Performance Testing

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


ARCTIC rates the P12 PWM PST A-RGB with a speed range of 200 to 2000 RPM, and I tested both provided units here to measure an average of 1964 RPM at 100% PWM, going down to an average of 277 RPM at 5%. This means the rated fan speed range matches the findings fairly 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 at ~8-9%. This is a nice feature on top of the extremely 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 A-RGB 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 interesting takeaway here is the P12 PWM PST A-RGB is not that far off from the non-RGB fan, especially at higher fan speeds where the connected rotor blades seems to help reduce deadzones in airflow. It's also a decent performer on this radiator, whose airflow restriction is about average for radiators in general. I will also confirm the fan sound signature is less high-pitched here than with the P12 PWM PST non-RGB fan, so this alone is worth paying more attention to this version, or perhaps even the P12 Max if you prefer non-RGB fans.


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 A-RGB—in addition to a few other RGB fans such as the Lian Li UNI FAN SL 120 Wireless, the Corsair iCUE Link RX120 RGB, and the SeaSonic MagFlow ARGB. We see the differences are not major, especially at lower fan speeds, although then the iCUE Link RX120 RGB with its static-pressure optimized design and the MagFlow ARGB with its opaque LCP blades both scale better in terms of pushing more air at the same noise levels, or equivalently being quieter at the same airflow. For those wondering about a direct comparison between the ARCTIC P12 PWM fans, I'll have something more dedicated to these fans soon.