Steve Jobs and I don't have much in common, but one thing that could be said about the both of us is our hatred of fan noise. One of the very first things I do to quiet down an SE or SE/30 is replace the stock fan with a Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX. But I and others have wondered - just how well does the Noctua perform? JDW has a video comparing the stock fans vs. a Noctua but it's missing one crucial bit of information: how well do the different fans actually cool the system? Specifically, how well do they cool the flyback transformer? I'm most concerned about the flyback since it's probably the most irreplaceable part of the system's analog board, since there are no common drop-in replacements that I am aware of. So I decided to get some hard data so I can feel comfortable that the quieter Noctua fan is doing a good job compared to the stock fans.
The test setup:
- Macintosh SE/30, pretty much stock except with an Asante MacCon Ethernet card and no internal hard drive. The analog board was recapped a couple years ago.
- I measured the temperature of the flyback with a Fluke 87 V DMM with a Fluke Type T thermocouple temperature probe, stuck to the flyback with Kapton tape and a dab of thermal paste to ensure good thermal conductivity. I routed the wire for the thermal probe through the security lock hole in the back of the case.
- The tests happened in my semi-heated basement, with ambient temperatures around 63-66 degrees F.
- I did two tests each day, the first one first thing in the morning, and the second in the early afternoon after having a desk fan pointed at the open computer for a couple hours to get the temps of everything back to ambient.
- I'd power the system up and let it sit at the disk with blinking question mark for 90 minutes, logging the temperature at start, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes.
The fans in question:
- Canon CF60-T119N1D. This was the original fan that came in this SE/30, and I also have an SE that came with this model.
- Sanyo Denki DC Pico Ace 109P0612M402. This fan came in another SE/30 that I have.
- Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX. This is the "3 wire" version of the fan that doesn't have PWM control. It's run at the full 12V and not through the "low noise adapter" that comes with the fan.
The data:
I tested over the course of 2 days. In the morning of the 2nd day when I opened the case the temperature probe pulled out of the kapton tape, so I reapplied new tape and thermal paste. I tested the Noctua on both days to see how consistent the temperatures were with the new tape and paste.
Day 1 testing:
Day 2 testing:
Conclusions:
The Noctua is not only much quieter than the two stock fans I have, it cools better, too. This isn't too surprising to me: due to the size of the motor on the stock fans, they have fairly small blades, especially the Sanyo Denki one. The Noctua has a much larger blade area. Most of the noise from the stock fans comes from the motor and in my opinion they are much more annoying sounding than the Noctua.
The test setup:
- Macintosh SE/30, pretty much stock except with an Asante MacCon Ethernet card and no internal hard drive. The analog board was recapped a couple years ago.
- I measured the temperature of the flyback with a Fluke 87 V DMM with a Fluke Type T thermocouple temperature probe, stuck to the flyback with Kapton tape and a dab of thermal paste to ensure good thermal conductivity. I routed the wire for the thermal probe through the security lock hole in the back of the case.
- The tests happened in my semi-heated basement, with ambient temperatures around 63-66 degrees F.
- I did two tests each day, the first one first thing in the morning, and the second in the early afternoon after having a desk fan pointed at the open computer for a couple hours to get the temps of everything back to ambient.
- I'd power the system up and let it sit at the disk with blinking question mark for 90 minutes, logging the temperature at start, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes.
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The fans in question:
- Canon CF60-T119N1D. This was the original fan that came in this SE/30, and I also have an SE that came with this model.
- Sanyo Denki DC Pico Ace 109P0612M402. This fan came in another SE/30 that I have.
- Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX. This is the "3 wire" version of the fan that doesn't have PWM control. It's run at the full 12V and not through the "low noise adapter" that comes with the fan.
The data:
I tested over the course of 2 days. In the morning of the 2nd day when I opened the case the temperature probe pulled out of the kapton tape, so I reapplied new tape and thermal paste. I tested the Noctua on both days to see how consistent the temperatures were with the new tape and paste.
Day 1 testing:
| Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX | Canon CF60-T119N1D | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 min | 64.3°F | 67.0°F |
| 15 min | 93.7°F | 99.8°F |
| 30 min | 105.1°F | 112.5°F |
| 60 min | 111.0°F | 121.5°F |
| 90 min | 114.0°F | 124.4°F |
Day 2 testing:
| Sanyo Denki 109P0612M402 | Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 min | 64.2°F | 66.2°F |
| 15 min | 104.1°F | 95.2°F |
| 30 min | 119.9°F | 107.9°F |
| 60 min | 129.7°F | 110.4°F |
| 90 min | 132.4°F | 112.3°F |
Conclusions:
The Noctua is not only much quieter than the two stock fans I have, it cools better, too. This isn't too surprising to me: due to the size of the motor on the stock fans, they have fairly small blades, especially the Sanyo Denki one. The Noctua has a much larger blade area. Most of the noise from the stock fans comes from the motor and in my opinion they are much more annoying sounding than the Noctua.
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