# Which of these 3 fans is best ?



## gamingmonkey (Aug 15, 2017)

I've been looking over the past few days on what case fan to take, and I'm perplexed to how many of them are and the differences in price, RPM, CFM, size etc... All of this made my 10 minute search turn into 5 days of research.

I've decided between

Noctua NF-AF14 FLX (30 €)
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm (29 €)
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm High Speed Edition (27 €)
Arctic F14 PWM (7 €)

Any opinions on which one do you guys think is best ?
I'm basically looking for a fan with good airflow for cooling my case compononents especially the GPU since I plan to overclock it, and want to cool it as much as possible. I don't mind the noise also because I'm wearing headphones all the time.

Also if anyone has any better 140mm fan suggestions, let me know and reasons for it.

Thanks.

EDIT: I will buy 2 of the fans, 1 will be at the front (slightly blocked by HDD cage), and the other one at the bottom (free from any obstruction), so I'm not sure whether to take 1 SP and 1 AF or 2 of any of these types.


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## infrared (Aug 15, 2017)

Noctua NF-AF14 FLX = 68CFM
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm = 60CFM
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm high speed = 78CFM

I'd also consider the Corsair ML140 Pro which is 97CFM. Their mag lev fans are very good, silent at lower speeds but plenty of oomph when you turn them up. I've got 3 of the 120mm version and think they're excellent


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 15, 2017)

Except for the Arctic, IMO those others are incredibly overpriced. I'd go with Fractal Design.


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## Norton (Aug 15, 2017)

Bill_Bright said:


> Except for the Arctic, IMO those others are incredibly overpriced. I'd go with Fractal Design.



+1 those Fractal fan will be just fine for your needs


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## gamingmonkey (Aug 15, 2017)

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

These are the fans which I'm having trouble in choosing from, which of these ones would provide most airflow into the PC to keep the temps down ?

Noctua NF-AF14 FLX
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm
BeQuiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm High Speed Edition
Arctic F14 PWM
Corsair ML140 Pro
Fractal Design Silent R2 140mm


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## vega22 (Aug 15, 2017)

dude that case is not built for great temps and overclocking. it is more a quiet, grown up case 

the intakes are limited to keep noise down. it is a nice case, subtle, stylish imo. but not one to really use for clocking a full fat, 300w gpu.

if anything watercooling with an aio like the kraken is going to be your best bet, or just taking the side panel off.

of the fans you listed i would go for the ml140s


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## EarthDog (Aug 15, 2017)

The difference isn't worth a thread, honestly.


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## therealmeep (Aug 15, 2017)

EarthDog said:


> The difference isn't worth a thread, honestly.


 Agreed, just go with whatever is either cheapest or has the best CFM/Dollar ratio.


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## EarthDog (Aug 15, 2017)

I mean, I hate to be dismissive, but the gains between these fans and others are not going to make a huge difference, honestly. I wouldn't pay through the  nose for case fans...

... now fans for a radiator, I will pay a premium for.


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 15, 2017)

gamingmonkey said:


> EDIT: I will buy 2 of the fans, 1 will be at the front (slightly blocked by HDD cage), and the other one at the bottom (free from any obstruction),


Please do not edit your posts (except for minor typos that don't change context) because we don't get notice of changes.



vega22 said:


> dude that case is not built for great temps and overclocking. it is more a quiet, grown up case


Where did he state the case? If you mean the R5 in his system specs, I cannot disagree more with your assessment. The R5 is an outstanding case with outstanding cooling options. The fact it is not designed for kiddies is just proof it is a top quality, professional case. To suggest a top quality case cannot be quiet and offer outstanding cool just means you don't know FD cases, or those who buy them.


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## EarthDog (Aug 15, 2017)

He edited that well before you posted... in fact, he added that so quickly it doesn't even show the time when it was edited.. I hear you, but save it for when its needed. Not two hours after he posted and edited.


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## AhokZYashA (Aug 15, 2017)

i currently using 2x140mm fractal design silent R2 in front, 1 Thermaltake luna 120mm at the bottom, and 1 140mm phanteks F140-XP at the back,

all except the luna are whisper quiet and pushes quite a bit of air even when turned down.
I have 7HDD inside the drive cage, and my SAS card or my GPU isnt showing any signs of overheating.

i can suggest the phanteks 140XP for the fans, these fans are very good at moving air


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## thebluebumblebee (Aug 15, 2017)

I would get 2 more of the fans the case came with - the Fractal Design Dynamic GP-14, but the newer Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 has a MTBF of twice as long. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...1|35-352-019^35-352-019,35-352-027^35-352-027


