Gentle Typhoon AP-15 or AP-29 or other for H100

[ipaine]

Not sure if people have looked at this before but it has tons of information on lots of fans.

http://pcwatercooling.net/reviews/fa...wall=&start=28

I have found a store online that has the AP-15's in stock, but it is in the UK and I don't know anything about the store and haven't found much for reviews on it. Anyone ever get anything from this place: http://www.cool-and-quiet.co.uk

Also I was looking at Nidec-Servo (the ones who make Gentle Typhoon's) and they supposedly have a 2150RPM version which would be nice, but is not sold anywhere that I know of. I know the reason I was thinking about the higher speed AP-29 was because the static pressure is 0.2 inH20 where the AP-15 is only 0.081 inH20. At the end of the day I will be having whatever I get plugged right into the H100 and controlled through that.

As for the Noiseblockers both the PL-2 and ML12 are louder than the GTs, at least according to that first link I posted in here. I'm not saying they are bad as they are good fans just not as good as the GT's. Also because of the case I'm using, I can't fit any thicker fans like 38mm or 55mm.

[ilya]

Originally Posted by ipaine

Not sure if people have looked at this before but it has tons of information on lots of fans.

http://pcwatercooling.net/reviews/fa...wall=&start=28

As for the Noiseblockers both the PL-2 and ML12 are louder than the GTs, at least according to that first link I posted in here. I'm not saying they are bad as they are good fans just not as good as the GT's. Also because of the case I'm using, I can't fit any thicker fans like 38mm or 55mm.

TBH, the baseline noise used in those reviews is way too high. You can easily hear background noise in his videos, no way his measurements are accurate. Not to mention he can't seem to get any measurements below 30dba, which is likely the internal noise limit of his meter.

I personally prefer the Scythe GT's over the NB PL's and XL's, but having worked with both, I can guarantee you the NB's have far superior acoustics/noise. Also, the NB fans you mentioned are all 25mm thick.

If noise is a priority and you don't mind the price premium, get some NB's.

If you can wait a while, there's a shipment of GT's due for Canada this fall.

[ipaine]

Originally Posted by ilya

TBH, the baseline noise used in those reviews is way too high. You can easily hear background noise in his videos, no way his measurements are accurate. Not to mention he can't seem to get any measurements below 30dba, which is likely the internal noise limit of his meter.

While I agree the background noise and the issue with lower than 30db could be an issue, in this case it isn't really as they are all tested in similar conditions. So yes you can't take those results and compare them with other results on the web, but you can compare them to each other. So that means they are still plenty valid results, at least IMHO.

Originally Posted by ilya

If noise is a priority and you don't mind the price premium, get some NB's.

If you can wait a while, there's a shipment of GT's due for Canada this fall.

The thing is, it is not just noise for me, it is more along the lines of higher cfm per dba along with better static pressure. I am still sort of tempted to go with the AP-29 and just put a 3 pin connector on it. They would be connected to the H100 and would adjust according to the coolant temp. The only thing I am worried about going that route is more of the motor noise that can occur with under-volting the high speed fans. But that said I did not hear any real clicking or other motor noise on the few videos of them going through the volts.

[matari]

The performance boost from one 1800 rpm to another 1800 rpm on a single or dual rad is next to nonexistent. There no point in choosing a fan over the ap15, the San Ace H1011 is the performance king 100 cfm @ 40 dBA. If I get the chance I will make a video of the fans sound.

[lowfat]

The Denki's also tick horribly when used on a PWM fan controller. Even @ 5V they still have considerable motor noise.

[ilya]

Originally Posted by ipaine

So yes you can't take those results and compare them with other results on the web, but you can compare them to each other. So that means they are still plenty valid results, at least IMHO.

