# Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fan



## VSG (Jul 20, 2018)

Noctua's long awaited NF-A12x25 fan hits the market with a bang in more ways than one. With more features than I can count with my fingers, all of which have been used to optimize performance and acoustics, it is a fan that makes no excuses about the lack of RGB lighting as it puts up a great showing against the competition.

*Show full review*


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## Gungar (Jul 20, 2018)

I came to see fan performance results and i left with CFM results and a list of the accessories that Noctua sells (because we can't find it on their website).

This must be the most underwhelming review of Techpowerup.


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## techy1 (Jul 20, 2018)

Gungar said:


> I came to see fan performance results and i left with CFM results and a list of the accessories that Noctua sells (because we can't find it on their website).
> 
> This must be the most underwhelming review of Techpowerup.


just skip the pages 1-4. Page 5 answered all my questions about this product, thx TPU for that... 
btw - that is why you have a head on your shoulders - use it to judge what info do you need and what do not, dont use it only to generate crybaby comments


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## Ferrum Master (Jul 20, 2018)

Do they offer just the fan? Without the litter in the box? Have they thought that putting those on rads and using a modern board you do not need the fashion box, adapters etc... plain Fan and 20$...

I need 5 fans like these in my loop if I do an upgrade, putting those on, I throw out 50$ instantly in the trash bin... that's cuckoo.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jul 20, 2018)

Ferrum Master said:


> Do they offer just the fan? Without the litter in the box? Have they thought that putting those on rads and using a modern board you do not need the fashion box, adapters etc... plain Fan and 20$...
> 
> I need 5 fans like these in my loop if I do an upgrade, putting those on, I throw out 50$ instantly in the trash bin... that's cuckoo.




They'll no doubt come out with a redux line of fans with all the extra accessories thrown out for a lower price not to mention a more industrial colour (grey)


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## Yttersta (Jul 20, 2018)

Gungar said:


> I came to see fan performance results and i left with CFM results and a list of the accessories that Noctua sells (because we can't find it on their website).
> 
> This must be the most underwhelming review of Techpowerup.



The CFM results are measured through radiator. More air through radiator, higher the performance. One can summarize this review results versus the strongest fan listed in this review and their biggest competition respectively. CFM through radiator and performance are related with a positive skew always (means that more CFM is more performance but higher the CFM goes, the performance difference decreases).

The strongest fan listed (a 38mm thick fan at that): Silverstone FHP141 does 26.6CFM through radiator at 32.5dBA whilst Noctua does 28.9CFM at that noise level. That's near 10% more air at the same noise level as that fan in 25mm thickness. Insanity.

Next, EK Vardar EVO: at ~29dBA Vardar do 21-21.5 CFM, Noctua does 24 CFM. Again beaten by almost 15%.

So in short for you: For noise / performance, this is the best fan out of all that have been tested here. Better than ML series, Vardar, and the best in class at noise normalized tests.


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## Shatun_Bear (Jul 20, 2018)

I just can't understand why they persist with the lack of choice in the colour scheme (yes I have read the bit in the conclusion about the polymer; but surely this applies to all fan manufacturers?). For me, performance is the most important metric and then aesthetics come a close second. But I wouldn't put these anywhere near my build. 

The amount of lost sales Noctua must be swallowing by stubbornly not offering just an all-black, all-white alternative (or grey) from the start is baffling, like the Noctua management is in stasis. With this performance and quality, I am certain Noctua would totally dominate the fan market if they just made alternate colours more a part of their business.


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## Caring1 (Jul 20, 2018)

Shatun_Bear said:


> I just can't understand why they persist with the lack of choice in the colour scheme (yes I have read the bit in the conclusion about the polymer; but surely this applies to all fan manufacturers?). For me, performance is the most important metric and then aesthetics come a close second. But I wouldn't put these anywhere near my build.
> 
> The amount of lost sales Noctua must be swallowing by stubbornly not offering just an all-black, all-white alternative (or grey) from the start is baffling, like the Noctua management is in stasis. With this performance and quality, I am certain Noctua would totally dominate the fan market if they just made alternate colours more a part of their business.


I disagree, their decision to stick to an instantly recognisable fan is smart.
It's called branding.
Take fans from 20 different manufacturers and throw them as far as you can, then ask people to pick who made which fan without allowing them to get close to them.
My bet is they will all pick the Noctua fans out from the rest.


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## Mysteoa (Jul 20, 2018)

So for people that want the back/grey version of this fan they will have to wait until q1 2019. They had to make a new kind of material and changing just the color isn't going to be easy. This was from their amazon page.


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

Shatun_Bear said:


> I just can't understand why they persist with the lack of choice in the colour scheme (yes I have read the bit in the conclusion about the polymer; but surely this applies to all fan manufacturers?). For me, performance is the most important metric and then aesthetics come a close second. But I wouldn't put these anywhere near my build.
> 
> The amount of lost sales Noctua must be swallowing by stubbornly not offering just an all-black, all-white alternative (or grey) from the start is baffling, like the Noctua management is in stasis. With this performance and quality, I am certain Noctua would totally dominate the fan market if they just made alternate colours more a part of their business.


I think a lot of people massively overestimate how many people are actually buying the RGB gamer bling nonsense. It's not the entire market. It's just that as of late, it's the only direction into which the market can easily grow without massive investment into R&D.

For every RGB fan that sells, worldwide, many more "boring" or "ugly" fans are sold to go into everyday systems where aesthetics aren't a concern. They go into systems without windows, they go into handmedown systems that have become noisy and someone searches "quietest PC fans" and noctua comes right up with GLOWING PRAISE, internet-wide.

People look at the colourscheme, and for the most part, don't care unless they're the kind of nerd that wants to build a show-system. How many of those nerds are there? On TPU, lots. In the wider world? Very, very few compared to everyday users.

That's Noctua's market - people who just want it to work, and work well. Their brand colours help them, rather than hurt them, in that marketplace. They only hurt Noctua in the gamer bling market - and lets be honest, those people barely care about performance. A lightloop vs a Riiing vs an Enermax RGB isn't a market where performance wins. People are buying those for the looks, performance is secondary.

That's not what Noctua is about and even if they entered that market it wouldn't benefit them unless visually, they blew away everything else completely - With a subjective thing like product aesthetics? That's not possible. With performance? You can be objectively better than the competition and as a result, clean up entirely.

Noctua are clearly not that interested in entering a market that competes on novelty and subjectivity, where they'd need to push a new visual design out the door every few months to stay relevant. I don't blame them - I wouldn't be either. Whole lot of effort to try and break into a market where the moment you stop pouring the effort in, your marketshare disappears regardless of how good your product is.


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## Ubersonic (Jul 20, 2018)

Mysteoa said:


> So for people that want the back/grey version of this fan they will have to wait until q1 2019.


Or they could just buy one of the Gentle Typhoons it's based on


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> Or they could just buy one of the Gentle Typhoons it's based on


They're not the same product, please stop contributing to misinformation.

Different materials, different frames, different tip clearance, different motors and different performance.

In fact the writer of this review has his own site where you can read his review of the Gentle Typhoon. Go compare the data.

In fact, the same data is also shown in the charts for this review - see those lines that say "Darkside GT"?

Quite a big performance Delta between the noctuas and the fans you're talking about 

http://thermalbench.com/2017/05/25/darkside-gentle-typhoon-1150-rpm-120-mm-fan/


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## Gasaraki (Jul 20, 2018)

Caring1 said:


> I disagree, their decision to stick to an instantly recognisable fan is smart.
> It's called branding.
> Take fans from 20 different manufacturers and throw them as far as you can, then ask people to pick who made which fan without allowing them to get close to them.
> My bet is they will all pick the Noctua fans out from the rest.



