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Hardware

Next Generation Fans 128

Posted by CmdrTaco from the line-is-drawn-hee-ahh dept.
Tweaker writes "We just posted the first installment of an ongoing article dedicated to the latest designs and innovations for cooling your PC. The Next Generation Fans roundup starts off with five different models from four different manufacturers." I would have liked to have seen the dB rating for each fan- I've had some fans that really were great, provided I was wearing noise cancelling headphones while sharing a room with them. I have the Antec Tricolor fans they review in my case- they are gorgeous, but audible.
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Next Generation Fans More

Next Generation Fans

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  • What about the "no motor" fans? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Hektor_Troy ( 262592 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:15AM (#4536504)
    Seem to remember an article on /. about those, where they had a magnet at the tip of the blade and the "drive motor" in the four corners of the fan casing?

    Anybody seen any comparative tests of those?

  • Star Trek? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ark ( 7744 ) <[kgarner] [at] [kgarner.com]> on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:16AM (#4536509) Homepage
    I was really disappointed when I read the article. I thought it was going to be about fans of Star Treg TNG. I guess I'll have to put the vulcan ears back in the closet. *sigh*
    • 'sniff... and I thought I was the only one...

      • Re:Star Trek? (Score:1, Redundant)

        by richie2000 ( 159732 )
        No, there's at least three of us now. :-)
        • Me too. Jesus, theses aren't even "next generation" fans, they're just the same old crap ( Temperature controlled high-speed fans, and low noise high-output 120mm fans are old news ), and a couple of regular fans dressed up iMac style.

          Big deal.

          Next on Slashdot: "Cowboy Neal Discoveres a New Brand of Lay's Potato Chips"

    • I was about to post the same thing.

      It's not an unreasonable assumption since Star Trek: Nemesis, the last movie featuring the TNG crew, will be starting in Canada/USA on 2002 Dec 13.

    • I was also thinking the same... When I read "I would have liked to have seen the dB rating for each fan- I've had some fans that really were great, provided I was wearing noise cancelling headphones while sharing a room with them", it conjured up surreal images of someone in the corner of the room shouting Klingon battle cries at me while I work.
    • I was really disappointed when I read the article. I thought it was going to be about fans of Star Treg TNG

      It's true! The editors are playing games with us! Just a few days ago there was an article entitled "Geek chic power housees" and it was about a bunch of rich assholes and thier homes!?!? That made me cry =(.

      Now they make an article called "Next Generation Fans", and it's about CPU cooling?!? ARGH!

      *rifles through silver-ware drawer for a rusty spoon*
    • I was really disappointed when I read the article. I thought it was going to be about fans of Star Treg TNG. I guess I'll have to put the vulcan ears back in the closet. *sigh*

      DAMMIT!

      I though I could karma-whore for sure in this topic.

      Oh wait. I just did...

      Never mind.

  • Next Generation Fans (Score:4, Funny)

    by bucklesl ( 73547 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:18AM (#4536517) Homepage

    Where no fans have gone before.

  • Lookee the pretty colors (Score:5, Insightful)

    by theRhinoceros ( 201323 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:20AM (#4536522)
    With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another, although I can definitely give my opinion on certain features or aspects. For instance, I found the LEDs on the Antec Blue and TriLight fans to be much brighter and colorful than the LEDs found on the Cooler Master Blue LED fan

    The fact that the first comment the authors make in their summary regarding the various merits of the fans deals not with performance or cost, but rather completely superfluous colored lights says something about this review in general.
    • Yeah, I thought this was supposed to be a review of some sort. I hope that this article was by a newbie author, because maybe they will get a clue on how to showcase and review products.
    • The only "next-gen" fans are those with the berings on the outside of the blades as opposed to being on the inside. These are just colored ordinary fans. Lets call them "Fans 0.1"...
    • Yup. An incredibly useless review that should never have been posted. Where are the fans from Verax, with the newly designed rotors - they are the quietest fans currently available. Where are the Vantec tip-motor fans?

      Pretty lights. Useless! I bet he has a 3-foot spoilier on the back of his Honda too.
      • by the title i thought this was about the nanosize gizmo cooling(like, miniscule pieces waving the air) or something similar, or at _least_ about tmd fans.. beh, just some old one's that have been made prettier. first porsche laptop and now this. BEH.
      • Quietest fan you can get is the Papst 8412NGL
        Only 12dB!!

