Even there aftermarket fans suck. The only thing I need to decide now is weather to put the SFF21E or the SFF21F in my case. Im using the 21F on the CPU Cooler but 21Es are cheaper.
From what I've been reading elsewhere, put in the 21F. If they turn out to be too noisy, replace them with the 21Es. Otherwise, leave them in. NewEgg is offering them with free shipping. Dick
and I prefer the noise a PS2 fan makes To be fair, getting a bit technical, it all has to do with not just the fan itself, but where it is mounted. If you've ever owned an Xbox 360, or heard one, it has a relatively unique horrible plastic resonance sound from the fans (we'll ignore the noisy DVD drive). The fans by themselves aren't great but if you were to hold them in your hand while they were spinning at the exact same speed they'd make less than a quarter of the noise - the fan isn't producing that racket, it's the vibration from the fan moving through the enclosure the fan's screwed into. My PC does the exact same thing, in the HAF case, the side panel is made from a pretty cheap material, which means case fans mounted to it produce the same vibration. The top panel, however, since it forms part of the whole rest of the case, produces almost no vibrations at all, making the exact same fans sound half as noisy.
I use soft rubber fan mounts on my side case fans. They seem to eliminate just about all case vibration in my CM-690. Dick
They can do, but it all depends on the strength and acoustics of the vibration concerned. Some noises those mounts eliminate almost entirely, whereas for others they're near-useless. Sadly that's one of those things you'll never know unless you test.
Very true, but fortunately they are pretty cheap. These are the ones I've used in the past and they did a decent job of quieting down the fans on my rather vibration-prone side panels, but I've found they are not really re-usable as they tend to stretch out of shape when you remove them--especially after trimming off the pigtails. I tried using some of the short fasteners, but I wasn't happy with how securely they held the fans in place. Also, while they might appear easy to mount, they can all be a challenge in tight quarters. Dick
I also have a boatfull of those rubber fan mounts...they seem to make noise worse in most cases I have tried them in. I prefer the rubber pads that go between the fan and the case (like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...09&cm_re=fan_vibration-_-11-999-209-_-Product ) ...and those only work well on cheap cases anyway.
Good news, bad news. Good news: It looks like Sharkoon has come to California! I just received this update from their distributor: Dear Dick, You can purchase the fans here.... http://www.acomdata.com/app/stx.products.asp?cid=25 Eunice Huang 909-786-4288 x122 Skype: Eunice_huang It looks like their fans come in four speeds plus PWM. $20 for 120mm, $17 for 80mm. Bad news: It appears Acomdata only ships within the USA. Dick
Sweet...I'll have to order a couple of them to see if they have gotten past their bearing problems. It isn't often I am happy to live in the USA, but I guess there are some perks.
