|
|
80MM FAN ADAPTER
Why would anyone want a 80mm fan on a 60mm heatsink ? Noise. Is the first thing that comes to mind , and the last couple of weeks I have been running the ARKUA 6228 , and is it noisy , only like having a hairdryer in the computer. The ARKUA is certainly a good product , but there comes a time when you have to ask your self , is all the noise worth it. And for most of us older types the answer will be no , so this is where the fan adapters come in. A bigger fan blowing air with less noise.
Here is the fan adapter I designed my self , with ease of manufacture being the main concern . I have no idea how much these converters will finally cost , but im hoping under $20Aust , since they are fully machined , the main concern is labor + material cost = ??? So if the final cost is too high then I will be the only one to own one of these .
Here is the 80mm fan adapter bolted to my Volcano 6Cu , inside my system. I have 2 80mm fans to try out , a standard run of the mill BB fan , and a high performance one , so onto the test.
MY SYSTEM
ASUS A7V133c , T-bird 1ghz @ 133mhz bus x 8 = 1077mhz , GF2mx , sound blaster live, 20gig Seagate 7200rpm ATA100 . 384meg Hyundai pc133 ram .
THE TEST
Side cover off , room temp 24deg Celsius.
First we will see what the stock Volcano 6Cu with its 32cfm fan can do.
Ok after playing Quake , then doing a 3Dmark2001 test , and playing some more quake , 45deg Celsius is the standard set for the 6Cu. So the first fan to be put on the 6Cu is the standard 80mm BB fan.
Ok , toped out at 48deg Celsius , thats 3 deg Celsius more than the stock 6Cu, time for the High performance 80mm fan .
Ok , not bad not bad at all, the high performance fan would not be able to beat a delta 38cfm fan , but it still gives us acceptable performance without the noise penalty, and as far as im concerned , it looks like 80mm fan adapters would be worth while for those whom just cant stand the noise.
CONCLUSION
This is my fan adapter, I designed it , Im testing it , so can I be subjective about it , well yes. With the stock run of the mill 80mm BB fan it gave us a performance penalty of 3 deg Celsius, personally I could live with that , esp if not overclocking . The high performance 80mm fan equaled the 60mm 32cfm TT fan in performance , with a nice reduction in noise. So you can go with the supper quiet stock run of the mill 80mm BB fans or a slightly more noisy high performance 80mm fan , on your adapter. ITs up to you , the converter works, it could be designed better , but at a cost , and Im not so sure that to many people would pay $50 for a well designed and machined adapter , all being in the form of added labor costs. My final word is this , you get what you pay for , and at this moment I have no Idea as to what this adapter would cost to make , well not yet in anyway, but I will find out.