Silencing my case fans?

[Mariner_abx]

Solving in theory my cpu fan noise ( see my previous post) I now have to change my noisy case fans. I have Lian Li pc68 case with its standaard (4) case fans. Anybody have experience with them, noise wise?
I run them with my Zalman multispeed fan controler so I can regulate the revs.
Does it help (a lot) to replace them with other fans, and if so which fans?
Or if running with low revs does it matter which fan you use, again noisewise?
Or is it better to use specificly quit fans for getting better cooling?
Lot of questions, so I hope somebody can help me?
mariner

[specmike]

I'd suggest having a look around at Silent PC Review, I don't remember their exact URL.

Also, having better/quieter fans will make a big difference. From what I have seen/read/heard, die hard silent PC fans prefer Papst, Panaflow, or Nexus fans.

Mike.

[Mariner_abx]

Thx for the suggestion. I will have a lot of checking to do. Meanwhile I am open for more suggestions.
mariner

[Gr8Golf]

With my last two Coolermaster cases, I immediately pulled out the stock fans and put in SilenX fans. They are quieter for certain. Replacing the case fans WILL make a difference so go for it. I've also heard good things about the Panaflo fans.

[h20-ski]

From my experince if you want queit fans, buy quiet fans. The reason I say that is some fans like my Panaflo's develop a whine, as the voltage is decreased. Others have no whine or noise at all when the voltage is decreased.

[feddup]

SPCR is the place for knowledge and reviews of "silent" products. SPCR takes silencing very seriously!
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/
If you want a cheap dependable fan controller you might try
http://www.jab-tech.com/Sunbeam-5-1-...K-pr-2530.html
Some fans work better with controllers then others. This controller is simple, cheap, good looking and heavily built.

[XenoS_abx]

That Sunbeam looks pretty nifty for a simple fan controller, and I like it's ability to be able to turn fans comlpetely off after hitting 1v. I've been considering buying one actually, that is after I do some tests to see how much noise my hard drives are making. Been also considering the CoolDrive 6 with three CoolDrive Lites in an attempt to quiet things down even more in my new case. Anyways, thought I would comment about fans making noise when voltages are turned down. I have one 92mm Panaflo and I can confirm it makes a horrible whine when put on a cheapo fan controller I have. All my other fans are fine though, except perhaps the Vantec Stealth 120 ones but I don't think there is hope for them either way. Defintiely not "stealth" at all. Right now the Panaflo is running off 5v using a modded power cable and doesn't whine like it does with a controller. Definitely something to consider and be careful of when chosing parts.

[Ford Freak]

I have bought plenty of Panaflo fans and never noticed a whine at slower speeds. I currently have 2 120s and 6 80s installed. The 120s are for my rad, 2 80s up front, 2 above the PSU and 2 below the PSU. They are silent at 7v and all I can hear is the stupid chipset fan. Once I find a good silent chipset fan, the only things making noise would be the pump which is near silent, the PSU fan which is also really quiet and the HD access.

BTW, I have that Sunbeam controller in a Lian-Li bay cover. It is really nice. The LEDs are really bright. Almost too bright.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=3227

[XenoS_abx]

Originally Posted by Mariner

Solving in theory my cpu fan noise ( see my previous post) I now have to change my noisy case fans. I have Lian Li pc68 case with its standaard (4) case fans. Anybody have experience with them, noise wise?

Oh, lol I just noticed that you have a Lian-Li PC68 case there Mariner. I've always thought they were one of their nicest looking cases from Lian-Li, and the filter was a huge success around here where there seems to be no end to the dust (old apartment carpeting). I own two of them actually since I liked the first one so much, back before the "quiet computing" craze hit. The first is the older model that is almost four years old now (USB 1.1, no blow hole), and the other is the later revised model with USB 2.0 and a top blow hole.

The AddA 80mm fans they use in these cases (2500 rpm, 33.5 cfm, 28.3 dba) are not the quietest, that's for sure. They could be worse though. I think the thin rigid aluminum construction used on this case has a tendency to amplify fan noise to be honest. When the opportunity comes around I'm just going to replace them altogether. It's hard to beat 120mm fans for good, quiet airflow. I mean, the 80mm AddA fans can run fairly quiet (quiet, not silent) on a fan controller, but you might be better off putting the cash for a controller and/or new fans towards a better designed case. My Stacker 830 cost a small fortune, but it was worth every penny for example. Despite all that mesh it has, it's not a dust magnet amazingly (the Antec P180 I used for a bit sure was though lol), and it's also very quiet too which you also something you would think it wouldn't be. The loudest thing in my case right now is my hard drives actually, which shoud give you some idea just how good things are now, and all my temps are super low across the board even. About as close as I can get to water cooling with the water.

