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The "Which fan is best for my heatsink" thread.

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muddocktor

Retired
Joined
Nov 1, 2001
Location
New Iberia, LA
OK, I've been seeing numerous threads that are asking which fan would be best for running on my TRUE or other heatsinks that use a 120mm fan and you have some proponents saying that the Yate Loons are best, others swearing by the Scythe S-Flex or Slipstreams and yet others stating that the Noctua fans are best. Seeing that nobody else has done this that I know of, I decided it was about time for me to do some testing. So this morning I placed an order from jab-Tech for some fans to complete the testing (out of my pocket, mind you, no freebies).

What I plan to do is to test the following fans that I have just ordered or already have on hand. I ordered models that I feel should be close enough in cfm and noise to reduce that variable in my testing as much as possible. I plan to test them on a crunching system I have that will have a TR U-120 (not extreme), since it will be easy to just swap out the fans without disturbing the heatsink mount due to the way the U-120 clips the fans in place.

The fans I will be testing are:

(I already own)
Panaflo 120x38mm Ultra Quiet FBA12G12L1BX by NMB-MAT - rated at 68.9 CFM @ 1700 RPM, 30 dBA, 2.16w
Delta EFB1212LE 120x38mm Triple Blade Low Speed - rated at 75.93 CFM @ 2000 RPM, 34.0 dBA, 1.92 watts

I bought these fans about 6 months ago for another project (see sig) and I will take them off my main rig to test them against the other fans chosen.

(ordered from Jab-Tech)
Noctua NF-P12-1300 120mm Fan - rated at 54.3 CFM @ 1300 RPM, 19.8 dB(A), 1.08 Watts
YATE LOON 120mm Case Fan - D12SM-12 - rated at 70.5 CFM @ 1650 RPM, 33 Db, 3.6 Watts max
Scythe S-Flex Fan - SFF21F - rated at 63.7CFM @ 1600 RPM, 28dBA, 2.4 Watts max
Scythe KAZE-JYUNI "SLIP STREAM" 120mm Case Fan - SY1225SL12M - rated at 68.54CFM @ 1200 RPM, 24.00 dBA, 3.12 Watts max

I chose these fans because their manufacturer's cfm ratings were about as close together as I could get to the Panaflo and Delta fans. I feel that the fans I ordered, which are 25mm thick fans, are going to be at a disadvantage against the Panaflo and Delta, since they are 38mm thick fans, but that is just a subjective feeling I have right now and have no actual proof yet. Also, I find that Panasonic and Delta both to be very believable in their sound and CFM ratings, whereas I have trouble believing some of these others. While I don't have a dB meter, I will listen to the fans when powered up in free air and also when mounted on the heatsink and give you my subjective impressions of the noise (or lack of). If possible, I also will try to record a few seconds of each fan running.

For testing, this will be done in the case I have this motherboard in already and will be set in the same place in my room for all tests. The room is kept at a pretty constant temp with a digitally controlled window unit. It's not as good as a controlled environment room, but, it's the best I can do, so it will have to do. I'm still on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico until late next week, so that will be when I start the testing. First, I will have to mount the U-120 and let the Ceramique cure for a few days to settle it in and then the testing will begin.

So stay tuned in about 1 1/2 weeks and I will have some concrete numbers to put up here on the relative strengths and weaknesses of these fans. ;)
 
Right now I'm filled to the brim with anticipation. :bday:
This is the kind of information that I really crave, as I've been asking myself that question for a long time already.

Good luck and have fun testing!
 
I finally got in from the rig this afternoon and when I got home my fans were waiting for me. It will still be a few days before I get on with the testing as I have to drive back to Cameron, LA this morning to pick up my testing equipment from the dock. I had to ship my equipment in from the rig by boat as the helo didn't have the capacity to carry it plus the people that were flying in from the job. So that will limit what I can do tomorrow; I will try to get my U-120 mounted at least on the computer so that I can get the Ceramique curing. I will also pull the Delta 3 blade and the Panaflo L1BX off of my main rig for testing too. I will clean them as good as possible before testing as dust or crud on the blades will kill performance otherwise.

I did go ahead and run the 4 fans I ordered though. Subjective opinions now on performance of the 4 fans coming up:

Yate Loon D12SM-12 - Relatively quiet, but with a definite lower frequency bearing noise. Felt like it moves a decent amount of air. A little vibration felt while holding the fan but nothing bad.

