Regarding case fans.

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avatardelta

Supreme [H]ardness
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Currently I have a Lian-Li PC-P60-B armorsuit case, with included 4x120MM fans @800-1200RPM (I have the 140MM fan somewhere, had to take it out or else my psu wouldn't fit.

I'm looking to get better cooling in general as my system is getting kind of toasty (to me, with the MB temp (via PC-Probe II) is currently at 64C). Let's not mention that I can't leave the computer on at night because of the heat it pours out (and we have windows open so it will cool down. However the computer puts out enough heat to negate that cooling)

Why is it toasty? I'm folding with a 8800GTS/9600GT, specs in sig.

Now, I realize that just by getting faster fans I'll just be moving air faster, so the room temperature won't really change. But I was wondering how much of a temperature drop I'd get if I got...say...a couple 2000RPM fans?

I was going to get this: (3100RPM fan) for the front and back fans on my system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999029

However, newegg won't let me buy more than one.
I have, however, found the same thing at amazon (zomg4dollarsmore)
http://www.amazon.com/Sunon-120mm-9...ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1248844752&sr=8-1

What do you think? How much benefit would I get by switching to a 3100RPM fan versus a 2000RPM fan. (I realize noise is a factor as well, but from what I'm reading 38/44 decibels isn't that incredibly loud.)


 
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Those fans will indeed be loud...very...And Sunon is not known for making the quietest or best CFM to noise fans. If these are going to be pure case fans I would look at getting some 1,900rpm Slipstream fans if you want to stay in the same price range. I am doubting you will see that much of a change with that many fans, room temp plays a big role. Also, whats the mobo temp for? Allot of the time its for the CPU socket and they can be really off, I get 120C+ readings from mine from time to time.
 
you aren't changing the amount of heat, just how quickly its being exhausted, you'll lower your temps sure (because those graphics cards at 100% probably aren't the best thing ever), but it'll still warm your room

one thing you might try is the good old fashioned dryer duct to the window with a legitimate HVAC fan (its like $12 at home depot, runs on 120AC) to help keep the airflow going (either exhaust or intake, I'd go with exhaust in most places (most places geographically, unless you live somewhere thats cold year round))

personally I like Panaflo fans (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/paaxfa1.html), but I've heard good things about Scythe as well (in terms of being low noise/high CFM efficiency, generally a fan is a fan)
 
I am with obobski

ducting that heat out of the room is the ticket. A nice 38mm panaflow med speed as the rear exhaust and dryer duct to the window and even out the window if you can stand damage to the screen (so breeze will not just blow the warm air back in, exhaust as close to top of window as you can to take advantage of the warm air rises thing.) . With those front fans blowing into the case and the panaflow pushing the heat out the back and down the venting you sould be able to get a lot of the heat outside the house.

I bet the 64C is your mosfet temps - its very high for ambient or general board temps with that case. So I am not as much worried about hardware life as about your general heating up the room issue. Small window AC's should be going on sale soon as the season is coming to an end, some can be had for less than $100 which is another good way to go.
 
Funnily enough, I was thinking about ducting air into the chimney behind my computer.
 
I'll look into the duct a bit more, now I'd like your opinions.
4x (one per fan I'm replacing)

Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060

COOLER MASTER R4-L2R-20XX-GP(Color is difference) 120mm LED FAN (green linked)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103062

Biggest differences.

Scythe: +18 dba (37 vs 19)
Cooler master: -~20CFM (90 vs 110.31)
Meh: Cooler master fans have LEDS, while pretty, not a priority.
Bearing type: CM has long life sleeve vs Scythe's Sleeve.
Price: Same, however I get free shipping if I buy more than one Scythe.

And I did something moderately intelligent and measured to make sure I needed 120x120x25 case fans!
 
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Scythe: +18 dba (37 vs 19) The Scythe is closer to "real world" noise, the CM is giving you the rating for the slowest speed, not the full 2000rpm speed, so don't let the noise rating fool you, you should NEVER believe claims by fan companies.

Cooler master: -~20CFM (90 vs 110.31) You can also not believe the CFM rating given, it's always fluff. However the Slipstream has been tested and puts out 79CFM@39dBA, full article can be read here, conclusion here.