Originally Posted by Ford Freak

I have bought plenty of Panaflo fans and never noticed a whine at slower speeds.

Like I said in a previous post, with a modded cable so I can use the fan at 5v there is no whine. The Panaflo FBA09A12H is very quiet and it's a nice fan overall. It's just on this 3-1/2 sized generic four channel controller that the thing whines pretty badly. I'm guessing it has something to do with this specific fan type and the fact that the controller uses PWM. Most other fans are fine, and I even just tried a bunch of different ones the other day to see how they all sound, and at various voltages there weren't any obvious issues that stood out.

[quote=Ford Freak]Once I find a good silent chipset fan, the only things making noise would be the pump which is near silent, the PSU fan which is also really quiet and the HD access.[/url]
I see we have the same motherboard. When I moved mine over to the Cooler Master Stacker 830, I put an Evercool VC-RE on with AS5. I wouldn't recommend doing this without taking the motherboard out first as it's a tight fit for the pins, never mind taking the stock one off first. I've also read posts by people who have tried. Anyways, this cooler is much better than the stock chipset one. It has two LED's, one red and one blue that look good and are nice and bright even at low voltages (they seem to turn off around 1900 rpm). It's max speed is 5000 rpm which is almost as noisy as the stock cooler at full speed, but with my BIOS settings it runs at about 1800 rpm while idle, and about 2400 rpm while under load when gaming. I noticed the stock cooler makes a siren type of sound at all speeds. It was one of the ones I was playing around with recently on the fan controller I mentioned above. The only issue with the Evercool I've found is that it does have a slight metallic rattle when run at such a low rpm, and this may be annoying for some. I can't really hear it unless I open my case though, and it goes away at around 2100 rpm and up. So, no regrets, but if I can find something even better I will definitely change it out. The graphics card makes it really hard to find something that will fit in there though.

Originally Posted by Ford Freak

BTW, I have that Sunbeam controller in a Lian-Li bay cover. It is really nice. The LEDs are really bright. Almost too bright.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...oducts_id=3227

I went looking for reviews on it yesterday and read that those LED's are pretty simple to replace actually, just in case anyone might be wondering about that. I think I may have found a nice hard drive silencer too by the way. The Nexus Drive-A-Way, which are aluminum, come in four colors, and have foam inside. Only managed to find two reviews sadly. One was in German and from what I can tell the Nexus only raised HD temps by 2C. The other, a video review if anyone cares, is here:

http://www.3dgameman.com/vr/nexus/dr...review_03.html

[Mariner_abx]

Well thx all you guys,
I checked out that Silent PC review site and found a lot off good info on it.
So I think I will buy the Scythe Ninja cpu cooler with a 120 mm silent Nexus fan, and change my 4 Adda case fans for 4 silent Nexus fans 80 mm.
mariner

[XenoS_abx]

Originally Posted by Mariner

Well thx all you guys,
I checked out that Silent PC review site and found a lot off good info on it.
So I think I will buy the Scythe Ninja cpu cooler with a 120 mm silent Nexus fan, and change my 4 Adda case fans for 4 silent Nexus fans 80 mm.
mariner

Cool, please come back to let us know how those parts work out for you. I definitely want to buy another Stacker for the wifes PC since it's so great (though heavy as heck), but have been wondering what to do with the third PC I have. Would be cool if I could just make it quiet like your going to do, as long as it wasn't too expensive to do so of course (some quiet fans can be really expensive!). Otherwise I might as well just buy a better designed case that comes with quiet fans... though that didn't really work out in my case with the Antec P180 (recommened by SPR) either I suppose. ;-)

[Mariner_abx]

Well the Nexus fans are not that expensive, around € 10,- each. The scythe heatsink is a different matter. But this is absolutely neccessary to solve the overheating of my cpu problem, and then I might as well make the cpu cooling a quite one.
mariner

[specmike]

Mariner, not sure if you like the idea but, you could try to go to some 120mm fans if you can get a little creative with how/where they mount. Most likely, you can get 120s that are even more quiet than the 80s. I am slowly trying to eliminate all 80mm fans from my cases.

Mike.

[Mariner_abx]

If it were technically possible I would probably do it. But I am not much of a "handyman" to mount a 120 mm fan in a place where a 80 mm or 2 x 80 mm fans are mounted. I have the Lian Li pc68 with 4 fans, two singels and one pair of 80 mm fans.
If you have a suggestion of how to do that, then I am very much interested.
mariner

[specmike]

Watch an episode of McGyver and buy some duct tape

Just kidding, I attached mine to the case with zip ties. It's not technically proficient but, it gets the job done. And, if you are into stealth, buy black zip ties. If you like color, get the flourescent colored ties and they glow under UV.

Just an idea since you are putting time and money into quiet.

Mike.