Panaflo U1A (120mm) sound

[GenGoku]

I'm planning on getting the BIX and fitting two 120mm fans on it; one blowing freash air, one sucking into the case. I've been reading that the Panaflo's are one of the most recommended case fans for it's high CFM and low DBA.

The 120mm panaflo i'm looking at is the U1A which boasts >100CFM @ 45dba. That alone makes it pretty loud but if it is hooked up to a rheo fanbus, what voltage should I expect to drop it down to when just computing (word, photoshop, coding) and how loud the dba would be? Same question when hard-core gaming.

I plan to watercool both CPU (XP 1600+ o/c to whatever it can get, maybe around 1.6ghz) and GF3Ti200 (o/c'd to Ti500 specs). Pump used will be Eheim 1250 (300GPH) in a Lian Li PC65

[Cyco-Dude]

if its on a rheobus, you cant really dial in a certain voltage (unless you use a multimeter to see what the actual voltage is). you can take it down as low or as high as you want. but iwhan running in CPU intensive tasks it would obviously be a good idea to run the fans on high or maximum voltage.

no duh right?

[UpAllNight]

thave have abiut the same setup u are talking about(check my sig for spec,s)

i run my fan at 1/2 speed on a rheobus and i can hear my hard drive spin up(so its quiet but i just have 1 panaflo)

my temps in my sig are at 1/2 speed

at full speed it only drops maybe 1c its not woth the trade in noise though(sounds like a delta at full throttle)

[WebMasta33]

Yeah, the Panaflow 120mm High output was waaaaay too loud for me, so I 7 volted it. It puts out more air (test by feel), and at about the same volume as my 120mm Low output panaflow.

To me, the high output sounds like a delta screamer, but low pitch instead of high.

[GenGoku]

Thanks all for the replies. When the U1A is at half speed, how noticable is the sound?

Do you (talking to everyone) think a 7v U1A is good enough to cool down an o/c'd 1600+ and GPU (GF3Ti200) then bump it up to full speed (as needed) when gaming/benchmarking or should I expect to use two U1A's sandwiching a BIX?

I still need to see how I'll be setting up the BIX in a Lian Li PC65. Probably see if a BIX can fit over the PSU or try to mod the front to make clearance for fans/BIX.

My main concern is how loud the fan(s) are. Ambient can get as high as 90F/32C in my bedroom (in summer) till I get home and turn on the air conditioning.

[UpAllNight]

do u have your heart set on a BIX...i think the heatercore is a little bit better at cooling with low fan speed...but the heatercore takes up a little more room than a BIX

with my heatercore and 1 panaflo 120mm at half speed it cools my Geforce3 Ti200 and XP1800(172x10.5)very nicely and u shouldnt have to change fan speeds when gaming or anything else for that matter

[GenGoku]

UpAllNight,

Not really, I'm new at watercooling so I just see what everyone else is going and jump on the bandwagon. This will be my first watercooled setup, so figuring that a lot of other peeps use BIX, I figured I might as well too.

Do you have any suggestions on where to get a decent heatercore, what i should be looking for in a heatercore (or what do you use?), and/or know of guides on how to set it up? do you use this?

Which panaflow 120mm do you have? L1A, H1A, U1A?

Are you using DD or DTek's GeForce waterblock?

Thanks.

Can't wait till i get the Lian Li and water setup
Would a heatercore fit nicely in a Lian Li PC65?

[redleader]

U1A is overkill. An M1A is probably enough for anything with a good rad.

I'd get an H1A an throttle that because you probably can't decrease the voltage much below 7 without stalling the fan, and even at 7v the U1A is still going to be pretty load.

[Brad]

I'd probably go with an M1A or H1A, simply because the U1A is just a bit too loud. Unless you like 38cfm 60mm delta's. You'll find they'll cool your cpu just fine as well

[GenGoku]

M1A or H1A

if i get either, will i be 7v'ing them? Never heard of M1A, I'll check those out

thx


Comparisons

Size	Model	CFM	dBA
120mm 	L1A 	68.9 	30 
120mm 	M1A 	86.5 	35.5 
120mm 	H1A 	103.8 	41.5 
120mm 	U1A 	114.7 	45.5

86.5@35.5dBA seems to be plenty airflow and quiet. Does anyone notice if 2 M1A's are very noticable when you walk in your room?

How do 1 fan setups normally work? blowing fresh air on the core/rad or sucking like an exhaust or sucking into the case? As mentioned before, my room can be as hot as 90F/32C during summer so I'd need 2 panaflo's sandwiching my core/rad right?

sorry for all these question, just wanna get my facts straight. Hopefully someone as confused as I am is reading this too

[Divided]

M1A's are the way to go

[GenGoku]

think (know?) you'd be able to hear it if i sandwiched a rad/core? Also, what fans do you guys normally use for intake/exhaust depending if you're using the rad as the intake/exhaust?

