PC Fans Types Explained... What is right for your setup? 

Suggestion: I think a playlist with videos geared towards first-time builders/people just getting into this would be amazingly helpful, as a lot of the time we don't even know what questions we need answered

i’ll just say that i’m a big fan

Noctua fans have impressed me. Silent and efficient.

There is a hybrid bearing used by Noctua. The self-stabilizing oil-pressure bearing (SSO bearing) is a blend of the fluid bearing and maglev bearing. With Noctua's 6-year warranty, they seem to last longer than many fluid bearing fans, and the maglev component should help with all orientations.

Incase anyone needs clarity on the fluid vs liquid: a fluid is anything that can flow, in this case air, while a liquid is a state of matter.

Jay: Does a whole video on fan types and what the differences are Also Jay: Just buy the one that's cheap and looks cool 😎

Just letting you know, JTC-production, that the dialogue sounds slightly panned to the left, by say 15-20% from center (I can hear it and see it on a meter), and it has been like this for at least months now. - Not a huge deal, but either there's a pan-setting in the editor off-center or there's something wrong with a contact in the recording-gear.

I used to have my whole case full of the af and sp fans but got noises. I've now got it full of the maglevs and they are such a game changer! Unbelievably quiet and effective. Certainly sticking to then from now on

I almost died when you talked about the fluid bearing causing wobble and smacking it is a temporary fix. I had shitty cheap fans in my old rig and had that issue so i was always smacking my case on startup. You bringing that up was a blast from the past.

Jay, I am loving the content this month! So helpful.

Addition: Mag-Lev fans are also easier to drive. I had a Corsair Air 540 with an MSI Z97 motherboard. The 1 rear + 2 top fans were on a single header and it wouldn't power them all. Doing that same configuration with Mag-Lev fans enabled that one header to power all of them.

Great tutorial! My 10-year-old Antec case came with a full set of basic fluid bearing air flow fans. The 3 front-mounted 120mm fans recently died, presumably because they had the toughest job pulling air into the case through a dust filter. The single top-mounted 200mm and dual rear-mounted 90mm exhaust fans are still running smoothly to this day.

Then you get into server and rack equipment fans, where you're spinning a tiny little fan at like 20k RPM, with 6 of those in a single unit. Pretty much sounds like a jet taking off.

Jay could you do this for every part of PC? It would help a lot to people who are new to PC builds and stuff

Great content! I always enjoy the simple stuff that sometimes in my head isn't so simple. It's nice to get refreshers and new people in the space to get some pointers.

you just got my golden buzzer Jay! I really enjoy your tough love approach!

Can’t wait too see gn’s testing on this subject

I have a Cooler Master Storm Sniper case that has a 200 mm fan mounted on the side. Fan has been running silently every single day for 11 years. Best case/fans I’ve ever had.

Great video, I really like how you described the different bearing types, and how orientation can play a factor over a fan's lifetime!

I knew a lot of the fan-knowledge but your explanations of the different bearing types was great, new knowledge to me! Thanks Jay!

On the NZXT fan, I love how Jay basically says that the fan is horrible in any NZXT case.

I miss RTFM... But getting some lubricated shaft action makes up for some of it...

15:15 - Been in this exact situation for months and it's been driving me crazy, wasn't 100% sure if it was my case, the fan, or what. Tried looking around online and saw like a million different suggestions but never once heard about fluid bearings. Awesome video, going to look for a new fan!

Really appreciate your insight on the different designs Jay!

9 yrs old Antec fans still going strong. on 3rd build in this case. 3 120's and ball bearing "big boy 200"

Thanks for the explanation on the bearings, I live in an area with constant sandstorms and I had the suspicion the fans kept failing every few years because of them being fluid bearing and the sand/dust (PM2.5) getting in there.