Meh: Cooler master fans have LEDS, while pretty, not a priority. LED and "clear" type fans tend to have a resonance in the hard plastic vs your normal black fans.

Bearing type: CM has long life sleeve vs Scythe's Sleeve. No matter what they say, a sleeve bearing is a sleeve bearing, they both will last about the same amount of time and both should not be mounted in horizontal positions.

Price: Same, however I get free shipping if I buy more than one Scythe. If it was my choice, I would go with the Scythe's either way.
 
I have a 120mm RED LED R4-L2R-20CR-GP. It is a red fan, very quiet, and pushes more air than any fan that I have ever owned. For $8.99 its a great fan and I would recommend them, but not for a CPU cooler, just a case. This is because they don't have high air pressure on the R4 series.

If you can find the Cooler Master R4 Series, buy them, since they are out of stock everywhere after I bought mine.
 
I only got enough fans to replace the ones currently in my case, so I could pick up one of those and replace the fan that came with my heatsink.
 
Zero82z said:
Slipstreams push more air with less noise compared to Yate Loon fans. The YLs are cheaper, but there's no question that the Scythes are better fans.
Click to expand...

While the noise rating may be true, the CFM of the Sythe and the Yate at medium speed is identical.
And you can't beat 3.50 a fan............and a Yate will still be running when I'm dead.:D
 
magoo said:
And you can't beat 3.50 a fan............and a Yate will still be running when I'm dead.:D
Click to expand...

You find Yate Loons to be longer lasting? Other than some Antec fans, I've mostly used Yate Loons. But I had been thinking about trying some Scythe Gentle Typhoons because it seems like I'm always replacing the YL fans regularly. Mine just don't seem to last long enough before they start making noises. I've been wondering if lower YL price is worth it in the long run.
 
I have 8 currently that have been running nearly 24/7 for over 5 years with no problems at all.

Not to mention one in a PSU that is the same age.

So.........yeah. They last a long time. I had a Sythe Flex go south on me in less than a year.
 
magoo said:
While the noise rating may be true, the CFM of the Sythe and the Yate at medium speed is identical.
And you can't beat 3.50 a fan............and a Yate will still be running when I'm dead.:D
Click to expand...

That would be the whole point, With fans it's all about CFM to noise, if you don't care about that I can point out some 92mm fans that go on sale from time to time for about 99 cents that push more than all fans listed to far.

You might want to take a look at SPCR's review, the YL with 32 dBA@1m pushed 46 CFM wile the Slipstream at just 28 dBA@1m pushed the same 46 CFM, wile also having a smoother sound. Remember that noise levels are not linear but logarithmic, and for every 10dBA increase the sound doubles. YL's as of late seem to have gone a bit down hill and have been really hit and miss for me, since then I have gone to only buying the Slipstreams for "cheap" fans. Wile the YL are hard to beat in price, they can be beaten in performance.
 
BlueFireIce said:
That would be the whole point, With fans it's all about CFM to noise, if you don't care about that I can point out some 92mm fans that go on sale from time to time for about 99 cents that push more than all fans listed to far.
Click to expand...

Something you guys should consider is that in fan design, it's about the balance between airflow and static pressure. Typically when you see a fan putting out an unusually low flow rate, it's may be because it was designed for higher pressure. Striking the right balance often depends on where you're placing the fan and what kind of obstructions it will face.
 
If you can discern 4 dB of sound difference with all the rest of the components in your computer running, that's great.:D

I have a radiator with 6 120mm fans, two in the front bays, two on the window, one in the top and two GTX 285s running at 70% duty cycle, not to mention the back fan and the fan in the PSU..............so sound doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
 
Nihilanth99 said:
Something you guys should consider is that in fan design, it's about the balance between airflow and static pressure. Typically when you see a fan putting out an unusually low flow rate, it's may be because it was designed for higher pressure. Striking the right balance often depends on where you're placing the fan and what kind of obstructions it will face.
Click to expand...

