Pro/Forums - View Single Post

Cathar · 12-30-2005, 02:22 AM

In my testing I continue to see steady improvements with the PA120.x radiators from weak fans right up to ~120CFM fans. Haven't tried stronger fans. I do have a 220CFM 12cm TFB Delta here, but it's noisier than a construction site when turned on.

It's not like the PA120.x rads suddenly run out of puff with stronger fans, nor do they really even taper off that much. They taper off slightly more steeply than the HE rads, but because they start out so superior to the HE rads with weak fans, the cross-over point is way up in the 110-120cfm fannage range.

The PA rads like fans with stronger pressure characteristics, meaning that one can't simply just look at a fan's CFM rating and predict that it'll necessarily be better than a fan with lesser CFM. One such example is the ThermalTake ThunderBlade fans, which at 85CFM you would think that they'd do pretty well, but are out-performed by the 69CFM Panaflo L1A's, and even equalled by the 55CFM Papst 4312L.

It really comes down to finding the fans with the PQ curves that work best with the rad when trying to balance performance vs noise.

In that respect, my recommendations from fans I've personally tried are:

Near Silent: Nexus, Noiseblocker SX1
Quiet: Yate-Loon/Tricod Science
Moderate: Papst 4312L
Noisy: Panaflo H1A

If you wanted a fan that does it all, and don't mind the bearing drone at lower speeds, the H1A is your best bet. At 12v it provides ~40% higher heat dissipation than the Yate Loon @ 12v. At 7v it equals the Papst 4312L @ 12v, but is quieter than the Papst by quiet a deal. At 5v it provides performance on par with a Noiseblocker SX1, but had a bearing tick that roughly puts it on par with the Tricod @ 12v for noise.

An H1A on a rheobus will give you the best of all worlds so long as you're not a silence nut. I am a bit of a near-silence nut myself though, so I don't use the Panaflo fans, and instead use the Yate-Loon/Tricod's, and then rheobus them down in speed with a lot of radiator capacity.

So I guess, if there's one fan you're after for that's best in terms of power, noise, performance, when used with the PA120.x, it would be the Yate-Loon's. When given sufficient radiator capacity (eg. 120.3, or more) then there's almost no PC based heat load short of cooling TEC's that it won't satisfactorily deal with (satisfactory meaning no more than a 5C rise in radiator outlet water temps above ambient) in relative quiet with the fans at 12v.

Oh, and thanks for the Acoustifan Dustproof to try out. Noise-wise there is no comparison with the Yate-Loon/Tricod. The Acoustifan is much noiser. I'm going to attempt to gather some performance results on the PA120.1 with the Acoustifan Dustproof, but my initial reaction to its noise-level, both blade and bearing, is such that I'm incredibly surprised that some would even dream of recommending it as a quiet fan. Only at 7V can I get it to be anything like as quiet as the Yate-Loon's at 12v.

12-30-2005, 02:22 AM	#41
Cathar Thermophile Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 2,538	Re: PA120.3 vs HE120.3 vs PA160 In my testing I continue to see steady improvements with the PA120.x radiators from weak fans right up to ~120CFM fans. Haven't tried stronger fans. I do have a 220CFM 12cm TFB Delta here, but it's noisier than a construction site when turned on. It's not like the PA120.x rads suddenly run out of puff with stronger fans, nor do they really even taper off that much. They taper off slightly more steeply than the HE rads, but because they start out so superior to the HE rads with weak fans, the cross-over point is way up in the 110-120cfm fannage range. The PA rads like fans with stronger pressure characteristics, meaning that one can't simply just look at a fan's CFM rating and predict that it'll necessarily be better than a fan with lesser CFM. One such example is the ThermalTake ThunderBlade fans, which at 85CFM you would think that they'd do pretty well, but are out-performed by the 69CFM Panaflo L1A's, and even equalled by the 55CFM Papst 4312L. It really comes down to finding the fans with the PQ curves that work best with the rad when trying to balance performance vs noise. In that respect, my recommendations from fans I've personally tried are: Near Silent: Nexus, Noiseblocker SX1 Quiet: Yate-Loon/Tricod Science Moderate: Papst 4312L Noisy: Panaflo H1A If you wanted a fan that does it all, and don't mind the bearing drone at lower speeds, the H1A is your best bet. At 12v it provides ~40% higher heat dissipation than the Yate Loon @ 12v. At 7v it equals the Papst 4312L @ 12v, but is quieter than the Papst by quiet a deal. At 5v it provides performance on par with a Noiseblocker SX1, but had a bearing tick that roughly puts it on par with the Tricod @ 12v for noise. An H1A on a rheobus will give you the best of all worlds so long as you're not a silence nut. I am a bit of a near-silence nut myself though, so I don't use the Panaflo fans, and instead use the Yate-Loon/Tricod's, and then rheobus them down in speed with a lot of radiator capacity. So I guess, if there's one fan you're after for that's best in terms of power, noise, performance, when used with the PA120.x, it would be the Yate-Loon's. When given sufficient radiator capacity (eg. 120.3, or more) then there's almost no PC based heat load short of cooling TEC's that it won't satisfactorily deal with (satisfactory meaning no more than a 5C rise in radiator outlet water temps above ambient) in relative quiet with the fans at 12v. Oh, and thanks for the Acoustifan Dustproof to try out. Noise-wise there is no comparison with the Yate-Loon/Tricod. The Acoustifan is much noiser. I'm going to attempt to gather some performance results on the PA120.1 with the Acoustifan Dustproof, but my initial reaction to its noise-level, both blade and bearing, is such that I'm incredibly surprised that some would even dream of recommending it as a quiet fan. Only at 7V can I get it to be anything like as quiet as the Yate-Loon's at 12v. Last edited by Cathar; 12-30-2005 at 02:42 AM.