Buying Case Fans

[Strygun]

Ok guys, I need to buy 2 80mm case fans (and some arctic silverIII). Can you tell me a good (yet cheap) brand for the fan, and possibly link me to where they sell the fan AND the arctic silver?

Thanks...

[OmnipotentKiwi]

Are you getting JUST two fans? Or is this in addition to a shitload of others? With a lot of cases it seems like 7+ fans is a fairly common occurance, and whenever you have that many fans I only reccomend one thing:
Vantec Stealth.

They spin at only 2050 RPMs so you need to make sure your airflow is good, but it is much quieter then the other blaring fans.

[powdahound]

7 case fans isn't THAT common...

I only have 2 full time case fans, and can turn on another two with a switch. Then my CPU fan and 2 on my power supply...

And yes, the vantec stealth are nice. I also have some antec adjustable speed ones that I love. I turn the speeds up in the summer when it's hotter.

[OmnipotentKiwi]

7 is becoming the new trend though and you can't deny it. All the popular new cases are getting to be atleast 5+. Crazy, but Stealth works really well.

[Navaron]

Between all of my different components I have 8 fans. Sounds like a harrier.

[Daleon]

Heh, well if its not common I guess I am uncommon.

My case came standard with 7 silent case fans. And they really are quiet, and all together do a decent job of keeping things cool. The killer though is the 80mm Tornado I have on my Swiftech MCX462+. If anyone here has every used a tornado, you know what a jet engine sounds like. At 5700 RPM pushing 84.1 CFM I don't think many other fans touch this one. But I don't know if I suggest it due to just how freaking loud it is, 2 would prolly drive me nuts. The noise does eventually just blend in, but its always there.

Good site for fans at a great price:
http://www.coolerguys.com/

One of the cooler new fan designs is:
TMD 70x70x15 5800 RPM fan.

"This is the latest in fan technology by Y.S. Tech. The TMD stands for "Tip-Magnetic Driving Fan". This fan relocates the motor from the traditional center to the for corners of the fan. This requires less power to run and offers very low noise."

A friend has one of these and seems to do an excellent job with little noise. But its hard to hear anything over mine.

[Strygun]

Actually these 2 (which will go in the bottom front) are in addition to 2 exhaust in the top back, cpu fan, vid card fan, powersupply fan.

=)

[OmnipotentKiwi]

Then I HIGHLY suggest Vantec Stealth. Big emphasis.

[Cyanide]

I think i have 11 total fans in my case. It's not that loud.

Yeah vantec stealth is nice, so are panaflos. As a general rule you should get the biggest fans you can. The larger the fan the more air it can push. This means that you can run say a 92mm fan at a signifigantly lower RPM than an 80mm while still maintaining the same or even greater air flow, and it will also be MUCH quieter.

[Hunter83]

I get pretty much all that type of stuff from http://www.bestbyte.net

Most of their major PC components are crap, and expensive crap at that, but their fans and stuff are cheap.

Once I got a broken fan from them, but it was sent back at their expense and I got teh replacement shipped overnight, again, at their expense. They ship Arctic Silver 3 free via USPS first class mail.

[Sentrosi]

The best place I've found for fans at cheap prices is NexFan.com. You have to be aware to get the fan mounting screws (.25 for 4 of em) because the cheaper fans do NOT come with them. I just picked up like 20 sets of them, so I'm good.

[OneManArmy]

you are some crazy mofo's

2 fans f00s!!! and my shizzle is ice cold for rizzle


one 80mm fan on the side of the case blowing in and one 120mm fan on the top blowing outward.

system temp has never EVER gotten above 40c (usualy its 34-38c)


Although that 120mm fan does sound like a friggen squad of harriers, you don't notice it when playing games

[CDL Full Otto]

Fans and airflow are really based on the amount of free space and what hardware is inside.

When I was running my SCSI drives they where very hot and the cables blocked a lot of air flow. I think my P3 700 ran hotter than my new P4 2.4 case wise!

With my new case I run 2 fans out the back, 2 fans in the front.(plus the usual power, cpu and vid fans but I don't count those as real fans) Like a furnace in your house, the biggest mistake people make is, they want to throw out a lot of air but do not make the intake as big or bigger than the out put.

My server running in the same room has 11 92mm fans in it. It sounds like an airport sometimes! Those fans don't count the dual power supply fans nor the dual cpu fans

Best thing is to monitor the temp for a while. See what works good for you, make sure your clear on airflow space (get the new rounded IDE cables instead of those blankets called ribbon cables!) Spread your drives out (if you have room space them)

Otto