Performance Testing

Please refer to this dedicated test setup page as it applies to this review as well.


ARCTIC rates the P12 PWM PST with a speed range of 200 to 1800 RPM, and I tested both provided units here to measure an average of 1829 RPM at 100% PWM, going down to an average of 215 RPM at 5%. This means the rated fan speed range matches the findings quite well, and this is a really long RPM range too. It's not often you see fans spin that low, so there really is no need for a zero RPM mode in such cases. That said, ARCTIC still manages to program one in such that the fans turn off below 5% PWM duty cycle and spin back up ~8-9%. This is a neat feature for an affordable fan on top of the fairly linear RPM range—making it easy to set custom fan curves—as well as decent sample variation, even if this is from a limited sample size of two units. Context is needed to talk more about the fan's relative performance and noise, so I have comparison charts below for some fans tested at set RPM values, or as near as they can get to those.


The charts above help compare the ARCTIC P12 PWM PST with other fans at different chosen RPM values reflecting usage scenarios most popular with watercooling, although some fans go higher as is the case here. The charts are to be considered for comparison within this result set only and are not to be compared with results from another test elsewhere, owing to different testing conditions. Note that these are average values for all samples of each fan and do not reflect any sample variation, and I also suggest looking at RGB fans separately from the others given they tend to sacrifice some performance by having LEDs take up space where the rotor blades could have been pushing more air through. The main takeaway here is the P12 PWM PST is a decent performer on this radiator, whose airflow restriction is about average for radiators in general. This is especially true at lower fan speeds, where we see it push out more air through the radiator compared to most other fans. That said, I noticed here the actual sound profile was tilted towards the higher frequencies. This continues till ~1250 RPM, so the higher-pitched sound may not seem as pleasant even if the absolute dBA values look attractive. Past this and at higher fan speeds, we get more airflow noise and some minor vibrations on my units, but overall it's still far more pleasant than when the fans run slower. Inside a closed case a few feet away, I doubt this will be an issue though.


Instead of having CFM/dBA charts that can potentially be taken for more than they really offer, I am going to show a few other fans as a comparison for further context. These include the subject of this review—the ARCTIC P12 PWM PST—in addition to a few other fans such as the Endorfy Fluctus 120 (another affordable fan), the Alphacool Apex Stealth 120 (more noise optimized than pure performance), and the Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Pro (pure performance and good on performance/noise too). We see the P12 PWM PST basically lines up next to the Alphacool Apex Stealth, which is not a bad place to be when you consider the latter is significantly more expensive and doesn't give you a zero RPM mode. That said, here the difference in sound signature is massive with the Apex Stealth sounding quieter than it measures and the P12 PWM PST being higher pitched than average. The P12 PWM PST also does better than the Fluctus 120, which is the closest priced fan I have here—there's not much to differentiate the sound profiles, and ARCTIC gets another win thanks to its lower price + larger retail network. If you then consider more static pressure optimized fans such as the Tt TOUGHFAN 12 PRO, then we see where the P12 PWM PST falls short. This should not be a surprise though, I wasn't expecting this hybrid fan design to really outperform these high performance LCP rotor fans.