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## gamingmonkey (Aug 15, 2017)

Thanks guys for all the suggestions and replies 
 I think I'll go with the Arctic F14 since it's the cheapest one


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## RejZoR (Aug 15, 2017)

I'm running a pair of BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 HS 140mm in my case intake and they are phenomenal. One of the best build qualities, superb feel where everything feels robust, smooth and premium, even the ring around the fan blade space has rubberized edge for less air intake/exhaust turbolence and vibration transfer when pressed to case and you get two set types of mounting corners, one set of rubberized corners for standard screws and one set of rubberized corners for screwless push pin attachment that are interchangeable. And I do recommend that you go with High Speed version so you have greater flexibility. At 40% PWM speed, they are virtually inaudible, but you have a greater range upwards when you need raw power. Also, their noise profile is superb. They can be loud at 100% speed, but the noise is not annoying at all. Oh and they push some serious air through my HDD/case frame cage which is pretty cluttered with support "pillars". So, they certainly have very good static pressure.

Can't comment on Noctua and Arctic...

Btw, someone mentioned Corsair MagLev fans. I haven't used them myself yet, but you should check them out. On paper and with that tech, they seem like a superb fan as well.


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## vega22 (Aug 16, 2017)

Bill_Bright said:


> Where did he state the case? If you mean the R5 in his system specs, I cannot disagree more with your assessment. The R5 is an outstanding case with outstanding cooling options. The fact it is not designed for kiddies is just proof it is a top quality, professional case. To suggest a top quality case cannot be quiet and offer outstanding cool just means you don't know FD cases, or those who buy them.



outstanding cooling options is a bit of a stretch dude. i mean the front panel/door has limited venting and the feet on the bottom are not really tall enough to allow any fans placed there free flowing air flow either. 

i am not saying it is a bad case, far from it if used as intended, just that it is not a cased aimed at getting great airflow to aid temps while clocking 

http://www.overclockers.com/fractal-design-define-r5-case-review/


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## Durvelle27 (Aug 16, 2017)

Bill_Bright said:


> Except for the Arctic, IMO those others are incredibly overpriced. I'd go with Fractal Design.


I have 5 of these fans and simply love them. They perform great and even @100% they are very silent


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## Athlonite (Aug 16, 2017)

For in front of the drive cage you want high static pressure high CFM fans  and for the exhaust any old 140mm fan will do 

It also depends on what you want going in your case positive or negative pressure


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## AhokZYashA (Aug 16, 2017)

vega22 said:


> outstanding cooling options is a bit of a stretch dude. i mean the front panel/door has limited venting and the feet on the bottom are not really tall enough to allow any fans placed there free flowing air flow either.
> 
> i am not saying it is a bad case, far from it if used as intended, just that it is not a cased aimed at getting great airflow to aid temps while clocking
> 
> http://www.overclockers.com/fractal-design-define-r5-case-review/


I have that case,
and i can say, it has outstanding cooling options,
lots of fan mounts, the door has ample vents on the side to help with airflow, and its very silent too.

i have a 15k SAS drive in there, and the drive while spinning never gets above 50C, that shows the amazing airflow this case has

and that without the top fan mounts opened


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## Rehmanpa (Aug 16, 2017)

Why not cougar fans? I have some and they seem about as quiet as my noctua ones, plus at like $15 USD they're not too bad on price


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## vega22 (Aug 16, 2017)

AhokZYashA said:


> I have that case,
> and i can say, it has outstanding cooling options,
> lots of fan mounts, the door has ample vents on the side to help with airflow, and its very silent too.
> 
> ...



operational temps mean nothing without the ambient temps, it is the delta that counts tbh dude.

so you're not baised based on your buying choice at all then?

outstanding and amazing compared to what?

rvx01?
mastercase 5?
air 740?
a 10 year old dell beige box?

i guess you didn't read the review i linked to, so let me quote a couple of lines from it and others.



> With the fans set to High, it was still a very quiet case – the quietest I have tested. You pay for that, of course. The net core temps were mediocre.


http://www.overclockers.com/fractal-design-define-r5-case-review/



> The Define R5 is a brilliant case if silence is your priority, but unless you fill it with fans or water cooling kit, its cooling can't match other cases with more ventilation.


http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/pcs/pc-cases/1402164/fractal-design-define-r5-review



> If there is anything to complain about with the Define R5, it would have to be the stock airflow.


http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6834/fractal-design-define-r5-mid-tower-chassis-review/index7.html

some images for those without time to read.











http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/chassis/77465-fractal-design-define-r5/?page=4

having to fill it with high speed fans negates all the time and effort they took to make it so quiet to begin with. i am not hating on the case, it is great at what they designed it for. much like how i wouldn't complain about a 911 only seating 2 or a mini van not handling well on a race track....


