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Best 80mm 4-pin CPU fan?

Because PSU fans tend to be a bit of an unknown making a neutral set up hard to determine and achieve, I generally recommend a "slight" positive or overpressure. With a negative pressure "dirty" air gets sucked in through every crack, crevice and port :eek: in the case. With a "slight" over pressure, the vast majority of intake air gets pulled in through the intake vents which [hopefully] are filtered.

You only want "slight" over (or under) however. Otherwise, too much can result in stagnancy and the desired "flow" of cool air through the case may be hindered.
 
Bill_Bright said:
Because PSU fans tend to be a bit of an unknown making a neutral set up hard to determine and achieve, I generally recommend a "slight" positive or overpressure. With a negative pressure "dirty" air gets sucked in through every crack, crevice and port :eek: in the case. With a "slight" over pressure, the vast majority of intake air gets pulled in through the intake vents which [hopefully] are filtered.

You only want "slight" over (or under) however. Otherwise, too much can result in stagnancy and the desired "flow" of cool air through the case may be hindered.
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My case is filtered lol
 
The red spirit said:
I would completely ignore this number. Sleeve bearing fans don't die fast. I have several fans that are over 15 years old and still are perfectly functional. As long as you aren't smoker or use computer in coal mine, they don't die easily. At worst, you can always take them apart, put some lubricating oil and they will work better.
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I already re-oil my fans (when possible), re-cap my supplies and then... complain that I have nothing to do when they don't break down :rolleyes:

Now they have 20,000 mi oil!
 

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The Noctua color sheme is just a nogo for me. I would go for the BeQuiet Pure Wings 2, dead silent & nice design. Their fans are pretty good overall.

 
It should be pointed out that these days, these fans are permanently lubricated and are not meant to be re-oiled. Typically, if a computer fan loses its lubricant, that is the result of a manufacturing defect or after-manufacturing damage. It is not normal for one of these fans to require re-lubricating.

So while, generally, reoiling is fine as a temporary fix, the problem is, oils typically work great for breaking down grease type lubricants too. Breaking down a grease lubricant is not a good thing. Many may remember the old motor oil commercials where they showed a mechanic "washing" his very "greasy" hands with motor oil. Same principle.

You cannot undo or repair the damage caused by wear and tear (friction) on bearings and channels they run in. So while a little drop of oil may silence, or even unseize a fan for now, it should be considered a temporary fix to hold you over until a new fan arrives.

Before someone posts that they had this or that fan they reoiled, are there exceptions? Sure, but they generally are anecdotal exceptions. Unless you replace the bearings and/or the channels they run in, the damage is done. A few drops of oil is not going to undo that damage.
 
Bill_Bright said:
It should be pointed out that these days, these fans are permanently lubricated and are not meant to be re-oiled. Typically, if a computer fan loses its lubricant, that is the result of a manufacturing defect or after-manufacturing damage. It is not normal for one of these fans to require re-lubricating.
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Well, sort of. Fans don't have that capsule full and over time oil gets dirty from microscopic metal particles from shaft and housing. Obviously after shaft or housing is gone, it will do nothing, but after 14 years that doesn't happen. It's just ghetto maintenance and some people claim that it makes their fans quieter. It helped to me once, when oil in it was a bit hardened and removed grinding noise.
 
:( You say "sort of" then totally justified what I said - doing exactly as I predicted by citing an anecdotal exception.

Those fans are not designed to be relubricated because they are designed as permanently lubricated motors.

In a pinch, a drop of oil can quiet, or even unseize a motor. But this is a temporary step until it can be replaced with a new fan.

Nothing lasts forever - especially if there are moving parts that rub against each other. So even the best quality fan from the best maker, using the highest precision bearings and manufacturing techniques, and the finest "lifetime" lubricants WILL wear out - eventually.

Just because the bearings of a motor can be exposed, that does not mean that motor has been designed to be opened and relubricated. Also not all lubricants are designed or intended to be mixed. Unless one knows exactly the lubricant used during assembly, it is unlikely they know the precise lubricant to add years down the road.
 
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Bill_Bright said:
Those fans are not designed to be relubricated because they are designed as permanently lubricated motors.

