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Next Generation Fans

Posted by CmdrTaco on 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.

18 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. What about the "no motor" fans? by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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?

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
    1. Re:What about the "no motor" fans? by Captain+Chaos · · Score: 4, Informative

      Sounds like you are looking for the Tip-Magnetic Driving fans from Y.S. Tech. You can find a review here and here or hit google for more. I don't have any myself yet so I can't tell you of my experiences. I've read warnings though which say that you need to keep the metal housing insulated from contact with any metal and it's best to use a 3 to 4 pin power adapter. For more information on some of the problems people have had check here.

  2. Star Trek? by Ark · · Score: 5, Funny

    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*

  3. Next Generation Fans by bucklesl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Where no fans have gone before.

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    help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
  4. Lookee the pretty colors by theRhinoceros · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  5. wow by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

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  6. Umm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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).

  7. Advice : Don't read the article by EggplantMan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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.
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    ?-|||-----x<*))))><
  8. Re:Zero-noise fans by BabyDave · · Score: 5, Funny
    Well, both of my fans are completely silent, so there.

    Hang on, where's all that smoke coming f

  9. Missed most important one by RainbowSix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

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    It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
  10. Fan speed control by larien · · Score: 4, Informative
    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.
    1. Re:Fan speed control by Speare · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

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      [ .sig file not found ]
  11. Why was this article posted? by Noose+For+A+Neck · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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?

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    Software piracy is victimless theft.

  12. Next Generation? by mindriot · · Score: 5, Informative

    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 (German only unfortunately). There's information on their fan design, 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.

  13. So not next generation by verch · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!

  14. I dunno... by lanalyst · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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... :/

  15. Centrifugal Blowers by cyber_rigger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  16. Fans by atrus · · Score: 4, Informative
    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

    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 is a similarily nice 60mm fan.