H100 Best Possible Fan

On a H100 what is the best possible fan for a push configuration from a performance, reliability and noise standpoint? Am I correct in looking at only PWM fans ?

COUGAR CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation is used and many say it performs very well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002

Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-P 120mmx25mm Super Ultra Silent PWM Fan - 1000-2000 RPM is another choice but not any info on performance with a H100. I read a post that these make a clicking sound when at 1000 rpm , anyone know for sure?

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=30446&zenid=7913d7ad30062cf5b4ac33c1715adf37

I did see a list posted on this forum covering alternative fans , it appears the above two are top choices based on performance , noise and reliability. There are delta fans that will outperform but have terrible noise problems, but I do wonder how a delta would perform when controlled by PWM.

Interested to hear opinions on the best of the best , at this point lets leave value/cost out of the deliberations.

Here's a good fan with same specs has the first one you listed....better price and in stock!

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36_407_696&products_id=28581

I did a review of the NB fans on the H100 in this forum:

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=98444

Also, I am using the M12-S3HS "high speed" 1800RPM non PWM versions. I can tell you now, that these fans will not work properly if you intend to hook them up to your CPU block. The minimum voltage applied is not enough to get them to spin up on boot up.

On the other hand, the PWM units you mentioned above (M12-P) were used by a buddy of mine who confirmed they worked properly on his H100's CPU block.

That being said, there is no real performance difference in CPU load temps between the two different units, AND 4 M12-S3HS running at 100% are still basically inaudible. Thus I have them on full tilt, 100% of the time. This works out since I am plugging them directly into my mobo headers. Also, the M12-S3HS units are about 5-6 bucks less (each).

I put together a list although it is lacking the static pressure value some manufacturer's list. I didn't care though, as I was planning on doing a push/pull config. Times have changed though as I replaced my rear-exhaust fan with a 120x38mm ultra kaze and i can't do push-pull with that fan in the way.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah9vi84SLyr8dEExVy1aSlpLRndReFhpUm5vZnJEdUE&hl=en_US#gid=0

I put together a list although it is lacking the static pressure value some manufacturer's list. I didn't care though, as I was planning on doing a push/pull config. Times have changed though as I replaced my rear-exhaust fan with a 120x38mm ultra kaze and i can't do push-pull with that fan in the way.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah9vi84SLyr8dEExVy1aSlpLRndReFhpUm5vZnJEdUE&hl=en_US#gid=0

Thats all well and good except *most* manufacturers exaggerate their performance numbers on the box. NoiseBlocker is one of the only companies I've seen whose rated numbers closely match those found in 3rd party testing results.

I did a review of the NB fans on the H100 in this forum:

 

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=98444

 

Also, I am using the M12-S3HS "high speed" 1800RPM non PWM versions. I can tell you now, that these fans will not work properly if you intend to hook them up to your CPU block. The minimum voltage applied is not enough to get them to spin up on boot up.

 

On the other hand, the PWM units you mentioned above (M12-P) were used by a buddy of mine who confirmed they worked properly on his H100's CPU block.

 

That being said, there is no real performance difference in CPU load temps between the two different units, AND 4 M12-S3HS running at 100% are still basically inaudible. Thus I have them on full tilt, 100% of the time. This works out since I am plugging them directly into my mobo headers. Also, the M12-S3HS units are about 5-6 bucks less (each).

Very good info...Thanks!

It seems the noiseblocker fans may have a problem when used in a horizontal mounting. Some folks found after a year or so they start makeing strange noises that stop when moveing to a vertical position. Noiseblocker refuses to say anything about the fan bearings except nano sli , failure in horizontal mounting is a sign of sleeve bearings. So a super fan but not one for mounting horizontally with a H100, of course vertical mounting an H100 on the case door with the noiseblocker would be another story, quite a few have done that. I like the fan and ordered two for a front intake mod on a 600T.

The Cougar looks to be a good choice and lots really like its performance, but there are a few things that have me wondering about long term reliability. The Cougar brand is fairly new and other cougar branded products don't appear to be super high end. The company that owns Cougar ,HEC is not known for producing high end fans. A MTBF OF 300,000 hours is way beyound normally stated values. Orange color seems for marketing.

