Best 120mm fans for RS360

hey guys.

i know my question is about air cooling, but its relating to my water setup so sorry if this is still in the wrong section.

basically im half way through getting my new water setup, consisting mostly of XSPC parts.

my radiator is the RS360 which will go nicely on the back of my Armour case. i now need to decide what fans are best to put on the radiator. the 360 obviously refers to the 360mm of space for 3 x 120mm fans..

i was gonna get 3 Noctua SF-12s for $25 each from the local shop, but they dont appear to be speed controlled, and their max RPM is 1200. is that enough?

i was otherwise considering the ThermalTake Smart Case Fan II which will match my case.

or would Antec be a good option also?

to help in my decision, linked HERE is a local shop with the most range in fans. the Noctuas arnt there but i can get them elsewhere.

cheers in advance.

 

Personally if it was me i would be getting either:

http://austin.net.au/ProductList/ProductDetail/tabid/104/ProductCode/CL120CMC2R12AC/Default.aspx

or

http://austin.net.au/ProductList/ProductDetail/tabid/104/ProductCode/CL120ZMF3/Default.aspx

 

something like the D12SM-12 Yate Loon 120mm Medium Speed Fan would be what i would use,

but it really depends on what kind of a heatload you have

 

Peach hat

The yate loons are fantastic for good quality quiet cooling, and at 12 each you can go wrong

http://tinyurl.com/5k6sjt <--- linky linky!

 

yeah i saw those Yate ones but with shipping, the price will end up evening out. shipping costs more than one of those fans on top, so its like im paying for 4.

i think im gonna go with the coolermaster ones.

so you guys dont rekon the Noctua's or TT though? or just too expensive.

 

If you buy thermaltake i will be forced to chastise you. Where abouts do you live anyway?
Also this store is in NSW and also has the yate loons at the same price. http://www.gammods.com.au/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_121
Gammods rocks, nothing but awesome service from them.

 

GAMMODS also uses aus post so shipping wont be that expensive.

but it's your cooling

 

You can get the Noctua NF-P12 which comes with 2 additional resister extensions that allows you run the fan at 1300/1100/900. Got mine from pccasegear ~$27ea I have them running at 1300 at the mo and they are pretty darn quiet.

 

haha yeah GAMMODS is where i got half my water setup from, but at the time i forgot about the extra fans for the radiator.

i actually got their site mixed up with another in terms of shipping.

im from Perth, and can get 3 x Yate Loon D12SM's shipped for $50.20.

sounds good enough, especially if you all seem to swear by those. so thats the way to go you all rekon?

 

I have 4 of the 120mm zalman (http://austin.net.au/ProductList/ProductDetail/tabid/104/ProductCode/CL120ZMF3/Default.aspx) from the second post and they flow 37CFM(20dba) and 76CFM(34bda).
They work so well i can pull the fan off my OEM CPU heatsink and it full loads at 65'C (40<42'C w/CPU fan)

 

yeah they look good too.

might be the way i go actually, as those CFM results, if you are correct, seem better thant he Yate Loons, and i dont have to pay shipping as Austin Computers are close by.

 

I can't find the web sight i found the 76CFM specs on but two others i have seen who have done there own tests have them rated them around the 70CFM mark. I was not overly worried since i only payed $10ea for them at the local PC store http://www.hypernetdist.com.au/

This one rates them at 72CFM: http://www.quietpc.com/gr-en-eur/products/casefans/zm-f3

 

awesome, cheers mate.

but i have picked a winner. CoolerMaster Long Life LED Fan.

Manufacturer Link

Where I'm Getting It

only $3 more expensive for each fan, and imo they look way better. and they are putting out pretty much 70CFM according to Cooler Master themselves.

 

You have picked what you think is a winner. There is no way a fan(12cm) that pushes 74CFM can do 19 dB-A

 

it says 69 CFM not 74.

and anyway, im willing to bet the 19dB is an idle or low speed output, not full speed ouput.

the sound doesnt bother me anyway, they look really good and have decent airflow. and its cheaper and easier for me to do it this way rather than ship stuff across the country.

Cooler Master arnt exactly a terrible brand either.

 

There was a discussion on those fans abuot a month or two ago.

Apparently at that speed its more like double the DBA

 

i dont know what dba they are , but ive bought 1 of these coolermasters from pc case gear but the higher cfm version and its really quiet compared to the rest of my system

i have a couple Tt LED case fan2's on my radiator and even at minimum speed they are louder than this coolermaster

i might get a couple more to put on may rad

EDIT: lookin at the web page and the pccasegear product listing they've got the same 19dba and 2000 rpm for both models yet one is rated for 70cfm and other is 90? obviously something wrong there, either way its a good cfm at a low noise level

 

Personally I found the Yate Loons a bit over rated. Sure, there's very little 'woosh noise' but there's light bearing chatter which is probably more annoying. Let me put it this way; I've compared the Lian Li 12cm fans that come with the PC-A77 case back to back on various voltages with the Yate Loons and Noctua NF-P12 fans and for the money I'm not going to upgrade the Lian Li case fans. The Yate Loons have more bearing noise but comparable 'woosh' noise to the Lian Li's. The Noctua fans come with nice bonuses like the rubber mounts and voltage resistors but aren't worth the money over Lian Li fans.
Having said that, they are worth the money over Yate Loon's IMO. D12SL-12 is the model of Yate Loon I'm drawing comparisons too...
Of course, noise can be subjective, but that's just my 2 cents.

 

yeah i see that, one model is Long Life the other is the Silent model. yet they both have Long Life Sleeves. they look exact same though. i dunno.

and PCCG are claiming 19dBA @ 90CFM. so unless they are just assuming based on Cooler Masters stats, and not taking into consideration that noise level could be at lowest RPM, i'd say they are definitely a win.

even if it was doubled, its 38dBA, most other fans are like 35 or so and not @ 2000rpm. so its still reasonable. plus its not really an issue for me anyway.

EDIT:

ok after research i've made my decision, its the Cooler Master. so now, for radiator cooling, bearing in mind there will be 3x 120mm fans going, is it worth getting the newer 90CFM output fan over the 70CFM output one? will the different be worth it for cooling on a radiator?

they are from PCCG, and with Express Air Freight (only an extra $3 so why not)

70CFM = $63 total shipped for 3

90CFM = $76.50 total shipped for 3.

is the extra $13.50 gonna be worth it, or even noticeable?

 

i thought the same about these fans untill i saw them on a mates rig and they r for shit, pretty loud and dont push much more air than his zelman led fans.

so i got these http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_510&products_id=6020