Best Fan Upgrades

Hardware
1

Hey all!

Has anyone looked into what the best Noctua fan replacement will be for the HL15 yet?

I am not looking for something quiet just very good performance. It looks like the fans on the HL15 are 3-pin so I am looking at the NF F12 iPPC-2000 3-pin.

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EDIT: I will am working on a list of fans that COULD be replaced with the OE fans on the HL15. Let me know if there is a fan I should add to this list!

Brand Model Size (mm) RPM CFM dBA Static Pressure Notes
Coolerguys CG12025L12B2-3Y 120x120x25 1700 73 32.5 2.47mm Hâ‚‚O OE fans with HL15
Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 120x120x25 2000 71.6 29.7 3.94 mm Hâ‚‚O 3-Pin & Best Noctua Replacement
Delta FFB1212VH 120x120x? 3400 126.85 51.9 8.29 mm Hâ‚‚O 2-pin lead my require modification
Lian Li UNI FAN SL V2 120x120x25 2000 64.5 29.2 2.59 mm Hâ‚‚O RGB & 4-pin
Lian Li ST120 120x120x25 1900 69.17 32.0 2.6 mm Hâ‚‚O NO RGB & 4-pin
Antec Storm 120 120x120x25 2000 66.56 25.8 2.7 mm Hâ‚‚O NO RGB & 4-pin
4 Likes
2

The Hl14 comes with 6x COOLERGUYS 120X120X25MM 3 PIN FAN MEDIUM.

CG12025M12B2-3Y

  • 1700RPM
  • 32.5dBA
  • 73CFM
  • 2.47mm H2O

If you compare the specs of Noctua’s 120mm 3-pin 12V fans, the NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 comes closest to the CG fan specs.

NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000

  • 2000RPM
  • 29.7dBA
  • 121.8 m3/h (72CFM)
  • 3.94mm H2O

The NF-A12x25FLX is comes close, but it has lower CFM and static pressure.

NF-A12x25FLX

  • 2000RPM
  • 22.6dBA
  • 102.1 m3/h (60CFM)
  • 2.34mm H2O

So … I’d argue the iPPC-2000 is the best replacement. I run 3x 140mm iPPC-3000s in another build and they’ve been rock solid, no issues.

3

That is actually really good to know. I did not look at them side-by-side. It looks like the Coolerguys fans ARE better! And that is really cool! I’ll start a comparison chart on the the OG post see what different fans are compatible.

4

The iPPC-2000 is actually a little better; it has a higher static pressure @ 3.94mm H2O. And it’s quieter.

5

Yeah, after having it on the chart I would also say the Noctua fan is pretty dang good. That higher static pressure is huge!

6

Does one really need those static pressure fans for the HL15? I will be running 8 drives to start with, a Ryzen 5 CPU and a HBA, NIC, GPU.

The GPU has a little fan and the CPU cooler will have its own fan. The HBA and NIC have heatsinks.

I’ve also been looking at these which are a little cheaper than the Notcuas. But I have no experience with either brand to be honest. P12 PWM PST | Pressure-optimised 120 mm Fan with PWM PST | ARCTIC

The Arctic ones also come in a 5 pack for only €30.

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Hi @Fossil, Static pressure fans are not needed. Please feel free to install any 120mm fan you would like.

2 Likes
8

Are you looking to make the case a little quieter? The fans you listed are okay but the ones that come with the HL15 are actually better. The Arctic fans you posted have a 100RPM higher speed but everything else is lower across the board. I would just stick with the stock fans. :grinning:

45 Drives picked out some really good OEM fans.

5 Likes
9

I really wish I could go back and edit this post to add more fans in the future but this forum limits you on how long you have to edit posts.

I cannot continue to edit this post so I will continue to update this spreadsheet.

1 Like
10

I found the Coolermaster SickleFlow 120 RGB and for anyone who can’t drive ARGB either using their mainboard or who wants to perhaps integrate it to their ZigBee, this seems great.

It’s $12.99 per fan which doesn’t seem awful for RGB. What does everyone else think?

11

I added this fan to the Spreadsheet I am working on:

12

I was thinking of picking up these
Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700
they are 25.1dba, 2.83 mmHâ‚‚O for 70.8 CFM
Unless you actually need the industrial ratings on the iPPC variant, this thing is no-frills and nearly half the cost. Seems like a good trade over the stock fans and only losing out on 2CFM

The slight caveat of them only being in 4pin pwm config (in case that matters to people)

I might even split the difference and do the iPPC in the front and redux in the back.

1 Like
13

This is a really good looking fan! I added it to the spreadsheet that I have been working on. It seems like for the price, it’s actually a really freaking solid fan.

14

Does anybody know if>25mm fans would work?

Many of the YT videos I see online imply a 30mm fan has more static pressure and/or CFM for less noise.

When I saw my HL15, the front-fan-array seemed a little shy of using all the space available. Do we know the maximum fan depth it will fit?

The mid-fan-array can of course use more depth barring cables and other mods.

1 Like
15

I measured 40mm from the front plate to the front of the drive cage. Anecdotally, I’m using Arctic P12-PST fans which have kept everything cool and they are quiet at whatever speed the IPMI is running them at for “Optimal setting”.

1 Like
16

What fans are used in the Q30?

17

Hi @DigitalGarden, The fans in the HL15 and the Q30 would be the same fans. They are CoolerGuys CG12025M12B2-3Y fans

18

Can you simply plug these replacement fans into the same location the stock fans are? Where do they connect? It’s hard to see and I know there’s the proprietary 20-pin cable that plugs into the back-plane power board

Will they even reach without extension cables?

My main goal is to reduce noise so I’m looking at the Silent Wing 4, but I already own 3 spare AF-12x25s.

19

No, any fans - including the stock fans will require you to bypass the power breakout PCB that is included in the HL15 ($800 that doesn’t support controllable fans). Any 120mm fan will fit but you’ll need to wire the fans directly to a motherboard.

To make your life easy, you can also get something like this to help the PWM breakout for all the fans.

1 Like
20

Thanks, that’s what I was thinking. Agree, it’s a little disappointing something a simple as fan control isn’t included.

Any recommendations where I could mount something like this? Amazon.com