True but I can also tell Corsair, Coolermaster, Scythes , and Phantek fans apart.


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## Vario (Jul 20, 2018)

The Noctua color is a recognizable color.  It allows their brand to stand out.  There are few other fans that had this type of color recognition, the only other one that comes to mind was the 2012 era SP120 fans with the colored rings, however that was short lived with plenty of imitators and now RGB bling surpassing it.  It is a smart move by Noctua and it also plays into a marketing concept where people can say "I put the performance of the fan over the aesthetics of the fan".  The color choice allows an enthusiast to show his brand preference in an obvious manner.  With the hefty price tag, It states "I am a discerning consumer".

I don't use Noctua myself because I think they are too expensive compared to buying other alternatives.  I prefer fans that move a lot of air and don't mind a gentle hum.  Plenty of cheaper alternatives for that goal.



Ferrum Master said:


> Do they offer just the fan? Without the litter in the box? Have they thought that putting those on rads and using a modern board you do not need the fashion box, adapters etc... plain Fan and 20$...
> 
> I need 5 fans like these in my loop if I do an upgrade, putting those on, I throw out 50$ instantly in the trash bin... that's cuckoo.



Agree, for many people the fan is all that is needed, put in a cardboard box if you must, like the Thermalright TY143, but skip the other stuff (marketing fluff and splitter cables I could just make myself for pennies) and sell it for $10 less.


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## Diverge (Jul 20, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> Or they could just buy one of the Gentle Typhoons it's based on



Soon as I saw the fans hub, I thought of the nidec fans, which are still my favorite due to how well they are made.


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

Diverge said:


> Soon as I saw the fans hub, I thought of the nidec fans, which are still my favorite due to how well they are made.



They perform significantly better, however.

At 1500 RPM, the GTs produce 41.3-41.4 dBA while the Noctuas produce 36.4 dBA.

Same with airflow - at 1500 RPM through a radiator, the GTs produce 33.5 CFM and the Noctuas produce 34.4 CFM.

So slightly more airflow at the same speed with 5 dB less noise - That's equivalent to the GTs producing 150% of the noise the Noctua does, if you follow the rule of thumb that 10dB increases in noise are percieved as a doubling in volume.

And that's just using the test data from this article.



Gasaraki said:


> True but I can also tell Corsair, Coolermaster, Scythes , and Phantek fans apart.


Remember those old snakeoil fans that got hyped for a bit, around the time Scythe S-Flex fans were the hot shit?

Name the brand:


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## junglist724 (Jul 20, 2018)

Damn I've been waiting like a month for this to post. Waiting for the thermalbench review  of the FLX version now.


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## neatfeatguy (Jul 20, 2018)

Shatun_Bear said:


> I just can't understand why they persist with the lack of choice in the colour scheme (yes I have read the bit in the conclusion about the polymer; but surely this applies to all fan manufacturers?). For me, performance is the most important metric and then aesthetics come a close second. But I wouldn't put these anywhere near my build.
> 
> The amount of lost sales Noctua must be swallowing by stubbornly not offering just an all-black, all-white alternative (or grey) from the start is baffling, like the Noctua management is in stasis. With this performance and quality, I am certain Noctua would totally dominate the fan market if they just made alternate colours more a part of their business.



While it would require more time and money on your end, you could take the fan apart and paint it to your liking. I've always liked the performance that Noctua generally has to offer, but the color of their fans is off putting enough to where I don't buy them. If I were to buy some, I'd have to resort to painting them.


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## hathoward (Jul 20, 2018)

What I gather from this; if you want almost identical CFM characteristics at a slightly higher decibel output just grab a GT for -$10 bucks...

Something that would be very useful is a video comparing tone. Decibels are a more absolute form of measurement but some frequencies at any perceivable decibel are just down right annoying.

A good example is I bought a pack of NF-F12s once expecting great things on paper only to find the tone they generated at full tilt (1500rpm) was significantly worse than the GT2150s (2100rpm) at full tilt.

Edit: Where the hell are the Noctua ANC fans?


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## The Terrible Puddle (Jul 20, 2018)

"Noctua has trademarked it as "Sterrox", and the use of said material is to help reduce material expansion with temperature. This is useful for when the impeller is formed initially, but can also aid in daily operation."

I think the main property of Sterrox is that it is more rigid and doesn't stretch out as much when undergoing rotational forces. Not because of temperature.


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## VSG (Jul 20, 2018)

hathoward said:


> What I gather from this; if you want almost identical CFM characteristics at a slightly higher decibel output just grab a GT for -$10 bucks...
> 
> Something that would be very useful is a video comparing tone. Decibels are a more absolute form of measurement but some frequencies at any perceivable decibel are just down right annoying.
> 
> ...



I am not really set up for video, especially since my anechoic chamber is not a well-lit environment for reasons including that a lot of lighting can affect the noise signature. You also need good video equipment to be able to record true video without having it being disrupted by in-camera or external factors.



The Terrible Puddle said:


> "Noctua has trademarked it as "Sterrox", and the use of said material is to help reduce material expansion with temperature. This is useful for when the impeller is formed initially, but can also aid in daily operation."
> 
> I think the main property of Sterrox is that it is more rigid and doesn't stretch out as much when undergoing rotational forces. Not because of temperature.



Yeah, I meant to add rotational forces  in there as well. Thanks for reminding me, I updated it.


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

hathoward said:


> What I gather from this; if you want almost identical CFM characteristics at a slightly higher decibel output just grab a GT for -$10 bucks...



That isn't how decibels work.

Every 3 decibels increase in noise is a DOUBLING of sound pressure.

The human hearing system percieves this in a logarithmic way, so we perceive sounds to be twice as loud if they are 10db louder than another sound.

This is consistent throughout our range of hearing. A 30db sound compared to a 40db sound is half as loud. A 90 db sound compared to a 100 db sound is ALSO HALF AS LOUD, as we perceive it.

So sure, on paper a 5db increase from 36.4 to 41.4 is only 13.7%.

But actually, the sound pressure has increased by 333% (a doubling and then 2/3rds of a second doubling) and the perceived volume has increased by 50%.

Thats a huge difference in performance.


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## hathoward (Jul 20, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> That isn't how decibels work.
> 
> Every 3 decibels increase in noise is a DOUBLING of sound pressure.
> 
> ...



While this may be technically correct information it does not address the full picture. I have experienced many fans that are subjectively "louder" but operate at much more pleasant frequencies. What is measured as "pleasant" is subject to relative personal tastes and hearing ability. This is where a recording can "help" (nothing is better than experiencing sound characteristics first hand).


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

hathoward said:


> While this may be technically correct information it does not address the full picture. I have experienced many fans that are subjectively "louder" but operate at much more pleasant frequencies. What is measured as "pleasant" is subject to relative personal tastes and hearing ability. This is where a recording can "help" (nothing is better than experiencing sound characteristics first hand).


What you're referring to is easily explained by equal loudness contours - lets not treat tonality like some kind of black magic nobody understands. Simply referring to "subjectivity" means nothing when everything we're discussing has been extensively researched and codified along with relevant measurements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

If what you're interested in is quiet, and noise levels, then its really very simple - 2-4Khz is what you want to avoid most because it is the most piercing tone, being where our ears are most sensitive.

However raw noise output is still raw noise output and a 50% increase is not all all small. Especially when you consider that the 333% increase in sound pressure will mean an equally higher ability for that same sound - regardless of tonality - to propagate through solid materials (like your case).