Thanks I have an older giant cavernous case and I know I'm due for fans replacement, it's helpful to see what newer tech is out now. My case uses a minimum of 8 and can do like 12 and then there's different sizes like 140mm and the rears are 120mm. Thanks for helping with my research Jay!

Jay: "Air is a liquid" Me: "So are we just land fish with lungs as gills then?"

My cool master HAF case has 2 200mm fans still going 10 years later :)

I've had my Antec 1200 case for years and years now, I can't even remember exactly how long but it was a new case at the time. It's so old I had to go to Antec direct to source the USB 3.0 upgrades to refresh the front I/O and I paid a ridiculous price to do it too. I was surprised they still even had spares since all they seem to do nowadays is fans and even those are few and far between. But, I digress, from the day I bought the case until today I've run the stock fans (5x 120mm, 3x front and 2x rear and 1x 200mm fan on top - I think they are all ball bearing) and not a single one has failed, gone weird, needed to be replaced, or started making weird noises (In this I hit the fan lottery jackpot). We are talking at least 8 years. It's an admittedly ancient case with non of the mod-cons I'd like, such as a basement, cable routing channels, the fans themselves are still MOLEX so it's manual fan controls for each individual fan... but I can honestly say I think the case and the fans will outlast me, and I'm 34. I would love to upgrade to a new case along with new components whenever I can actually afford such frivolities in these weird and trying times; but you know, I think I'd miss the old girl stood ten feet tall on my desk if I ever did replace her. At this point though the Antec 1200 is like your Skunkworks; 1. A museum piece and, 2. they just don't build 'em like that anymore.

Thank you jay for telling why I have one noisy fan, I live in a dry dusty region and it's a vertical mount... it hasn't died yet but now I know what to shop for when it does!

2 years later....So happy I found this video on the list. I had lots of fan questions. Now I can resume building. Thank you!

I've been using same 5 Noctua NF-F14 fans in my systems for the past 10+ years, at the time paying around $25 each for them seemed outrageous but the fact they have lasted this long spinning countless hours probably has been one of my better PC investments.

Was hoping he’d talk about the kind of fans/bearings inside of GPU fans and if having a GPU mounted vertically makes a difference in their lifespan

Probably would be good to say that there are many different names for the same bearing: Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) may also be called a Rifle Bearing or Hydro Dynamic Bearing (HDB) depending on manufacturer. This bearing in any of its variations is overall superior to the "sleeve bearing" which implies no rifling system to keep the fluid in motion.

Great video. For years I've always looked at fluid dynamic bearings I thought they were like the best because they had some kind of fluid in them. Then realize that that was actually the lowest quality bearing thanks to this video. I still have yet to have any fluid dynamic bearings fail, but I also know that I don't mount them upside down either. But I'm still very happy with my deep cool CF140s that I have in my case, except for the fact that the stickers are coming off of them and they start rattling up against fan filters.

The increased sweep at the end of the new static pressure fans is to lower the noise caused by the fan. The majority of fan noise is generated by the resistance at the tip (the fastest moving part of the fan). Increasing the sweep right at the tip lowers the resistance at that point while increasing the resistance where the sweep reduces closer to the hub. It also has the effect of increasing static pressure, but the main purpose of that exaggerated sweep right at the end is to reduce noise.

I've revived several fans by pulling the sticker back and pulling sewing machine oil in. The price to replace fans is stupid expensive it's worth reviving the old ones where possible

I genuinely thought this video was satire, about "top 10 types of pc masterrace fans" and not actual blowing fans! Boy was i happily surprised to see this being an informational video!!

This wasn't boring at all, this was very interesting! I didn't know there was so much science behind it and this ist so cool that you made a video about this topic.

The Lian Li 215 case comes with 2 x 200mm argb fans in the front. I really like that case for a lot of reasons. My current rig is sitting in one and it's the third one I've built in, overall

I just want to thank JayzTwoCents and the things i've learned from this channel through the years. Keep up the good work guys!

Great video. Having used SP fans for the last 15 years for everything - its good to learn theres a difference!

