SilenX fans really are quiet

The fan I wrote about a week ago, the one that was showing delivered but wasn’t, showed up a couple of days later. It’s a SilenX 40mm case fan that was to replace a really loud existing fan in my firewall PC. The fan is rated at 14 dB, spinning at 3500 RPM and pushing 5 CFM. I was a little leery about the noise claim because I’ve used “quiet” fans before that weren’t really quiet.

The fan came packaged with regular case screws as well as rubber pull screws. I used the rubber screws for an added level of silence (in case of vibration). Plus, the black color matches the case better than the silver screws.

I was surprised how quiet the fan really is. I thought I would at least hear a little noise but there isn’t any if I’m more than 6 inches away. Close up, all you hear is the sound of the air flow. I will definitely purchase more fans made by SilenX.

The only noise from the firewall now is from the CPU fan. I can’t find any replacement socket 370 low-profile heatsink/fans that are rated quieter than 30 dB. That’s about what the installed fan is putting out. I may just line the top of the case with noise dampening material from FrozenCPU.com.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao Tzu

31.Jan.07 Hardware