cloudkat1970
n00b
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 9
This thread is (I hope) going to help clear up some misinformation and (also hopefully) give the community a little more knowledge of one of the most overlooked components in a computer case.
A case fan is rapidly achieving the status of a major component when dealing with high-end systems especially when OCing.
Fans are used not only in the case itself, but added to passive heatsinks, and more than ever before we are seeing modders/OCers replace existing fans on HSFs, PSUs and GPUs to achieve either higher air flow, lower noise levels, or a mixture of both.
I started doing some serious research into fans when I realized that my newest case mod will have a total of 13 fans in it when it is complete. Thats right, 13 FANS !! (The case will be actually divided into sections, so fans are needed to direct the air flow from section to section. I will be posting some work logs in the near future in the Case modding/worklogs section of this forum. The case mod I am speaking of will be called From Hell)
Anyways, with that many fans my PC was going to sound like a Harrier Jump-Jet taking off in my room. So I decided to do some research. This thread is the fruits of my labor. I hope you can bring something away from this post.
Lets start with a little technical info:
Fans are commonly listed with many numbers and letters giving you detailed specs on it.
Such as this: 120x25mm, 3pin, 12V DC, 1600RPM, 63.57CFM, 27dBA, 2 ball bearing
The 120x25mm is just the size of the fan. The 25mm is the thickness of the fan. This is of important consideration when working in small areas or in places where you dont want the fan so big it takes away from the looks of the overall effect. This is also very important when replacing the stock PSU fan because some PSUs do not have room in it to mount a thicker fan. I ran into that problem with my old OCZ Modstream PSU when I switched out its stock fan for a quieter one that moved more air. Some fans are as big as 46mm thick. The two most common thicknesses are 25mm and 38mm, with 25mm being the most commonly found by far.
The 3pin is simply how it connects to power. If you are looking to plug into your MB fan headers, make sure you get the right fan or buy the 4pin-to-3pin adapter (if it doesnt come with it).
Im sure that the 12V DC, 1600RPM, 63.57CFM, 27dBA stuff you are all familiar with, so I will not go over them except to say that CFM stands for Cubic Feet per Minute. And dBA stands for A-Weighted Decibels.
So in a nutshell, CFM is how much air the fan moves per minute and dBA is how loud the fan is at that given CFM. These are the two most important stats when comparing fans.
Lastly, there will normally be a stat that says one of the following:
Sleeve bearing, Ball bearing or S-DFB (Sony-Dynamic Fluid Bearing)
Instead of getting into the mechanics if each one, here is just a quick breakdown of the 3 types and the estimated lifespan of each type. (these are not my estimates. These estimates are the industry wide MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and all companies use them)
*Sleeve bearing this is by far the most common type. Easy to make, cheap to produce. These fans are normally the loudest and have a MTBF (or estimated lifespan) of 30,000 hours.
*Ball bearing becoming fairly common to find. Usually quieter and lasts 6x longer, but generally costs more than a sleeve bearing fan with equal specs. Has a MTBF of 180,000 hours
*S-DFB (or just DFB) this is the newest technology in fans. Harder to find, costs the most. Doesnt last quite as long as Ball bearing types, but capable of being the quietest of the 3 types. Has a MTBF of 150,000 hours.
<Continued below>
A case fan is rapidly achieving the status of a major component when dealing with high-end systems especially when OCing.
Fans are used not only in the case itself, but added to passive heatsinks, and more than ever before we are seeing modders/OCers replace existing fans on HSFs, PSUs and GPUs to achieve either higher air flow, lower noise levels, or a mixture of both.
I started doing some serious research into fans when I realized that my newest case mod will have a total of 13 fans in it when it is complete. Thats right, 13 FANS !! (The case will be actually divided into sections, so fans are needed to direct the air flow from section to section. I will be posting some work logs in the near future in the Case modding/worklogs section of this forum. The case mod I am speaking of will be called From Hell)
Anyways, with that many fans my PC was going to sound like a Harrier Jump-Jet taking off in my room. So I decided to do some research. This thread is the fruits of my labor. I hope you can bring something away from this post.
Lets start with a little technical info:
Fans are commonly listed with many numbers and letters giving you detailed specs on it.
Such as this: 120x25mm, 3pin, 12V DC, 1600RPM, 63.57CFM, 27dBA, 2 ball bearing
The 120x25mm is just the size of the fan. The 25mm is the thickness of the fan. This is of important consideration when working in small areas or in places where you dont want the fan so big it takes away from the looks of the overall effect. This is also very important when replacing the stock PSU fan because some PSUs do not have room in it to mount a thicker fan. I ran into that problem with my old OCZ Modstream PSU when I switched out its stock fan for a quieter one that moved more air. Some fans are as big as 46mm thick. The two most common thicknesses are 25mm and 38mm, with 25mm being the most commonly found by far.
The 3pin is simply how it connects to power. If you are looking to plug into your MB fan headers, make sure you get the right fan or buy the 4pin-to-3pin adapter (if it doesnt come with it).
Im sure that the 12V DC, 1600RPM, 63.57CFM, 27dBA stuff you are all familiar with, so I will not go over them except to say that CFM stands for Cubic Feet per Minute. And dBA stands for A-Weighted Decibels.
So in a nutshell, CFM is how much air the fan moves per minute and dBA is how loud the fan is at that given CFM. These are the two most important stats when comparing fans.
Lastly, there will normally be a stat that says one of the following:
Sleeve bearing, Ball bearing or S-DFB (Sony-Dynamic Fluid Bearing)
Instead of getting into the mechanics if each one, here is just a quick breakdown of the 3 types and the estimated lifespan of each type. (these are not my estimates. These estimates are the industry wide MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and all companies use them)
*Sleeve bearing this is by far the most common type. Easy to make, cheap to produce. These fans are normally the loudest and have a MTBF (or estimated lifespan) of 30,000 hours.
*Ball bearing becoming fairly common to find. Usually quieter and lasts 6x longer, but generally costs more than a sleeve bearing fan with equal specs. Has a MTBF of 180,000 hours
*S-DFB (or just DFB) this is the newest technology in fans. Harder to find, costs the most. Doesnt last quite as long as Ball bearing types, but capable of being the quietest of the 3 types. Has a MTBF of 150,000 hours.
<Continued below>