Case Fans, Help

[Meridiusuk]

Hi all,

I am after 2 case fans one 120mm and one 140mm for a NZXT H510i case as exhaust fans. I have been looking at the Noctua NF-S12A & NF-A14 PWM Chromax fans, are these any good.

I have not bought fans in years as this is my forst build in about 10 years and bought a H510i case and read that this case is a waste of time with intakes and needs good echaust fans. The fasn i was looking at are the Noctua but are there any better fans or are these about the best you can get, I was also looking at the NF-F12 but was told there more a heatsink or rad fan than a case fan and not to use them.

Now i am not to bothered about RGB fans but i am thinking about it as i never had a Window case before but not to sure if RGB fans are any good or better than the Noctua.

so the question is what do i need to look for can, any help would be great

thanks

 

[Grimley]

Noctuas are not cheap but worth it if you want a case fan to do its best. Have a look at reviews if you want some reassurance & the main consensus are that they are one of the best makes around. RGB fans are a personal taste IMO if you want your PC to light up like a Xmas tree, If I were to go down that road I would go for Corsair ML fans.
Just my 2pence.

 

[Meridiusuk]

are corsair ML fans just as good as noctuas for air flow and sound levels as iam undecided , not to fussed about price as i want a good quiet exellent air flow in the case.

thanks

 

[Meridiusuk]

Hi all thanks for the input, I have been looking at a fre types now and got it down to this,

None RGB

Rear of Case Noctua NF-S12A Chromax
Top of case NF-A14 PWM Chromax

or

Rear of Case ML120 Pro
Top of Case ML140 Pro

For RGB

Rear of Case NZXT AER RGB 2 120mm
Top of Case NZXT AER RGB 2 140mm

I did look at the Corsair ML120 & ML140 RGB fans but i did not realise you needed a different fan RGB controller as i thought all RGB devices could work with each other, thats a pain. The controllers I would have are the NZXT and RGB Fusion 2 as i am thinking of getting a gigabyte Master x570 motherboard.

All the combos above are about the same price point as theres not much in it which would be better for cooling and noise levels.

I am not to sure which combo would have the best cooling and best noise level for the H510i case.

What do you all think ?

I did look at the Arctic P12 PWM - Pressure-optimised 120 mm fans but these are for static pressure more for heatsinks not case fans.

 

[markoboyo11]

Arctic do f12 pwm for air flow rather than static pressure too.

I use them and swear by them, how anyone can justify £20+ on a tiny fan is beyond me.

 

[EsaT]

I was also looking at the NF-F12 but was told there more a heatsink or rad fan than a case fan

Wouldn't put that anywhere inside my PC.
Have little trust left for Noctua's hype and prices.

From NF-F12 and NF-P12 I have the unfortunate experience of having them bundled with Noctua heatsinks.
NF-P12 is acoustically rather nice, except that at certain RPMs those blade notches cause some resonance.
(which SPCR described as like sound of propeller airplane)
But bearing/motor is horrible miniaturized vibrating roller/internal combustion engine with broken balancing.

Newer NF-F12 again is acoustically plain mediocre.
Dumb dB meters may be fooled by it, but sound profile is restless no doubt because of marketing design:
Those "stator guide vanes" aligned with trailing edge of blades makes big "bump" for airflow separating from blade every time blade passes one.
And bearing/motor is same garbage as in NF-P12.

Both NF-P12 and NF-F12 are literally the worst vibrating fans I've handled in over 20 years of PC hobby.
At the same time budget priced fans like Scythe Glide/Slip Streams run without vibrations.
Even one otherwise very crappy noisy bearing and resonating transparent plastics cheap Akasa had very little vibration.
High price and lots of marketing hype just don't have any automatic correlation with quality.


And NF-S12 is quiet per RPM, because it can't really push the air.
Those huge gaps between blades start leaking air back the moment back pressure starts increasing.
So any kind obstructions, air filters, stamped meshes etc are bad for it.
Though its design is good for fooling impeller anemometer.
NF-S12 was one of the fans, which made SilentPCreview end their impeller anemometer measurements dozen years ago:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article734-page1.html

 

[Meridiusuk]

thanks for the repliy i will look into that, but what would you suggest if not noctua ?

 

[Ross Thomson]

have a look at the arctic P12 and P14 fans.