Intro to Air Cooling part 2: Fans

Ok, so after a short break from Dream Build, we’re back with a vengeance! But today I would like to add to my previous ‘intro to air cooling.’  Previously, I went through the general method to optimal case air flow for maximum cooling. So now that we have determined how we want our air to flow, we will chose the fans to get that air a-flowin’!

In my mind, the most important aspects of a fan are (in no particular order): fan size, amount of air flow, and noise generated by the fans. Features like LED’s and fan color are more for your personal taste. Manual speed control of the fan is also a great feature!

Size:  The general rule of thumb for fan size is smaller fans push less air and are more noisy (which is no good, right?), while bigger fans push more air and are quieter (which IS good).

Amount of Airflow:  This one should be pretty self explanatory, but the more air being pushed (or pulled), the greater the cooling power. Airflow is often measured with the units CFM, or Cubic Feet per Minute.

Noise:  Story time!  When I built my first computer (many moons ago), the biggest fans that I had were 80mm, and I had about 5. Then I added hard drive coolers (more small fans), and a few more 80mm fans because I had no idea what I was doing. When I turned on my computer, it sounded like a hair dryer. I thought that it was worth it because I had so many fans, and thus more cooling. But my airflow design (reference Intro to Air Cooling) was very, very poor, so I could not even reap the benefits of all of the fans. Anyway, moral of the story, no one wants to be around a computer case if they can’t even hear the music, games, etc over the case itself. Less noise is better.

I would like to introduce you to two friends, the Thermaltake ISGC fan, and the Enermax Everest Twister fan.  Both of these are 120mm fans with maximum air flow from 46.1 CFM to 58.3 CFM with a noise rating of about 16 dB and about 10 dB respectively (Click on the links above  for full specifications).  The Thermaltake fan has adjustable speed, while the Enermax fan controls its speed on the basis of the temperature sensor that is on the fan itself (you can’t disable this unless you cut the wires leading to the sensor and use some electrical tape to connect the wires).

I personally bought 2 of the Thermaltake fans for a few reasons; 120mm, low noise, black and white [because I recently painted my case with a black and white theme], and amount of airflow. These two are mounted outside of my case on my radiator (see Intro to Water Co0ling) so it looks just right!

I hope this has shed some light on fan selection and the factors going into choosing the right fan!

-Da DreamBuild Crew

Advertisement