140mm Fan Question

[kilo]

Good evening everyone,

I'm in the market for 4x 140mm fans and dont really know where to begin. I've always bought cheap and put up with noise, but for my next build, I seek advice. I'm looking for good air flow and no rgb. What has worked out for you all?

 

[freeagent]

I have a few Thermalright TL-B14. They are pretty decent. I would recommend..

Edit:

That is what the top of my case looks like when I am using an air cooler

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Arctic P14 MAX

 

[PlayLoud]

I like the Noctua NF-A14x25 G2.

 

[eidairaman1]

You can turn off rgb individually fyi. Anyways you can research cfm and dba and static pressure values for the likes of Thermalright, Thermal Take, Scythe, Nideq, Delta, Sunon, Bitfenix, Corsair, Lian-Li, Aerocool, Antec, Arctic, Deepcool, Gelid, BeQuiet, Xigmatek. If the case front has a lot of obstruction then you will want a high static pressure fan.

Good evening everyone,

I'm in the market for 4x 140mm fans and dont really know where to begin. I've always bought cheap and put up with noise, but for my next build, I seek advice. I'm looking for good air flow and no rgb. What has worked out for you all?

 

[harm9963]

How much do you want to spend , do you care about RGB , for rads / case ? example I have 12 Noctua a14 500 rpm to 3000 rpm , at 30 dollars a pop , on sale too , so your system spec's might not need top tier fans today , later down the road that can changes , buy a 5 pack of fans no thrills RGB , 40 dollars range ,

ARCTIC P14 Max (5 Pack) - PC Fans, High-Performance 140mm Case Fan, PWM controlled 400–2800 rpm, Optimised for static pressure, 0dB mode - Black​

 

[leonavis]

if you have enough money and don't wanna care about buying new for a long time (6-year warranty, very well built), get Noctuas. NF-A14x25 G2 PWM

Otherwise, go with the Arctic. Just be aware that you could get a bad one in the mix, I had that already. Really annoying noise, not "loud" in the dbA-sense, but an annoying parasitic noise growing with RPM. Then again you get 5 P14 Max for 1 NF-A14 G2, so... you know. Price-wise the Noctuas are very bad.

 

[_roman_]

The arctic 5 pieces pack of P14 are decent affordable. I was kinda happy when making my own fan curve for low humming noise.

 

[Shrek]

How about the Noctua redux series to keep the price down? ($17 a piece)

 

[Arctucas]

I am using Noctua 140mm iPPC PWM, 12 @ 2000RPM and 12 @ 3000 RPM on my rads.

Not quiet, not cheap, but perform great.

 

[dgianstefani]

I like the Noctua NF-A14x25 G2.

The best, but pricey.

I have one, with 4 A12x25.

 

[Shrek]

I am using Noctua 140mm iPPC PWM, 12 @ 2000RPM and 12 @ 3000 RPM on my rads.

Not quiet, not cheap, but perform great.

For me noise is an issue, so I prefer several larger fans that run slow.

Noctua's
NF-A14x25 G2 LS-PWM
runs slow (maybe too slow)

 

[Arctucas]

For me noise is an issue, so I prefer several larger fans that run slow.

Noctua's
NF-A14x25 G2 LS-PWM
runs slow (maybe too slow)

I have seen the 2000RPM iPPC go slightly below 800RPM. At that speed they are reasonably quiet, although, 12 of them still are very audible.

 

[AusWolf]

Be quiet (the brand). I've heard good things about Noctua as well, but brown/beige is a big no for me.

 

[Shrek]

There is a black version
NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap

 

[eidairaman1]

There is a black version
NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap
View attachment 382950

 

[iolaus]

Depends on the purpose. If it's for a radiator or heatsink, or for use in a constricted space, I go with Noctua Industrials (120s and 140s) if I can for the static pressure. You don't HAVE to run them high, but I like knowing I have the head room to notch up to 2000 if needed; and at low speeds they're quiet enough for me at least.

If it's a free-flowing case environment, I would probably go with Be Quiet.

 

[leonavis]

Yea, the Silent Wings series is great too. Do not buy Pure Wings though.

 

[Todestrieb]

The "I'm on infinite money cheat" option: Noctua NF-A14x25. Be sure to take the two-pack option.
The "I'm on infinite money cheat but I don't want brown fans!" option: be quiet! Silent Wing Pro 4 140mm, or wait until 2025Q3 for the chromax version of Noctua NF-A14x25.
The budget option: Arctic stuff

Older Noctua 140mm fans (A14, P14) are pretty outdated and I personally think Arctic would be the better choice.

If you are interested in extremely detailed reviews on case fans, check out https://www.hwcooling.net/en/category/fans/ .