Scythe S-Flex SFF21F - Relatively quiet, with no noticeable bearing noise. It does have a definite blade noise though so it is no quieter than the Yate Loon. Extremely well balanced with almost no noticeable vibration felt. Felt like it moved the most air at the highest pressure of the 4 fans.

Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream - Quieter than the S-Flex and Yate Loon with no noticeable bearing noise. The blade noise is more muted than either the S-Flex or the Yate Loon. Not quite as well balanced as the S-Flex but better than the Yate Loon, vibration-wise. It felt like it moved about the same amount of air as the Yate Loon, but quieter.

Noctua NF-P12 - Quiet fan, it's a tossup between it and the Slipstream for quietness. Moves less air than the other fans though. It seemed like I noticed the slightest amount of bearing noise, but it was very low pitched. Very well balanced fan, but I do think the S-Flex was a smidge smoother. Comes with 2 adapters you can put in line that have resistors in them to slow the fan rotation down and they do work. With the medium speed adapter the fan noise is very low and with the low speed adapter you can hardly hear the fan running at all. If you are looking for some very silent case ventilation fans, this Noctua with the low speed adapters should do the trick for you, but don't expect it to work well on anything that that will give the fan resistance to airflow as you can really feel the dropoff in static air pressure with the fan running with the low speed adapter.

Now remember, these are just subjective observations by listening to these fans and feeling the aiflow from them. I don't have the equipment to check noise levels or airflow and max static air pressure. I figure that the performance on the heatsink should tell the tale about the abilities of these fans and their efficiency for cpu cooling.


EDIT: Subjective noise additions for the other fans tested added

Panaflo FBA12G12M-1BX - Not quiet, but not real noisy either. Higher pitched noise due to the faster rotational speed of the impeller and also a sharper blade noise due to the high tip speed of the impeller getting closer to operating in the transonic realm. Very little bearing noise thanks to the use of the FBD bearings but it does have a vibration which can be felt while holding the fan. Moves a good amount of air at a noticeably higher air pressure.

Panaflo FBA12G12L-1BX - Quiet fan, not much (if any) louder than the S-Flex, but at a somewhat higher pitch due to the higher rotational speed. No noticeable vibration. Noticeably higher airflow and air pressure compared to the S-Flex. Very smooth fan with hardly any vibration. Moves a good amount of air at a pretty good air pressure level.

Delta EFB1212LE - Noticeably louder than the Panaflo M1BX but with a totally different frequency to it. This fan uses a 3 blade impeller compared to the 7 or 9 blade impellers used on the rest of the fans. While it is noisier than the others tested except for the Sunon, the pitch of the noise is much lower and might not bother some people as much as the higher pitch of other fans. Slight bearing noise due to the use of ball bearings instead of sleeve or specialized bearing. Moves about the same amount of air and about the same air pressure as the Panaflo L1BX. Also has about the same amount of vibration as the Panaflo M1BX, probably due to the size of the blades on the impellers being harder to get perfectly balanced.

Sunon KD1212PMB1-6A - Noisy SOB! There's no way I could live with this running 24/7 (been there and done that). Both high pitched and has noticeable bearing noise and the high rotational speed of the impeller also has the tip speed much closer to transonic operation. This causes a tearing type of high pitched noise. Slight vibration felt when holding the beast. Moves a lot of air and at a high air pressure. If an U-120 needs higher air pressure to get more airflow through the fins, this beast should do it. It's no Delta focused flow but it should have more than enough CFM and air pressure to see if this makes a difference with an U-120.
 
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ummm... persenally, befor my yate loon fan brook(my fault,, not its...) i felt that my slip stream pushed more air, and was quieter... but thats just me....


so thats why im putting in a order for 5 more sliptreams
 
Yate Loon - Relatively quiet, but with a definite lower frequency bearing noise. Felt like it moves a decent amount of air. A little vibration felt while holding the fan but nothing bad.

This is why I like Nexus fans. It is all the goodness of the Yates Loon but smoother. They do cost more. Plus at lower voltages it gets to where I cannot hear it. The Yates Loon I have. The bearing noise is very faint but still there.

The Nexus fan I have it the only fan I have that starts under really low volts. On my Sunbeam Rheobus, I am guessing it is around 5volts. Plus when I really undervolt the fans. It is the only one that does not act up making bearing noise.