Right now I'm running noctua redux fans in my case. Great price and great fans. They're oil bearings and so far I've been happy with them!

Love this idea - to come back and discuss things you already have from years ago. As a noob to the PC building world I have learned a TON from this channel!!! Jay has educated me on things I had absolutely no idea about, thus increasing my desire to get more into computer building. Great channel, excellent explanations and would LOVE to see more of these videos re-addressing past topics!

Nothing wrong with going back to basics.

Thanks for all your videos! I appreciate that its just calm, clear, staight forward, and free of b.s. I am about to buold my first pc since 2003 and you are helping me in the process!

Such a useful starting video! Thanks! Back about 18 years ago I got my first 'real job' and I replaced most of my fans on my *amazing* Core2 machines. Finally done with awful stock fans I found some good deals on Corsair and Enermax fans that were a huge upgrade. All my stuff lives in a well sealed basement. I get a lot of dirt as all dirt settles to the bottom of the house, and the basement is the gateway to yard work, but the air itself is well filtered as I have got problems lol. At any rate, all the sudden in the last 2 months I have lost 2 enermax fans, 1 corsair, 1 old stock fan, and 2 more are starting to make noises, and I realized... I haven't bought a fan since before my kids were born! I didn't even have a house yet! I guess it is time for some new fans... Also, why did I drop that much money on case fans when I was attempting to save for a house?!? lol, anywho, just goes to show, keep the air clean and fans can last a goooood long time without issues and can be worth the money. I run my machines essentially 24/7, and I have only had to replace 2-3 fans in that time of the 20+ fans in my systems until very recently. And also, how crazy is it that after nearly 20 years I am still using the same computer cases, because none of the mounting standards have changed? That's kind of nuts.

I'm a huge fan (pun intended) of the Arctic P12 for everything in my LANCOOL II case (thanks again Jay for the video on that). They can be purchased in packs of 5 for sometimes as little as $25 for the 3-pin 120mm version. I started off buying two for my Kraken X53 and ended up getting ten more to fill my entire case as well as set up the X53 in push/pull (liquid is at 27°C idle right now). They are quieter than the Lian-Li case fans, UNi Fan SL120s, NZXT 120mm fans that came with the X53, and the three shroud fans that used to be on my Strix 3070. I removed the shroud on the 3070 and clipped two of the P12s directly over the OEM heatsink and connected them to the fan headers on the GPU. Using GPU Tweak II to ramp the fans to 100% the P12s keep the card super cold (it's idling at 29°C right now). The P8, P12, and P14 come in many different variations with piggy-backing, PWM, thin, white, super quiet, transparent, RGB, and temperature-controlled. I have them running at 100% all the time and I barely notice they are there. They are optimized for static pressure but work great as case fans as well. Technical Info - Fan speed: 1800 RPM, Airflow: 56.3 CFM/95.65 m³/h (@ 1800 RPM), Noise Level: 0.3 Sone (@ 1800 RPM), Pin: 3-pin (no reason to go PWM if they are at 100% all the time)

Great video. I went through this fan game a couple months back when I was buying all new fans for a new rig I was building, it was hard getting concrete answers to a lot of what you brought up. Thanks for Jaytober!!!

Noctua fans in traditional brown. So far, I've never had a Noctua fan fail on me. Some has run 24/7 for nearly five years without a hiccup. In fact, I have a box with older Noctua fans from prior builds that were still running fine when I was ready to decommission the computer.

I spent way more time researching fans than any other component for my current build. Case is Thermaltake Core X9. Front intake: two 200mm Thermaltake, Top exhaust: one 360 Corsair AIO, plus three 140mm Thermaltake, Right intake: three 140mm Thermaltake, Bottom intake: one 120mm Thermaltake, Rear exhaust: two 140mm Thermaltake. I totaled the advertised CFM, subtracted 10% for variance, and came up with approximately 520 CFM for intake, 540 CFM for exhaust. I'm not sure how relevant that info is compared to actual airflow. Time and testing will tell. Fair winds and following seas to all.

