Corsair SP120 PWM Low Noise, High Pressure Fan 4 pin

[harvey.l12]

Ohh wow they look awesome! You got any idea on what ones are quiet but good performance?

 

[ttaskmaster]

Ohh wow they look awesome! You got any idea on what ones are quiet but good performance?

Err... all of them?

The NF-S type fans are very quiet and make for great case fans. Choose from 700rpm, 1200rpm, or 1200rpm PWM. The 12s will be louder on full tilt, but give you the option.

The NF-P type works well as an all-rounder and better as a radiator fan, but the only 120mm-suitable one in the shop is the 1500rpm round 120/140.

NF-F type fans would be what you'd ideally want, but they aren't out yet...

All will be quieter than the Corsair PE fan.


In the absence of a Redux F-series fan, Noctua also do the IndustrialPPC fans. These were intended more for servers and the like, where noise is not an issue. They will do the performance side very well.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=industrial+ppc&_=1440523799679

I believe you can turn them down quiet, but on full tilt they will be LOUD.
Saying that, the Mfr's stats (which are fairly good indicators in Noctuas case) aren't actually as loud as some other fans... The 2000rpm ones are showing as below 30dB.

 

[harvey.l12]

Ahh okay cheers for all of this, helps a lot

 

[Greybeard]

The PE's probably say 'High Pressure, Low Noise' on the packaging, but the latter part is very often NOT the case!!!

Interesting, as I have these fans currently p/p on an H100i GTX cooling a 3970X running around 1900rpm (all 4) via C Link. I'd have to say, acoustics is not that all terrible.. I can barely hear them on that rpm. Tone them down to 1400rpm, and they are whisper quiet.

 

[harvey.l12]

Greybeard, are you talking about the SP120 performance?

 

[harvey.l12]

Adding about the Noctua Redux, they only have airflow fans, no Static Pressure fans that are ideal fans for radiators, CPU coolers etc which is a shame

 

[ttaskmaster]

Interesting, as I have these fans currently p/p on an H100i GTX cooling a 3970X running around 1900rpm (all 4) via C Link. I'd have to say, acoustics is not that all terrible.. I can barely hear them on that rpm. Tone them down to 1400rpm, and they are whisper quiet.

Corsair H100 w/2 x SP120 PE in either push or pull, housed inside a Corsair Carbide 500R.
That's where the "F14 launching off a carrier" sound first made its debut for me.

You know I love Corsair products and these were the benchmark at one point, but just didn't keep up with the competition in this case, I'm afraid.

Adding about the Noctua Redux, they only have airflow fans, no Static Pressure fans that are ideal fans for radiators, CPU coolers etc which is a shame

The NF-P fans (beige and redux) are reasonable in terms of performance through radiators, but they are notably noisier on higher settings than NF-Fs would be.
I likely will end up going for the IndustrialPPC ones to replace the beige NF-P on my current 120 rad, though. My beige NF-Fs are nicely hidden between rad and top cover, so they're fine... but I may also replace them, just for the performance.

 

[anthony566]

I have the SP120's in my system and they are very nice not totally silent but not to loud under load either.

 

[evsknight]

First off, I don't get backhanders from Corsair or have brand loyalty as such, this is just how this have panned out for me and I'm pleased overall.

I have 3 x SP120's (low noise version, none PWM) on the front pulling air through a grill and magnetic dust filter at 850rpm and I have 2 x SP140's (low noise again, PWM this time) which are pushing air from inside the case over a 280mm radiator which is part of the Corsair H110. The 2 x 140's run at 750 on normal idle.
Finally I have a bequiet! purewings2 120mm fan exhausting out at 600 rpm from the back and this is all setup in a Corsair Carbide Air 540.

Gaming wise I have an MSI 980Ti in there which is the card that runs up to 60 degrees C before the fans even turn on, so it's a small quiet radiator until games come on and normally sits around 45. The 3 x 120's blow across this card from the front intake.

Idle temps on my CPU (web browsing/email/music) are around 28-32.

When gaming, CPU gets up to about 50 degrees, GPU tends to get to 72 ish under full load and the case fans ramp up by about 10% each and don't get any higher, the rad fans go up by 15-20%
This is in summer as well with ambient around 21 in this office room I'm in.

Ok so with all that out the way, I don't hear the system from 1.2m away when idle. (I had a tape measure handy so measured from my ear to the front of the case)
When gaming I can hear the card move air a little more but that's about it and that tends to be only at night when it's really quiet.

Can happily game with GPU at full and room doors open and you can't hear it at night in any of the other rooms/bedrooms/hallway at night.