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## AhokZYashA (Aug 16, 2017)

vega22 said:


> operational temps mean nothing without the ambient temps, it is the delta that counts tbh dude.
> 
> so you're not baised based on your buying choice at all then?
> 
> ...




i do read the reviews, 
and no im not biased, of course there are plenty of cases out there that has more airflow than the R5.
my ambient are around 26-27C all year long, my GPU and CPU hovers around 65 and 60 respectively at full load, with all those drives obstructions up front.
so for a silent optimized case, the airflow are very good. because there are lots of openings at the side of the front panel.


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## silentbogo (Aug 16, 2017)

I'm not even sure that additional top fans will help the OP to improve his temps. 
Back in a day I used to have an Antec P180 mini - a nice case which for some reason looks very-very similar to this one, except smaller. I used it for my uATX Nehalem rig.
It had a 160mm top-mounted fan and regardless whether it's on or off - temperature difference was negligible. Adding/switching/tweaking fans also did not produce good results.
CPU was relatively fine, but the GPU had some heat issues, so I had to remove HDD cage and install a larger third-party GPU heatsink to solve it.

Here's what I would do before buying a new set of fans:
1) Check the RPM on that TwinFrozr. MSI likes to keep the fan curve as quiet as possible, which leaves some headroom for tweaking. TF is still quiet at up to 50% max speed, and still tolerable at 60 or even 70%.
Adjust the fan curve to 40% @ 50C and lower, and gradually bump it for higher temps (up to 100% for >85C).
2) If you still have the middle HDD cage - remove it. Install all disks at the bottom cage.
3) Try adjusting your OC settings and lowering the CPU voltage a bit to the lowest stable value. Even a measly 0.1V can drastically drop your CPU temps, and as a consequence - case/ambient temps (it's also good for your CPU).
If your system becomes unstable, then lower CPU freq. by 100-200MHz. It won't make much difference in your daily life, but in combination with lower voltage sure as hell will decrease your temps.
What's your current CPU vCore?

If you do all of the above, you can keep the unoccupied top space for a future 240mm AIO. 

P.S. Alternatively you can remove the side panel and call it a day.


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## gamingmonkey (Aug 16, 2017)

Thanks again for all the replies guys, really appreciate it 



silentbogo said:


> I'm not even sure that additional top fans will help the OP to improve his temps.
> Back in a day I used to have an Antec P180 mini - a nice case which for some reason looks very-very similar to this one, except smaller. I used it for my uATX Nehalem rig.
> It had a 160mm top-mounted fan and regardless whether it's on or off - temperature difference was negligible. Adding/switching/tweaking fans also did not produce good results.
> CPU was relatively fine, but the GPU had some heat issues, so I had to remove HDD cage and install a larger third-party GPU heatsink to solve it.
> ...



1) The fans on my GPU are usually 0% <60 C, but however when I'm gaming the temps start to reach the maximum (83C, with fan speed 90%), and if I would put the power limit slider to the max the temps would rise around 85-86 C, so this is kinda the whole reason why I want to cool my GPU even more, to allow for additional overclocking.

2) Already removed it, temps are still the same (atleast for the GPU)

3) Right now my CPU VCore is set to "Offset Mode", with value set to "-0.010V", and the max VCore I'v seen the CPU hit was 1.376V, and the temperature at idle is usually around 40C while at load (depends on how much the game uses the CPU) it's from 55-65C



RejZoR said:


> I'm running a pair of BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 HS 140mm in my case intake and they are phenomenal. One of the best build qualities, superb feel where everything feels robust, smooth and premium, even the ring around the fan blade space has rubberized edge for less air intake/exhaust turbolence and vibration transfer when pressed to case and you get two set types of mounting corners, one set of rubberized corners for standard screws and one set of rubberized corners for screwless push pin attachment that are interchangeable. And I do recommend that you go with High Speed version so you have greater flexibility. At 40% PWM speed, they are virtually inaudible, but you have a greater range upwards when you need raw power. Also, their noise profile is superb. They can be loud at 100% speed, but the noise is not annoying at all. Oh and they push some serious air through my HDD/case frame cage which is pretty cluttered with support "pillars". So, they certainly have very good static pressure.
> 
> Can't comment on Noctua and Arctic...
> 
> Btw, someone mentioned Corsair MagLev fans. I haven't used them myself yet, but you should check them out. On paper and with that tech, they seem like a superb fan as well.