I guess you could say this video is about... Only Fans I'll show myself out now

I had a CM HAF case that had one 200mm intake in the front and one 200mm exhaust in the top and it was a great setup. Both quiet and had amazing airflow. It’s actually still running today with the original fans in a machine I built for my Dad. It’s probably 10+ years old at this point.

This video was very much needed thank you!

I absolutely needed this video, thanks JayzTwoCents!!

This is the type of content that made me subscribe to the channel. Thanks for going back to the basics Jay!!

I have been wondering what happened to the AF and SP fans. Thank you for finally clearing that up for me. currently running nothing but Noctua NF-F12 and F14 3000 rpm fans in my small NR200. Probably overkill, but they move a lot of air at low speeds so they don't get loud.

Tanks for this one. Quite intsructive! Keep them comming and I'll keep viewing then liking!

Thanks for this video! I learned much, never actually thought too much about fans, allways took one from brand I know and that was it, now building computer for a friend I have another thing to think about.

Jay, I appreciate the fact that you take the time to do videos such as this one. Just because a lot of us might know this, there are more people than we know that don't. So you taking the time to cover a spectrum of people is awesome. Keep it coming. Even if we know it. It's could to be refreshed on certain topics anyway!

Very informative video Jay, I've been running Mag Lev fans for the past year or so with zero issues and very quiet. Glad to hear I have years to look forward to with them!

I learned something new today. Thank you for the pros/cons and great explanations.

I've watched this a couple of times already. Really informative video. Thanks Jay.

Well I’ve got quite a hodgepodge of fans in my rig, 1 Noctua, 1 Arctic, 1 Thermaltake, 1 cheap Corsair and 2 be quiet! fans on my AIO. So far so good, they all work well.

What do fluid bearings and walruses have in common? Theyre both looking for a tight seal 😆👍

You really packed a lot of useful information in this one. Very good video. Thanks

100% not boring. Very useful info. Thanks Jay!

It's wild how someone like myself can know much about PCs while still knowing close to nothing about the simpler things. Good stuff Jay

The fact that I've been watching all these videos about PC stuff and I have learned something a thing or two along the way, I must say that it comes quite handy to have this kind of knowledge for beginners who are getting into PC building.

This was not boring at all since I learned a lot from you about fans and I thank you for all the info.

Thanks for going over this. This was awesome information to go back over :). Thanks for all the work Phill, Jay and Nick :)

Loving these daily uploads and your Halloween series, these videos are really helpful and fun to watch Jayz.

I did actually learn these stuff today so thanks jay, Though I kinda wish you had pictures or animations of those different bearings and how they work to easily understand them. Still though, great stuff! Big Fan!

Appreciate the break down and explanation!

Love the educational content as always! Thank you, Jay!

Never had a single fan die since my original liquid cooled build 8 years ago. Have always used Noctua fans since then though. Currently running all NF A12X25s super quiet and very high airflow through anything.

A 200 mm came with my phantoms case. Though it's probably an older case since it has 5.25 drive bays in it.

Thanks Jay, I just learnt something new today!

I didn't know about these type of fans till now. Thanks.

Thinking about going with the ARCTIC P12 5-pack for $30 on Amazon. Optimum Tech used them in a NR200 build with a 3070 FE a while back, and he seemed pretty satisfied with the performance I'm working on a $800 build at the moment with i7-11700 and RX 480 (just a placeholder) so these should be good enough for now.

This is why I like this channel. Every once in a while Jay does these basic fresher videos about stuff that we take for granted.