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## hathoward (Jul 20, 2018)

I disagree, subjectivity in my opinion is always at play regardless of what empirical measurements or formulas represent the information we physically perceive. You apparently have a deeper understanding of the subject matter and may even be able to mentally emulate the sound characteristics based off numbers alone. I personally, can not. At the end of the day it comes down to perceived value; is 10 dollars more worth a 5.9dBA delta? I can't definitively answer that question until I sit it next to one of my GT1850s or GT2150s.

At surface value with out any other information I do lean towards the answer being "no" for me due to my own personal experiences.


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## The Terrible Puddle (Jul 20, 2018)

hathoward said:


> While this may be technically correct information it does not address the full picture. I have experienced many fans that are subjectively "louder" but operate at much more pleasant frequencies. What is measured as "pleasant" is subject to relative personal tastes and hearing ability. This is where a recording can "help" (nothing is better than experiencing sound characteristics first hand).



The test is in dBA so it uses A-weighting which compensates for the perceived loudness of human hearing. Not everyone has the same hearing but it's not that different.

I have a question for VSG: Which ISO is the A-weighting complying with in your setup? I couldn't find that information.


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## GlacierNine (Jul 20, 2018)

The Terrible Puddle said:


> The test is in dBA so it uses A-weighting which compensates for the perceived loudness of human hearing. Not everyone has the same hearing but it's not that different.



This is also a very good point.

Again, these things are not black magic. I understand the appeal of explaining your experiences with "subjectivity", but ultimately that does not justify throwing out the results of objective measurement as inadmissible. The fan is, not subjectively, but objectively, going to be perceived as being 150% the volume of the noctua at the same 1500 RPM.

The A weighting standard is not completely flawless, however people really do overrate subjectivity in these instances. I'm sorry, but the simple truth of the matter is - almost nobody has ears so special and unique that equal loudness contours and decibel weighting do not apply - unless your ears are significantly malformed or damaged in some way, in which case you have much bigger problems than any test could accommodate for.


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## VSG (Jul 20, 2018)

The Terrible Puddle said:


> The test is in dBA so it uses A-weighting which compensates for the perceived loudness of human hearing. Not everyone has the same hearing but it's not that different.
> 
> I have a question for VSG: Which ISO is the A-weighting complying with in your setup? I couldn't find that information.



Not 100% sure to be honest, I use a facility at my university for the noise measurements. I will find out and let you know, and mention it in the reviews henceforth too. Thanks for the feedback!


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## Shatun_Bear (Jul 20, 2018)

Caring1 said:


> I disagree, their decision to stick to an instantly recognisable fan is smart.
> It's called branding.
> Take fans from 20 different manufacturers and throw them as far as you can, then ask people to pick who made which fan without allowing them to get close to them.
> My bet is they will all pick the Noctua fans out from the rest.



Sure but that instantly recognisable design hasn't moved on with the times. Beige and brown doesn't fit with nearly any build trends in the last several years. They can have that ugly colouring as the base model but there's no excuse not to have alternative colour schemes available at release when the main colour is so incompatible with everything else you can buy today.


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## John Naylor (Jul 20, 2018)

Frankly I expected more... way more.

My fans never get over 850 rpm outside stress testing 

At 750 rpm, it delivers 4.2 % more cfm while being being 1.5% louder than the 5 year old design Phanteks
At 1000 rpm, it delivers 4.8 % more cfm while being being 1.0% quieter than the Phanteks
At 1250 rpm, it delivers 6.6 % more cfm while being being 3.2% louder than the Phanteks

While that certainly is a win, it's a win against a 5 year old design.  When 1st read about Nocs' stengthened blade / reduced gap design, I was expecting improvements in double digits.   But since Phanteks also has an upcoming stengthened blade / reduced gap design, that's the comparison on looking for.  However, if I was to go out and switch from the Phanteks in my box now, I'm looking at a $480 investment for these 120s.   Assuming the 140mm will cost the same, since (5) 140s came with the case, the (11) 140mm Phanteks fans I added (10 radiator / 6 case fans) cost just $110. 

So I don't see folks rushing out to replace their fans .... as for new build, I will certainly have these in mind; I expected more... especially for $30 but now anxiuous to see how Phanteks similar design measures up.


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## Assimilator (Jul 20, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> Or they could just buy one of the Gentle Typhoons it's based on



How ignorant.



Shatun_Bear said:


> Sure but that instantly recognisable design hasn't moved on with the times. Beige and brown doesn't fit with nearly any build trends in the last several years. They can have that ugly colouring as the base model but there's no excuse not to have alternative colour schemes available at release when the main colour is so incompatible with everything else you can buy today.



Whining about it won't cause Noctua to magically change their brand.


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## Blueberries (Jul 20, 2018)

Quite a bit more than your typical fan but clearly the best performance / dB available.


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## HTC (Jul 20, 2018)

hathoward said:


> What I gather from this; if you want almost identical CFM characteristics at a slightly higher decibel output just grab a GT for -$10 bucks...
> 
> Something that would be very useful is a video comparing tone. *Decibels are a more absolute form of measurement but some frequencies at any perceivable decibel are just down right annoying.*
> 
> ...



I agree with this: to some people, even lower decibels of sound X are more annoying then higher decibels of sound Y.

As such, a recording of the ambient sound 1st for a few seconds (the whole PC without this fan???), followed by a recording of the fan being tested in operation @ whatever cooler / radiator for the same amount of time (the whole PC but including the fan being tested???), for all the fans in the test would be something that would enrich the review quite allot.

Ofc, this would increase the time required for the review by quite allot, so there's that.


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## EsaT (Jul 20, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> The A weighting standard is not completely flawless, however people really do overrate subjectivity in these instances. I'm sorry, but the simple truth of the matter is - almost nobody has ears so special and unique that equal loudness contours and decibel weighting do not apply - unless your ears are significantly malformed or damaged in some way, in which case you have much bigger problems than any test could accommodate for.


For broadband noise it should certainly work pretty well regardless minor differences in individual/personal hearing.
Better guestion is how well it can measure narrow band frequency spikes.



VSG said:


> I am not really set up for video, especially since my anechoic chamber is not a well-lit environment for reasons including that a lot of lighting can affect the noise signature. You also need good video equipment to be able to record true video without having it being disrupted by in-camera or external factors.


I don't see why there would be need to record also image when recording sound.
Recording only sound would be lot easier.
And anyway no one can tell RPM from video image...

BTW, did you test them in hand for vibration level?
It's quite easy to feel if fan runs smoothly or vibrates by keeping it in hand from one corner of frame.
Also easy to hear it when setting running fan to stand on table or other such surface.
Just interested on that because NF-P12 and NF-F12 (which came with heatsinks) must be using some miniaturized hammer drills/vibrating rollers as motors...
And are the worst vibrating fans I've yet touched.


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## HTC (Jul 20, 2018)

EsaT said:


> *I don't see why there would be need to record also image when recording sound.
> Recording only sound would be lot easier.
> And anyway no one can tell RPM from video image...*
> 
> ...




@ OP: Consider doing something similar to what this dude did. For reference, start watching @ 3:20 mark. You can also use the approach this dude used for his sound tests. For reference, start watching @ 1:48 mark.


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## VSG (Jul 20, 2018)

EsaT said:


> For broadband noise it should certainly work pretty well regardless minor differences in individual/personal hearing.
> Better guestion is how well it can measure narrow band frequency spikes.
> 
> I don't see why there would be need to record also image when recording sound.
> ...



I know exactly what you mean about vibration levels for a free-standing fan. The NF-A12x25 was fine in that regard, much lower such effects compared to the NF-F12 although I personally did not feel the NF-P12 was doing much either (review of these two coming up as well).



