I am looking to stock up on a bunch of replacement case fans for my four CM-690 cases. I am looking for the best combination of quietness and air flow. I am not looking for high-pressure processor cooling fans, but low-pressure case fans (different designs depending on whether you are trying to push air through tightly-spaced cooling fins or trying to push lots of air into a case). My standard of reference (and the fans I am replacing) is the common CoolerMaster R4-S2S-12AK-GP. In a nutshell, it's a common 12 cm 20 dBA 40 CFM case fan. I don't want my replacements to be a whole lot noisier than these, but I want them to push a lot more air. My 12 cm candidates: XIGMATEK XSF-F1251 Scythe SY1225SL12M My 14 cm candidates: XIGMATEK XLF-F1455 Scythe SY1425SL12M I was also looking at Noctua, but their new fans appear to be designed for high-pressure (processor cooling) applications. The XIGMATIC fans look very good on paper, but the Scythe fans have an excellent reputation. How do these fans hold up and compare in the real world? Dick
I like the new Sharkoon fans a lot...but they are a pain in the *** to get unless you live in Germany or Austria.
Yeah...I'm thinking of buying a few of them and having them shipped over...the old version of the fan was great, and they claim the new ones are both quieter and more powerfull. The only things keeping me from making the order are: 1.) I hate amazon, and feel guilty about buying anything from them. 2.) My old SilentX fans are still running strong & quiet...I think they have actually gotten quieter since they were new.
Or the UK. But don't bother. I had a Sharkoon case fan, and the bearings lasted all of six weeks before degrading. The Antec tricools I bought suffered the same issue. Every scythe fan I've ever owned (and that's quite a few) have been perfect and some are approaching a couple of years old. Noctua's fans are pretty dire really, they have a design flaw in the bearings that means they become twice as loud after 4-5 days of use. Noctua don't seem to have noticed. Overall I'd always vote for Scythe. Expensive, but worth the money.
I had asked for some advice some time ago and Sam had the same opinion about the Scythe. I agreed and currently have 2 Scythe SFF21F(1600rpm) as optional Case fans (Antec Twelve Hundred) and 2 Scythe SFF21G(1900rpm)on my BRUTAL heatsink (Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme) . I have to say, they are A1!
Mmhmm, S-Flexes are pretty amazing for pressured airflow. Overall, the Slipstreams seem to be better by specification. I should have some arriving tomorrow or Saturday so I will let you know how good they are (I bought 6 )
I'll be waiting for your view into those. At least 2 things about PC's are not that expensive: Thermal Paste and Fans!
How about ramsinks or SATA cables...these are cheap too. I actualy liked my Scythe fan (other than the speed controler and the wiring). However, one of their crummy heatsinks damaged one of my mainboards and they refused even to replace the defective heatsink, let alone the board (the plate behind the mainboard had a plastic-like part that melted (chip temp was under 40C), causing the metal part to short the board). Ever since, I have not been able to trust them. I still like my SilentX fans more anyway. I guess I got lucky with my Sharkoon...it has been working fine for me for about two years of running 24/7 other than upgrades.
I don't really like Scythe's heatsinks, for mainly the reason they described. Their fans however, are top notch. I would never buy SilenX as all their recent products are absolute crap. So far so good with the Slipstreams, they seem rather prone to speed changes at full speed, but they're so noisy at full speed anyway that you wouldn't really care. At low speed they seem pretty stable. The amount of air they move is vast.
I just go my Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F the other day and it is amazing! Its quiet and moves alot more air then my stock Thermaltake Mozart TX case fans do. The stock fans barley move a piece of paper but the Scythe bends it in half.