Static pressure is good to look at when buying a fan for a HS or rad, but theses are going to be used for a case, the Slipstreams will still out perform the YL fans.

magoo said:
If you can discern 4 dB of sound difference with all the rest of the components in your computer running, that's great.:D

I have a radiator with 6 120mm fans, two in the front bays, two on the window, one in the top and two GTX 285s running at 70% duty cycle, not to mention the back fan and the fan in the PSU..............so sound doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
Click to expand...

Yes, I can, so can most people, 4 dBA doesn't sound like much until you hear it. Yes, some people don't mind loud systems, however, he said that noise was a factor.
 
magoo said:
If you can discern 4 dB of sound difference with all the rest of the components in your computer running, that's great.:D

I have a radiator with 6 120mm fans, two in the front bays, two on the window, one in the top and two GTX 285s running at 70% duty cycle, not to mention the back fan and the fan in the PSU..............so sound doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
Click to expand...
The fans are the loudest things in my PC. I would certainly notice a 4dB increase.
 
You have really great hearing.

4 dB is probably not detectable above background in the room with your computer.

While dB is based on a logarithmic scale, so is your hearing.. so a +4dB sound is really, really quiet. What does it sound like? Well, pretty much, something that's so quiet, you're not quite sure you're hearing anything. The sound of leaves rustling in the forest as you walk though it would probably come in around +10dB. Or quiet breathing. So maybe someone really trying hard not to make any sound would be around 4dB.

A whisper is around 15-20dB. Normal conversational talking is around 40-60dB. A jackhammer a few feet away is 100dB. "The Raconteurs" on stage from about 30ft away is 110-120dB.
 
magoo said:
You have really great hearing.

4 dB is probably not detectable above background in the room with your computer.

While dB is based on a logarithmic scale, so is your hearing.. so a +4dB sound is really, really quiet. What does it sound like? Well, pretty much, something that's so quiet, you're not quite sure you're hearing anything. The sound of leaves rustling in the forest as you walk though it would probably come in around +10dB. Or quiet breathing. So maybe someone really trying hard not to make any sound would be around 4dB.

A whisper is around 15-20dB. Normal conversational talking is around 40-60dB. A jackhammer a few feet away is 100dB. "The Raconteurs" on stage from about 30ft away is 110-120dB.
Click to expand...
I believe he's talking about an increase of 4 dB, which definitely can be detectable. Pitch and interference also affect it.
 
dB is based on a logarithmic scale and I don't think we're talking about going from 0 to 4DB, but something more realistic like 22DB to 26DB which is definately noticable.

Edit: Nihilanth99 beat me to it.... think we're saying the same thing.
 
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Zero82z said:
You can say whatever you want to that, but you'll still be wrong.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

The rules of sound pressure levels and perceived sound are well known. 4dB you would not hear very well but going from a given sound level, say 20dB to 24dB would be heard, and for every 10dB you go up the perceived sound is doubled. If you go here, you can listen to the Kama flex recording which goes from an almost inaudible 19dBA to 23dBA (a 4dBA in crease) you can not tell me there is not a large increase in sound level.
 
So, upon taking a look at my GPU temps, I think I may need other case fans besides the ones I'm ordering, so I figure I'll put my old fans to good use. Apologies for the quality, auto-focus is stupid.

Here's a picture of the general layout of my graphics cards.


8800GTS on top, 9600GT on bottom, I did think having the 9600 would be a problem there, but right now it's sitting at 81C, where the 8800 is at 96C (Fan is at 100%)

And here's a picture of the back of my computer, to show how much space I have.


And here's where the 140mm fan WAS in my case before I took it out. Upon looking at it, I should be able to just shove it in there and let it rest on the cables.


Edit:

So here's what I'm thinking:

I'll take out those monitors, dummy plug it so I can still fold on it, and switch it out with a monitor when I decide to OC. Yes, I do have four monitors, I just don't know what to do with all of them.

So, slap a fan on there and a fan where the third pic is directed.

By the way..
13k PPD! (It's too bad I need to turn the computer off at night, or else it'd be oh so much better. But an estimated (if not actual) 13kppd is still awesome for one machine)


Cliffs:
GPU temps at 96C top card and 81 lower card, I want to move this heat, looking for some tips if possible.

Dangit! I forgot to take a snapshot of my VMs before shutting down. I'd just revert to my last nearly completed snapshot, but I feel that would be cheating.
 
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