HTC said:


> @ OP: Consider doing something similar to what this dude did. For reference, start watching @ 3:20 mark. You can also use the approach this dude used for his sound tests. For reference, start watching @ 1:48 mark.



Audio recordings would be far more doable at my place, and I will see if I can get a good audio recording setup. It will come in handy for other reviews as well, such as for keyboards where I currently use my phone and already know it's not exactly true-to-life.


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## phanbuey (Jul 21, 2018)

Great review - one comment though, you have to take the rubber bumpers off the phanteks fans if you're going to stick them on a rad... otherwise there is a gap and it does affect temps -- if you leave them on they space the fan off the rad and it drops pressure.

I was a bit surprised when i did it with mine (i have them in pull though so it might have been more pronounced).


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## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2018)

> The tan and brown color scheme is polarizing at best.


Nailed it. *Noctua, please take note;*

No matter how great/well your fans perform, the color scheme is a *deal-breaker*! It does not matter if you're proud of it, most people aren't. I will never put one of those "ugly-as-jankys-mama" fans in my cases, nor cases I build for clients/customers. There are plenty of excellent performing, better looking fans out there. You don't have a corner on the market. Light grey and dark grey would be infinitely better! Would it kill ya? Seriously..


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## VSG (Jul 21, 2018)

phanbuey said:


> Great review - one comment though, you have to take the rubber bumpers off the phanteks fans if you're going to stick them on a rad... otherwise there is a gap and it does affect temps -- if you leave them on they space the fan off the rad and it drops pressure.
> 
> I was a bit surprised when i did it with mine (i have them in pull though so it might have been more pronounced).



That's where the included gasket comes in, as shown in page 3.


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## phanbuey (Jul 21, 2018)

VSG said:


> That's where the included gasket comes in, as shown in page 3.


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## Shatun_Bear (Jul 21, 2018)

Assimilator said:


> How ignorant.
> 
> 
> 
> Whining about it won't cause Noctua to magically change their brand.



Er, yes it will. That's how PR works.


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## HTC (Jul 21, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Nailed it. *Noctua, please take note;*
> 
> No matter how great/well your fans perform, the color scheme is a *deal-breaker*! It does not matter if you're proud of it, most people aren't. I will never put one of those "ugly-as-jankys-mama" fans in my cases, nor cases I build for clients/customers. There are plenty of excellent performing, better looking fans out there. You don't have a corner on the market. Light grey and dark grey would be infinitely better! Would it kill ya? Seriously..



I understand your logic and i'm sure Noctua does too: it seems they just consider the brand recognition more important.

Personally, i don't give a crap if the fans are brown, white, blue, pink, with triangles, with squares, whatever: i'm interested in the performance, *and most of all*, the noise. In these two metrics, Noctua is among the very best there is. *Pricey, for sure*, but quality is expensive.

There are those that care more for the aesthetics of the fans then of their performance. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more people in this "category" then there are in the "category" that i'm in but *it seems* Noctua sees things with my perspective.

If you spread out like 30 or so different fans from several brands, including Noctua and place them on a table with the brand's name covered, pretty much every person that has @ least some knowledge of fans can identify a Noctua fan, *even from several feet away*. It will *probably* be more difficult to identify the other ones, even standing right next to the table.


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## GlacierNine (Jul 21, 2018)

Shatun_Bear said:


> Er, yes it will. That's how PR works.


Well people have been saying it since 2005 and Noctua are only BARELY doing black fans and heatsinks now, 13 years later.

Clearly they don't give all that much of a fuck, do they? And yet they're still in business and doing rather well for themselves just by making objectively better performing product than anyone else.

You might care more about aesthetics than performance. The vast majority of people simply don't give a shit and will buy whatever performs the best.


----------



## EsaT (Jul 21, 2018)

VSG said:


> I know exactly what you mean about vibration levels for a free-standing fan. The NF-A12x25 was fine in that regard, much lower such effects compared to the NF-F12 although I personally did not feel the NF-P12 was doing much either (review of these two coming up as well).


Maybe they this time got it right, or besides blade geometry took inspiration for bearing/motor from Gentle Typhoon.
Have two 1450rpm GTs and for ball bearing fan those have insanely smooth rotation and low bearing/motor noise.
With all the Noctua hype that vibration level of fans bundled with expensive heatsinks was huge mid finger to face.

Because that vibration of fan in hand or on soft surface isn't problem.
It's what that vibrating object does when put on hard surface or attached into case: Turns it into diaphragm/soundboard.
So when minimizing noise of PC any vibration creating parts should be avoided/number of them minimixed.

As for NF-P12 you'll want to listen its noise precisely at different speeds. It has its special quirk, nicely described in SPCR's test:
_Fan @ 9V: The fan became much quieter, registering only 22 dBA@1m. However, it generated an unusual sound effect — that of an aircraft flying overhead. We interrupted testing twice, believing that a plane was in the vicinity, but it turned out to be the fan itself. We never thought a fan would be capable of producing such a noise, but apparently it hit just the right frequency and tone to create the effect. Spectrum analysis showed tonality around 360Hz with multiple harmonic overtones at lower amplitudes._
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article846-page5.html




GlacierNine said:


> The vast majority of people simply don't give a shit and will buy whatever performs the best *is the most fashionable/hyped*.


Now it's correct.

And Noctua has clearly been aiming for marketing hype.
What's with experience from NF-F12 and NF-P12.
And SPCR had to revise their original fan testing method, because NF-S12 was basically designed to fool free air impeller anemometer measurements.
While actually having lower airflow if there was slightest impedance/back pressure.
Easy to make quiet per RPM fan, if it really can't actually push that air except to downwind...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 21, 2018)

HTC said:


> it seems they just consider the brand recognition more important.


That is exactly what is holding them back. So they have to choose; Stick with a color scheme few want, sell less and making less money, or make a color scheme that people can use and sell more. From a marketing and business standpoint they are shooting themselves in the foot and limiting their own potential artificially. Foolishness. It's their company though..


HTC said:


> Personally, i don't give a crap if the fans are brown, white, blue, pink, with triangles, with squares, whatever: i'm interested in the performance, *and most of all*, the noise. In these two metrics, Noctua is among the very best there is. *Pricey, for sure*, but quality is expensive.


I'd personally love to buy them, just not willing to put those ugly as hell colors in my great looking case. Now if you have a case that is completely enclosed and you can't see into it, then the color scheme isn't a problem. They are aiming their fans at the enthusiast market sector, the same market sector that has the most cases with windows on the sides. Makes no marketing sense.


----------



## HTC (Jul 21, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That is exactly what is holding them back. *So they have to choose; Stick with a color scheme few want, sell less and making less money, or make a color scheme that people can use and sell more.* From a marketing and business standpoint they are shooting themselves in the foot and limiting their own potential artificially. Foolishness. It's their company though..
> 
> I'd personally love to buy them, *just not willing to put those ugly as hell colors in my great looking case.* Now if you have a case that is completely enclosed and you can't see into it, then the color scheme isn't a problem. They are aiming their fans at the enthusiast market sector, the same market sector that has the most cases with windows on the sides. Makes no marketing sense.



You think they sell less because of the fans' color: could very well be, in all honesty. They don't see it that way, or they would have change it already, no?

I have 4 Noctua fans in my case currently: one on the back, 2 on top and another on the cooler. I don't have yet another on the cooler (came with the cooler) due to RAM clearance and don't have another on the front because Noctua doesn't make 200mm fans with 2 cm thickness, or i'd buy one. You can see the case and cooler i'm using in my system specs. The case sits on the right side of my monitor currently, which means i see 2 of the fans whenever i look @ the case.



