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Need recomendations for cheap and quiet 80cm fan for cocktail cab
RyoriNoTetsujin:
--- Quote from: tristan on August 01, 2007, 04:38:36 pm ---The 80 MM ones that are quiet don't move as much air, but a couple of them may do the job. Basically you want to look at the dbA rating, the higher the louder. These are rated at 13 which is very low for an 80mm fan:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999071
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Tristan, this is not a personal attack, but the manufacturer's noise level specs for fans are very often erroneous and misleading.
AFAIK, there's no such thing as a 13dBa 80mm fan. Whatever measurement they based that claim on is useless in real application. Again, afaik, 13dBa is below normal human hearing, which means this fan *would* be absolutely silent at less than one meter - which is more or less impossible. Read the SPCR article linked above, as they have a particular methodology to measuring fan noise, which is very useful in actual application.
Edited: grammar, spelling, etc.
tristan:
Yeah, but my experience with the fan and the reviews from others seem to indicate that it is pretty close (one guy says he could only hear it from about a foot away). I do agree that those ratings are not 100% accurate, but it is really all you have to go on unless you can test it out before purchasing.
RyoriNoTetsujin:
--- Quote from: tristan on August 01, 2007, 05:06:43 pm ---Yeah, but my experience with the fan and the reviews from others seem to indicate that it is pretty close (one guy says he could only hear it from about a foot away). I do agree that those ratings are not 100% accurate, but it is really all you have to go on unless you can test it out before purchasing.
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Without threadjacking too much: I don't agree that individual's experience-based opinions are "all you have to go on" in this case. SPCR has a solid testing method that is applicable (and no I don't, nor have I ever worked for them. :)) However, more importantly, I totally agree with you that in the end, it is the User's experience that matters. Do some research, pick your product, if it satisfies you, great! :)
Avrus:
I have an Antec case with 3 120mm fans and a 200mm fan in the top.
Even on max setting the 200mm is quieter than the 120mm on low setting and pushes well into the 130 cf of air.
So I ordered up a pair of 200mm for my cabinet. One at the back for fresh air, one at the top for ventilation.
rackoon:
Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like I need a fan controller to turn down the speed of these fans just a little to cut out the noise then even a moderate fan will be quite. I have seen some fan controllers at some PC sites but I am wondering if I couldn't just buy a pot at radio shack and controll them that way. The only problem is I wouldn't know what ratings I would be looking for in a pot. There seem to be several kinds. :dunno