[Cyco-Dude]

im using one of these fans to suck cool outside air thur my rad (a DDen heater core). they have specs comparable to panaflos (they're in between the medium and high-speed 120mm panaflos). with two of them on at 12 volts, they are relatively quiet. you can hear them of course, but they arent annoying at all. with them running at 7 volts, they are exrememly quiet (you can still hear them if you have a good ear). my hdds are louder than these fans @ 7v lol.

[BrianH]

Hi All

Just put together my first WC system. I am using 2 X 120 Medium speed panaflo's with a BIX in the middle with a 1" air gap on each side. I have them hooked up to a rheobus. At the full 12v them can be heard and are a bit noisier than the harddrives. I can turn them down to where I can barely headr them and there has been no increase in temp. I would say the medium's with a rheobus is a very good combo.... Let's you OC to the make for bench making and little noise for every day use

[GenGoku]

BrianH,

did you make your own or did you get that $45 RheoBus or other?

[Cyco-Dude]

heres a good pre-made one. they've redesigned it so the knobs are centered. its easy to add LEDs to. im modding one now and ill write up a quick review once i finish mods and get pics developed (ya, i use a REAL camera lol).

also note that the PCmods unit's $46 price does not include knobs or LEDs...

[GenGoku]

do the lights act as a dimmer so we know the intensity of each fan or are they just for show?

These are aluminum right? Wanna make sure it matches my (soon-to-be) Lian Li PC65 :P

Can't wait for your pics/renew

[Cyco-Dude]

i dont think the LEDs for the PCmods rheobus dim as the voltage decreases, but im not sure (since i dont have one). all the knobs for both units are aluminum.
and yes, its very simple to add LEDs to the Caseetc Maelstrom, and they do dim as the voltage drops (and the mod doesnt void the units warranty).

[BrianH]

GenGoku

The purchased the CaseEtc model w/o the lights. I try to make my PC very low key. In fact, it is all black with the chrome dials and blowhole covers. Here is what's hooked up to it

1 x 120mm low speed Panaflo as top blow hole... Can be heard if you are listening for it, otherwise easy to ignore

2 x 80mm low speed Panaflo's on the back. Dead silent!

1 x 80mm low speed Panaflo for a side blowhole. Again dead silent.

2 x 120mm medium speed Panaflo's on a BIX rad. At full speed they can be noticable. But you can turn them down until you can barely heard them. Then the harddrives and cr-rom's kick .....

Hope this helps

[pHaestus]

One elegant solution would be to make a thermally-controlled setup with a flat thermistor next to the side of the CPU core or (better yet) epoxied under the center of the core. Use that temp (should be in the 30-45C range) to adjust the voltage applied to the fan on the radiator (use an LM317T). You would have a knob on the front of the case still (the potentiometer) that would allow you to dial in how much the fan speed varies with temperature and also this would let you override the temp control. The circuit isn't too complicated:

http://www.tweaktech.com/complab/vfcu.htm

That will give you quiet when the system is idle, airflow when the system is under load, and a fun weekend project

[bigben2k]

Originally posted by pHaestus
One elegant solution would be to make a thermally-controlled setup with a flat thermistor next to the side of the CPU core or (better yet) epoxied under the center of the core. Use that temp (should be in the 30-45C range) to adjust the voltage applied to the fan on the radiator (use an LM317T). You would have a knob on the front of the case still (the potentiometer) that would allow you to dial in how much the fan speed varies with temperature and also this would let you override the temp control. The circuit isn't too complicated:

http://www.tweaktech.com/complab/vfcu.htm

That will give you quiet when the system is idle, airflow when the system is under load, and a fun weekend project

It's a nice idea pHaestus, but isn't it just overly complicated?

I see what you mean, and I will do that, with a Pelt, but only because I'm trying to save power. In this case, noise being the issue, I'd just set the fans speed to where it's quiet (like in the circuit that you linked to) and just forget about it. I don't see the point of running a fan based on temps, or more specifically, running fans undervolted (which is not a bad thing) below "quiet mode", if the system should always be quiet.

On the other hand, if noise isn't an issue, then a thermally controlled fan would work very well, and it would have to be linked to a probe, like you suggested.

As for the knobs, I had this idea of hidding them behing some kind of swinging door, right on the 5 1/4 plate, because really, one doesn't fiddle with these all that often. They could even be replaced by miniature pots, the kind you set with a screwdriver.

Then the multi colored LEDs, etc...

[pHaestus]

It is definitely more complex, but it solves the "what if my system overheats because I set my fans too low" issue. For me, adjustable fans are a must because I always start out with a new system thinking "I want it to be silent" and then end up replacing the fans later when the case and cooling can't handle the heat from my overclocking antics. Maybe I am the only person that does this?

[GenGoku]

What about the actual face-plate? Is that aluminum too?

[Cyco-Dude]

you use whatever faceplates your computer uses.

[GenGoku]

so those "pre-made" rheobus' have everythign setup except the face-plates or do i still have to whip out more tools to finish the job?