Most the Yates Loon are best known how they handle severe undervolting.

My Sythe fan gets grumpy and ticks under 5 volts.
 
I'm just about finished running the tests now, but still want to run 1 more fan test which I will add just for a control to see how well (or not) a high cfm fan works with the U-120. Yesterday I had also added a Panaflo M1BX to the testing regimen to see what difference a moderately noisy fan that pushes 86.5 [email protected] dB-A would do compared to the others listed and last night I came across a Sunon fan I had bought years ago that was just too noisy even for me to live with running 24/7, but it does push around 132 CFM and a much higher air pressure than any of the other fans. I will test it in a little bit after I wake up good (and get more coffee in me ;) ).

So far in testing, I have both predicted the probable results but also have been surprised at the same time. Flow rate and max air pressure both play a part in cooling efficiency with the U-120 but it isn't making as big a difference as I would have thought. That's why I want to test the Sunon; to see if a high CFM, high pressure fan just gives an incremental increase in performance or if it makes a bigger difference.
 
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All right, here are some concrete numbers from the testing.

Test setup:

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
E6750 running at 3600 MHz with 1.44 volts vcore at load
EVGA 8800GTS
2 X 1 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-5300 at 5-5-5-15 2T timings, 2.1 v vdimm and running at 450 Mhz
Corsair VX450 psu
The case is an old Chieftec clone of the Antec sx600 series. It has been modified for better cooling with a 92 mm Panaflo installed in the back, replacing the 80mm fan that came with the case. Also, I added 2-80mm fans to the case side that blow in roughly into the area of the vid card and pci slots.


Testing methodology:

After installing the fan to be tested, I booted it up to the desktop and left it idle for around 15 minutes. Then I started taking idle temp measurements with Core Temp 0.96.1 for at least 15 minutes to get a good average idle temp of each core. I then shut down Core Temp to separate the readings in the log and started running Prime95 version 25.6 build 6 using In-place large FFT's for maximum heat production by the processor. After starting Prime95 I restarted Core Temp. I also monitored case temps with Speedfan version 4.34 build 38, which is the latest beta of Speedfan and seems to read temps correctly with this motherboard/processor combo. I ran Prime95 for 30 minutes minimum and then shut down Core temp before quitting Prime95. I then took the resulting log files and set them into Excel spreadsheets and broke out the idle temps from the load temps and averaged each core for idle and load temps. I then combined each averaged core temps together to come up with an average idle temp and an average load temp for each fan run. BTW, this processor must have very good core to IHS contact as temps on both cores stayed very close together both at idle and at load.


Here is a list of the fans I tested and the manufacturer's posted specs of their fans.

Delta EFB1212LE
RPM-2000
Max Airflow - 75.93 CFM, 2.150 Cu. meters/minute
Max air pressure - .157 In. water, 4.00 mm water
Noise - 34.0 dB-A

Panaflo FBA12G12M-1BX
RPM - 2100
Max Airflow - 86.5 CFM, 2.45 Cu. meters/minute
Max air pressure - .1891 inches of water, 4.80 mm of water
Noise - 35.5 dB-A

Panaflo FBA12G12L-1BX
RPM - 1700
Max Airflow - 68.9 CFM, 1.95 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .1301 inches of water, 3.30 mm of water
Noise - 30.0 dB-A

Scythe SFF21F S-Flex
RPM - 1600
Max Airflow - 63.7 CFM, 1.8 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 28.0 dB-A

Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream
RPM - 1200
Max Airflow - 68.54 CFM, 1.94 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 24.00 dB-A

Noctua NF-P12
RPM - 1300
Max Airflow - 54.3 CFM, 1.54 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .0662 inches of water, 1.68 mm of water
Noise - 19.8 dB-A

Yate Loon D12SM-12
RPM - 1650
Max Airflow - 70.5 CFM, 2.0 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 33 dB (website doesn't show which weighting scale used for the sound rating)

Sunon KD1212PMB1-6A
RPM - 2650
Max Airflow - 132.7 CFM, 3.76 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .26 inches of water, 6.6 mm of water
Noise - 43.7 dB-A


Observed RPM's of the fans in bios while installed on the heatsink:

Delta EFB1212LE - 1865 RPM
Panaflo FBA12G12M-1BX - 2115-2130 RPM
Panaflo FBA12G12L-1BX - 1745 RPM
Scythe SFF21F S-Flex - 1550 RPM
Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream - 1323 RPM
Noctua NF-P12 - 1375 RPM
Yate Loon D12SM-12 - 1535 RPM
Sunon KD1212PMB1-6A - No RPM monitoring, 4 pin molex powered

A couple of observations here on the RPM monitoring: All fans that RPMs could be monitored on except the Delta showed a little higher than manufacturer specs. The Delta showed lower speeds than the manufacturer's claim. And the Panaflo M1BX showed more variability than any other fan, with the RPM's being read bouncing between 2115 to 2130. I don't know if it was actually varying it's speed by that or if it was just an anomaly of the RPM sensor in the fan.


Now to the meat of the matter. Here is a screenshot of the temps posted by each fan. I also made this into a chart on this spreadsheet too for you to compare them.

fanpoerformancechartpq8.jpg


Here is a picture of the test rig:

13008040agv5.jpg



Conclusion:

While the Panaflo M1BX came out as the best at cooling the processor down, none of the fans did a terrible job and temps were actually much closer than I would have thought they would be. The Thermalright Ultra 120 must be pretty efficient even with lower airflow through the heatsink than I thought it would be. There is only a 2 1/2 degree difference between the Panaflo M1BX and the Noctua NF-P12 with this combination of case, heatsink and heatload. There might be a larger temperature delta under a higher heatload though, such as an overclocked Q6600 for example. One thing that did strike me in this testing was the total lack of better cooling efficiency when going from the Panaflo M1BX to the Sunon fan. The testing showed no gain at all, with the differences between the 2 runs being in the realm of testing variation. This tells me that the Ultra 120 does not respond to higher airflow or air pressure beyond around 85-90 cfm and is a waste of time to try to run a focused flow Delta or other high cfm, high pressure, high noise fan on this heatsink.

One other thing that I will try later: Since the Noctua fan comes with some resistor adapters that will let me run it at 1100 RPM and 900 RPM, I will make a couple of runs like that and see how low the airflow and pressure can go on an Ultra 120 before starting to see a large loss of cooling efficiency.
 
All right, here are some concrete numbers from the testing.

Test setup:

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
E6750 running at 3600 MHz with 1.44 volts vcore at load
EVGA 8800GTS
2 X 1 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-5300 at 5-5-5-15 2T timings, 2.1 v vdimm and running at 450 Mhz
Corsair VX450 psu
The case is an old Chieftec clone of the Antec sx600 series. It has been modified for better cooling with a 92 mm Panaflo installed in the back, replacing the 80mm fan that came with the case. Also, I added 2-80mm fans to the case side that blow in roughly into the area of the vid card and pci slots.


Testing methodology:

After installing the fan to be tested, I booted it up to the desktop and left it idle for around 15 minutes. Then I started taking idle temp measurements with Core Temp 0.96.1 for at least 15 minutes to get a good average idle temp of each core. I then shut down Core Temp to separate the readings in the log and started running Prime95 version 25.6 build 6 using In-place large FFT's for maximum heat production by the processor. After starting Prime95 I restarted Core Temp. I also monitored case temps with Speedfan version 4.34 build 38, which is the latest beta of Speedfan and seems to read temps correctly with this motherboard/processor combo. I ran Prime95 for 30 minutes minimum and then shut down Core temp before quitting Prime95. I then took the resulting log files and set them into Excel spreadsheets and broke out the idle temps from the load temps and averaged each core for idle and load temps. I then combined each averaged core temps together to come up with an average idle temp and an average load temp for each fan run. BTW, this processor must have very good core to IHS contact as temps on both cores stayed very close together both at idle and at load.


Here is a list of the fans I tested and the manufacturer's posted specs of their fans.

