I'm a big fan of 120mm for the airflow to noise ratio. They tend to last. You figure they're doing less revolutions over their life than a high rpm smaller fan.
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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I used to overclock back in the day when that was still a thing (2004-ish) and 120mm fans were amazing with a speed controller, have them slow when using computer normally, and speed 'em up when playing a game.
oh overclocking is still a thing, I do that on my desktop, fan curves can be handled in the bios/uefi. I like good quality higher rpm fans for even desktop use because even at lower speeds they still push a ton of air and are a lot quieter than the cheaper fans on the market. still not absolutely silent, but they don't bother me. That's what headphones are for haha
oh definitley. I usually use 140mm when possible, but they’re harder to find on the cheap in the brushless offerings on eBay. My switches (all 1U) are a different story noise wise, but it is what it is.
Arctic F12 are quite cheap, I see no reason to buy used fans tbh. After many hours every fan will become noisy or die, but if your fans look good I wouldnt worry too much. I had 8 F12 running at max speed for 2-3 years and other than dust there was no sign of wear, but they are dirty af
I’ve been using Noctua industrial iPPC fans for the past decade almost, just recently made the switch to San Ace, so noise really isn’t something I’m concerned about (these all typically run around 50dB(A)s)
I also like going industrial because I can often find the detailed data sheets per each part number, allowing me to add appropriate curves when necessary
I run the quietest fans I can find at reasonable prices in everything, so Arctic F12 mostly. Those San Ace look neat but 50dB is just way too loud for my setup!
fair enough, this is my strategy for desktop builds. Big fan of BeQuiet and Noctua, but I've heard good things of Artic as well