Suggestions for a case fan

[Mikeystien]

Does anyone have any suggestions on a good 80mm case fan? I have a side exhaust fan on my case that is starting to get a little loud and one of the four blue led lights has decided to quit working. I figured fans are cheap enough there’s no reason to put up with one that is annoying me. I’m looking for one with blue lights to match my case, but would like one that isn’t so bright that you can’t stand to look at it. (I don't know if there's one that is a darker blue.) My current fan uses a 4 pin connection.

I also have room to install a second fan in the back of my case that can either be an 80mm or a 120mm. Currently, the spot is empty. If anyone has any suggestions for that spot I’d love to hear those as well. As always I look forward to your suggestions, and appreciate the crumbs of wisdom y’all are kind enough to share.

Case: Nift
PSU: 500W (I think the brand is NIFT, came with the case)
Motherboard: MSI P6N SLI Platinum
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
RAM: 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800MHz KINGSTON
Graphics card: EVGA 8600GT
Hard Drive(s): 400 GB HITACHI 7200 RPM HD
Optical Drive(s): ASUS light Scribe 20x DVD and CD writer

Monitor: SAMSUNG 933BW 19" Widescreen
Speakers: generic

Operating System: WINDOWS XP HOME PROFESSIONAL

[PH0ENIX]

This has good reviews on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209002

I got the 92mm version of this, and am pleased with it. It has 3 speed settings, but my PSU is capable of controlling the speed according to case temperature.

[Mikeystien]

Sorry for the delay in response, but I just thought I'd give an update on what I went with. I also wanted to have a chance to see how these fans would work.

First, Thank you Poenix for the suggestion. As you'll see I took your advice.

I had an open spot in back of the case for a 120mm fan and I went with the Antec 120mm TriCool fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209011

It works great and has nice lights. For the 80mm fan, I went with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999120

I works good but sounds like a vacuum cleaner on high. The lights are supposed to be blue, but have a purple tint to them. (You can see that in the pictures.)

I set both of these fans up on a fan controller so I can control them easier without having to reach behind my case. I have an Ultra Fan Controller which seems to do a nice job handling them.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2559758&CatId=501

I was also given another 80mm fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200045

This Rosewill fan surprised me because I did not expect it to work well or be quiet, but it moves a decent bit of air and is very quiet. (It also has a nice deep blue color that I like.)

The fan I took off my case was a "Keep" brand. I cannot find anything about this brand anywhere. But my opinion is to avoid them. Mine fan sounded loud the day I got my computer and only got louder as time marched on.

[knestle]

80MM is old hat. :)
A larger fan, at a slower speed, moves more air with less noise.
All modern setups are 120MM(or 140MM, or even larger).
See if you can fit in a 80 to 120 adapter and upsize the fan.

Sucking 120MM of air through an 80MM hole may sound counter intuitive, but if you subtract the area of the fan hub you come up with approximately the same area.

[Mikeystien]

Thanks Knestle. I hadn't heard of an adaptor like that before. If I ever replace an 80mm fan I will go this route. This is only one I found on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215112

Do you know of a better brand or of a different store that sell them?

I knew that bigger fans were normally better, but the side vent on my PC is for 80mm, so that is why I was looking for 80mm. I have seen several new cases where they uses even bigger fans. I've found several cases that have a 230mm fan. And almost all new cases have at least 120 if not 140 fans. I wonder if somday it will get to the point where you basicaly have a box fan with a computer to the side.