I want some good quiet fans for my case!

[JoeLouie]

You heard me right... some good quiet fans. I've got 2 fans on the front, 1 on top and 1 in the back... not to mention the 2 fans on the power supply, 1 on the chipset, 1 on the processor and 1 on the video card lol. Most of the time I've got music playing and don't even hear the fans, but my computer is in my bedroom and sometimes it would be nice to be able to lay down in bed and not be able to hear the fans all night.
So, I'm looking to replace a few of the 80mm case fans with something a little quieter. Anybody have any suggestions? My case temperatures are decent right now, and they'd be even better if I bought some rounded IDE cables *hangs head in shame* I might actually pick up some of them too.

Basically what I'm asking is, what are some quiet 80mm fans that are still going to get a decent amount of air in and out of my case?

[JoeLouie]

These are the specs on my current case fans.



Bearing: Sleeve Bearing
Volts: 12V
Current: 0.25A
Power: 3.00W
Speed: 3010rpm
Air Flow: 38.6cfm
Noise: 34.4dBa

[insertdisk]

I just bought one of these and I can't hear it. I use it in a Home Theater box and the only noise I notice is the harddrive occasionally - I will have to buy a notebook harddrive to fix that.

hxxp://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-071&depa=0

[JoeLouie]

hmm, that would be ALOT quieter... but it would give me less than half the airflow I get now... :S It would be nice if I could find something that's inbetween that, and what I have now... if that's even possible.

[insertdisk]

If the cfm is cubic feet per minute then I think exchanging your air in your case 15 times per minute should do the trick - and that would be a big case. That is just a guess though . Mine runs plenty cool for me with one fan in and the power supply pushing out.

[tarzan99]

I use Arctic Cooling fans, and am very happy with them. They seem to cool extremely well, and are extremely quiet. Worth a look at any rate!

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/

[analogue40]

I'm using Vantec Stealth (http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=16660#) JL and they are pretty damn quiet with a decent airflow


# 80% Quieter Than Standard Case Fan
# Double Ball Bearing Fans for Extended Life.
# Fan Size: 80x80x25mm
# Rated Voltage: 12 V
# Rated Current: 0.10 Amp
# Air Flow: 27 CFM
# Rated Input Power: 1.2W
# Noise: 21 dBA
# Rated Speed: 2050 RPM
# Bearing: 2 Ball Bearings
# Smart Fan with Speed Detection.
# 3 to 4 Pin Adapter & 4 Fan Screws supplied
# Lifetime Warranty

...but, lothodon had these beat, i'm not sure what brand/model they where but i do remember they where as expensive and they where good.

[lothodon]

silenx, $17US a pop, but SO worth it...

SilenX iXtrema Quiet Fans feature the best noise-to-airflow ratio of any PC case fan and are designed for optimal cooling performance. Hybrid bearings reduce weight and noise and the forward-swept blade design maximizes airflow. Instead of using traditional weighted mounting screws (also included), iXtrema Quiet Fans are the only ones to include silicone composite mounts to dampen vibration noise. Each fan also includes a 3- to 4-pin converter to power your fan from your PC's power supply or motherboard.

Specifications
SKU Rated dBA Thickness RPM CFM Color
IX-08025-14B 14 25mm 1900 ?15% 28 Blue
IX-08025-14G 14 25mm 1900 ?15% 28 Green
IX-08025-14R 14 25mm 1900 ?15% 28 Red

[JoeLouie]

$17 US? hmmm... I'll probably end up with the Vantec Stealths, cause that's actually what I was considering even before Anny suggested them... but I'll see if I can find a good price on the Silenx's someplace in Canada before I make up my mind.

[JoeLouie]

I ended up just picking up 1 Vantec Stealth for now just to see how much of a difference it would make (and cause I already spent more than I wanted on the memory and tv tuner card lol). Case temperature seems about the same, and there is a noticable difference in the sound coming from my case. I'll be picking up 3 more next time I get paid :) Might even pick up a better/quieter heatsink & fan too. Any suggestions on one?

[Nastyboy132]

I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED a quiet heatsink/fan. I can hear mine sitting here with the headphones on FFS...oh, btw, my box lives in my 'living room'

[Jim]

Gang,

Is this the AMD crowd calling for Quiet Boxes all of a sudden ? I always said AMD was a Brand of Toaster as they gave off far more heat than Intel.:lol:

Seriously, AMD has gotten it's act together in recent times but their old Chips were deep fryers. My approach is to begin with a Quiet Case if noise is an issue. Below are 2 links to Antec. I built a unit for my sister with a P4 3.0 Ghz with 400 Gigs of HDs, 2 Optical Drives, and no extra fans and it runs very Cool :santa: as well as Extremely Quiet.

http://www.antec.com/InternationalWelcome.php

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15138

But it seems Lothodon has the right answer if you want to look at replacing Fans only.:nodhead2:

[MrJoshua]

here here jim :) I use the 80mm Antec fans myself in conjunction with some antec fanmates (varible resistor to adjust fan speed) and i consider my case very quiet. I have a zalman cpu heatsink and fan which works goods aswell. The only problem i have got is the 40mm fan in my gigabit switch gets a little roudy sometimes, i will replace it with a new one when i get around to it :)
cheers :) :)

[JoeLouie]

I'm gonna run down to the post office in a few minutes and pick up 3 of the SilenX fans that Lotho suggested, and some rounded IDE cables. :D

[JoeLouie]

All I can say is... wow...

I did a bit of spring cleaning in my case today. Put in 3 new SilenX iXtrema fans (80mm, 14 dBa, 28 CFM), along with the Vantec Stealth fan I put in last week (80 mm, 21 dBa, 27 CFM), and took off my Thermaltake Volcano 11+ in favor of the stock AMD heatsink/fan... and wow... sooooo much quieter. Only problem now, is that I realize that the northbridge fan is clicking a bit... so looks like that'll be next on the replacement list. Between the 4 case fans they're making 111 CFM and 63 dBa, as opposed to 154.4 CFM and 137.6 dBa. Less airflow... and alot less noise! I also bought some rounded IDE cables, so I figure that will allow for better airflow, hopefully making up for the less airflow I'm getting from the fans. My case temperatures are suprisingly staying pretty close to what they were before the new fans.

I took my CD-RW out of there while I was at it... I've tried burning a few cds with it lately and all I've made is coasters, so I figure it's time to retire it. I've still got my DVD-RW and DVD-ROM so I think I'll be okay :cool:

I've got a few pics off the inside of my case that I'll upload once the batteries for my cam are finished charging :)

[lothodon]

i ended up connecting my chipset fan (7000rpm noisemaker) to the lianli's front fan controller and running it at it's mid setting. approx. 7v instead of 12v and the noise is about half of what it was.

no lockups even when running overclocked all day (which i do) so i'm happy. due to the arctic cooler on my x800xl i cannot replace the fan with a passive heatsink (no room) so this was my only option.

[JoeLouie]

Here's a few pics I took of the install. I completely stripped down the entire case. Pretty much the only thing I didn't do, was take the motherboard off the motherboard tray. Soooo much cleaner in there now, and it's soooo much quieter with the new fans in there.

[analogue40]

nice one, i'm gonna have to pick some silenX up soon and give em a go, since going a64 i've been on sort of a noise reduction campaign too - water, stealth fans, passive cooling etc.
I remember i used to run dual smart fans on full rpm on the cpu, a vantec tornado on the exhaust at almost full rpm plus 2 intake and top exhaust :bloodpuke