Good Fan Brands

[c_hegge]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I'm holding a Delta AFB1212GHE-CF00 (120mm, 12V, 240CFM) right now.

I used to have two of those on the load tester. At 5V, they wouldn't start. At 7V, they would twitch every second or so, but still not start (even if you turned them manually). At 12V, they were extremely loud, but you couldn't hear any clicking over the air noise.

[lexwalker]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Alternatively there's Enermax Twister Magma fan (also in the ball bearing category), powerful and quieter than most other high CFM fans around.

Quotes from a review here: AnandTech | 120mm Radiator Fan Roundup Part 2: Fan Harder: Conclusion: Who's King of the Hill?...

Finally, if you want a proper balance of noise and performance, I'm mostly pleased to report that some of the common wisdom on forums is actually true: Noctua's NF-F12 and Enermax's Magma are both excellent fans. I think the Enermax Magma overall has to get my best in show award for producing performance that typically takes a much louder fan to achieve, and at $13.99 it's a pretty wicked deal. It's not perfect but it's mighty close.

Now, with that said, which one would I actually choose to put in my own system if money were no object? Honestly I'd probably go with the Noctua NF-F12. The NF-F12 is a more flexible fan with a pleasant noise character and excellent performance. That $29.99 sticker price is vicious, though. For most users, I'd strongly recommend sticking with the Enermax Magma for the best blend of performance and price.

[Wester547]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I would have to hazard a guess that Sunon fans have taken a dive in quality over time. Ten to fifteen years back, I've seen Sunon sleeve bearing and Maglev fans last many years of 24/7 use, still spin freely, and have plenty of lubricant left.... and that's at full speed (12V). They still had vibration problems, though, and still made rattling noises, but that's by design. In more recent years, their sleeve bearing fans seem to fail in a matter of a few years even below half speed or so and their Maglev fans don't seem to fare much better. Delta fans are rather loud, but at least the amount of air they move is copious for all the noise they generate, and they've always been reliable in my experience. Nidec fans are quiet and good. I don't think I've seen a seized one, but in my experience, they don't move quite as much air as Sunon or Delta fans do, understandable for how quiet they are though.

I'd say a well lubricated sleeve bearing fan is the best option for their better shock resistance than dual ball bearing fans. However, shock resistance shouldn't be that much of an issue for fans that will be screwed safely into a chassis, grate, or grille most of their life.

[Pentium4]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Is it pretty safe to say that when a fan stops spinning and has a nice "rock" to it, and not abruptly stop, that it's in good shape?

[cheapie]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I used to have two of those on the load tester. At 5V, they wouldn't start.

Are you sure it was the AFB series? The datasheet for the AFB series says that the AFB1212GHE should run at as low as 6 volts. Mine starts right up at 5 volts and runs at 1500 RPM.

Also, I just found that it makes a nice fan for cooling myself if I set it on the desk and run it on 5 volts. At 12 it flies away.

but you couldn't hear any clicking over the air noise.

I don't think you can hear much of anything over the air noise...

[c_hegge]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I'll dig one out when I get home from work, but I'm pretty sure it was.

[ant3202]

Re: Good Fan Brands

sunon adda panaflo

[c_hegge]

Re: Good Fan Brands

IMO, ADDA sleeve bearing = Junk. They aren't quite as bad as T&T and Ruilian/Tricod Science, but I've seen plenty of them get noisy and fail.

[ben7]

Re: Good Fan Brands

My fav fan brands are:

Papst
Delta
NMB (Minebea)
Nidec

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Good Fan Brands

b7's list, plus Rotron, EBM (part of or bought Papst?) and Panasonic (Panaflo). Not knocking Sanyo Denki, just don't have experience with them. Back in the late 80s I had a Rotron 24V 120mm fan sample that would start reliably at 5V, though they would "only" guarantee 11V or 12V (I forget which).

[lti]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I did notice one of them makes that "ticking" sound, not too bad though. Is that what you are talking about?

I notice a lot of vibration from the Evercool fan in my computer.

[Pentium4]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I think it's actually amazing how long some of the cheap fan brands can last running at 12V all the time

[luke10050]

Re: Good Fan Brands

yeah i have a few old sunons (around 10 years) that were used in industrial applications for around 10 years, they still work perfectly fine. they are the really high rpm ones too (3k+). so in my experience sunons are pretty good

[Pentium4]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Speaking of Tricod/Ruilian Science. This guy still works, and it's 10 years old. Even has the manufactured date on it. It still spins quite nicely, but only 10k hours on it. Had plenty of grease in the bearing but it was getting dry

[c_hegge]

Re: Good Fan Brands

^
I've seen those in Codegen PSUs lots of times. Usually, they are noisy or failed by the time I get my hands on them.

[Pentium4]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Funny you mention it because there was almost the same fan in the Codegen PSU that also came in that customers computer. I was completely amazed that the fan still worked, along with none of the HEC caps bulged, and two 5A diodes soldered to a bracket on the 12V handled a P4 build the whole time...

[Behemot]

Re: Good Fan Brands

P4 does not automatically mean evil. Most Northwood models had more or less good power consumption.

[Pentium4]

Re: Good Fan Brands

That is true, shorter pipeline. it was a Northwood. I was also amazed that the Teapo on the passive video card and OST on the VRM of the motherboard weren't bulged. Miracle?

[mockingbird]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Anyone familiar with Top Motor? Chenbro likes to use them in their cases... My personal experience with the sleeve bearing models is that the bearings can completely seize when the fan is constantly operating in very hot conditions. OTOH, I have some sleeve bearing models still out in the field working fine (albeit in far cooler conditions). I'm probably going to pick up some 120mm ball-bearing models soon, have never bought them before to my knowledge, but they are very competetively priced.

[ratdude747]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Anyone familiar with Top Motor? Chenbro likes to use them in their cases... My personal experience with the sleeve bearing models is that the bearings can completely seize when the fan is constantly operating in very hot conditions. OTOH, I have some sleeve bearing models still out in the field working fine (albeit in far cooler conditions). I'm probably going to pick up some 120mm ball-bearing models soon, have never bought them before to my knowledge, but they are very competetively priced.

I've seen thier stuff. Not quite mediocre, but not quite good either. Maybe just below or on par with globe.