So I need some advice, and what I am finding online is older (2014 era).  

I have a Silverstone DS380, great little NAS case, horrible, horrible airflow.  The internal drive cage is not well vented.  There are two 120mm fans that blow onto the drives, however there is a large gap between the fans and the drive cage, so a lot of static pressure is lost.  I am planning on building some simple ducting to direct the airflow, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on high static pressure fans.  I need something that will push though the available, albeit limited, venting in the drive cage. I have drilled additional holes, but its still a very compact case, and my drive temps are still high.  Of course I want the fans quiet.  And I know the two are not mutually exclusive.

I have some Corsair SP120s that I am going to try (presently running Cougers) but just saw 38mm wide fans on amazon.  I'm sure they will be loud, but I can put them on a fan controller to tone them down.

Or, if anyone has any recent (2016-2017) experience or articles or reviews of the latest models, I'm open to suggestions for brands and models.

So.... What's your favorite high static pressure 120mm fan?  Presumably they are popular for use in radiators, my application will be slightly different.

Thanks.

Gentle Typhoons were all the rage for a while. Noctua NF-F12 too. But in the end, i don't think there are massive differences in temperatures when in actual use.

Delta would do the trick, but you would need hearing protection.

Edit: Just looked up your case. It looks to me that the main problem is that the air is not flowing through the drive cages. It hits that stack of drives and gets pulled out the back without actually flowing through the drive cages. I think your duct will have a bigger impact than any fan changes will.

Thanks for the reply.

I have already cut two 120mm holes in the opposite side cover, and used some rubber stripping to seal off that side of the cage vertically.  Hard to explain, but in essence, two 120mm fans now blow air directly onto the drive cage, directed fully at the drive vents (the air from them goes nowhere else in the case) and the fans in the factory locations now all do evac.  Temps haven't changed hardly at all.  

I am going to flip the rear 120mm fan so it is intake also, as my CPU and SATA controller temps have gone up, likely because they only have access to hot air coming out of the drive cage.  I also cut four 1.5" vent holes in the rear of the drive cage, next to the SATA backplane, hoping it would free trapped heat.  Instead, I think the rear evac fan is pulling hot air from the drive cage, which, with the two factory side fans doing the same, I believe is undesirable.  I am going to put some tape over the vents I drilled to see if that helps a bit.

I've done about all I believe I can do, aside from trying different fans.  Nidec Betas or Delta fans would be ideal, however this server sits inside my entertainment center (the cabinet is vented with four fans) and fan noise is already audible from the couch.  I could go with slightly louder fans and not have too much concern, but 3000-6000 rpm fans are definitely going to be an issue.

Was hoping that, in addition to some DIY ducting, I could get my hands on some legit high pressure fans that could muscle the air over the drives, without raising the noise floor too much.

A few online builds using this case point out poor cooling for the drives.  Of note, the cage for the drives looks pretty solid, limiting the air actually flowing over the drives themselves.

One discussion on the cooling issue noted that you can flip the mounting of the power supply, causing it to draw air from inside the case and exhaust it outside, improving air flow and reportedly causing a significant decrease in temperature in the drive bays.  If your PSU has the ability to be mounted this way (and isn't already), you might consider that as an interim zero-cost measure.

Mike

As a general rule, I never mount PSUs to draw outside air, they always draw from inside the case.  So yep, already done.  Thanks though.

I'm wondering if a Raspberry pi and a couple of temperature probes would be a reasonable solution for ramping up fan speed when the drives are hot (during a large copy or parity check, for example) and run them quietly when the system is idle or barely being used.

You may consider a remote squirrel cage blower if that is an option.

I have that same case, and I need to add the venting holes to the backplane. Id like to see some pictures of what you come up with.

With all due respect - Just a question:
Why are you married to this particular case with crummy air flow and venting?

I understand space limitations and all, but for less than the time and material investment to try and cool a toaster oven, there's got to be an easier case to swap your stuff into that would still fit inside your entertainment center?