        Overclockers won't appreciate it though, as it's a mere 19.4CFM. But if you're an underclocker like me (I'll trade a few clock cycles for some peace and quiet any day) they're great!
    • With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another,

      How about actual meansurements, not just what it says on the box? Isn't that the whole point of reviews?

      Also, in my experience, a lot of the heat sensing fans have completely unrealistic heat sensors. I had one brand of heat sensing fan that would always run at full speed, unless I shot the heat sensor with canned air upside down and froze it (so cold it iced up). In other words the heat sensor is often just a gimmick.

      People have also complained that antec power supplies with heat sensing fans almost never run the fans at full speed, even when the PS is putting out air hotter than they would care for it to put out. So there is the other extreme too, heat sensors that run the fan slower than you would want.

      Well, hopefully the author will read this thread and get some ideas on how he can improve his reviewer skills, because this article as it is, is pretty useless.
    • None of my fans are visible - why would these be of use to me?
    • The fact that the first comment the authors make in their summary regarding the various merits of the fans deals not with performance or cost, but rather completely superfluous colored lights says something about this review in general.

      True enough, hence the subject line here. I placed an order for 4 Coolermaster TLF-R82 [coolermaster.com.hk] fans yesterday. They're rated ~25db, according to Coolermaster. I read more comprehensive review of this fan elsewhere, and hope they offer a low noise as well as colorful alternative. Otherwise they'll be on eBay or in a junk box, or maybe I'll submit an article here reviewing them and offering to part with them cheep. :-)

  • I just want..... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Isca ( 550291 )
    ...a setup that would allow me to put my computer 20-30 feet away in another room, but still have the things I need in front of me. Powerswitch/reset button Monitor Mouse Keyboard CD/Burner/DVD/Floppy/whatever extra firewire/usb storage device and a USB 2.0 hub for extra hardware If I could have that (and be able to use graphic intensive apps, like games) for a good price, they'd have my money in a heartbeat! Especially if one day it could be done wirelessly, or with just one wire to run to wherever I wanted my "desktop". Who cares how noisy the fan is if it's in another room???? -Chris
    • The people in the other room?
    • ...a setup that would allow me to put my computer 20-30 feet away in another room, but still have the things I need in front of me.

      The Avocent [avocent.com] (formerly Cybex) "LongView" will give you remote keyboard/video/mouse/audio/RS-232 over a single CAT5 cable. I've only used them with NT servers, so I'm not sure how the video quality would be for gaming (although the "3D Pipes" screensavers always looked fine).

      The Icron USB Ranger [icron.com] claims to be a 4-port 100-metre USB (1.1) extender, also over a CAT5. You could use this for your floppy and CD burner.
      • Wow! This thing from Avocent is exactly what I've been wanting/looking for. I was so excited to see this product......until I saw the price. $400!?!?!? Thanks for sharing that link, but now I'm just mad.

  • wow (Score:5, Funny)

    by Em Emalb ( 452530 ) <ememalb@gm a i l . com> on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:21AM (#4536527) Homepage Journal
    I bet these things sound like a hovercraft at take-off. Sound cancelling? Sure...as soon as you go deaf, you won't hear them anymore.

    Other than that, kinda nifty.

  • Alternate coolers (Score:2, Informative)

    by Vardan ( 172720 )
    Well, right now, I'm personally using this [thinkgeek.com] for my fan, and it works really well.

    I've also been looking for a good liquid-cooling system, but has anyone solved the problem of getting rid of condensation yet? I don't want to have to mae a runoff tube leading out of my case to a bucket. *g*
    • condensation isn't a problem if you cool the chip to ambient temperature, not some super chilled temperature.
    • I want a cooler the size of Delaware. (Obligatory Snow Crash reference)
    • It's really an old idea, and I was wondering when someone would get around to useing them on PC's and what not.

      I have a couple of "hot water" based radial coolers from the 1930's made from cast, really huge things to tell you the truth and must weigh 300 pounds but I'll tell you something boy that that sucker heat up a house.

      Took me along time to find some and no one wanted to manufacture it, but I do have a boiler(oil) in my house and that thing heats 2 large rooms very nicely.