Also 1 thing RejZoR, since you recommended the PWM version of the Silent Wings 3 HS, this review claims that it's better to take the DC version due to some drop in fan speed:
http://thermalbench.com/2016/10/31/be-quiet-silent-wings-3-140-mm-high-speed-fan/4/


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 16, 2017)

vega22 said:


> i am not saying it is a bad case, far from it if used as intended, just that it is not a cased aimed at getting great airflow to aid temps while clocking
> 
> http://www.overclockers.com/fractal-design-define-r5-case-review/


??? Did you even read your own reviews? Did you note the Cons? Or the one and only insignificant con? Nothing about a lack of air flow, the review, in fact, extolls it adaptability for fan and radiator support. 





> you can put a three-fan radiator in this case. It’s hard to believe a 360 mm rad will fit in this small case, but you saw a picture of just that. And seeing three 140 mm fans across the top strongly suggests you ought to be able to do just what Fractal Design says you can do: put a 420 mm radiator in this little case. With all the other places for radiators *and fans* in the Define R5, this is impressive indeed.





			
				vega22 said:
			
		

> i mean the front panel/door has limited venting and the feet on the bottom are not really tall enough to allow any fans placed there free flowing air flow either.


No where in that review is there any comment about lack of air flow through the bottom. And there are large vents from top to bottom on both sides of the front panel to let plenty of air in.

I guess vega22 believes a case must acheive a rating of 100% to be considered outstanding. 

TweekTown rated it a measly 98% 

Let's point out how you left out the comments on your own hexus charts where they clearly say The R5's default setup doesn't deliver spectacular results, but our overclocked CPU is running well within its limits.. That's the "default" setup which includes just two 140mm case fans. And that case will support 6 more 140mm fans - not to mention you can install multiple radiators; up to 420mm up top and 360mm in front.

Okay, so it does not come, by default, with 8 x 140mm case fans but with just 2, it was able to keep that "overclocked" CPU (running with its stock cooler, no less) "well within" its limits. So yeah, I call that outstanding.


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## vega22 (Aug 16, 2017)

Bill_Bright said:


> ??? Did you even read your own reviews? Did you note the Cons? Or the one and only insignificant con? Nothing about a lack of air flow, the review, in fact, extolls it adaptability for fan and radiator support.
> 
> No where in that review is there any comment about lack of air flow through the bottom. And there are large vents from top to bottom on both sides of the front panel to let plenty of air in.
> 
> ...




yes, which is part of the reason i said the op should get his gpu wet in my first post. before all the butthurt after i highlighted that the case is designed for quiet running and not all about balls out cooling and overclocking full fat 300w gpu :lol:

as for the bottom mounts, why would they mention it unless they added more fans? they didn't so it is not an issue that the lack of room increases the whine from the fans, that the drive cages and power cables hinder the airflow from them, right?

the charts spoke volume on hexus where it sat in the bottom third of the temp charts. but they, like tt, scored the case based on what it was designed for, the temps are expected and accepted as it is a quiet case.

if you want to quote me please do so in regards to something relevant to the thread, not because of something that made you salty about a brand you like


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 16, 2017)

vega22 said:


> if you want to quote me please do so in regards to something relevant to the thread


Relevant to the thread??? Speak for yourself bud!  You decided to join this thread just to discredit the OP's excellent case! This thread is about helping the OP choose fans.


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## sneekypeet (Aug 16, 2017)

Please guys, agree to disagree and not get too personal here.

As for that guy over at TT, I'm not so sure about that guy


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## gamingmonkey (Aug 17, 2017)

Thanks for the help guys, I still decided to go with the SW3 HS 140mm PWM


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## Bill_Bright (Aug 17, 2017)

Just remember that high speed typically results in more noise. At least with the FD case, it has a built in speed control.


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## gamingmonkey (Aug 17, 2017)

But isn't that what the 4 pin PWM fans are for ? Will I be able to control the speed of the fans ?
I have AsRock Extreme Tuner program which enables me to adjust the case fan speeds.

Forgive, I'm still new at this


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## RejZoR (Aug 17, 2017)

Of course. Just be aware that 40% speed is somewhat the lowest speed they'll still operate at. Meaning, the higher max fan RPM is, the harder you'll achieve low RPM at 40% (because as max RPM is higher, the RPM level increases at 40% point). However, at least in case of SilentWings 3 HS, 40% results in super comfy inaudible ~900 RPM. They can go up to 1600 RPM when max and they really aren't that terribly noisy at that level. You can hear them, but the noise is very neutral and certainly not annoying. Besides, you can run them at just 60-70%, but you have more in reserve if needed.


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