Haha 
Wow didn't know any manufacturer still did those fans :O not really my taste no, I personally go for performance and noise balance and in most cases PWM (Pulse-width modulation) fans, on radiators im really happy with the performance of the Cougar Vortex fans and for case airflow I usually use Noctua fans and some Fractal Design ones but in the past also Gentle Typhoon, tho the typhoons have trouble with the bearings when used face out horizontal for extended periods of time so don't use them anymore.
But hey we all have our own taste in what we like I'll translate an old Swedish saying but don't know if it makes any sense in English haha
"Taste is like the butt, split" Split as in divided, sounds a bit funky in English haha
LED fans must still be pretty popular. The 3 140mm ones came with the Carbide Air. Two already had LEDs I just changed the LEDs out for the crazy disco ones. The LEDs were glued in so I had to dremel them out and I'm really concerned about the fumes that it made...
All the others were free after rebate which I did get without fail. The motherboard has more 3pin connectors than 4pin and the BIOS supports 4 different speeds so the sound is very nice on the lower settings.
PWM fans can sound louder at lower speeds then standard because of harmonics. Is not always the case but sometimes it happens.
As far as performance the two r9 290x GPUs can (and have) run full tilt 24/7 and the GPUs stay under 65c with no increase in noise level
well slight increase, I have two stock Intel CPU fans on my GPU VRM heatsinks which are set to kick on 75% when GPUs hit 60c.
If you know anything about r9 290s their typical behavior is to hit 95c within 10 minutes and start throttling down to a lower speed. Not to mention the noise levels.
so you can see its not all show and no go:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3216378
