which fans?

[skool h8r]

hi all,
at the moment, i have 3 case fans that are rather loud together. I have one on the side and 2 at the back. I want to buy some quiter fans but i'm not sure which are best. I ideally only want to spend about £3 - £5 on each fan but want them to be pretty quiet. They don't have to be silent, just as quiet as possible for the price range. Does anybody know which i should choose (i am willing to be a bit flexible with the budget). I want 3 ATM.

thanks.

p.s. i ordered my fan controller and uv cathode last night.

[surlyjoe]

Panaflo fans are highly regarded. I would buy a used panaflo over most other new fans. as for noise the lower the power rating the quieter the fan. (0.10a = quiet, 0.50a = hair dryer)

or you could also just throttle back the ones you've got

[GrahamGarside]

the best fans for noise are nexus, but they are £10

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2569.html

With that budget you aren't going to find quiet case fans, and the ones yo have are likely to be just as good, your fan controller should allow you to bring them down to 5-7V which will quieten them quite a bit, until then connecting the middle wire on a standard fa connecotr to a 5V line or switching the 12 and 5 volt pins on a molex type connector will make them much more quiet

By the way this would have been much more suited to the Quiet PC forum

[skool h8r]

oops, sorry about that. i did find some Akasa Silent Paxpower Fan 8cm from aria.co.uk for £5 each, 20db sound, 25.4 CFM. I think i may buy some of those in a few weeks if the fan controller doesn't make them quiet enough. It's not the loudest PC but it's neither the fastest. I got one of the fans with my old case, one with this one and another i boght seperate (coolermaster Aero blower fan). They are connected directly to the power supply so that could be the reason why. I just hope that the fan controller works well. Hopefully, they will upgrade it again and it will be delivered on monday or tuesday rather than friday.I will have a look for some panaflo fans in the mean time.

thanks.

[danrok]

These could be good for the price:
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/...roductid=16510

[GrahamGarside]

I think unless you go the expense of good quiet fans that just running your current fans on 5V will give you the results you are after
Akasa fans in my experience aren't that quiet, I have a sleeve bearing 80mm fan, and even down to 1300rpm it hums and vibrates
theres a reason why nexus fans are a tenner, and it's just because nothing else beats them

[skool h8r]

hmm, not bad at all actually, especially as it can cool CPU or case, i could pay for these next week but i am buying some HD's off someone for a few quid. As i'm relatively new to the modding scene (can't really class changing fans as modding but it does count) i've only got experience with a few good suppliers such as coolermaster, (used to be good) 3DFX and ebuyer extra value ( ).

I don't think i will be going with akasa after what Graham said and the nexus ones are outside my price range, it would take me more than 3 weeks to save up to buy 3 so it isn't really an option ATM. I will try the fan controller when it arrives though to see if it makes them quieter.

Off topic now, i am thinking of writing a 'tutorial' if you like, on how to get good looks without much performance increase if you're on a budget. Another though i've had was a mod tutorial archive on the main site. Say a member writes a modding how to for a certain mod and it's really good and has been approved by the moderators and admins then it should be published on the main site. Just a thought.

[danrok]

If you have something which you think may be suitable for our Front Page articles, just PM me and we can take it from there.

Submissions are welcome from all members. Don't worry if writing isn't your strong point - we can edit the article for you.

[skool h8r]

ok, i'l make a start on it, probably tomorrow. I'm ok at wirting, just not to everyones taste though i guess.