In a pinch, a drop of oil can quiet, or even unseize a motor. But this is a temporary step until it can be replaced with a new fan.
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Nah, it's pretty good "fix" since you can notice loudness way before catastrophical failure of fan, therefore, if you notice that bad noise, which is rattling, you can fix it and for at least several years. Some fans brand new are a bit noisier than they should be, due to too low amount of oil, therefore can be fixed for a long time to work better.

Some other bearings like Enermax twister bearings, actually advertise removing blades, meaning easy disassembly for relubricating if desired.

Bill_Bright said:
Just because the bearings of a motor can be exposed, that does not mean that motor has been designed to be opened and relubricated. Also not all lubricants are designed or intended to be mixed. Unless one knows exactly the lubricant used during assembly, it is unlikely they know the precise lubricant to add years down the road.
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You don't mix anything, you clean up the old one and only then pick something used for lubricating moving parts. Many people swear by using sewing machine oil for example, because in sewing machine long spinning operation happens, which is similar to fan. Of course, you can use many different oils, but you should avoid using corrosive or plastic degrading oils, also shit like WD40 or sprays that aren't exactly oils, but rather one use liquids for making rusted screws move once. It's really not a rocket science and I see no good reason to not be reasonably confident about good picks (those without no known negative qualities). And if you do your own due diligence, then new oil will be way better than already dirty oil that fan manufacturer used.
 
Well, let's consult Dr. Linus. ;) Dr. Linus says best fans are Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB). He also says that using a drop or two of high grade synthetic lubricant would improve the lifetime of sleeve bearing fans. The vid is already 7 years old, but I think there was no major advancement in fan tech during that time.

 
Hard drives went from ball bearings to fluid dynamic
 
In some sense a loud fan does not matter because with PWM control the fan will only go as fast as needed, so that is a bit of a red herring.
 
I think i'm gunna summarise three pages of this topic into one statement:

Quality fans can do more cooling with less power draw, RPM and noise levels because of better design and components.


Noctua are the best at everything except price.


Oh and on the repair topic, it's as simple as not all fan types can be oiled and revived. Heck, try oiling a maglev fan or using oil to fix shattered bearings or a sleeve bearing fan some numpty spun backwards at 10rpm with his air compressor. You can always try repairing, but never assume they can be unless you've done that model before.
 
Mussels said:
Noctua are the best at everything except price.
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Nope.

Noctua is a well-regarded reputable company with a long history of making quality products. There is no statistical evidence that Noctua is "the best" [sic].

However we have been over this before.

It makes zero sense for OP to spend hours and hours of research to save $5 per fan for one consumer-grade system. Just buy a fan from a reputable manufacturer and walk away having saved a bunch of time. Whether Noctua is the best is disputable but they certainly aren't the worst that's for sure.

The difficulty in answering the OP's original question is exacerbated by the fact that he has never revealed useful details of the actual part he is replacing. No manufacturer, no model number, no photo. And there has been no description of the CPU cooler it is being used on.

The ideal question would have been "What is a suitable aftermarket 80mm fan to replace an OEM DodgyBros BlowMax 420 fan cooling a DorkWad 9000 Super CPU cooler under $____ budget? (see photos)"
 
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I've seen 30 years old 80mm fans still working even while literally covered in thick dust, cigarette goo and dead bug parts and Noctua didn't even exist when those were made so I seriously doubt that brand is the best when it comes to fans.

Just because their fans are expensive and labeled as "pro" and "industrial" doesn't means they're indestructible and 1000% better than other fans.

I work in IT and I yet have to find an experienced builder who uses consumer grade fans for a workstation or server rack that *needs* to stay on 24/7, that alone says a lot about what products are known to be reliable in real life scenarios. Sure
I'd take a Delta or a Nidec over a Noctua or any other expensive gaming aimed brand (Bequiet, corsair, etc.) any day, and it's not like these fans are WAY more expensive, a good 12 volt 120mm Delta costs less than one of them Corsair's meme levitation RGB fans.
 
caroline! said:
I work in IT and I yet have to find an experienced builder who uses consumer grade fans for a workstation or server rack that *needs* to stay on 24/7, that alone says a lot about what products are known to be reliable in real life scenarios.
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IT professionals/server admins are heavily budget constrained because someone else (their employer) is footing the bill.

