I had reviewed the original Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 after the Phanteks T30-120 and found that it would probably have received a more positive review had things been swapped around. This time with the new TOUGHFAN 12 Pro, it ends up doing a similar thing for the Lian Li UNI FAN P28. In fact, if you go read the conclusion of that review now, you will notice it has been updated to reflect the availability of something that is, in my opinion, a better offering for the money. The TOUGHFAN 12 Pro released just after I had submitted that review and, had I already had both fans together when testing, I would have been less enthusiastic about the Lian Li offering.

This is primarily because Thermaltake has finally got to a point where it can compete favorably with all other performance-oriented fans aimed at the consumer PC business. The older TOUGHFAN 12 got close but had some bearing noise at lower fan speeds and also required running at higher fan speeds to really show its strengths. With the new TOUGHFAN 12 Pro, things are already chart-topping at lower fan speeds and continue to be extremely impressive all the way up to the rated 2000 RPM. We get a long RPM response range, which also happens to be extremely linear for easy control. You can also just use the provided low noise cable accessory if you want to just power multiple fans directly from a powered splitter connected to your PSU and not have things be loud. Add to that the minimal sample variation tested among three randomly chosen retail samples plus the 5-year warranty and things are looking very good in terms of having a reliable cooling solution that will give you an excellent performance/noise balance for years.

A price of $25/fan is nothing to scoff at, yet this ends up being the least expensive of the LCP fans tested here, which are all great performers and amazing for watercooling. The cost has not increased from the previous TOUGHFAN 12 despite there being marked improvements in a lot of different places. I do wish the 2-pack version still cost the same $40 that the older 2-pack did, but $45 is still not crazy considering there are some fans on the market that cost that much, if not more, per fan. Ideally I'd want to see Thermaltake provide a 3-pack SKU for, say, $60-65 and maybe we'll also see some special color editions too as before. The bottom line is the new TOUGHFAN 12 Pro with its nice combination of performance, price, aesthetics, and case compatibility ends up being my new top choice for watercooling fans.