HTH

 

[McGraw]

I have the SP120's in my system and they are very nice not totally silent but not to loud under load either.

Same.

No idea how anyone can bear the high perf ones, they are horribly loud.

200mhz extra overclock not worth a hairdryer sound!

 

[Matty_Boy]

I'm having all sorts of trouble using SP120 PWM quiet editions on my H100i. Cannot for the life of me get them to run slower than full speed using a variety of different PWM splitters (5 way, 3 way, 2 way tried) from the CPU header (set to PWM) on my EVGA X99 motherboard. I'm now at the stage of replacing them with some old Akasa Apache PWMs to see if it's a fan issue when using with PWM splitters on my EVGA board. Its baffling me as they ran fine using a 5 way splitter on my old Asus P67 board on PWM, I'm thinking there must be a compatibility issue with certain motherboard's PWM implementations and fans.

 

[ttaskmaster]

I'm having all sorts of trouble using SP120 PWM quiet editions on my H100i.

Do they not plug into and thus get controlled by the H100i itself, like on the H100?
I have fitted an H100i to someone's system a while back, but can't remember how it works...

If not, can you control them with CorsairLink software?

 

[MDPlatts]

Its 3-pin fans to a y-cable splitter which plugs into the pump and a 2nd cable goes from the pump to a usb header. There is a 2nd y-cable splitter in the kit to run a 3rd/4th fan if you want.

They arent PWM - it probably just lowers the voltage - it worked on mine until I got rid of it to replace with a H80i for a smaller case.

 

[Matty_Boy]

was hoping to stay away from using the Corsair Link software and connections. I'll try the Apaches first to see if they work on PWM from the motherboard CPU header. A single SP120 connected directly to the CPU header does work OK on PWM settings, so it must be an issue when used in conjunction with a splitter.

 

[ttaskmaster]

was hoping to stay away from using the Corsair Link software and connections.

It can be a bit problematic to set up, depending on your components, but most of that is easily resolved through a quick Google, and once it's set up it works great.

I personally just preferred manual FanCon, as did the guy whose PC it was.

 

[Matty_Boy]

Update on my fan issue - I tried the Corsair SP120 PWMs on yet another splitter, this time a Phobya PWM 8 way splitter on my EVGA X99 rig. No joy, all fans ran at max speed. So I replaced the Corsair fans with some old Akasa Apache PWM fans I had in my box of spares, connected 5 of these fans up to the splitter and then connected to CPU_1 motherbaord header set to SMART. Fans work fine with variable PWM speeds! Success!! So I can only conclude the Corsair SP120 PWM models have issues when used with splitters on certain motherboards. The SP120s I have connected to a splitter on my Gigabyte X58 rig work fine on PWM!

 

[traveyb]

The new version of Corsair Link is actually quite a bit better. I used to despise it but now it actually works

 

[whogivesascooby]

Feedback on my experience.

I have a H100i. I bought 2x Corsair SP120 QE for it and they didn't last a day before I had to remove them.

My over clock is on a i7 4770k and its only sitting at 4.2.

The heat coming from the system and the temps were shockingly bad. At first I tried them with the voltage step down adapters which was causing my PC to overheat and reboot. After removing the adapters my PC was stable but heat that was exhausting from the top of my case was way hotter than it is with the stock fans.

I am back to using stock fans at the moment. They are louder but the performance is much better.

I am not saying don't buy corsair fans. All I want to do is warn you from the same mistake I made by buying the QE's.

I was so bummed out by the experience that I will be replacing my H100i with a EKWB Predator when they are released.

 

[Born_2_Kill_83]

Same here, the QE SP120 are no good on H100's and overclocking, back to standards for me, 10/15c increase at least.

They are the same fans as the stock ones, they just don't spin as fast, less speed=less cooling, I'll take the noise thanks.

 

[megatron]

I have 4 of these on an H100i.
On my old Asus P67 board linked to an Akasa 5 way PWM splitter they were near silent on idol when cooling a 2600K @ 4.5Ghz. On full load they were pretty good noise wise too.
However I've just moved to an EVGA X99 Micro2 motherboard and using the same PWM splitter setup, I cannot get the fans to run at less than full speed.
I'm reading various articles on the web that the SP120s have known issues when running on PWM splitters.
I've connected only 1x SP120 to the CPU header to see if this works ok on PWM and it did.
So now I'm looking to try 2 x 2 way splitters on 2 headers to see if that works better.
Nice fans, just be aware there can be issues when using PWM splitters with them!

You can try adjusting the PWM headers of your motherboard with speedfan under advanced tab, try "software controlled". It will be the settings under the name of your I/O chip, mine is IT8620e.