I have a couple of 8-bay QNAP units (870 & 871) that I upgraded the rear cases exhaust fans. I decided to try two different exhaust fans models to see which are best suited for QNAP NAS enclosures, as I have a couple of more units I plan to swap out the OEM fans.
I opted for the following fans:
Noctua NF-F12
COUGAR Vortex CF-V12HP
Both are PWM, have a low dB, high m3/h airflow.
The NF-F12 were installed in the TS-870 Pro and the CF-V12HP were installed in the TVS-871, both units have the smart fan set to medium fan speed, both units have Seagate Ironwolf 8x4TB drives, the TVS-871 also has a QM2-2P-384 installed with 2x1TB 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSD.
The NF-F12 has an average speed of 1100 RPM and the CF-V12HP has an average speed of 1300 RPM, the ambient noise level between the two at a distance of ~2 meters away is indistinguishable, the spinning disks make a lot more noise that the fans do at medium rotation speed.
After one month of usage and gathering hourly data points during daily usage:
The TS-870 Pro (i7-3770s/16Gb) has an average CPU temp of 39c, system temp of 33c and HDD temps average 28c.
The TVS-871 (i7-4970s) has an average CPU temp of 35c, system temp of 31c and HDD temps average 28c.
This led me to wonder about a couple of things, the more powerful CPU had lower temps than the lower powered CPU and the TVS-871 is used to run a couple of VMs as well as plex, whereas the TS-870 Pro is mainly storage and a seedbox.
I decided try putting one CF-V12HP and NF-F12 in each unit. The CF-V12HP is in the left position, pulling air over the CPU heat pipe radiator, and the NF-F12 is in the right position, pulling air over the HDDs.
After two weeks of use, both units have essentially the same temp, variations of within 1 or 2 degrees Celsius and the sound is no different.
When the smart fan setting is set to high speed, the sound of the CF-V12HP is slightly more noticeable than the sound of the NF-F12, which is to be expected, as the speed of the CF-V12HP is about 1550 RPM and the NF-F12 is 1500 RPM.
So, the TL;DR is that if you have an 8-bay unit and are looking to replace the fans, go with one CF-V12HP in front of the heat pipe radiator and one NF-F12.
A tale of two fans (8-bay exhaust fan upgrades)
- jaysona
- Been there, done that
- Posts: 856
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 am
- Location: Somewhere in the Great White North
A tale of two fans (8-bay exhaust fan upgrades)
RAID is not a Back-up!
H/W: QNAP TVS-872x (i7-8700. 64GB) (Plex server & encoding host) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6706T (32GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AX86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 3004.388.6_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC66U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.12_6
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15
Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)
H/W: QNAP TVS-872x (i7-8700. 64GB) (Plex server & encoding host) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6706T (32GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AX86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 3004.388.6_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC66U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.12_6
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15
Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)
-
- New here
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:52 am
Re: A tale of two fans (8-bay exhaust fan upgrades)
Before I tear this thing apart to order fans .... I assume they are 4 pin fans?
- jaysona
- Been there, done that
- Posts: 856
- Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 am
- Location: Somewhere in the Great White North
Re: A tale of two fans (8-bay exhaust fan upgrades)
Did you look up the models on the respective manufacturer websites?
https://noctua.at/en/nf-f12-pwm/specification
https://noctua.at/en/nf-f12-pwm/specification
https://cougargaming.com/ph/products/co ... x_pwm_fan/Connector & pin-configuration 4-pin PWM
Connector PWM 4 pin
RAID is not a Back-up!
H/W: QNAP TVS-872x (i7-8700. 64GB) (Plex server & encoding host) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6706T (32GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AX86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 3004.388.6_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC66U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.12_6
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15
Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)
H/W: QNAP TVS-872x (i7-8700. 64GB) (Plex server & encoding host) / TVS-EC1080 (32Gig ECC) - VM host & seedbox
H/W: Asustor AS6706T (32GB) / Asustor AS7010T (16GB) (media storage)
H/W: TS-219 Pro / TS-509 Pro
O/S: Slackware 14.2 / MS Windows 7-64 (x5)
Router1: Asus RT-AX86U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 3004.388.6_2
Router2: Asus RT-AC66U - Asuswrt-Merlin - 386.12_6
Router3: Linksys WRT1900AC - DD-WRT v3.0-r46816 std
Router4: Asus RT-AC66U - FreshTomato v2021.10.15
Misc: Popcorn Hour A-110/WN-100, Pinnacle Show Center 250HD, Roku SoundBridge Radio (all retired)
Ditched QNAP units: TS-269 Pro / TS-253 Pro (8GB) / TS-509 Pro / TS-569 Pro / TS-853 Pro (8GB)
TS-670 Pro x2 (i7-3770s 16GB) / TS-870 Pro (i7-3770 16GB) / TVS-871 (i7-4790s 16GB)