# Rolls royce of silent 120mm fans ?



## user33331 (Jan 30, 2018)

Hello
What is the most silent, highest CFM and lasting build quality ( Hydro fluid ) of 120mm fans ?
Is it this ?
Be quiet: SILENT WINGS 3 | 120mm
CFM= 50.5
m3/h = 85.79
dB= 16,4

dB should be around 20dB and CFM at least >50.
+ Using it 12V full power. No PWM or so.


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## Caelestis (Feb 2, 2018)




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## AsRock (Feb 2, 2018)

I have a bunch of the COUGAR Vortex PWM 120mm (CF-V12HP) and they been really nice fans to own and pretty silent mainly due to the 1200rpm.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...bbr=1&cm_re=couger_fan-_-35-553-002-_-Product
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...bbr=1&cm_re=couger_fan-_-35-553-001-_-Product


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## Vayra86 (Feb 2, 2018)

I have a 3x beQuiet Silent Wings high speed (PWM) in the front. If they go 12V its a hurricane, at half speed its inaudible and similar to the SilentWings 3 in the chart above. This may be worth considering, more flexibility. Fans ain't cheap and last long.

Low RPM optimized fans I personally have a good experience with: Fractal Design's GP-12s and 14's (very good all round, very silent), Gelid Solutions 120mms.

Noiseblocker I would avoid like the plague. Had several in my older builds and all of them were utter crap, bad build quality or just unnecessarily noisy.


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## Jetster (Feb 2, 2018)

*Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-2000*
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...uzWrl_0VX_SzVA0l8hxoCn5AQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds


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## RejZoR (Feb 2, 2018)

BeQuiet Silent Wings 3, NoiseBlockerPro, CoolerMaster Silencio and Corsair AF (never tried SP tho). I have exceptional experience with these. They are expensive, but well worth it. My systems have been geared toward silence for years because I sleep in the same room, but I also sport high end hardware which requires sufficient cooling when under load. And once you have it all set up for silence so hard, you also want it when system is under load. And I have to say these push enough air while being basically inaudible even under such conditions. What's really the loudest in my system is the GTX 1080Ti because I can still bear it, but just. Pushing it at roughly 2GHz, it just needs the airflow to maintain those clocks...


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## wolar (Feb 4, 2018)

If you need static pressure as well then the vardar ones seem pretty good


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## user33331 (Feb 5, 2018)

I ordered in Europe ( Did not end up paying +25€ euro for a SILENT WINGS 3 fan )
*Case fans:* ( Vertical orientation )
10€ euro x 2pcs
Parwum F1.0 ( =rebranded Alpenföhn Wing Boost 2 )
Air flow=106 m³/h
Volume=18.2 dB

*PSU power supply fan:* ( Horizontal orientation )
20€ euro x 1pc
Noctua NF-S12A FLX
Air flow=107.5 m³/h
Volume=17.8 dB

*CPU cooler tower heat sink with fan:*
26€ euro
Alpenföhn Ben Nevis tower CPU cooler ( the 120mm 3x copper heat pipes smaller version).

*For Northbridge cooling:*
I might buy a silent small 40-50mm fan.
When I know what CFM cooling power it needs.


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## bug (Feb 5, 2018)

You mean southbridge cooling. The northbridge is in the CPU these days


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## user33331 (Feb 5, 2018)

Hello ( Old motherboard 2005 to try some very safeside overclocking. I have never overclocked before  Just wanted to try a bit now after 20 years of wanting. )
Do both these need heat sink and fan when overclocking ?

Northbridge (At the moment only a aluminum heat sink)
Southbridge (At the moment no heat sink)


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## bug (Feb 5, 2018)

If you don't go overboard (mainly you don't up the voltage), default cooling is enough.


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## qubit (Feb 5, 2018)

I've had the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler for about 6 years now. It has the fans running constantly at a reduced speed with the supplied resistor (no variable speed control) . Been 100% perfect and almost silent the whole time, including as I write this. No annoying buzzing or rattling noises, ever. That's quality for you. But they're an awful colour, lol. 

Noctua are pretty well rated, so you won't go wrong with one of them. Note that no fan is actually quiet when run at max speed - the laws of physics just won't allow it.

Finally, pressure = static pressure. Just two ways of saying the same thing.


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## John Naylor (Feb 5, 2018)

1.  Never rely on manufacturers published specifications.  These are written by the ad department not the engineering team. and these folks are master of spin (pun intended).    When you see 80 cfm and 1,25 SP ... what that generally means is that , the fan can push push put 80 cfm at 0 SP ans puts out 0 cfm at 1.25 SP.  Good reading how specs are mis;eading

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress....w-specs-are-poor-measures-of-fan-performance/

While for the most part, I would say there really is not as much difference between fan designs... performance goes up as noise goes up and there is no way around that.  However, some fans do stand out from the pack.

2.  Great place to look for this info is in the name itself ... SilentPCreview.com


http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

Scroll down a bit and you will see a table ranking the fans by Performance / Noise (P / N)ratio

At the time, their top 1o included in order of best P / N ratio.

Phanteks PH-F140HP/TS
Noctua NF-A14 FLX
Noctua NF-A15 PWM
Noiseblocker B12-2
Noctua NF-P14 FLX
Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120-12
Noiseblocker M12-S1
Corsair AF120 Quiet
Corsair AF120 Performance
Thermalright TR-TY150

2.  Another good place to look are tests done on the same cooler or radiator.  MartinsLiquidLab was the best source for this information back in the day but, with the market shifting from higher fpi rads to low to medium rads, the data is less relevant today.  Here's a test that is very interesting and it compares what happens when ya take the fans off a cooler (in this case Noctua) and replace them with somehting else.  As you can see here:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm

Taking off the Noctua AF-15s and replacing them with Phanteks PH-F140SP's, dropped temps by 3C .... but that left the 1500 rpm Noctua witha  speed advantage. comparing "apples and apples" with both fans at 1200 rpm, the Phanteks kept the CPU 6C cooler than the Noctua Fans did on Noctua's own cooler.

3.  Last year Noctua showed a new fan design with reinforeced blades that allowed them to significantly shrink the gap between frane and blade; this should result in greater efficienct, more flow and lower noiuse.  AFAIK, they have not hit the market yet.  The new Silent Wing 3's are right up there in performance with the Phanteks fans.  I usually buy the Phanteks a dozen or so at a time when newegg has their promotions and they cost $10 each for the 140mm and $8 for the 120mm,  Today on newegg they are $8.76 for the 120mm depending on color

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709032
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709051

The Silent Wings 3 might be a lil better but at well more twice the price, they haven't earned an opportunity to evaluate them.  I have 16 fans in my box (10 Radiator fans and (6) case fans.    If I run a CPU / GPU stress test, and turn off the monitor, sitting in front of the KB, you can not sense (hear) that the PC is even on.


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