  • Umm... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:21AM (#4536532)
    That was unquestionably the dumbest review I've ever seen linked to on Slashdot. What a blatant attempt at advertising their site. I mean, seriously, what the fuck is so innovative about putting LEDs on fans? I thought I was going to see something like one of those fans that are driven from their periphery instead of the center.


    I rate this article (-1, Worthless).

  • Zero-noise fans (Score:3, Insightful)

    by silvaran ( 214334 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:22AM (#4536534)
    Is it really possible to have zero-noise fans? I realize noise from the electric motor contributes to (relatively) high dB levels, but they're moving air with a spinning fan. Is it really that important, or conceivable, to have a fan with virtually no noise level? Wouldn't it be better to concentrate on sound-shielding materials for the exterior?

    • Re:Zero-noise fans (Score:5, Funny)

      by BabyDave ( 575083 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:29AM (#4536564)
      Well, both of my fans are completely silent, so there.

      Hang on, where's all that smoke coming f


    • No, because sound shielding isn't going to account for the noise coming from the case fans, which are exposed to the exterior. Some exterior baffles, maybe.

      I just bought an Antec power supply with a temperature-regulated fan. It's quiet. Only problem is, if you let the Antec also control the case fans, the PSU ends up doing all the work dissipating heat. It ends up funneling all the heat through the PSU (which has a big intake fan on the bottom in addition to its exhaust fan). Like I said, it's quiet but I can't imagine the PSU lasting very long this way.

    • Re:Zero-noise fans (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No, the noise comes from the blades cutting through the air. Unless your bearings are shot, the motor itself should contribute almost nothing to the noise. That is why bigger fans can be quieter for the same airflow.

  • Fans? What's the point? I thought we were on to vapochill now...

  • Advice : Don't read the article (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EggplantMan ( 549708 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:23AM (#4536539) Homepage
    Ooh, I almost feel like it was worth hearing this nitwit drone through the following conclusions:
    With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another, ....
    How about an objective, scientific comparison?
    ...although I can definitely give my opinion on certain features or aspects. For instance, I found the LEDs on the Antec Blue and TriLight fans to be much brighter and colorful than the LEDs found on the Cooler Master Blue LED fan, however the blah blah blah
    Holy hot shit! You write for a living and this is all you can come up with? The level of commentary here is on the level of your average grade two show and tell presentation.

    My conclusion : this article is an embarassment to online journalism (and that's rather difficult to accomplish), don't read it.

  • What about zalman? (Score:3, Informative)

    by RiotXIX ( 230569 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:26AM (#4536553) Journal
    Are the silent flower [thinkgeek.com] heatsinks worth getting (non-overclocked 2Ghz)? I might, but they're pretty expensive.
    • I've had a few problems with mine overheating & locking up (non-overclocked Athlon 1800+, 1.53GHz), usually while trying to rip an album to MP3 using grip/lame. I'm not sure if it's down to dust collecting in the fan/heatsink or poor thermal conductivity. However, removing it, applying another layer of thermal grease and re-attaching has fixed the problem twice for me, but you shouldn't have to do that. The next time it breaks on me, I'll have to get a new batch of grease, so I'll try a quality brand (I think it's some fairly cheap stuff supplied with mine).
    • For a review on the fanless heatsinks (including the zalman stuff), check this [silentpcreview.com] out. Otherwise, just go to this review [hardcoreware.net] which was referred to a few days ago in this slashdot post [slashdot.org]
    • I've just changed my heatsink setup from a Dragon Orb 3 which had a 7200RPM fan and was a constant misery to live with to a new Swiftech 462 with a 2000RPM Papst fan. Not only have my temperatures dropped by around 6 - 7 degrees, but my computer is pretty close to inaudible with even the lowest volume of music or conversation. Rather than going for an expensive "quiet" solution just get the best heatsink available and put a quiet fan on it.

      From what I've heard the performance of the Zalman flowers isn't great. To be fair the Swifty and the Papst are fairly expensive, but well worth the cost.

      Goblin

    • Well, they will run a P4 up to 2.8Ghz, and they are completely silent. So if you care about noise, then yes.

      See here [hardcoreware.net], how to build a silent pc.
    • I think you'd be fine since P4s run cooler than Athlons. Mine runs at 48C on an overclocked Athlon 1.33@1.53. Even on the highest setting, it's nice and quiet. Unlike other people posting about this, I used Actic Silver II Alumina. 3 bucks at Fry's, there's no reason not to use that paste. Also, the Zalman is well put together and packaged. Comes with its own tool to attach it to the board also. Be careful when attaching ti to the board since those fins can cut you or be broken off. Just read Cmdr Taco's journal for a story about the latter.

