Noctua NF-6x25 FLX
Just fitted this fan in my T500, together with a 3-pin to 2-pin fan adapter.
It's really a nice upgrade. I placed it the way TM recommends placing the latest fans they send. So snipping of the screw holes from the old top mounted fan and placing it with some dual sided tape of 1mm thick. 1mm because of vibration absorption from the wheel to the fan and the other way around.
I must say I am pleased with this purchase. The fan has a higher airflow, with less noise and consumes less wattage.
So as it will consume less power it won't be as much of a burden on the electronics. Meaning they will get less hot too.
The old Chiefly fan was 60x60x10, Noctua is 60x60x25.
The old Chiefly fan had just 'sleeve bearing', and Noctua has their own 'SSO2 bearing' which is a "self-stabilising oil-pressure bearing" (should last longer with all the vibrations in the wheel).
The old Chiefly fan was 12v @ 0.20A, Noctua is 12v @ 0.12A.
The old Chiefly fan only pushed 25.74 m3/h (15.15 CFM), Noctua 29.2 m3/h (17.19 CFM).
The old Chiefly fan made 27.9 dB(A) of noise, the Noctua only whispers at 19.2 dB(A).
So much better specs in more ways than one. I didn't even hear the fan switch on while racing and had to check with a flash light, as it is just 19.2 dB(A).
More notably is that the
fan stopped spinning much sooner (as in it ran for just a few minutes), and thus should be able to cool the motor a lot better during operation as well.
Besides all that Noctua fans are high quality stuff with 6 years of warranty (on this particular fan), and since it's inside the enclosed wheel... who cares about the color?
Anyways, a recommendation from my side this fan and am glad that I don't have a rattling/grinding fan anymore.
Be sure not to forget buying a "3-pin to 2-pin fan adapter" as this is not included.
So something like these...
The left one is the "Noctua NA-AC2" (only included with the 40mm fan), the right is generic one (which I bought).