EsaT said:


> http://www.silentpcreview.com/article846-page5.html



Funny, dude: i have that cooler on my sister's PC, which used to be my old PC. I upgraded that cooler to my current one many years ago (see system specs): still serves me well, even in this new Ryzen system.


----------



## barku (Jul 21, 2018)

Ugly king


----------



## RejZoR (Jul 21, 2018)

I'm just gonna stick with SilentWings 3.


----------



## Blueberries (Jul 21, 2018)

Shatun_Bear said:


> Er, yes it will. That's how PR works.



You must be new to capitalism


----------



## Kissamies (Jul 21, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> Name the brand:
> View attachment 104173


Aerocool?


For me, Corsair fans have been fine. 2x ML120 with 240 rad as intake, 2x ML120 as top exhaust, AF140L & SP140 push-pull as exhaust with 140 rad.

Noctua fans are good, but I don't see them worth the price.


----------



## GlacierNine (Jul 21, 2018)

EsaT said:


> Now it's correct.
> 
> And Noctua has clearly been aiming for marketing hype.
> What's with experience from NF-F12 and NF-P12.
> ...


That's really not at all what happened. The S12 *does* push more air around. It just has terrible static pressure - and that's absolutely fine for what it is. Remember, you're talking about a fan that came out in 2005.

At that time, even SPCR weren't testing fans for static pressure versus airflow - that's a practice that came later. As did manufacturers quoting a static pressure figure in their fan's literature - look at their first fan roundup - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page2.html#nexus

Not a single static pressure figure to be seen on any spec sheet. (And not on wayback on the manufacturers sites either)

The Noctua S12 did actually perform as advertised when used on case exhausts or non-restrictive intakes. It lost efficiency when placed on heatsinks or cases with restrictive fan grills. That's something we understand pretty well these days, with companies like Noctua producing the F12 and S12 PWM, where the F12 has more than twice the static pressure, but also produces more noise and less airflow (by Noctua's own spec sheets) and Corsair producing the AF120 and SP120, where the same is also true.

If it were a case of "fooling" measurements, these products wouldn't exist. They serve different needs in different ways. It's just that both manufacturers and consumers now know more than they did in 2006 about two things:

1 - How to achieve great performance
2 - How to minimise the degree of compromise required to achieve that performance.

SPCR are/were great people, but at the time in 2005/6 they did not have the breadth of knowledge we have today - in fact they were largely responsible in many cases for bringing that knowledge to us and changing the marketplace. They didn't always get it right - For example, the original Antec P180, a case SPCR helped design, originally shipped with a useless GPU cooling duct, restrictive front intakes with square stamped holes rather than the more efficient hexagonal ones we use today, and the front grilles were also more restrictive than they were on later revisions. (and even those were much more restrictive than the grilles on modern cases).

It's unfair to characterise Noctua here as attempting to "fool" anyone.



Chloe Price said:


> Aerocool?


Nope, those fans were made by SilenX. Their big selling point was the smaller hub for more fan blade length/area, and the aerodynamic shape of the hub. They quoted ABSURD noise and CFM figures at the time.

Here's one of their 120mm models - you can see how undersized the hub is, and the little "bladelets" on the hub face - https://content.hwigroup.net/images/products_xl/010430/silenx-ixtrema-pro-120mm-46-cfm.jpg

Unsurprisingly, they did not perform as advertised.


----------



## Ubersonic (Jul 22, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> Name the brand:


SilenX, amazing fans back in the old days


----------



## GlacierNine (Jul 22, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> SilenX, amazing fans back in the old days


Congratulations on managing to answer the question after the answer had already been posted.

They were not amazing fans. They massively exaggerated their performance in their spec sheets.

The company also got caught shilling on multiple accounts in the SPCR forums.


----------



## VSG (Jul 22, 2018)

Hah yeah I remember SilenX. I am thankful they got exposed and mostly disappeared quickly after word spread out.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 22, 2018)

Blueberries said:


> You must be new to capitalism


No, he's right. When companies get enough feedback from their customers, or potential customers, they make changes based on that input. This is the way the world works and has always worked. It's just now in the age of instant feedback response times, the companies in question can act/react sooner.


GlacierNine said:


> The S12 *does* push more air around. It just has terrible static pressure


You kinda just contradicted youself. "Static pressure" = "push more air around".


GlacierNine said:


> It's unfair to characterize Noctua here as attempting to "fool" anyone.


Correct. The performance of Noctua fans is testable and provable.


Ubersonic said:


> SilenX, amazing fans back in the old days





GlacierNine said:


> They were not amazing fans. They massively exaggerated their performance in their spec sheets.


Here we disagree. Personally tried out a few of those fans. They performed well. They unfortunately were, like Noctua's fans, ugly as hell unless you were going with a full metallic look in your case.


----------



## RichF (Jul 22, 2018)

John Naylor said:


> Frankly I expected more... way more.
> 
> My fans never get over 850 rpm outside stress testing
> 
> ...


There is only so much that can be done to improve fan performance. 

SPCR's tests suggest that fixed speed fans can beat PWM fans by a slight amount — that a fan works best at exactly the speed its design is optimized for. Perhaps things have changed with the newer bearings and such but that was the impression I got from the reviews I've read from them in the past. For instance, an 800 RPM GT outperformed faster variants of the GT that were slowed to 800 RPM.

One thing that I wonder about is whether or not it's possible to strongly outperform the 120mm fan format. From what I've seen, the results have been mixed for 140mm fans. Size changes are going to probably have a bigger impact going forward than more tinkering with internals, dampeners, and such. Thick designs are supposed to have a static pressure advantage but the ones on the market I've seen tend to not do all that well because of the noise they produce. That may be due to the nature of what is being produced, though. It may be that thick profiles and larger formats hold the key to better CFM-to-noise. Another strategy seems to be increasing the physical size of radiators and making the fins wider-spaced. Instead of moving toward the ITX format, quiet enthusiasts might want to move more toward the giant external radiator format.


----------



## EsaT (Jul 22, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> That's really not at all what happened. The S12 *does* push more air around. It just has terrible static pressure - and that's absolutely fine for what it is. Remember, you're talking about a fan that came out in 2005.


Pushing air always needs producing pressure.
And fan optimized for basically zero back pressure is pretty bad idea in real world.
For all their advertising about that scientific design approach, they should have known it perfectly.
And my bet is on them knowing it precisely.
Because that science hasn't been any new "state secret" in long time.



GlacierNine said:


> Nope, those fans were made by SilenX. Their big selling point was the smaller hub for more fan blade length/area, and the aerodynamic shape of the hub. They quoted ABSURD noise and CFM figures at the time.
> 
> Here's one of their 120mm models - you can see how undersized the hub is, and the little "bladelets" on the hub face - https://content.hwigroup.net/images/products_xl/010430/silenx-ixtrema-pro-120mm-46-cfm.jpg
> 
> Unsurprisingly, they did not perform as advertised.


Biggest problem was bad bling bling fashion material making it worser than normal fans made from good material:
_The fancy "metallic" plastic used for the frame may look flashy, but it's terrible for sound. Lightweight and brittle, the material picks up fan vibration easily and audibly, giving the fan a highly resonant character. At slower speeds, the resonance manifests itself as a deep buzz or growl, while at higher speeds it's more like a pure tone. The resonance prevents what is an otherwise low-noise fan from ever becoming truly inaudible, even at 5V. _
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page3.html

Standard black plastics using Scythe Slipstream actually performed better in airflow per PRM while having very smooth noise profile.




RichF said:


> There is only so much that can be done to improve fan performance.
> 
> SPCR's tests suggest that fixed speed fans can beat PWM fans by a slight amount — that a fan works best at exactly the speed its design is optimized for.


