Arctic P12 PWM PST CO

Mercutio · 8 May 2019 at 02:31

How are these stacking up against the likes of the Noctua/Gentle Typhoons?

On paper... (as always) they look pretty damn decent, not terribly priced either at about £8 a fan. Ended up with apache blacks as a rad fan, wondering how much better these might be

Edit: Hmmm, I'm on about the CO fans but... they look like all the other Arctic P12's so possibly "nothing to see".

Rroff · 8 May 2019 at 03:55

Dunno about the P12 but I've found the F12 stack up favourable against the competition.

Apache Blacks are pretty decent performance wise so I wouldn't be in a hurry to change them (also at lower RPMs they tend to shift more air than many other fans at the same RPM but it evens out at higher RPMs) but hit and miss on the noise side - I cherry picked from around 20 of them the best that were close to silent below 1000 RPM but some weren't any different to a generic fan noise wise.

More recently I swapped the Blacks for Be Quiet! Silent Wings as I don't need the performance of the Blacks any more and the Silent Wings are easier to ignore noise wise - I find amongst anything other than cheapy fans the biggest distinguishing feature really is the kind of noise they make rather than level of noise with some easier to filter out than others and performance wise there often isn't really much meaningful in it.

LuckyBenski · 8 May 2019 at 09:04

There are two versions of the P12 PWM as far as I can tell - one has a daisy chain connector for adding more fans, and one doesn't.

I've heard preliminary good opinions but no proper reviews or analysis yet. I put 2 in a server at work and they shove a lot of air into the case. There was excess air flowing out around an 80mm intake's grill!

Haven't been able to test their noise floor sadly, as it's say on my desk in an open plan office. That's what I'm really interested in.

Ross Thomson · 8 May 2019 at 09:15

cheap, quiet and cool very well. why spend £25 on one fan when you can get 5 for £22 plus postage.

hartgeh3 · 8 Jun 2019 at 14:24

Iam looking at these to add to me case but I have noticed two versions of these one with PST one without also double the price?!

Arctic P12 PWM and Arctic P12 PWM PST

EsaT · 8 Jun 2019 at 14:39

Arctic P12 and P14 have geometry which deals very well with impedances like heatsink/radiator, or stamped meshes/filters of cases.
Also design is good for avoiding unnecessary noises...
Unlike in some other lot more expensive fans with motor support struts almost parallel with blade trailing edges etc.

CO variants are with ball bearing.
Others are with nowadays standard "fluid dynamic bearing".

hartgeh3 said:
Iam looking at these to add to me case but I have noticed two versions of these one with PST one without also double the price?!

PST variant comes with daisy chain connector, which can be usefull if running out of fan headers, or fans are in parallel/in push pull and can be run with same speed control.
But certainly not worth of doubled price ,when fan splitters cost few £.

hartgeh3 · 8 Jun 2019 at 14:43

Thanks I went with the cheaper PST version!

Relentless81 · 8 Jun 2019 at 15:32

I have them, 2 x 140's and 1 x 120. They are for sale in the for sale section because I am not happy with the sound they make at full pelt, they arent loud as such I'm just really fussy. Decided to keep them now though and turn them down a bit until the black Noctua fans come out

Other than they are very good for the money

ubiquity · 9 Jun 2019 at 15:12

Relentless81 said:
I have them, 2 x 140's and 1 x 120. They are for sale in the for sale section because I am not happy with the sound they make at full pelt, they arent loud as such I'm just really fussy. Decided to keep them now though and turn them down a bit until the black Noctua fans come out

Other than they are very good for the money

Is the sound very high pitched?

Ross Thomson · 9 Jun 2019 at 16:09

ubiquity said:
Is the sound very high pitched?

depends what the fan is screwed into. fan on a chassis will sound different to that on a radiator.

ubiquity · 9 Jun 2019 at 19:18

I saw there were rubber gaskets you could get to go inbetween the radiator and the fans, and some fans have rubber on them to neutralise vibration sound (e.g. Noctua), but the question was more on the sound of the fan itself, rather than any vibration...

Relentless81 · 9 Jun 2019 at 19:24

ubiquity said:
I saw there were rubber gaskets you could get to go inbetween the radiator and the fans, and some fans have rubber on them to neutralise vibration sound (e.g. Noctua), but the question was more on the sound of the fan itself, rather than any vibration...

