Gelid Fans

Wanted to report that I replaced some 120mm case fans and 92mm CSE-M35T-1B fans with these FN-FW12-15-B and FN-FW09-20-B and I am very happy with them. They are pretty much silent and push a lot of air.

Others have reported using Gelid fans but I think they were a different model. Gelid makes a variety of fans.

They make a "Silent" series that are a lower cost than the "Wing" series, are quiter and don't move quite as much air. For example the Silent 120mm is 37CFM at 20.2dBA while the 120 Wing is 64.3CFM at 25dBA.  The Silent series uses a "Hydro Dynamic Bearing" and the Wing serise use "Nanoflux Bearing" which has "Electromagnetic fields are exploited to keep solid parts from touching." The Silent series is 50'000 h MTTF and Wing is 100'000 h MTTF.

Combine all that with the fact each series comes in different variations. The Silent series offers fixed speed, temperature controled (using a sensor probe) and Pulse-width modulation (PWM). The PWM will run at higher max speed so it can move more air with correspondingly higher dBAs, more like the Wings. Only one version of the Wing line, they all come with a speed control but you don't have to use. You can plug the fan directly into a 3 pin fan headder which is what I did with the M35Ts. You just need to choose a color, green or blue. Both claimed to be UV reactive but I don't know how well that works. Finally there is a new 120mm entry in the Wing line with slightly higher CFM and dBA.

I purchased my fans from Directron at a cost of $18 for the 120s and $14 for the 92mm and about $6 for ground shipping. Was the extra cost of the Wing over the Silent series or another brand worth it? Guess you have to decide that for yourself.

Gelid makes what is, at first, a confusing variety of fans. Hope this post helps others to sort it out. I will definitly be buying more of the Wing series in the future. Note: some post spelled Gelid as Geild which I include here for search purposes.