  • Missed most important one (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RainbowSix ( 105550 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:30AM (#4536565) Homepage
    How can you miss the YS tech TMD fans?

    They removed the rotor from the center and put the magnets on the outside so more air blows where the CPU die is and it also is quieter.
    • It probably doesn't have any so he didn't think it was pretty enough to include in his review. You gotta get your priorities straight. It doesn't matter if your heat sink turns to slag and melts a hole through your motherboard, while the noise from your case blasts your eardrums to oblivion, just so long as your LEDs are the right color.
    • You can miss them because first they put out just average cooling. The outer edges of the fan blow 90% of the air anyways(they are moving much faster), and it just wasn't any better than quiet, moderate-power axial fans. Next, they were recalled because they pose a fire hazard.

  • Fan speed control (Score:4, Informative)

    by larien ( 5608 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:34AM (#4536573) Homepage Journal
    I wish more systems had something to control the speed of the fans. As an example, some newer Sun kit (e.g. Sunblade 1000/2000) have a process which monitors internal temperature and adjusts the fan speed accordingly (NB: if the process dies for any reason, the fans start going at full speed). Ultra 30s/60s have an add-on kit to reduce fan speed at low temperature.

    Having just fitted the noise reduction kit to my Ultra 30, I can confirm it makes a hell of a difference to noise levels. The total of the kit is:

    1. A temperature sensor
    2. A voltage regulator (based on the temp sensor, I assume)
    3. two fan outputs
    4. a temperature sensor
    5. a "through" cable for the power
    It didn't cost that much ($35), and I'm pretty sure it could be made cheaper if integrated into a motherboard. Normal users wouldn't even need to know it was there, as all the above parts would be built into the mainboard and the fan outputs would adjust voltage levels as required.
    • Seems to me like it would have been a good idea to crannk the fan before the processor died.

    • Re:Fan speed control (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Speare ( 84249 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:55AM (#4536636) Homepage Journal

      How many software engineers does it take to screw in a thermistor? ...

      Why should the CPU or any other computing circuitry even be bothered with monitoring the fan? You don't need a software solution to this. Fan, thermistor, power. As the thermistor reacts to higher temperatures, it allows more power to drive the fan. No muss, no fuss, no "if the fanstepping process dies, run fans at highest speed" bullshit software.

      • Why should the CPU or any other computing circuitry even be bothered with monitoring the fan?

        Cat hair... Really!

        My brother brought his PC over because it would shut down shortly after posting. I powered it up - did not hear a fan, and realized the motherboard's BIOS was shutting down the machine because the fan was not spinning. Saved the duron's life! I poked around a bit and found the CPU fan was wound up with cat hair. Power supply was in pretty tough shape too.

        I cleaned stuff off, put on a better heat sink and fan, and sent him back to feed his counter strike addition.

        • And how does this "cat hair entanglement" have anything to do with the difference between a software fan-nursing process and a hardware thermistor to vary fan speed according to heat? Hair would seize both, and the total absence of fan activity would have been your best diagnostic in either case.

          • So I think we are in agreement that the fan should be able to handle the variable heat/rpm issues. However, the mainboard does need to monitor the fan to make sure it is still alive. The mainboard should know the state of its temperature - be that CPU, chipset, or anything else in its domain - and do something about it if it hits critical levels. When the KT7-RAID board noticed the fan was not spinning, it powers down the system.

            Some stuff might be able to survive passive cooling by throttling back (ala Intel's P4) - but the $38 duron might cook itself if the software was not watching to see there was active cooling as well as a comfortable operating temperatures. The temp can really jumps up fast, so the check for active cooling is just another safety net.. I concur that the fan should be able to take a stab at how fast it should run - crank up to 11 if its toasty, throttle back if it is idle. I mentioned I swapped out his heatsink and fan... did that with a Thermaltake Volcano 7 [svcompucycle.com] for $13.50. From the add...

            This new cooler from Thermaltake uses a temperature sensing 80mm fan that changes its speed based on the temperature. When the surrounding air is cool, it spins slowly to keep noise down. If the air warms up, the fan spins faster to keep the CPU cool.