Sorry only just seen this, its more a deep bassy hum to me, limiting them to about 80% has solved it though, they are good fans, they look a little cheap though and like I say I think there are better sounding fans out there but I'm going to keep them while waiting on the new Noctua's

ubiquity · 9 Jun 2019 at 19:25

Relentless81 said:
Sorry only just seen this, its more a deep bassy hum to me, limiting them to about 80% has solved it though, they are good fans, they look a little cheap though and like I say I think there are better sounding fans out there but I'm going to keep them while waiting on the new Noctua's

Thanks, I can imagine how that could be very irritating!

Drumroll · 9 Jun 2019 at 20:07

Have 10 of the 14cm version push/pull. Fantastic. The Phanteks supplied with the Enthoo Primo are quieter, at least it's my perception, but don't shift as much air. Running them at 50% would be more than enough = quiet.

ubiquity · 9 Jun 2019 at 20:32

Michael Marini said:
Have 10 of the 14cm version push/pull. Fantastic. The Phanteks supplied with the Enthoo Primo are quieter, at least it's my perception, but don't shift as much air. Running them at 50% would be more than enough = quiet.

10 of the 14cm Artic P12 PWN PST COs?

Drumroll · 9 Jun 2019 at 20:47

ubiquity said:
10 of the 14cm Artic P12 PWN PST COs?

10 x 14 Artic P14 PWM PST, not the CO variant, which would be more reliable, allegedly, but don't think performance or noise levels would be much different. Would be more about life spam and reliability, but I'm not 100% is just that.

ubiquity · 9 Jun 2019 at 20:54

I think you are right regarding the CO. I like the look and price of these;, I wonder if Overclockers will do a bundle deal for these when they are back in stock...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-pwm-pst-black-fan-120mm-fg-04h-ar.html

EsaT · 9 Jun 2019 at 21:17

Michael Marini said:
Have 10 of the 14cm version push/pull. Fantastic. The Phanteks supplied with the Enthoo Primo are quieter, at least it's my perception, but don't shift as much air. Running them at 50% would be more than enough = quiet.

Those Phanteks fans are max 1200rpm, so would be major miracle if 1700rpm Arctic at full speed would be quieter.
It's simply law of physics that higher fan speed tends to make more ruckus.
(unless fan is smaller)

Though different fan designs have notable effect to noise per RPM and how it feel...
Bad design can make noise profile restless (like Noctua F12) and more annoying.
Especially if there are sharper frequency spikes (hard for dB meters to measure) and bad fan can be noisy at about any speed.
Bearing noise can prevent slow speeds from becoming quiet and resonances of some brittle plastics can increase noise once speed picks ups.

And while good fans run smoothly, vibration of fan can also increase noise major amount when fan is attached to anything.
(Noctua F12 and P12 fans are the worst vibrating rollers I've touched in 25 years of PC hobby)

Drumroll · 9 Jun 2019 at 21:22

EsaT said:
Those Phanteks fans are max 1200rpm, so would be major miracle if 1700rpm Arctic at full speed would be quieter.
It's simply law of physics that higher fan speed tends to make more ruckus.
(unless fan is smaller)

Though different fan designs have notable effect to noise per RPM and how it feel...
Bad design can make noise profile restless (like Noctua F12) and more annoying.
Especially if there are sharper frequency spikes (hard for dB meters to measure) and bad fan can be noisy at about any speed.
Bearing noise can prevent slow speeds from becoming quiet and resonances of some brittle plastics can increase noise once speed picks ups.

And while good fans run smoothly, vibration of fan can also increase noise major amount when fan is attached to anything.
(Noctua F12 and P12 fans are the worst vibrating rollers I've touched in 25 years of PC hobby)

Yes.
Previously had problem with fractal design fans. Not many of them installed, but bad enough to make a steel case Define XL vibrate.
One solution, quite cheap was to use some even more noise dampening material. Had few spare silent coat from the car audio upgrade and worked well, but looking for a solution for a problem that shouldn't be there, at least not at that level, is annoying.

Drumroll · 9 Jun 2019 at 21:23

ubiquity said:
I think you are right regarding the CO. I like the look and price of these;, I wonder if Overclockers will do a bundle deal for these when they are back in stock...

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-pwm-pst-black-fan-120mm-fg-04h-ar.html

Too bad they don't. Had to source somewhere else. 5 for 20 odd quid. Great value for 5 X 14cm.