunderstood and OP actually wants a radiator fan, then I would highly recommend the Noctua P12 - amazingly quiet. Unfortunately they havent made a redux version so you would have to live with the brown colors (personally I like them) or paint it.


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## brucethemoose

The NF-P12 is good, but again it's not really the best choice for a radiator.

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/5770/7/103-12cm-case-fans-review-test-results-highest-efficiency
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2010/11/04/120mm-fan-testing-on-an-mcr120-radiator-round-6-summary/

The Gentle Typhoon is still the (objective) king of the hill by a longshot, and it has several different speed trims... but different people like different noise profiles.

Martin made some good videos comparing noise from a few fans.
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2013/05/07/fan-testing-round-12/
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2013/04/24/fan-testing-round-11/


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## mark_thaddeus

Speaking of Martinsliquidlab, if you want a very good priced fan that is quiet and will work well with rads; check out the Swiftech Helix fans. I use them on my H55 on push / pull (set to 1000 rpm) and they are really quiet and perform very well! You also have a choice of getting PWM and non-PWM for these fans which make them even more flexible!

EDIT: Did I mention they're cheap?


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## brucethemoose

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *mark_thaddeus*
> 
> Speaking of Martinsliquidlab, if you want a very good priced fan that is quiet and will work well with rads; check out the Swiftech Helix fans. I use them on my H55 on push / pull (set to 1000 rpm) and they are really quiet and perform very well! You also have a choice of getting PWM and non-PWM for these fans which make them even more flexible!


Helixes actually came in last place in Martin's test









I'm not saying they're bad. In fact, I think Martin's Helixes had some damaged bearings that skewed the results.


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## fragamemnon

And, let me chime in as usual, if you have trouble finding Gentle Typhoons, there's the new EK-Vardar.
It comes in different flavours, but you will want the EK-Furious Vardar which is uniformly black, runs on a minimum (according to spec sheet) of 40% pulse width, and spins up to 3000rpm at all 12V.

Now, it will be noisy at 3000RPM and you don't need that, but it's overall _quieter_ than the GT at the corresponding speeds.
Or you can always get a peaceful Vardar and paint the blades black.









Hope this helps!


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## brucethemoose

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> And, let me chime in as usual, if you have trouble finding Gentle Typhoons, there's the new EK-Vardar.
> It comes in different flavours, but you will want the EK-Furious Vardar which is uniformly black, runs on a minimum (according to spec sheet) of 40% pulse width, and spins up to 3000rpm at all 12V.
> 
> Now, it will be noisy at 3000RPM and you don't need that, but it's overall _quieter_ than the GT at the corresponding speeds.
> Or you can always get a peaceful Vardar and paint the blades black.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope this helps!


I really want to see a video comparison of the EK Vader and Gentle Typhoon. Heck, any video of the Vader at all would be nice.

Gentle Typhoons are back in production and pretty easy to get in the U.S. atm, but I bet the Vaders are easier to get elsewhere.


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## mark_thaddeus

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *brucethemoose*
> 
> Helixes actually came in last place in Martin's test
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not saying they're bad. In fact, I think Martin's Helixes had some damaged bearings that skewed the results.


What you're quoting is for a single fan in push. If you read what he says about he whole test, he says:

_*No real surprise, but the kit fans all tested relatively the same (most within 3dbA or less differences which fall within the "barely perceptible" level)*. The Helix fan did for some reason have a bit higher than expected harmonics on the radiator bench which didn't seem to be as noticeable when actually testing in a case, *but it is something I heard a little when trying push only*. *In push+pull I noticed most of that helix harmonic disappeared*._

_*I would consider the kit results to be relatively similar, they are like most fans and all perform roughly the same*. The Gentle Typhoon however does seem to retain that unique ability on a radiator and tested upwards to 8-9dBA lower in noise level at 12V than other fans producing the same flow. *The H100i fans and their 2700RPM capability did produce the highest maximum air flow, but it comes at the prices of having a fairly gritty noise quality. Noise quality isn't captured well in the graph and really only something you can listen for in the videos*.
_
_The other aspect I'm now noticing that is missing from this single fan test bench is harmonics between the two same fans. In the thermal testing using the kits and earlier noise testing, *I had significant RPM harmonics issues with the H100i fans, but a single fans test scenario completely misses that.* This is something I seriously want to consider in fan flow bench future upgrades. *I think it is important to capture the "paired fan" harmonics effects as it can be fairly significant. The helix H220 fans did really well paired together in the kit testing, but you just can't see that in a single fan test.*_

You also have to look at his round 6 testing, there are more worse fans than the Helix there, there's just too many to go through!

In all his tests though, nothing still beats the GT- AP15s, I think the closest one was the noise blocker (I could be mistaken, too many fan tests at Martin's) but they are expensive.