            Since you already have the fan RPM and the CPU temp (from the mainboard or CPU itself) already, it lets you try to do a bit more optimization than guessing based on a sensor stuck to the side of the CPU. (Not that the mainboard sensor is anywhere even close to accurate). Anyhow -- original poster's solution.... If I was using a software solution to control fan RPM's - and I don't - I would want them to go full blast if something hork the programs.
          • Hair would seize both, and the total absence of fan activity would have been your best diagnostic in either case.

            Uhh, no, apparently in this case, the total absence of fan activity was completely overlooked, and the best diagnostic was the machine turning off. Varying the fan speed would not have helped in this case.
  • A case fan that lights up so you can swap out the processor in the middle of the night while the machine is still running...

    Personally, I like my CPUs to be as quiet and unontrusive as possible. I think I'll pass...

  • Why I like noise (Score:2, Interesting)

    by X-Nc ( 34250 )
    I have read a number of the Silent PC stories. I keep wondering why would anyone want one. Ok, I know it's just me but I like the drone of a bank of systems. My preference is to have them in my bedroom, when possible. The whitenoise helps me sleep. There's even a program I found (I think it's on freshmeat) called whitenoise which lets me add to and tweak the overall level and pitch of the background noise.
    • Why would anyone want a silent PC? Anyone who works in a recording studio can give you a few good reasons. I personally like my computers nice and quiet -- allows me to concentrate.

    • perception (Score:2, Interesting)

      by chocolatetrumpet ( 73058 )
      I think it has a lot to do with how people perceive sound. Unlike light, which when multiple wavelengths are present is perceived as a single new color, multiple wavelengths of sound are preceived as different pitches.

      The thing is, for some people, the pitches are very "close together" - pitches very distant in frequency are perceived as the same pitch. These people don't mind noise because it is not so distracting... it sounds as noise.

      For other people, even pitches that are relatively close in frequency sound "far apart" - they're easily distinguished from each other. These are the type of people that have perfect pitch, or perfect relative pitch. These people tend to be musicians. What others would perceive as noise, these people perceive as a complicated chord, which grabs their attention. Also, musicians train themselves to be sensitive to timbre, volume, all sorts of things. Thus, that simple computer "sound" in the background is a strange and distracting symphony, constantly playing.
  • Give me some substance! I want to know the db rating on these. I need a way to find out how to make my pc cool, but not make it sound like a frickin jet plane. Also, I would like an honest opinion on whether one fan is quieter then another. I want 3 of the quietest fands I can find with the highest CFM ratings I can get. Somehow, I don't think it's possible. Also, Shuttle has a heat pipe thing in thiers making it possible to have a system with only 1-2 fans in it instead of the 6 my system has (2 in power supply, one on CPU, one in front, one in back and one on side), has ANYONE else made a similar solution that will work in any case??
  • All fans will make some noise. As the goal is to move a minimum amount of heat (in the form of hot air) with the least amount of noise, you need to use larger diameter fans running at lower speeds. And the more you can fit in the better.

  • Noise cancellation eh? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MoogMan ( 442253 )
    Hmm, noise cancellation... How about having some local noise cancellation *inside* the box? I've got a hunch that it would work, since its a relatively small enclosed area.
    Anyone ever tried this?

  • Fans - I was thinking of music supporters! (Score:3, Funny)

    by sapped ( 208174 ) <mlangenhoven.yahoo@com> on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:49AM (#4536623)
    When I saw the heading, "Next Generation Fans", my first thought was. "Finally, somebody is starting to use this genome mapping thing properly and they have started breeding better music supporters. (i.e. people that don't slavishly follow everything that gets poured down their throats. Of course nobody on /. does that.)"

    Oh, never mind. I guess it was just me.

  • Why was this article posted? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Noose For A Neck ( 610324 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @09:53AM (#4536633)
    This looks like advertising copy that was taken from each of the manufacturers' sites. It's just all around, incredibly lame.

    First of all, he expends about two paragraphs in description of each fan. That's it. No benchmarks. No measurements. Not even, as CmdrTaco pointed out, noise measurements. That's pretty damn sorry.