The Scythe gentle typhoon fans manufactured by servo nidec , a subsidiary of the large japanese nidec company are hard to beat. Tough proven ball bearing fans from a world class fan producer, unfortunately not available as PWM.

Well I'm no closer to finding the perfect fan for the H100 than when I started this thread, but have learned a few things about fans.

I did a review of the NB fans on the H100 in this forum:

 

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=98444

 

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Do you have any experience with the NB 120mm "BlackSilentFan", the XL series, or the Pro PL series? Cheaper of course but I'm wondering if they are no better than other fans in their class. I know you've used the 140mm version of these fans as case fans, but you focused on the M12s in your review, of course.

Do you have any experience with the NB 120mm "BlackSilentFan", the XL series, or the Pro PL series? Cheaper of course but I'm wondering if they are no better than other fans in their class. I know you've used the 140mm version of these fans as case fans, but you focused on the M12s in your review, of course.

I was looking at those they do run at lower rpm?

The noiseblockers have a 6 year warrenty and frozen cpu handles any defective fans in the U.S.A. They don't know anything about the bearings or major problems due to horizontal mounting.

Cougar is useing 77 degrees F to calculate the 300000 MTBF as opposed to 104 F which is commonly used. So if you keep it outside your case it should last 34 years. The fan is designed by the companies german research and development section and appears to be a very good unit, time will tell. Why do they have to play around with MBTF?

It seems the noiseblocker fans may have a problem when used in a horizontal mounting. Some folks found after a year or so they start makeing strange noises that stop when moveing to a vertical position. Noiseblocker refuses to say anything about the fan bearings except nano sli , failure in horizontal mounting is a sign of sleeve bearings. So a super fan but not one for mounting horizontally with a H100, of course vertical mounting an H100 on the case door with the noiseblocker would be another story, quite a few have done that. I like the fan and ordered two for a front intake mod on a 600T.

I've been using NB fans in both vertical and horizontal mounting positions for a few years. I've yet to encounter any failure of any of my units. Also, I've not heard of the NB Multi-Frame fans having any sort of known issues. Do you have a link to this info? Also, remember that not all of the NB units use the "nano-SLI" bearings. Only the Black-Silent Pros and Multi-Frame units use these bearings. Of course, these fans have a 6 year warranty, so I'm not too concerned if they do fail anyway.

As for the type of bearings used... you are correct in saying that NB is vague when detailing their bearing design. However, if you simply apply common bearing terminology, "nano-SLI" denotes that it is a "frictionless", self lubricating bearing type. This has no bearing (pun intended) on if it is a sleeve type or not, however I'd be willing to bet a paycheck that it is not.

Do you have any experience with the NB 120mm "BlackSilentFan", the XL series, or the Pro PL series? Cheaper of course but I'm wondering if they are no better than other fans in their class. I know you've used the 140mm version of these fans as case fans, but you focused on the M12s in your review, of course.

Sorry, I do not. I can recall, though, that I didn't consider them for my radiator application due to the technical specifications. At the time, I felt it worth the extra money to get the multi-frame units.

MISTER MISTER

I was hopeing to hear from someone with quite abit of experience with nb multi-frame fans , and your review was informative, a little surprised with all that fan time you don't know what nano-sli is. Vague is a good word to describe noiseblocker bearing description, I'm sure other fan manufactures know exactly how the bearings work. Therefore, my conclusion , vague is aimed at us the consumers, either to build a mystique brand image or hide a bearing type that may have a negative connotation. Yes they are good fans, but most fan companies brag about their bearings. Noctua has a diagram of the sso bearing with a description, cougar tells us it is a hydro dynamic fluid bearing and sythe doesn't hide anything.

For a link go to the site mentioned in your review as a source for the 4x Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-S3HS. Go to the product page and look at the user reviews. I have seen other hints, on forums,not alot but enough to have me wondering. I would hate to take away your paycheck, but could sure use it for parts needed for a future build.

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Vague is a good word to describe noiseblocker bearing description, I'm sure other fan manufactures know exactly how the bearings work. Therefore, my conclusion , vague is aimed at us the consumers, either to build a mystique brand image or hide a bearing type that may have a negative connotation. Yes they are good fans, but most fan companies brag about their bearings. Noctua has a diagram of the sso bearing with a description, cougar tells us it is a hydro dynamic fluid bearing and sythe doesn't hide anything...