More likely there's certain optimal speed range for specific bearing/motor design.
For those tested fans with different speed variants SPCR found lowish/middle speed variants generally having best noise profiles scaling very well at lower speeds.
While high speed variants didn't scale well having various "extra" sounds.



HTC said:


> Funny, dude: i have that cooler on my sister's PC, which used to be my old PC. I upgraded that cooler to my current one many years ago (see system specs): still serves me well, even in this new Ryzen system.


Unlike water (pipe) coolers heat pipe coolers just don't have anything which could degrade/wear except fan.
Hence use of heat pipes in satellite thermal control, which also drove their development.


----------



## jabbadap (Jul 22, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> That isn't how decibels work.
> 
> Every 3 decibels increase in noise is a DOUBLING of sound pressure.
> 
> ...



It's not 3dBs, it's 6dB. Sound intensity or power is doubling at 3dBs (like voltage(6dB) vs power(3dB)). Thumb of rule: what you can measure is doubling at 6dBs and what you have to calculate is doubling at 3dB.


----------



## Ubersonic (Jul 23, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> Congratulations on managing to answer the question after the answer had already been posted.


The fact the answer was posted by the poster before me should make it obvious that that post wasn't there when I started mine.




GlacierNine said:


> They were not amazing fans. They massively exaggerated their performance in their spec sheets.


The two are not mutually exclusive.  Yes they did exaggerate their performance, (and yes they are complete **** by modern standards) however that doesn't detract from the fact that at the time they were amazing fans because you have to remember that they came at a time when the Antec TriCool was considered a good fan.

SilenX completely fudged their dB ratings to a comical degree, but due to the 38mm thickness of the fan and how bad everything else was back then they still offered amazing performance (comparatively).

Thankfully we would later have the definition of amazing fan improved further by the likes of Nidec and Noctua


----------



## GlacierNine (Jul 23, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> The fact the answer was posted by the poster before me should make it obvious that that post wasn't there when I started mine.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


See, that first point might have been believable if it weren't for the fact I posted that answer at 8:24 PM on Saturday and you didn't post your reply until 12:58AM on Sunday. I doubt you spent 4 hours typing.

As for "how bad everything else was back then" - No. The SilenX fans were reviewed in a fan roundup by SPCR and utterly failed to impress. Also they weren't 38mm. - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page3.html Right there in the specs. 25mm.

The Antec Tricool fans were considered middle of the pack even then - SPCR said: "But [it's flaws] should not take away from its good points: It is cheap, widely available, and is quiet enough for many casual users. "



EsaT said:


> Pushing air always needs producing pressure.
> And fan optimized for basically zero back pressure is pretty bad idea in real world.
> For all their advertising about that scientific design approach, they should have known it perfectly.
> And my bet is on them knowing it precisely.
> ...


Pushing air requires pressure proportional to the expected amount of backpressure or resistance. More pressure does not mean more airflow overall if you're hitting finishing returns over the amount of backpressure you actually need to overcome.

If you optimize for static pressure then you will be able to force air more efficiently through things like radiators and heatsinks.

If you optimize for cfm at the expense of pressure you wont be able to do that, but those fans WILL more efficiently replace the volume of hot air inside a case with cooler air from outside of the case. The ideal circumstance (assuming your case intakes are not highly restrictive) is high cfm-low pressure fans on exhausts and case intakes, and high static pressure-lower cfm fans on heatsinks and radiators.

The current trend of slab-fronted R5 and R6 like cases is making Cass intakes more restrictive, which makes high static pressure fans more useful in more instances these days, but in cases where that isn't a problem like the Silverstone RL06 and the H500p Mesh, the high cfm low pressure approach pays dividends. 

This is also important in watercooling - low FPI radiators are radiators designed to present a reduced resistance to airflow so that low pressure fans (ie, fans spinning slowly, or with airflow optimized blade geometry) can be used. This allows quiet operation at the expense of some surface area/heat transfer capacity. High FPI radiators demand static pressure optimized fans to work efficiently, like EK's Vardar range, however Vardars on a low FPI radiator or, say, the intakes of a silverstone RL06, are wasted and noisier than is needed for that application.

The S12 is effectively the opposite of a vardar in terms of the airflow/static pressure compromise and should be used accordingly, but it is not in any respect a bad fan design and it is not marketed or designed to mislead.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jul 23, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> See, that first point might have been believable if it weren't for the fact I posted that answer at 8:24 PM on Saturday and you didn't post your reply until 12:58AM on Sunday. I doubt you spent 4 hours typing.


There are times when a browser has been open and not refreshed. New posts are made and missed by a logged in user. This has happened to me a few times. Not unusual. Quit attacking them over it.


GlacierNine said:


> As for "how bad everything else was back then" - No. The SilenX fans were reviewed in a fan roundup by SPCR and utterly failed to impress. Also they weren't 38mm. - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page3.html Right there in the specs. 25mm.


As I said above, I tried a few of those fans out and while they were noisy, they weren't much louder than most of the fans in that same price range and they performed well. Additionally, if you had actually read the review you cited, you would have discovered that the SilentX fan performed similarly to much of the competition.

So let's get back on topic and be nice.


----------



## Ubersonic (Jul 24, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> See, that first point might have been believable if it weren't for the fact I posted that answer at 8:24 PM on Saturday and you didn't post your reply until 12:58AM on Sunday. I doubt you spent 4 hours typing.


No I was driving, admittedly in hindsight I should probably have checked the thread hadn't been updated before finishing my post, but as I didn't want to lose what I had written (and it wouldn't have changed what I wrote) it's of little consequence 




GlacierNine said:


> As for "how bad everything else was back then" - No. The SilenX fans were reviewed in a fan roundup by SPCR and utterly failed to impress. Also they weren't 38mm. - http://www.silentpcreview.com/article739-page3.html Right there in the specs. 25mm.


I think maybe you're remembering things wrong and Googling random info to try and back that up.  The original SilenX fans that were popular with us water coolers at the time were indeed 38mm hence why they performed so much better than most of the stuff on the market back then, it was their trump card, the review you have linked is for a much later revision of the fans that conform to the 25mm form factor thus losing their main performance advantage.  Also lots of newer fans had arrived on the scene by the time that was written which didn't have fudged performance numbers, this makes the downgraded SilenX fans look just as bad as they were, however it doesn't mean the original SilenX fans weren't awesome back in the day


----------



## GlacierNine (Jul 24, 2018)

Ubersonic said:


> No I was driving, admittedly in hindsight I should probably have checked the thread hadn't been updated before finishing my post, but as I didn't want to lose what I had written (and it wouldn't have changed what I wrote) it's of little consequence
> 
> 
> 
> I think maybe you're remembering things wrong and Googling random info to try and back that up.  The original SilenX fans that were popular with us water coolers at the time were indeed 38mm hence why they performed so much better than most of the stuff on the market back then, it was their trump card, the review you have linked is for a much later revision of the fans that conform to the 25mm form factor thus losing their main performance advantage.  Also lots of newer fans had arrived on the scene by the time that was written which didn't have fudged performance numbers, this makes the downgraded SilenX fans look just as bad as they were, however it doesn't mean the original SilenX fans weren't awesome back in the day


I'd love a source on that, since the wayback machine for their site doesn't even show them advertising the fan in the SPCR review.


----------



## SK-1 (Jul 24, 2018)

Thank you for the review. Do they make a 140mm version?