    Furthermore, the token effort that he expended on each fan is comical. Part of his review includes such irrelevant gems as this:

    "The Thermaltake Smart Case Fan 2 is presented in a compact and stylish box, with a yellow/orange color scheme to match the color of the fan itself."
    I guess when you're not even presented with the most basic characteristics of a fan, you'd buy it based on the box color too!

    Finally, I'm appalled by both Slashdot's and Tweakers Australia's misleading and dishonest title. Next generation fans? They're fans with goddamn LEDs on them! Who cares? There is absolutely nothing new, interesting or innovative on display here. Next generation might be those "fans" that wave and are nearly silent, or one of those new fans (researched by Sunon, maybe?) that has the motor run around the outside instead of blocking airflow by driving the blades from the center. But this? This is just flashy crap that is not "next generation" and shouldn't be advertised as such.

    Speaking of advertising, how much is this guy making from banner views for taking advantage of Slashdot editors who refuse to read articles before they're posted?

    • Pardon me, that wasn't Sunon that was manufacturing the periphery-drive fan, it was YS Tech. You can find a much better review by an Australian here [dansdata.com].
    • Funny you should mention Sunon fans. Dunno about any newer fans they make (haven't seen any yet), but while their standard case fans are durable and move a lot of air, they're noisy as hell. I'm about to replace a bunch of 'em in my boxes, because I'm having trouble getting that helicopter permit.

  • Unless all you care about is how the fan looks and not how it performs.

  • Next Generation? (Score:5, Informative)

    by mindriot ( 96208 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @10:31AM (#4536742)

    Wtf, putting blinking LEDs in fans makes them "next-generation"?

    The CPU fan I'm using right now is what I'd call next-generation. Why? Because it's actually quite silent. Go ahead and check out Verax [verax.de] (German only unfortunately). There's information on their fan design [verax.de], including more detailed pics of different models. Verax uses a special fan shape to reduce noise, and, most importantly, ties the fan to the heatsink with a rubber connection, reducing vibration.

    Replacing my old fan with one of those babies has greatly reduced the noise level of my box.

  • So not next generation (Score:5, Funny)

    by verch ( 12834 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @10:34AM (#4536757)
    Next generation fans? Because they are different colors? HELLO?

    Intel just came out with its next generation CPU! At approximately 100% the performance of current models, it sports a BLUE color! The industry has been revolutionized!

  • I gotta say it. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by LighthouseJ ( 453757 )
    From CmdrTaco editorial insert after the submitted text, what would cause someone to say that cooling fans are "gorgeous"?

    Girls are gorgeous (the good looking ones), some cars are gorgeous (the good looking ones), but cooling fans in a case you only see for the few minutes they are put on a processor are not gorgeous. They are pieces of metal and plastic! What, are you going to try and convince me aluminum cans are gorgeous? Please, spend some time tonight with a girl (or guys, if that's your thing), not fantasizing over cooling fans.

  • A real next-generation fan (Score:3, Informative)

    by zsazsa ( 141679 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @11:01AM (#4536838) Homepage
    From what I've seen, those YS Tech TMD fans aren't too great. They just spin too fast to be quiet. It's a shame, because the increased blade surface area should mean higher efficiency.

    Anyway, the next-generation fans I'm truly drooling over are the ultra-quiet fans from Verax [verax.de]. A power supply with a Verax fan was a part of the Tom's Hardware Power Supply Roundup [tomshardware.com] and they liked it a lot.

    However, at $48.00 [siliconacoustics.com] in the US for one of these babies, I don't think I'll be splurging yet. I thought I was nuts for buying 5 Papst 8412NGLs at $20.00 [siliconacoustics.com] each.

    Ian

  • I dunno... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lanalyst ( 221985 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @11:10AM (#4536868)

    I'd like to have a silent PC. If I buy a new cpu, the retail version should include a heatsink - NO fan. If someone wants to overclock, great - get a fan.

    When I got my Athlon around the time of the tom's hardware thermal scare, I bought the fastest fan I could - it drove me batty! Sounded like a DataCenter. I had to do the 7V trick just to be in the same room.

    I don't understand why AMD and Intel take a breather on the speed race and work on a decent CPU package that can dissapate heat without any active cooler. That would sell. That's TNG... oh wait... Macs have been that way forever... maybe it's patented... :/

  • Though not a fan, Wesley Refrigeration has a novel cooling method involving dumping crushed ice on the CPU. The Wesley Crusher has not met with much market success yet, though Wesley keeps promising more and better New Generation plans.
  • I want a reliable fan that the bearings don't go out on every year or so. Noise is a secondary issue. Are there any out there? I've started using ball bearing (rather than sleeve bearing) fans and they do last somewhat longer, but still start making grinding noises and vibrating after a year or so.