Also they have an idea about the projected lifespan of a system they build which is also used in conditions that the typical consumer PC won't enjoy (air conditioned server rooms, filtered air, projected sunsetting dates).

I can spend $5 extra on a Noctua fan because it might add $20 more to my gaming PC build. If I were stuffing several hundred servers into a colo, I'm better off allocating some of those dollars to something else.

Using a Nidec might be fine for a server because you only expect X amount of service hours and the damned system is locked in a server room with A/C where you can't hear it dozens of kilometers away.

My gaming system? It's in my living room, parked right next to my television about 2.5 meters away and the loudest thing is my refrigerator, not industrial-grade HVAC.

Trust me, I've had PCs with many cheap fans over the past 25 years. Many of them have caused little problem but I am not going to go out of my way to stuff a home PC with 8 of them.
 
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Looks great for my power supplies (2 wire) but not so much for the CPU (need PWM i.e., 4-wire)
 
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cvaldes said:
IT professionals/server admins are heavily budget constrained because someone else (their employer) is footing the bill.

Also they have an idea about the projected lifespan of a system they build which is also used in conditions that the typical consumer PC won't enjoy (air conditioned server rooms, filtered air, projected sunsetting dates).

I can spend $5 extra on a Noctua fan because it might add $20 more to my gaming PC build. If I were stuffing several hundred servers into a colo, I'm better off allocating some of those dollars to something else.

Using a Nidec might be fine for a server because you only expect X amount of service hours and the damned system is locked in a server room with A/C where you can't hear it dozens of kilometers away.

My gaming system? It's in my living room, parked right next to my television about 2.5 meters away and the loudest thing is my refrigerator, not industrial-grade HVAC.

Trust me, I've had PCs with many cheap fans over the past 25 years. Many of them have caused little problem but I am not going to go out of my way to stuff a home PC with 8 of them.
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So IT professionals are morons because they choose to spend $59 on a Foxconn fan rather than $60 on a Noctua

rxlLbkY.png

Uh.. ok.

erocker said:
These are the "industrial grade" fans in my various computer and equipment enclosures at the shop:

Sunon KD1208PTB1 8cm quiet silent 80mm 8025 DC 12V 1.7W 2 wire axial inverter cooling fans blower - Newegg.com

Granted the fans I have are from the mid to late 90's and I think were made in Japan at that time.
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The Japanese ones are great, same goes for Nidec.
 
Bill_Bright said:
The wattage it consumes is irrelevant.

Just to clarify, you are only replacing the fan - not the heatsink too?

Assuming compatible voltage and physical dimensions, what matters most with a cooling fan is how much air it moves in cubic feet per minute (CFM). Next (at least to me - because I hate fan noise) is how much racket it makes when spinning at full speed. So check the dB levels too.

As for long life - with a quality fan, it really is immaterial these days. It is much more likely you will retire the CPU due to obsolescence long before then. For this reason, bearing type is of much less importance these days too. Even a quality sleeve bearing fan can provide very quiet (important since I hate fan noise), vibration free service, and long life.

Last - do note that box fans come in different thicknesses too. If your case is a slim model, you may need to get a lower profile fan. But if you have lots of space, I recommend the thickest (tallest?) 80mm fan you can get (that still meets your other requirements - like low noise). A taller fan will have wider blades. A wider blade can scoop up and push more air at the same RPM as a thinner fan. This means a quality wider blade can move more air much more quietly (did I mention I hate fan noise?) than a thinner fan.

I hope you noted that fan noise is important to me! ;) But note too I also kept saying to get a "quality" fan.
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Hey Bill, just curious, what are your thoughts on fan noise?
 
I've got a box full of old Sunon 80mm fans from the same 90s era. Mine came with 3 bare wires(no idea why they didn't put connectors on them). They are finger murderers and loud AF but they move some serious friggin air! I cant bring myself to toss them. I learned the hard way to mount fan guards on both sides of them when installing the fan connectors and testing them on my bench. The first one immediately fell over when i plugged it in, caught the edge of something and threw itself across the room. Yeehaa!
Why can't I bring myself to toss them you ask? The nostalgia for my old Chen Ming based Koolance super tower (all 92 and 80mm fans) that housed 7 of these badass propellers. She was my first truly sexy water cooled build. But man it was LOUD.
 
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