I suppose a marketing stigma could still exist for a sleeve bearing fan (at those prices) even if it is highly refined and has a long warranty period. Of course I have no idea what type of bearing these fans "actually" have, and am not offering an opinion in any direction, but I have some observations.

If the NB M-series fans have sleeve bearings, they sure would have the longest warranty for that bearing type.

Being secretive about a technology can also indicate a reluctance to reveal details that could be copied, prior to a patent being issued. I bet the advanced bearings that are described in detail are all patented, subject to licensing fees, or the design is public domain.

The few apparent complaints (from user reviews on a retailer's web site) about using the NB M-series fans horizontally does not fit in the known or potential sleeve bearing fan issue list. (Note that the horizontal mounting issue with sleeve bearing fans refers to the fan's impeller shaft being horizontal, not the fan's frame.)

IMO, when a fan is mounted horizontally, the orientation of the fan, up or down (ie, the direction of air flow, up or down), can have significant effects on the bearing, and one or the other is worse for bearing noise, wear, etc. None of the user comments specified which orientation was used when they experienced problems. It's possible that one horizontal orientation of the NB M-series fans could cause bearing stress and early failure. I imagine that mistermister has used his NB M-series fans in both orientations, and he states he had no problems.

The cross section afforded by a few negative reviews on a retailer's feedback page is laughable when you take into consideration the total number of units sold. I am not discounting the fact that they may have had an issue with their units, but as we all know (no matter how good a product is) there are always a few defective products which get released into the general population (for example my first H100). Add in the fact that people are more likely to go out of their way to post a negative review versus a positive one and you have some very mitigating factors.

Also, since neither of us (I assume) work for NB, there is no way for sure to know the exact type of bearing system used in their M series fans. That being said, I am going off of professional reviews as well as ~2 years of first hand experience with said units when I suggest that people use these fans (budget allowing of course).

Parsec: Two of the four NB units on my H100 are approaching 2 years of age and have been mounted in a horizontal position for most of their life. No issues as of yet, even with 3 cat's worth of hair going through them on a daily basis.

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Parsec: Two of the four NB units on my H100 are approaching 2 years of age and have been mounted in a horizontal position for most of their life. No issues as of yet, even with 3 cat's worth of hair going through them on a daily basis.

Yes, I am quite familiar with the cat hair factor, that is one of my basic fan test criteria (no offensive sarcasm meant here, our young female Calico just had her first litter, of four... wish me luck.) The H-series radiators are fine cat hair filters ;):, at least the hair does not fly out the exhaust.

Given some of the negative user reviews of any and all PC components, which I never experience, I often wonder, what in the world do these people do to these parts?

Some people forget to RTFM while others have really bad luck (see: my RMA'd H100). IIRC, that's only the 3rd time in my life that I've had to RMA a PC component.

As for the cat hair (and dust!), I havent had any issues since I stared using one of these:

http://www.demcifilter.com/

I really need to take a picture of this thing after a few days worth of use (I clean it off with a Swiffer once a week or so). It gets BAD. I can't believe all that stuff had been going into my rig 24/7 for... well since forever.

To clarify, I had them make a custom cut 3x120 filter which fits over the top 3 vents in my 800D case. The only other intake fan already came with a filter from Corsair (bottom of the case).

Yes, I read your description of those filters in another thread, and checked them out on the retailers web site.

I'll mention the following although I don't know if it applies to these filters. While experimenting with fans mounted on a vented (typical holes drilled through the panel type grill), removable side panel of a PC case, mounted to pull air through the grill, I was surprised by the affect it had on the fan's ability to move air. I expected a fair amount of air flow restriction, but what I found (simply judging the air movement with my hand and blowing on my face) really surprised me. Not only was the volume and pressure of the air flow extremely diminished, but the pattern or direction of the air flow was completely changed, it became very diffuse with very little air flow from the center of the fan, with most of it seemingly from the edges of the fan's frame. The fan's performance was so compromised by this that I haven't trusted most types of grills and filters since then.

My question is to what extent do these filters change the air flow characteristics of a fan? Of course, the filter's proximity to the fan makes a huge difference with this phenomenon, and I am uncertain of your exact usage of the filters in this respect.