  • Fans (Score:1)

    by Nomikos ( 30684 )
    I've had some fans that really were great, provided I was wearing noise cancelling headphones while sharing a room with them.

    Hot damn, you must have been *popular* !!!
  • Let me know when you run an article on TOS fans. Next Generation fans will never hold a candle to the rabid enthusiasm of TOS fans!
  • What's the point of having a nice silent PC on your desktop if it's constantly being lit up like a goddamn nightclub.

    "Sorry sir, Bob went home because he got shined in the eye by a laser from his cpu fan."

  • Centrifugal Blowers (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cyber_rigger ( 527103 ) on Saturday October 26, 2002 @01:03PM (#4537400) Homepage Journal
    Most heating and air conditioning system use Centrifugal blowers because they are small powerful and quiet. It seems that this would be a good solution.

  • Fans (Score:4, Informative)

    by atrus ( 73476 ) <atrus@a t r u s t r i v alie.org> on Saturday October 26, 2002 @02:44PM (#4537830) Homepage
    I got fed up with most of my stock case fans which had all sorts of problems with noise and their bearings. The heatsink fan was the worst, basicly wobbling around setting off an audible vibration in the case (ThermalTake 6CU fan, replaced with 60mm fan on second link). I replaced every 80mm fan in my case with these:

    http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi ?category=220&item=CF-109&type=store [allelectronics.com]

    Panaflo fans are great quality and super quiet (at the expense of some airflow, but most likely you won't need it). I can't tell you about the bearing life of this fan, but I trust the Japanese built "Hydro-wave" bearing fan much more than a cheap chinese "ball bearing" fan.

    http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi ?category=220&item=CF-106&type=store [allelectronics.com] is a similarily nice 60mm fan.

  • Figure this:

    America:
    Guy 1: "There's no biz like showbiz, let's make a next gen fan."
    Guy 2: "How that?"
    Guy 1: "Oh, we just mold them in see-through plastic and put some cool 'Blinklichter' on. They'll think it german tech and pay a tripple price with no sweat."
    Guy2: "Cool."

    Germany:
    Guy1: "There's nothing like engineering, let's make a next gen fan."
    Guy2: "How that?"
    Guy1: "We get us five engineers, design, engineer and patent a 'Koaxialfliehkraftluftbeschleunigungstechnologie' and there you go."
    Guy2: "No one's gonna buy it. The name's to long and german."
    Guy1: Ok, let's just call it 'Verax' then. They'll probably think it's international and pay the quadrippled price with no sweat."
    Guy2: "Ok."

    Putting the jokes aside I might add:
    Verax 'Lüfter' rule! They cost a little fourtune (the equivalent of 50$ a piece), but they *do* rule. Toss your flimsy see-through Blinklicht-airpusher in the bin. Really.
  • i thought they were talking about me
  • Here's one for us unit-impaired:

    <rant>
    They measure the fan performance in cubic-fucking-FEET-per-minute

    How about measuring in square-acres-per-yard-second?
    </rant>

    One cubic feet is 28.317 litres. So, one cubic-(fucking)-feet-per-minute translates to 0.472 litres per second.

    Now before anyone whines "oh but then litres per second is soooo inferior because something as simple as 1 cfm translates to some 0.472 litres persecond which is just soo much more difficult to remember", let's see what the *actual* airflows of the fans was. Oh, and one litre per second is 2.119 cf/m by the way.

    Antec Blue LED Fan:
    34.0 cf/m => 16.0 litres/second

    Antec TriLight LED Fan:
    34.0 cf/m => 16.0 litres/second

    Cooler Master Neon LED Fan:
    32.0 cf/m => 15.1 litres/second

    Enermax Adjustable fan:
    94.92 cf/m => 44.80 litres/second
  • > I thing you're missing the capability of Makefiles.

    It takes several _hours_ to do `make' a second time on my
    machine with the latest glibc sources (and no files are recompiled a
    second time). I think I'll remove `build' after changing one file if
    I want to recompile it.
    -- Juan Cespedes

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...

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