----------



## danbert2000 (Jul 24, 2018)

Anecdotally, I replaced an NF-F12 with this new NF-A12 on a Be Quiet Shadow Rock LP top flow cooler in my small shoebox PC, and I went from max temps of 85 degrees on my i7-5775c at 3.9 GHz to 72 degrees. I was then able to tweak my overclock up to 4.0 GHz and remain between 75 and 78 degrees. And the whole thing is quieter. I didn't even max the fan out because I was getting the temps I wanted.

So, the new fan beat the "static pressure optimized" fan by quite a bit. This fan is a godsend to people with small cases and limited CPU cooler options.



SK-1 said:


> Thank you for the review. Do they make a 140mm version?


They have adapters to use 140 mm mounts. No 140 mm yet but Noctua says this fan will beat most 140 mm fans on radiators, and from this review I bet it might...


----------



## John Naylor (Jul 25, 2018)

Some interesting comments but far too many still rely on outdated results.  And I agree, quality cost money but I am not going to pay 3  times as much for 4.2% more cfm while getting 1.5% more sound.

I also agree decibles aren't everything.  Silentpcreview,com does a great job of addressing this subject as well as the fact that ya can't judge a fan by it's brand name.  Phanteks 1250 rpm fan is great, their 1500 rpm fan is terrible.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

_"The Phanteks PH-F140HP/TS  is the clear winner in every respect. It edged out the new Noctuas every step of the way,  delivering the best overall results of any fan we've tested thus far. To top it off, it had cleanest, smoothest sound of all the new fans in this roundup.   If we had to start from scratch, this might  be our new reference model. "_

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1480-page5.html

_"Given our great experience with previous Phanteks fans, the PH-F120MP is an utter disappointment. It performed poorly on both our cooling and airflow tests and it has an absolutely atrocious sound.  As it's marketed as a radiator fan, it may perform better on a watercooling setup but I remain skeptical considering our previous tests with AIO coolers. "_

Also another reference to what i said earlier about the unexplicable focus on "high SP" in this day and age.

_"Our reference fans, which have traditional designs  usually perform similarly to the stock fans provided despite lacking the high static pressure ****widely believed*** to be  optimal for pushing air through tightly packed spaces*.  _

The fin spacing on today's heat sinks and fpi on today's rads just do not require a high SP fan



danbert2000 said:


> So, the new fan beat the "static pressure optimized" fan by quite a bit. This fan is a godsend to people with small cases and limited CPU cooler options.



That didn't hold true last time ....







The 140s are in yellow... and took 4 outta the top 5 spots.  The top 3 were tightly packed in the table and here the difference was more about sound quality then the small dbA dfferene... but the kicker for me was ...

a)  The case came with (5) Phanteks fans, when making a choice as what to add, it didn't hurt that they took 1st place, but had then been in 3rd, it was close enough that I wouldn't replace the (5) free ones.

b)  I purchased the components over a period of (3) months ... the Nocs hovered consistently at $30 .... the Phanteks $10 - $15.  I bought the (11) extra fans for $110 ... Using Nocs wuda been $480.   So, to my eyes, (pun intended) besides the "polarizing color issue", Noc needs to address the cost issue, especially if Phanteks own strengthened blade / reduced frame - blade gasp design comes in at half the price again.


----------



## Blueberries (Jul 26, 2018)

John Naylor said:


> I also agree decibles aren't everything.  Silentpcreview,com does a great job of addressing this subject as well as the fact that ya can't judge a fan by it's brand name.  Phanteks 1250 rpm fan is great, their 1500 rpm fan is terrible.



CFM/dB is the only metric that matters as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to run my fans at the highest *inaudbile* RPM for as long as possible before the heat threshold where I absolutely need to go higher. The better the performance of the fan, the longer they will stay at an inaudible speed.


----------



## Ubersonic (Jul 26, 2018)

GlacierNine said:


> I'd love a source on that


Which part?


----------



## Vlada011 (Jul 26, 2018)

Tomorrow arrive 3 x NF-A12xPWM.
I found three for price of two and couldn't resist. Only that decide.
Noctua told they prepare black version maybe in 2019.

But if you ask me they make BIG MISTAKE because didn't launch in th.
Can you imagine NF-A12x25 in this color. AMAZING, AMAZING.
How they missed that chance, because this color scheme fit with everything, litterary every hardware color.


----------



## Vlada011 (Jul 27, 2018)

Guys if you want o buy this fan, Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, you have my official support. 
Rob your parents, wives and family without remorse.
Only grey color scheme could make me sad now.
Everything is better quality than GT, blade, frame, accessories, package, cable, color is not as you want but you could use Phanteks Halo RGB i saw one video clip look nice on Noctua fans,






You can use these for RGB

http://phanteks.com/Halos.html

I can't remember when I hurry so much to buy some fans, I mean after launch date.
3 fans + 2 140mm adapters 70 euro. Not bad. 140mm Adapter Noctua will serve if one day smaller case have 280mm radiator.


----------



## HTC (Jul 27, 2018)

Vlada011 said:


> Guys if you want o buy this fan, Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, you have my official support.
> Rob your parents, wives and family without remorse.
> Only grey color scheme could make me sad now.
> Everything is better quality than GT, blade, frame, accessories, package, cable, color is not as you want but *you could use Phanteks Halo RGB i saw one video clip look nice on Noctua fans,*
> ...



Never heard of this before: nice to know there's this kind of option out there.

If i'm ever affected by the "RGB craze", i'll get some of those.


----------



## danbert2000 (Jul 27, 2018)

John Naylor said:


> That didn't hold true last time .....



Hey man, I was surprised too. I was expecting maybe 5 degrees, getting 12 to 15 was like Christmas. And it is much more tonally pleasing than the old NF-F12's at full bore, there isn't as much fan drone. Definitely worth the $29 upgrade for my situation. All I can do is speak to my own experience with the fan.


----------



## Vlada011 (Jul 28, 2018)

Sleeve is very nice done on them. I didn't knew thy will sleeve them so nice.
Only one is flaw and that's no two color options. Redux scheme would fit perfect, better than black.
I'm totaly not interest for RGB and LED fans.

You can make RGB from these, with Phantels Halo RGB.
This is image of Noctua with Phanteks RGB Frame and White EK Vardar.





Video clip to see different color, frame is black...










One thing is sure, forgot to pain them. You will destroy performance, feeling of plastic, best alloy on market and blades will weight more, probably will be out of balance as well and cause more vibration. For painting fans is only for color scheme and primer, good pain, everything need a lot of skill. That's it as you see them.

But they fir perfect in some Gunmetal Military RIG dedicate to USCM example.
Some case labs S8S Limited Edition with military look switches and controllers.

I still think how much I luck I had to find them, 6 Noctua fans arrived for testing in 4K resolution and they are tested.
I bought 3, other 3 are sent to other reviews and guy will keep them for self.  No availability in stores in my country.
You have luck to cost 29$, I paid 70 euro 3 fans and 2 adapters 120-140mm and free shiping but in country nearest to us they are 35 euro.
But in my country will not be below 37-40 euro single fan. I would not have so much for 3 of them.


----------



## terroralpha (Oct 25, 2018)

Vlada011 said:


> Everything is better quality than GT, blade, frame, accessories, package, cable, color is not as you want but you could use Phanteks Halo RGB i saw one video clip look nice on Noctua fans



my gentle typhoons are 6 years old and went through 4 builds. they still spin up to 1850RPM and they did not get any louder than what they were like the day i bought them. *i also paid half of what Noctua is charging*. i tried "upgrading" to EK Vardar EVO fans because i wanted an all white build but my temps actually went up about 5*C. so I went back to GTs. in this review, the Vardars beat the noctua fans and my GTs are better than my Vardar EVOs. so i'm going to call BS on the "better than GT" claim.

im curious, what makes you think the frame or blades are better on the noctua fans? i understand that the vomit tan and diarrhea brown color scheme just screams quality at first glace, but is there a factual basis for your claims?