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## ggwp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> And, let me chime in as usual, if you have trouble finding Gentle Typhoons, there's the new EK-Vardar.
> It comes in different flavours, but you will want the EK-Furious Vardar which is uniformly black, runs on a minimum (according to spec sheet) of 40% pulse width, and spins up to 3000rpm at all 12V.
> 
> Now, it will be noisy at 3000RPM and you don't need that, but it's overall _quieter_ than the GT at the corresponding speeds.
> Or you can always get a peaceful Vardar and paint the blades black.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope this helps!


At 3000 rpm it would be like having your desktop sitting on runway B2 at JFK during rush hour. Even if you feed it the 40% minimum modulation it would be like sitting inside a commercial airliner. OP asked for a *quiet* fan.

If you noticed, this thread was started in the 'silent computing' section of this forum, and not the 'maximum performance air cooling' section. I dont know why youre recommending 3000rpm and 2700 rpm fans. That is very very far from 'silent computing'.


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## fragamemnon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ggwp*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *fragamemnon*
> 
> And, let me chime in as usual, if you have trouble finding Gentle Typhoons, there's the new EK-Vardar.
> It comes in different flavours, but you will want the EK-Furious Vardar which is uniformly black, runs on a minimum (according to spec sheet) of 40% pulse width, and spins up to 3000rpm at all 12V.
> 
> Now, it will be noisy at 3000RPM and you don't need that, but it's overall _quieter_ than the GT at the corresponding speeds.
> Or you can always get a peaceful Vardar and paint the blades black.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hope this helps!
> 
> 
> 
> At 3000 rpm it would be like having your desktop sitting on runway B2 at JFK during rush hour. Even if you feed it the 40% minimum modulation it would be like sitting inside a commercial airliner. OP asked for a *quiet* fan.
> 
> If you noticed, this thread was started in the 'silent computing' section of this forum, and not the 'maximum performance air cooling' section. I dont know why youre recommending 3000rpm and 2700 rpm fans. That is very very far from 'silent computing'.
Click to expand...

I stated that as an option for a black fan, which can be run on a controller at ~1200RPM, if not less, and pushes decent air through the rad. Considering it is supposedly quieter than the GT, and he still has fins to push air through, it will be a viable option should he choose to take a chance and see how much he can spin it down before it refuses to start.
There are also slower, silent version of the Vardar, like the FC1 which runs at 1150RPM at 12V, but will require a repaint.

I am proposing this as a rad fan, not intake.

On the other hand, I did not realize that this was the Silent Computing (I refresh New Posts when I'm bored at work







) so I owe you guys an apology there, and I appreciate your criticism.


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## Lefik

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ggwp*
> 
> Im confused, why are you suggesting a radiator fan with static pressure. OP asked for a "all around quiet and good airflow" and an "intake fan". Maybe its a language barrier for me, but I thought that meant a case fan. A fan with high static pressure will not create good airflow, instead it will cause turbulance inside the case.
> Again OP asked for a quiet fan, and I gave it to him. And yes most fans sound similar at 700 (difinately not the same for someone like me with sensitive ears) but the noctua S12B moves more air than most other fans at that speed, since the design is optimised for the lower speed. If hes planning to run the fan at higher speeds then it comes in the regular 1200rpm jet airplane version as well.
> 
> Anyway its not true that 120mm 700rpm "barely moves any air". It moves more than enough to create great airflow in a case. I run 3 S12Bs (1 front, 1 bottom, 1 exhaust back) at 450rpm in my Fractal Design Define R4 and thats enough to create the airflow needed for my passive PSU, passive GPU (R9 270) and my i7 4790k at 4.6.
> 
> --
> 
> If i missunderstood and OP actually wants a radiator fan, then I would highly recommend the Noctua P12 - amazingly quiet. Unfortunately they havent made a redux version so you would have to live with the brown colors (personally I like them) or paint it.


He asked for both an intake fan and something for his H55.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26*
> 
> Need something that would go good on a corsair h55 rad, and one for an intake fan.....


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## ggwp

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Lefik*
> 
> He asked for both an intake fan and something for his H55.


Thanks for clearing that up. I didnt realize H55 was the model number of a radiator (dont think its trading on the swedish market). Cheers

ps. love the cat by the way, my cat used to do that all the time!


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## falcon26

In the end I went with the H90 and 2 140mm akasa black apache fans.


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## XLifted

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *falcon26*
> 
> What is the best all around quiet and good air flow 120mm fan that is all black? I would get an the noctua but those are ugly as hell. Need something that would go good on a corsair h55 rad, and one for an intake fan.....


This is my favorites, and I'm a sound freak.

These ones have a very smooth sound, without any artifacts of grinding of bearing or any other things that used to annoy the crap out of me like Corsair AF 120 fans

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608026&cm_re=Noctua_nf-_-35-608-026-_-Product

Noctua NF-F12

I use 4 on my Corsair H105 radiator in push/pull

I would look on different sites for better price, as I bought mine for $17 each.

Very durable. The bearing and all made in Germany. Germans know their stuff. That's for sure.


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## brucethemoose

Necro









BTW Unicr0nhunter is starting a new round of fan testing, based on Martin's techniques.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1540843/fan-on-rad-airflow-noise-testing-thread


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