It wasn't a boring subject (it was informational). I knew of 2 of the bearing types so this was enlightening (also about the environments to run the fans in; like dusty). Thanks @Jay

Thank you for this video! Was about to purchase some fluid bearing fans they would be in the worst orientation for it.

i have the cheapest of the chepaest fans from Silentium PC, working great still on almost fuul speed, only 1 from my top case start to ratlinf little, puting him on front and rattling ended, like u said those bearings dont like to be face down;)

I've been running Noctua fans for almost 10 years, the most noisy part of my computer are the HDD now, when on idle or light load, then it's the CPU/GPU fans that take over.

Five year old build with a couple GPU upgrades along the way. I splurged and used the fans that came with the case. Still using the same fans. I bought a pair of Noctuas, but never really needed them. Jay is right. Knowledge is King and don't go crazy worrying about fans.

when i was rocking a bulldozer fx8350 it was quite hot, so i took out my cases rear fan and took an old commercial all metal Kirkland brand fan that my family has had for 2 or 3 decades now and hooked up a large air duct hose from it to the pc to suck out the hot air, worked great but you know it was loud. The first version of this (before i found the perfect size duct hose) was tapping sheets of galvanized metal to make the a cone shape to connect from the back to the fan, it worked well too but looked so bad it was hilarious.

I got 3 thin static noctuas in front of my PC, meshify C, and two Corsairs on my 240mm radiator. My room is very dusty, but I never had issues with my fans because of that. I needed the thin noctuas because the 2070S GPU is too long for the "default" corsair fans.

I'd just say that, as far as I know, Sunon was the first to do MagLev bearings in fans and I'm not sure if Corsair is doing their own, or if they've licenced the tech from Sunon, but they're certainly not the first.

I don't find this a boring subject at all! I watched your last video on it too, and that video taught me what fans I needed for my first wartercooled setup. Hopefully more beginners get help from videos like this. Even as an "old timer" they are entertaining.

Coming back at this video. Amazing knowledge. I was worried I bought 3 static pressure fans for my pc case and though the newer "air flow" ones were better, but I accidentally got the correct ones. They indeed need to "suck" air through a mesh filter, and I will move the two air flow ones that already came with the case to the exhaust back part that doesn't have any mesh or filter. That's gonna help my pc keep the positive pressure so it doesn't suck dust from any crevices.

I watched some reviews and went with Arctic (140mm since that's what my case uses). They've compared well with Noctuas in tests. They are quiet, keep things cool, and were easy to wire. I paid around $45 for a 5 pack. They have a 7 year warranty, but at that price, if one fails I'll just put in a new one and not worry about it.

My Corsair maglev fans are so quiet, and have had a crazy long life so far! Dry environment, lots of cat fur though. Think I’ve had them for 5 or 6 years at least.

Thank you for this video! I needed it!

I like the style and pragmatism with which you explain the PC world You are very good

For 200mm fans, Noctua makes a really nice one. I really wish those would come back in vogue for case makers and fan makers - Imagine a 400mm radiator! I really wish Jay covered the difference between 3-pin voltage control fans vs. 4-pin PWM fans. Many cases still has non-PWM 3-pin fans as the stock fans, so it would be nice to help the newbies who are confused as to why their case stock fans are different looking from the 4 pin fans, and why they can't use PWM signals to control their fans.

I think you got mixed up here. By “fluid bearing” being the worst I think you mean “Hydro Bearing” or whatever they use to hide the cheap sleeve bearing. True Fluid Dynamic Bearings are the best. Sleeve Bearings are the worst. Sleeve bearings are affected by orientation, not true fluid bearings. Noctuas and Be Quiets! are fluid bearings. They don’t suck.

This was really helpful thanks man .

I think Enermax was the first one with maglev fans, well before Corsair. I used their TwisterStorm fans for case fans as they had a microswitch built into them that let you control the RPM of the fan. Removing the need to plug them into the motherboard back when those connectors were extremely limited. They unfortunately had to be cleaned fairly regularly and would fail quite often. The upside being I'd get them from Frys for postage thanks to rebates for the full value.