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Fan fin size?

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Ok this is a strange question, but I've always wondered what style fan is more effective :confused: ...or if it makes no difference.

I've seen two types of case fans. Some with small fins and some with large fins. So which style fan would move more air? which one would have lower dBA and or CFM?


I tried to google this but got no results.. any comments from the cool people at TPU :D
 
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Hm. Judging from my regular fans and Scythe SlipStreams (most probalby the left one), latter has lower dBA. About the CFM, I dunno. The left one has a smaller poti, so more air can pass trough.
But I'm just assuming.
 

sneekypeet

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If both fans are running the same RPM. the left fan will be quieter but produce a bit less CFM than the louder fan style on the right.
 

MohawkAngel

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it depends of the fan RPM. also its like bashing in water with a baseball bat or a shovel...shovel larger wikll make more splash and move more water. same with the air. so at lower rpm both will be the same due to more thin fin number but at high speed too much fin will only "cut" into the air so look for low to middle speed efficiency rpm and choose the one with more fins...of the big fins at higher rpm
 
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Hm. Judging from my regular fans and Scythe SlipStreams (most probalby the left one), latter has lower dBA. About the CFM, I dunno. The left one has a smaller poti, so more air can pass trough.
But I'm just assuming.
hah your right about the left fan being a Scyth, thanks you.:)

If both fans are running the same RPM. the left fan will be quieter but produce a bit less CFM than the louder fan style on the right.
This helped me out a lot :)

it depends of the fan RPM. also its like bashing in water with a baseball bat or a shovel...shovel larger wikll make more splash and move more water. same with the air. so at lower rpm both will be the same due to more thin fin number but at high speed too much fin will only "cut" into the air so look for low to middle speed efficiency rpm and choose the one with more fins...of the big fins at higher rpm

I like your examples, thank you very much.:)
 

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I think that if there was a definite 'winner' in the large fins v small fins contest then we would see only one type available (at least from the high end companies).

A large fin will displace more air than a small fin but you can fit more small fins into the same sized fan. The over all outcome for a given rpm is probably similar. But you also need to consider fin shape, angle and surface - take the sharkoon 'golf ball' fans for example. http://www.sharkoon.com/html/produkte/luefter/silent_eagle_se/index_en.html

When it comes to noise there are also many contributing factors not just fin size and number, bearings, motors, frames all have an effect.
 
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