The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

Yeah, very tolerable. They do move a reasonable amount of air too.

 

Oman7,

Generally not too quiet, because the quietest 120 I know of that moves a high amount of air is the Silverstone FN-121 that moves 53cfm of air. there's also the Scythe SY1225SL12M 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan that moves 68 CFM of air, but are not too good as intakes. They just don't have a lot of air pressure. It does work excellent as my "Pull" fan on the CoolIt R-120 ALC CPU cooler, in conjunction with the stock 1800rpm 63cfm fan. If I do get the Storm 1000 case, I'll put in 2 FN-121 120mm fans. That will give me 106cfm total airflow. Most of the 200s are either 76cfm or 89.5cfm. I don't see any 230mm fans at all at newegg. Nzxt makes a 200mm 1300rpm 166cfm fan, but it is 37+ dBA. Too loud for me! LOL!!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Depends what they're pushing against, in a simple grille setup without thick filters, the slipstreams work pretty well (even if they are quite unreliable), but in a dusty environment where you need thick dust filters I can see why you'd go for a 7-blade fan instead. I would like to try NZXT's 200mm fan, because the one reason I dislike massive case fans is they never go fast enough to be any better than an equivalent number of smaller fans. Four 1900rpm slipstreams on my side panel and two on the top allow 500CFM plus, well in excess of the 250CFM or so the pair of 230mm fans put out. I assume it's for current reasons, because a 200mm fan that fast would way overdraw a board fan connector, but be fine hooked up to a controller.

 

Sam,

The big problem is finding 230mm fans! Newegg doesn't list any! That's why I opted for 200mm fans because I want something that can easily be replaced.

The Nzxt 200mm FN200RB moves 166cfm of air@ 1300 rpm, but makes too much noise at 37.26 dBA. Sure, you can slow it down, but 2 Silverstone FN-121 120mm fans will move 106cfm at 1200rpm with almost no noise at all! it's the quietest fan in my case after the 800rpm Scythe Kama Bay fan. Dust does not seem to be an issue with them either. I still have my first one that I bought over 1 1/2 years ago, and it's still very quiet.

Russ

 

Perhaps they're moving away from the 230mm fans. I'm not seeing any either. Which is fine and good. It seems more logical to have multiple 120mm fans at lower Rpms(with the option of high speed), than a large fan at a reasonable Rpm. Though expensive :S My next tax return though I'll be able to build a very powerful computer. Should be my best yet! I'll likely upgrade my GPU at the time too

I wonder if I'll go with another HAF case, or something entirely different. I may decide to go with a case based on how many hard drives it can hold. What can I say, I'm a hard drive hoard.

 

They are, the 200mm fans are their replacement so that they can use a standard size. Originally, the 'large' fan designation was 250mm, some brands like CM chose 230, and Antec 200. Now though, we seem to be finally approaching a standard size so you can replace fans with various brands, a long time coming. I had my eyes on an NZXT Phantom a while back, but with so much spare hardware, I don't have the heart to sell any of my cases, so I won't be buying any new ones for a long time to come.

 

Check out this beast!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815011&Tpk=N82E16811815011
I'd really have a heavy computer here LOL! It supports some pretty big boards. I'm months away from purchasing anything though, so my plans will likely change. More admiring than anything though It'd sure support some long Video cards though!

 

Tbh, for that sort of money, $40 more buys you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001
which I would probably prefer over a Xigmatek. They are pretty tasteful cases, having seen a couple in the flesh, absolutely vast though. The HAF932 is a big case, but the 800D completely dwarfs it.

 

I like the look of the corsair too. I'm gonna have trouble choosing another case LOL! I will be choosy though. 2 large cases should be all I'll ever need I'll probably be cheap though. Don't wanna spend a good percentage of my return on just the case :S Though I realize you get what you pay for.

 

the corsair is bloody fantastic!

 

The 800D wouldn't be much good for me as a server case though as the max it can hold even with a bay adapter is 10 HDDs, whereas my current NZXT Whisper will hold 17 (and indeed, I had 13 in it for quite some time, and have 11 in it right now)

 

Oman7,

The whole point of my thinking on using a pair of Silverstone FN-121 fans is that they are so quiet, Vibration free and extremely reliable, even at full speed. I never expected in a million years that they would be so reliable. Traditionally, most non ball bearing fans have a History of early failure in this part of the country, even the magnetically sealed ones. The particle size of the dust here is astonishingly small, yet hard as a rock. Even Fluid Dynamic bearings don't last. The Scythe Slipstreams have held up very well too, and they are not ball bearing either.

Hey! We may be moving to Colorado. The altitude where we are looking is 4066', but the air is so much cleaner than in So California! I get off to the idea of being able to see more than just the 3 or 4 brightest stars in the sky at night, as I haven't been able to see constellations since I first moved here 11 years ago. I have a couple of good telescopes, but they aren't of much use if there's nothing to see! :0) I'll let you know!

Russ

 

A lot of it is down to mounts. Most cases transmit quite a lot of vibration with fans mounted laterally, especially side fans as they are mounted directly to the side panel rather than a bracket of some kind first. Vertical vibrations are much lower, hence the same fans in the same case, my top slipstreams are barely audible until about 1500rpm where the airflow noise becomes evident, yet the side slipstreams produce clearly audible tones above about 750-800rpm. This is true of every fan tested in the HAF932, from blaring Silverstone FM121s, to Scythe Slipstreams, Antec Tricools, and Nexus realsilents. At the front, back or top, they'll be pretty quiet in most steel cases (front and rear only in most aluminium cases, sometimes front only), but on the side, there's a universal offset of noise by several decibels.

 

LOL! plenty of stars here No city lights to muck up the scenery.

I'm probably gonna get the brow for this, but I gotta ask. What do you think of this one? Based on hard drive capacity, I think it's a freak!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103039
What IS the largest affordable case considering hard drive capacity?

 

It takes true skill for XClio to make their cases so ugly
I'm usually pretty tolerant with aesthetics, but lol, that case is hideous, sorry!

 

there was a time where i thought their cases were the dogs bollocks......

 

Oman7,

Well, I guess that the neighbors calling the Fire Dept. to report your house being on fire could be a bit annoying, what with all of those LEDs. i read a review on this case, not too lomg ago, and when used as intended, it just didn't cool very well. I can even tell you why! Not enough Real Estate inside the case when everything is installed, to allow the air to get a chance to expand and pick up heat before it is sucked out by the exhaust fans. In other words too much space being taken up by fans to be effective! The more drives etc. that you put in it, the worse it cools! Xclio has been hammered in the past because of the poor quality fans they use and how easy they break. Many come with broken fans. 180s cost considerably more than the 200mm fans as well. At $239, they can keep it in my book!

Russ

 

Ha ha, I figured I'd get that response. I just want a case that holds an insane amount of hard drives Of course cooling is definitely something I worry about though.

It is pretty Fugly!

 

Depends what you're cooling. Drives need next to no cooling, as long as there's a fan, doesn't really matter how big or fast, you'll be fine, unless you're brimming the case with raptors or seagates. I haven't really found anything to beat my NZXT Whisper for hard disk capacity vs. physical size, and it is quiet and affordable, though build quality is pretty low-tier. If any of the LEDs work when it arrives, they won't last more than a few months before they fail. On the plus side, the front panel connections work, so that's one advantage it has over a coolermaster.

 

I hate to say it but I fully agree and I can't say I like the price either...