 

[Shrek]

Interesting how the Noctua NF-A14x25 dual pack is intentionally mismatched

Amazon.com: Noctua NF-A14x25 G2 PWM Sx2-PP, Dual Fan Set for Push-Pull and Side-by-Side Applications (Brown) : Electronics
"Dedicated dual fan set with two NF-A14x25 G2 PWM 140x25mm fans that are slightly off-set in speed (+/- ~25rpm) in order to avoid undesired acoustic interaction phenomena"

 

[_roman_]

I had ordered 4 noctua nf-a 12x25 pwm fans and returned 3 of them.

Only for certain spots they make sense. I use it as an exhaust fan after the cpu cooler tower.
I would use those artic p12 or p14 fans again which are sold in packs of 5 for any other spot.
Certain spots justify better fans. But not every spot in a case.

You get 5 fans for a single of that noctua fan.
There is a lot of fanboy in it too. This was my second noctua product.
I do understand now why the previous owner sold the noctua nh-d15 which is now lying around here.

If you get one get this one for the few places which are very important. I think they released a few months ago the 140mm one also
For the other spots just get the p12 and p14 arctic ones

I'm not happy about that scam price - "noctua premium price".

I checked the cheaper noctua fans. They are not worth it for the specs.
I wrote them a german email. In conclusion. Fans are tested in 1 meter distance. That's why my computer is now 1 meter away from my right ear to the nearest corner of my pc tower. That 30-50 cm distance increase reduced a bit the noise. Arctic and noctua have certain statements how they measure the fans. I will not go into details. Fan noise and fan performance is not that easy as it seem.

"Dedicated dual fan set with two NF-A14x25 G2 PWM 140x25mm fans that are slightly off-set in speed (+/- ~25rpm) in order to avoid undesired acoustic interaction phenomena"

Please feel free to add additional informations.

I think these G2 = Generation 2 fans were made for as a improvement replacement fans for the Noctua NH-D15 tower cooler.
I wonder why the amazon page does not show this.

Noctua wants to go the high price strategy. The dark rock pro 5 pc tower cooler wiht two fans which I use cost as much as those two 140mm fans.

 

[leonavis]

Interesting how the Noctua NF-A14x25 dual pack is intentionally mismatched

Amazon.com: Noctua NF-A14x25 G2 PWM Sx2-PP, Dual Fan Set for Push-Pull and Side-by-Side Applications (Brown) : Electronics
"Dedicated dual fan set with two NF-A14x25 G2 PWM 140x25mm fans that are slightly off-set in speed (+/- ~25rpm) in order to avoid undesired acoustic interaction phenomena"

Yeah, Gamer's Nexus made a whole piece about it.

 

[nomdeplume]

Good evening everyone,

I'm in the market for 4x 140mm fans and dont really know where to begin. I've always bought cheap and put up with noise, but for my next build, I seek advice. I'm looking for good air flow and no rgb. What has worked out for you all?

140mm but...

not if they need to be identical - for reasons
what and where they will be used
how hard machine gets used
lacking some numerical idea of what you consider good airflow
how many other changes you are making / or how drastic of changes to cooling

 

[Noci]

Not the cheapest nor the best, certainly not living up to the initial hype, but actually pretty good and for some of us an excellent choice: https://www.alphacool.com/en/stealth-metal-fan

But on a budget and still want decent performance with a low noise level, I would go for the before mentioned Arctic Cooling F or P 14 even P 14 max they perform close to the leaders of the pack: https://www.arctic.de/en/products/c...1&properties=da91df4b397b4315a285959bce30852e

If you don't care how much you spend on fans and want to go for the best (for you), there are countless of reviews on 140mm fans: https://www.google.com/search?sca_e...HHUsSCjUQ0pQJegQIFhAB&biw=1594&bih=1255&dpr=1

Things to consider in decision-making are:

1. Desired performance (at a given speed)
2. Maximum noise level (at a given speed)
3. Physical dimensions (do they fit, thickness?)
4. Aesthetics (do you like how they look?)
5. Connectivity (lots of cables or not?)

Regarding to your system specs, you did not specify any case and likewise for your next build. Just make sure you have sufficient airflow so the CPU, GPU, VRM's & RAM get enough fresh (cool) air and the heated up air is discharged smoothly out of that case. Always try to avoid turbulence where heated up air is recirculating and reducing the efficiency of your air coolers.

Above mentioned is in regards to aircooling, if you want to go watercooling the factor of generated (static) pressure also will be a thing to consider as radiators do have some static resistance to airflow.

Keep in mind, cheap is not (always) equal to noisy, like expensive is not (always) equal to the best performance, just do your research and use commom sense. It is a nice journey to reach the destination and meanwhile you pick up a thing or two .
Have fun

 

[Ruru]

The arctic 5 pieces pack of P14 are decent affordable. I was kinda happy when making my own fan curve for low humming noise.

Arctic fans in general are probably the only ones I can think which are cheap (the bling-less ones) but still good quality. Never had anything to complain about those.