The results aren't skewed by the "ambient" noise, (which is very high) but the background noise. You can hear him pushing the buttons in his recordings and touching the camera and you can see the dba meter fluctuate when he does so. Also, when testing products that could potentially reach sub 20dba levels, a good tester would do so remotely. The hard data is simply inaccurate and inconsistent. I'm not trying to bash the reviewer, but something like spl testing requires a lot more attention to detail to do accurately and/or consistently, and ambient noise levels hold much more importance than you may realize.

However, that's not to say that these video reviews have no merit. They do give a good idea of the acoustic characteristics of each fan across its entire voltage range.

EDIT: just wanted to add, Scythe GT's are notorious for generating random annoying noises at certain voltages and when you fluctuate the fan speed. I would recommend against using variable fan control with any GT.

[Eluder]

You guys are spot on when it comes to odd noises from the GT's when used on a fan controller.
This is why I was actually disappointed with them after all the hype when comparing them to the Noctua NF-P12's I was using before.
The Noctua's sound smooth regardless of what speed you run them at, so in my opinion they're quieter than the GT's.

I didn't bother switching them out cause I was just lazy, but I'll see what happens when I get my replacement fan controller from Corsair for the 650D so I can quiet down the rest of the system.

[krazyups]

Originally Posted by ilya

The results aren't skewed by the "ambient" noise, (which is very high) but the background noise. You can hear him pushing the buttons in his recordings and touching the camera and you can see the dba meter fluctuate when he does so. Also, when testing products that could potentially reach sub 20dba levels, a good tester would do so remotely. The hard data is simply inaccurate and inconsistent. I'm not trying to bash the reviewer, but something like spl testing requires a lot more attention to detail to do accurately and/or consistently, and ambient noise levels hold much more importance than you may realize.

However, that's not to say that these video reviews have no merit. They do give a good idea of the acoustic characteristics of each fan across its entire voltage range.

EDIT: just wanted to add, Scythe GT's are notorious for generating random annoying noises at certain voltages and when you fluctuate the fan speed. I would recommend against using variable fan control with any GT.

In order to accurately measure sub 20dba levels (and even up to 30dba), you would need a world class hemi-anechoic (or fully anechoic) chamber. A general rule of thumb is that your ambient (aka, background) noise needs to be 10dba lower than what you are trying to measure for it to have negligible influence on the overall measurement. So you would have to block pretty much all noise in order to reach down to 10dba for ambient ... and that becomes very difficult and extremely costly ... and that's just for the chamber. You would also need very sensitive equipment, calibrated on a regular basis ... yada, yada, yada.

Of course, if you happen to be in Taiwan, you could always see if you could use Gigabyte's chamber ...

[codeman]

Originally Posted by ilya

The results aren't skewed by the "ambient" noise, (which is very high) but the background noise. You can hear him pushing the buttons in his recordings and touching the camera and you can see the dba meter fluctuate when he does so. Also, when testing products that could potentially reach sub 20dba levels, a good tester would do so remotely. The hard data is simply inaccurate and inconsistent. I'm not trying to bash the reviewer, but something like spl testing requires a lot more attention to detail to do accurately and/or consistently, and ambient noise levels hold much more importance than you may realize.

However, that's not to say that these video reviews have no merit. They do give a good idea of the acoustic characteristics of each fan across its entire voltage range.

EDIT: just wanted to add, Scythe GT's are notorious for generating random annoying noises at certain voltages and when you fluctuate the fan speed. I would recommend against using variable fan control with any GT.

Ilya is correct, and I can definitely attest to this. Take this from a guy -me- who spent the money on 12 GT's of the AP13 and AP15 variety. They are horrible when undervolted, and if noise is your top priority you cannot beat the NB's as far as any commercially available fan I've been able to get my hands on.

The performance difference between a GT and NB pro or multiframe is negligible especially when you consider the NB's can be run at a higher RPM than the GT's with better acoustics. The big difference especially is the vibration and low end tone of the GT's, especially when playing with the voltage - "really" bad.

[lowfat]

Funny how I find my AP-15s the opposite. At 12V they sound awful. Especially on a radiator. However @ 5V I think they sound fantastic.