Delta EFB1212LE
RPM-2000
Max Airflow - 75.93 CFM, 2.150 Cu. meters/minute
Max air pressure - .157 In. water, 4.00 mm water
Noise - 34.0 dB-A

Panaflo FBA12G12M-1BX
RPM - 2100
Max Airflow - 86.5 CFM, 2.45 Cu. meters/minute
Max air pressure - .1891 inches of water, 4.80 mm of water
Noise - 35.5 dB-A

Panaflo FBA12G12L-1BX
RPM - 1700
Max Airflow - 68.9 CFM, 1.95 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .1301 inches of water, 3.30 mm of water
Noise - 30.0 dB-A

Scythe SFF21F S-Flex
RPM - 1600
Max Airflow - 63.7 CFM, 1.8 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 28.0 dB-A

Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream
RPM - 1200
Max Airflow - 68.54 CFM, 1.94 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 24.00 dB-A

Noctua NF-P12
RPM - 1300
Max Airflow - 54.3 CFM, 1.54 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .0662 inches of water, 1.68 mm of water
Noise - 19.8 dB-A

Yate Loon D12SM-12
RPM - 1650
Max Airflow - 70.5 CFM, 2.0 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - not rated on website
Noise - 33 dB (website doesn't show which weighting scale used for the sound rating)

Sunon KD1212PMB1-6A
RPM - 2650
Max Airflow - 132.7 CFM, 3.76 Cu. meters/minute
Max Air Pressure - .26 inches of water, 6.6 mm of water
Noise - 43.7 dB-A


Observed RPM's of the fans in bios while installed on the heatsink:

Delta EFB1212LE - 1865 RPM
Panaflo FBA12G12M-1BX - 2115-2130 RPM
Panaflo FBA12G12L-1BX - 1745 RPM
Scythe SFF21F S-Flex - 1550 RPM
Scythe SY1225SL12M Slipstream - 1323 RPM
Noctua NF-P12 - 1375 RPM
Yate Loon D12SM-12 - 1535 RPM
Sunon KD1212PMB1-6A - No RPM monitoring, 4 pin molex powered

A couple of observations here on the RPM monitoring: All fans that RPMs could be monitored on except the Delta showed a little higher than manufacturer specs. The Delta showed lower speeds than the manufacturer's claim. And the Panaflo M1BX showed more variability than any other fan, with the RPM's being read bouncing between 2115 to 2130. I don't know if it was actually varying it's speed by that or if it was just an anomaly of the RPM sensor in the fan.


Now to the meat of the matter. Here is a screenshot of the temps posted by each fan. I also made this into a chart on this spreadsheet too for you to compare them.

fanpoerformancechartpq8.jpg


Here is a picture of the test rig:

13008040agv5.jpg



Conclusion:

While the Panaflo M1BX came out as the best at cooling the processor down, none of the fans did a terrible job and temps were actually much closer than I would have thought they would be. The Thermalright Ultra 120 must be pretty efficient even with lower airflow through the heatsink than I thought it would be. There is only a 2 1/2 degree difference between the Panaflo M1BX and the Noctua NF-P12 with this combination of case, heatsink and heatload. There might be a larger temperature delta under a higher heatload though, such as an overclocked Q6600 for example. One thing that did strike me in this testing was the total lack of better cooling efficiency when going from the Panaflo M1BX to the Sunon fan. The testing showed no gain at all, with the differences between the 2 runs being in the realm of testing variation. This tells me that the Ultra 120 does not respond to higher airflow or air pressure beyond around 85-90 cfm and is a waste of time to try to run a focused flow Delta or other high cfm, high pressure, high noise fan on this heatsink.

One other thing that I will try later: Since the Noctua fan comes with some resistor adapters that will let me run it at 1100 RPM and 900 RPM, I will make a couple of runs like that and see how low the airflow and pressure can go on an Ultra 120 before starting to see a large loss of cooling efficiency.

The Panaflo Mediums are no joke. They push with ALOT of pressure, which is good when you have lots of fins on the heatsink. I actually swapped out my medium for a 4100rpm Sunon, it just moves alot of air, though I did not do a comparison between the two.
 
Good work but I don't think this test is very complete unless you give the Zalman fans a whirl. I've only recently used them but man am I impressed! They performed better than my low speed Yate loons on a MCR-220 and they are noticeably quieter as well! At 7v they are dead silent, like really dead.

I really think they are worth considering despite the stigma the Zalman name bores.

Plus they are available everywhere including Newegg (unlike other popular fans ie. Panaflo, yate loon, scythe, nexus, sanyo).
These are the fans I am talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118008

I also have the LED versions and they don't seem any different than the black version for those who want some color: GREEN, BLUE, RED

I wish I had the time to do a full review but I don't. I really think these are worth considering though. I also see a review for them on XS.
 
Good work but I don't think this test is very complete unless you give the Zalman fans a whirl. I've only recently used them but man am I impressed! They performed better than my low speed Yate loons on a MCR-220 and they are noticeably quieter as well! At 7v they are dead silent, like really dead.

