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OGDCFAN99 wrote:I have the Noctua fan mod and it is very silent for sure.. but it doesn't seem to move as much air as the original fan.

Try turning on 2 DC's, one with the Noctua fan mod, and one with the original.. then feel which one blows more air.

What do you guys think?? I'd love to hear other people's findings.

I'll tell you in a week or two when the parts arrive. I've only really being playing my DC again over the last few months and it's a noisy little fecker. I'm ok with the violent diction of the ever angry GDRom but I've had it with the white noise torture of the fan

OGDCFAN99 wrote:I have the Noctua fan mod and it is very silent for sure.. but it doesn't seem to move as much air as the original fan.

Try turning on 2 DC's, one with the Noctua fan mod, and one with the original.. then feel which one blows more air.

What do you guys think?? I'd love to hear other people's findings.

That's an interesting find, I've never compared it. I think if you're using a ODE then Noctua fan mod is perfect for that. If you're going stock then sounds like you should keep the existing fan.

Not worth it IMO. That 3D print material is cheaper then a mc'china toy. grease up the original fan and turn up the volume of the game.

Good point, I should also add that if you have a PSU mod like dreamPSU which doesn't generate as much heat, then the Noctua fan mod is probably worth it.

But if you have the stock PSU generating more heat, then the stock fan should probably be left as it was originally engineered since it does seems to move quite a bit more air.

I'm still curious if this is just my console generating slightly less voltage to the Noctua fan or if they are all like this and it just requires more juice to perform the same, regardless of how much sound it generates.

Xiden wrote:

OGDCFAN99 wrote:I have the Noctua fan mod and it is very silent for sure.. but it doesn't seem to move as much air as the original fan.

Try turning on 2 DC's, one with the Noctua fan mod, and one with the original.. then feel which one blows more air.

What do you guys think?? I'd love to hear other people's findings.

That's an interesting find, I've never compared it. I think if you're using a ODE then Noctua fan mod is perfect for that. If you're going stock then sounds like you should keep the existing fan.

Consensus - at least in the 3D printing world - seems to be, that Noctua fans don't deliver much static pressure.

So, yes, they may be silent but may not deliver enough pressure to properly blow *into* your Dreamcast to cool it.

I know, i know - lots and lots of people do / have done the Noctua fan mod - however, how many have really checked temperatures inside their consoles and on their chip dies?

Not really saying they're wrong doing the mod, however i'd be very wary doing the mod just because it is more silent than the original fan.

I'm getting the PSU mod as well so hopefully the temp will be fine. This is starting to get out of hand, it all started with a little £5 serial card adapter and a trip down memory lane with a few laps of the timeless F355 in November. I know already where this is going to end up - the DCHDMI mod and DreamPi it's only a matter of time and money :p

I have all the parts for Noctua mod, but it doesn't fit in my DC. My DC isn't a VA0, it has an all plastic fan etc so should fit, but no matter how I orientate the Noctua, it just won't fit in. I'd have to shave a corner off of the motherboard to make it fit, which is say too dangerous for me.

I installed a Noctua fan into mine before I even tested it, which probably wasn't the best idea! The kit I got was from Kaico Labs, since I was also getting an SD adapter from there. This was before I heard that Kaico don't have a good reputation in the community... Whoops.

It was an easy install and seems to work fine - I was playing for quite a few hours the other day and the console didn't seem to go above being quite warm (for reference, I still have the original disc drive installed). I'm used to the disc drive in my PS1 making a fair bit of noise, so weirdly the Dreamcast's drive noise doesn't bother me much. As an aside, I've also installed one of these fans in my PS2, and it's done wonders to eliminate the jet engine noise and works perfectly

To be honest I think my main concern is the replacement lid latch - it doesn't seem to be traditionally 3D printed as it doesn't have the telltale layered look, but it's a grainy kind of plastic. Snapping one of the hooks off of the mounting bracket for the fan took no effort at all, so I'm a bit concerned as to how the lid latch is going to hold up to the wear and tear of clipping in over time.

I installed one in mine a few weeks back and it was a little more effort than expected. The fan didn't initially want to sit flush against the shroud, which will obviously cause a loss of exhaust power if left uncorrected. It was also causing issues with the new latch, which kept bumping into the fan. I unscrewed the fan and reseated it with the shroud using a different mounting point on the fan to correct the issue. So be careful with how you screw the fan to the shroud and make sure their edges of both are making a solid connection before you even start screwing it in. As has been mentioned previously it's recommended to replace the thermal pads as well.

With everything in order it's been working great and keeping the power supply cooler than the stock fan. I did actually expect it to be a little quieter than it is. It isn't loud by any means, and definitely quieter than the stock fan, but still audible.

deluxux wrote:good to know! Any thing else use the VMU speaker?

The radar in Pier Solar uses it similarly to how it works in Skies of Arcadia

mstar wrote:So, yes, they may be silent but may not deliver enough pressure to properly blow *into* your Dreamcast to cool it.

It shouldn't be blowing into your Dreamcast at all, it's an exhaust fan.