120mm Radiator Fan Roundup Part 2: Fan Harder
by Dustin Sklavos on October 22, 2012 12:01 AM ESTScythe Slipstream ST1225SL12L
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 40.17 | none given | 800 | 10.7 |
This fan in particular was one I picked up some time ago on a recommendation from Silent PC Review. I was looking for a fan that delivered a good blend of performance and acoustics, and this looked to be it. As it turns out, the Slipstream has served me well for a fairly long time. It's barely inaudible but it does move a decent amount of air (I used a pair on a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ heatsink). With my history on hand, I was curious to see if it really was as good as I thought.
Thermaltake TT-1225
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 41.6 | none given | 1400 | 21 |
This one's kind of an oddball. It's ratings are lowish and you can't find it in retail anymore, but it saw inclusion in a lot of different cases over the years. It wouldn't be surprising if some enthusiasts had one or two laying around. Since I had one, I figured I'd test it too.
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Antec TwoCool 120
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 21.3/42.6 | 0.24/0.96 | 600/1200 | 17/23.7 |
Antec's TwoCool 120 isn't readily available in retail on its own, but is included with the popular P280 enclosure as well as a few other models. I was actually using a pair of these briefly to cool a 240mm radiator. If you have an Antec case that uses these, it may be worth seeing if they're a decent alternative to the stock fans that come with your radiator or cooler.
NOT AVAILABLE
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soloburrito - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
So yeah, there are a lot of fans you guys will obviously miss out on, but if given the opportunity, I wouldn't mind burning $10 or $15 to send a fan for you all to test straight from a distributor.That's the easy part. Whether you have enough time to put dozens more fans through their proper paces is another issue entirely.
Just a thought.
Adamantine - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I would like to point out that you at least have an understanding of what specs are important for fan performance and that you spent quite a bit of time doing the review. The fans in the test, don't really have a problem with the results, although the review is not perfect. Hopefully, you're going with more of a database approach and just haven't gotten to the most highly regarded fans for radiators. Also, you should consider going with the higher speed fans since higher speed fans have more versatility when combined with fan controller. There are a couple models out there that make weird or annoying noises when combined with a fan controller, although sometimes the same model at a lower speed doesn't have the noise.Some of the highly regarded fans (most are based on Sony's fluid bearing):
Gentle Typhoon 1850
Scythe S-Flex
Gelid NFB
Cougar PWM 1500
Cougar 1200
DanNeely - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I'd also like to see at least one Yate-Loon fan. They're a popular budget model and seeing how they stack up with higher end fans would be beneficial.Juddog - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Co-signed for Yate-Loon; all the fans in my quiet case are yate-loons and I love them, especially when tweaked with a fan-bay adapter.One other thing to note for future fan reviews is that some fans seem to perform ok with fan bay adapters whereas others have issues.
Ananke - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I have Yate-Loon. Bought on clearance from Microcenter three years ago for $2 each. That thing is amazing. Absolutely inaudible and OK airflow. In comparison to the 120 mm Yate-Loon, the Antec fans in this review at lowest speed are noisy. All the Cooler Masters I owned sound like jet - absolutely intolerable and tossed immediately.I agree, for low noise, people should just buy the SONY fluid bearings based solutions.
sicofante - Sunday, October 28, 2012 - link
Radiator fans don't need to just move air, they need a high air pressure. The Yate-Loons are great case fans, but not that great radiator fans. (Including them would prove that, but the point of a review like this is comparing radiator-friendly fans. Not discard those which aren't.)Streetwind - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Poor Dustin, prodding the bees' nest again :D I think you can produce another 20 roundups like this and still not leave everyone happy. I'm saying this because I know a German reviewer who's so far looked at 130 different fans, only 120mm models, and he still doesn't have nearly all often-requested models either!Just shows what a big deal noise and thermals are to enthusiasts, who sadly often forget that the specific ranking among fans is influenced more than anything else by the specific testing method, and that different fans are designed for different jobs (for example, your beQuiet rep was right - the Silentwings series was never really meant to sit on a radiator).
That said, I still thank you for the review and hope you'll do a few more despite the crazy comments they tend to induce. Like, have you seen Noiseblocker's new bionic loop fan? That might be worth testing just for the sheer "what the heck is this even" factor :D
As an aside, some of the European brand fans seem to cost more than two times as much in the US, even after adjusting for currency conversion, if they can be found at all. I can only assume it's the same the other way around (for example, we don't get Rosewill fans at all over here). It's really a bit of a shame.
DanNeely - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Got a link to his reviews?Finally - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
THIS is the German site you mentioned:http://kdb.orthy.de/index.php?tablename=Luefter&am...
I personally prefer Enermax T.B. Silence.
It's extraordinarily quiet and I can plaster my whole PC with 3 of them for just 18€.
DanNeely - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Thanks. Am I overlooking it, or this reviewer only looking at noise levels and not cooling performance?