I really think they are worth considering despite the stigma the Zalman name bores.

Plus they are available everywhere including Newegg (unlike other popular fans ie. Panaflo, yate loon, scythe, nexus, sanyo).
These are the fans I am talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118008

I also have the LED versions and they don't seem any different than the black version for those who want some color: GREEN, BLUE, RED

I wish I had the time to do a full review but I don't. I really think these are worth considering though. I also see a review for them on XS.

If you want to supply me with a Zalman I'll gladly test it. But I've already invested a substantial amount of money in this test and don't have any more money to spare for it. I just spent a bunch of money for a QX9650 last week so my computer money is used up for a while.
 
All right, I have some results with the Noctua fan while using their speed reduction dongles on the fan lead. These came with the fan and I guess that's one reason why the Noctua fans cost more than the others in this test. The same conditions were used for testing with the lower speeds as before and what follows are the results I got when varying the speed of the Noctua from 1300 RPM to 1100 RPM and 900 RPM. The actual speeds as monitored in bios were as follows: 1375 RPM, 1080 RPM and 955 RPM.

BTW, these are the specs listed on the Noctua website at the various speeds:
1100 RPM
Airflow - 46.2 CFM, 1.31 Cu. meters/minute
Air Pressure - .0564 inches water, 1.43 mm of water
Noise - 16.9 dB-A

900 RPM
Airflow - 37.3 CFM, 1.06 Cu. meters/minute
Air Pressure - .0477 inches of water, 1.21 mm of water
Noise - 12.6 dB-A

noctuavariedrpmqq0.jpg


As you can see, the cooling ability of the Ultra 120 did drop off a bit, but not nearly as much as I thought it would. Even with the Noctua at low speed, heat didn't become a problem at this heatload on the Ultra 120. I guess that just proves how well the U-120 is engineered, as this processor at this speed and vcore is a heatload of approximately 125-130 watts. Since I will most probably be installing my Q6600 into this rig after I upgrade my main rig, I will be curious to see how the Ultra 120 can deal with the heatload of an overclocked quad with the various fans.

So I guess that gives me a "Round 2 of testing" after I do upgrade this machine to the quad. The heatload will take a dramatic jump with an overclocked quad, with a 200+ watt heatload not being unreasonable to assume.
 
Well done and documented, this will help alot of people, and also will settle alot of subjective bickering. Round 2 should definitely be interesting...
 
ummm... persenally, befor my yate loon fan brook(my fault,, not its...) i felt that my slip stream pushed more air, and was quieter... but thats just me....


so thats why im putting in a order for 5 more sliptreams

sorry, that was with a 1200rpm yate loon...


but wow, after seeing the results. the scythe preformed just a couple tenths of a degree less then the yate for 9 less dba...


and wow the noctua preformed great..for only 19 dba...

ims still gonna stick to slip streams... because for 24 dba (wich is less then what my case fans do on low and i have them on medium, preform great...
 
The yate loon SL cools my U120E to the same temperature as the SS1200, and does so at significantly lower airflow, which I find quite odd. And I have the LED model which claims to have even less cfm than the regular SL. It seems to be a tad louder than the SS though. I'll keep the YL's on for a while, they're doing great. Quick and basic test here:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=545774

Thx for putting this all together mud. Lot's of good info. Subscribed.
 
Thanks guys. It will be a little while before I get to doing the tests on the Q6600. I've run into a slight problem on my upgrade for my main rig with an apparent ram incompatibility between my X38-DQ6 and Micron based ram. It gives thousands of errors in memtest86 on both Crucial Ballistix DDR2-667 and some G. Skill DDR2-800 HZ kits, even running at 667 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings. I also have a kit of some G. Skill DDR2-800 PK's that I'm presently testing on it and it seems like the board is liking that kit. I just ran through memtest86 at 800 MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings with no errors and now I'm making a memtest run at it's rated 4-4-4-12 timings at 800 MHz. I still am using the Q6600 in the new board because the bios it was shipped with didn't officially support the QX and I wanted to minimize variables to find out what my problem was. I did get the bios updated today though and if I get through Memtest without errors I will be swapping procs on my main rig to the QX.
 
Interesting findings, I would have expected to see larger differences.

Thanks for putting the effort in, information like this is very useful.
 
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