Arctic P14 Max - Any Good?

Eddie99 · 26 Mar 2024 at 14:13

I noticed the Arctic P14 Max is available to buy now but I don't see any reviews of it. It looks like they switched to a fluid dynamic bearing from the dual ball bearing in the P12 Max version, and it's 27mm thick which is a bit more than a standard 25mm fan. The 5 pack for £38 is tempting, if anyone already has them what's the noise profile like and how do they perform?

Eddie99 · 29 Mar 2024 at 13:45

Armageus said:
It's only ever been the CO (Continuous Operation) versions of the P12 and P14 that used dual ball bearing, all other versions (Standard, Silent and now Max) have always been "Hydrodynamic Bearing"

The P12 Max was dual ball bearing, though they recently switched it to fluid dynamic bearing when they released the white version as many people complained about the noise at low RPM.

Eddie99 · 30 Mar 2024 at 20:30

Finners said:
I bought a pack of these, they're good just like the P14's and exceptional for the price. In my unscientific test compared to standard P14's at 1000rpm they perform the same but are a little quieter. At top speed they are of course obnoxiously loud and have a fair bit of a motor hum to go with all that air movement noise but shift a serious amount of air.

the noise seems progressive as you go up the fan speed and I don't seem to have any hums or resonate at certain speeds that can annoy. Would I buy again? yes but if they made just standard p14's with rubber corner mounts and a closed fan I would buy them over the max. 2800rpm is just to loud and fast for my needs.

How are yours at low speed? I already sent mine back because they made weird noises which I think is coming from the motor. They were fine at higher speeds but no good if you want a silent PC when under low loads.

Eddie99 · 30 Mar 2024 at 21:06

Finners said:
how low are we talking? I have mine at 600rpm at idle and they are fine

It was bothersome up to about 1000rpm after which point it got drowned out. I don't think I got a bad batch because I saw a comment on reddit mentioning it has some bearing noise. I went back to some Thermalright TL-C12C which are absolutely silent at a normal distance with a low RPM.

Eddie99 · 30 Mar 2024 at 21:31

Finners said:
I think I can hear what you are talking about but really need to be a couple of inches away to hear it. It's quieter than either my pump noise or the air turbulence against my rad.

I could hear it from a couple of meters away so maybe I did get a bad batch then, or I just have a lower noise floor. One fan had a high pitched screeching sound at 9% which completely disappeared at 10%.