PS: if anyone wants white 120mm EK Vardar fans, i'm still trying to sell my last 3. PM if interested


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## Vlada011 (Oct 25, 2018)

Noctua fans are best at the moment, NF-A12x25 PWM.

They are best because they are most silent on 1500-1800-2000 RPM and only few fans push more air just for little.
Off course silence and absence of noise on very low speed is weak spot of many fans, but this model of Noctua is good and there.

EK Vardar and GT push 2-2.5 CFM more air but they are more than 6-7 db louder on same speed.
That make Noctua so good and wanted. If your fan is 8 dBA more silent on 1200 RPM, that directly  give you option to increase fan speed speed on 1300-1350RPM and noise will be same as competition but your fan will than give better CFM because spin faster.

Most people will keep them on 1000-1200 RPM, but I think they are best 1500-1700 RPM.
I have one GT 1850 model, he is good fan if you have them and if they are still in good condition, but Noctua on full speed 2000 RPM I doubt it's louder than them.
If you buy fan now no any reason to buy others because you get
good fan,
good warranty,
rubber gasket for radiator,
sleeved adapter for noise reduction 2000 >1700
8 rubber in corners,
rubber to hold fan instead screws,
sleeved Y PWM cable ,
normal screws
sleeved extender cable

First week when I bought Noctua fans I thought did I made mistake. Only because color... Nothing else.
I didn't used them and I didn't worry because I could sell and back all money because I found them cheaper, 3 for price of 2.
But than I install them... I was amazed first during installation fan and special when start to work... My friend who don't know much about computers asked me... What is this, this spin or not and want to touch with fingers... I told him it's fan move your hand, and he laugh and say They looks like not work. You see big motor in middle and no noise and for someone who don't use computers at all look weird.
PERFECT BALANCE, PERFECT WEIGHT OF QUALITY PRODUCT, PACKAGE, ACCESSORIES, WARRANTY... and I start to like their color.
My first intention is to buy Noiseblocker Black Silent PRO, full black classic fans, German, but they are not competition to Noctua and now I like Noctua military color scheme.

Now I sorry only because one thing, guy who sold me didn't want to sell all six for 150 euro.
And I would really really like to have 3 more.  Better to say I need them for second rad. But 110 euro is best I can find 3 of them.


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## junglist724 (Nov 18, 2018)

I gotta say now that I've got a a few of these I'm pretty blown away. They're significantly quieter than NF-F12s at the same rpm while at the same time they make more mid-high freq sound which I can tolerate more of.


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## Vlada011 (Nov 18, 2018)

junglist724 said:


> I gotta say now that I've got a a few of these I'm pretty blown away. They're significantly quieter than NF-F12s at the same rpm while at the same time they make more mid-high freq sound which I can tolerate more of.




I can't explain to people, I didn't saw this from GT period. Except this fans are on 100-200RPM higher speed same noise as GT on 1850 RPM.
Amazing fans, easy to tune with Software like AI Suit or BIOS, high recommendation.
It's bad that complains about price are from people who have 5 different fans in house and serve them for nothing.
I'm more for better and more expensive only.
And I must say these fans have nothing with previous Noctua fans except great package and color, performance are completely something new.

I need 3 more except these 3 I have.


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## John Naylor (Nov 18, 2018)

I'm looking forward to these ... 9:40 mark ... 0.7 mm tip clearance .... should be out any day.  Haven't had a need for "more SP" since the 90s but with that tip clearance, should be very quiet











https://www.techpowerup.com/244908/phanteks-unveils-prototype-fans-with-multi-faceted-blades

With the Evolv X now out, fans shouldn't be far behind.  Love the daisy chain feature.


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## terroralpha (May 4, 2019)

the NB-eloop B12-3 or B12-PS would have been much better comparisons. the B12-4 is a 2400rpm fan and is not meant to be moving this slow. from my experience, slowing down crazy fast, non-PWM fans to 1/4, 1/2 or 5/8 speed (as seen here) never yielded good results in regards to noise. you have to get the right fan for the job.


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## VSG (May 4, 2019)

terroralpha said:


> the NB-eloop B12-3 or B12-PS would have been much better comparisons. the B12-4 is a 2400rpm fan and is not meant to be moving this slow. from my experience, slowing down crazy fast, non-PWM fans to 1/4, 1/2 or 5/8 speed (as seen here) never yielded good results in regards to noise. you have to get the right fan for the job.



I know, but I tested those other two fans elsewhere (my website) so couldn't just bring that over here as well. I hear that Blacknoise is coming out with new fans this year though, so maybe they will be a better fit for testing on TPU.


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## Vlada011 (Sep 4, 2019)

When black version become available.
I need 3 more anyway urgently, if I find discount as previous 3 I will use normal. Or maybe I will try Black version.
I'm seriously disappointed because only Chromax color scheme will become available.
NF-A12x25 PWM in Redux color scheme could be most beautiful and best performing PC fan.




 

These vibration rubbers should be removed from one side depend of fan orientation. No need to stay like this.


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## Kissamies (Sep 4, 2019)

Vlada011 said:


> These vibration rubbers should be removed from one side depend of fan orientation. No need to stay like this.


Why? I wouldn't mind to have them on both sides when using with a radiator.


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## terroralpha (Sep 5, 2019)

Chloe Price said:


> Why? I wouldn't mind to have them on both sides when using with a radiator.


Not everyone uses them with rads. And even if they do, people typically don’t put the fans between the rad and the case.

Without the rubber dampers, it actually does look better. But I’m too lazy to take this apart and premthem off.


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## Xzibit (Sep 5, 2019)

terroralpha said:


> Not everyone uses them with rads. And even if they do, people typically don’t put the fans between the rad and the case.
> 
> Without the rubber dampers, it actually does look better. *But I’m too lazy* to take this apart and premthem off.



That explains the dust build-up on the fan blades especially the top ones. Pretty soon you'll transform them into Redux grey


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## terroralpha (Sep 5, 2019)

Xzibit said:


> That explains the dust build-up on the fan blades especially the top ones. Pretty soon you'll transform them into Redux grey


This was taken when I was cleaning it, which I rarely get to do. That’s why the GPU is not in the pic. This computer is running 24/7, and it’s always sucking in dust. I edit photos and render 3D models on it 8-10 hours a day. And when I’m not using it, one of 3 other people remote into it via teamviewer and do the same. This work horse is always working.

Having said that, I’m glad I swapped out my fans for these noctuas. I can work in absolute silence, even when my computer goes balls to the wall on all 16 cores + GPU and sucks up 700w from the outlet.


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## Kissamies (Sep 5, 2019)

terroralpha said:


> Not everyone uses them with rads. And even if they do, people typically don’t put the fans between the rad and the case.


Well, me and many people I know has the intake rad as push, not as pull like in your picture.

But yeah, I guess it would be ok that the dampeners just would be in the box and the end-user just installs them as (s)he would like.


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## Vlada011 (Sep 5, 2019)

How much you set RPM on NF-A12x25 PWM on radiators.
On mine 60% up to 55C.

I removed rubber, only gasket is on side close to radiator. Rubber is useless in this situation.


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## terroralpha (Feb 6, 2020)

the 15mm version is now available in chromax, but at an even higher price premium than usual: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0813X9G8T/

i don't understand why they made the smaller version in chromax first. it's a niche product. i have two of the 15mm versions of this fan myself in my VR rig, but i still think it was stupid to make the less in demand product first. the only logical explanation is that they aren't confident in the new material and wanted to launch the less used version to reduce exposure to mass RMAs.


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