Noctua still the go-to for quiet fans?

almoststew1990 · 1 Oct 2020 at 18:20

I'm upgrading my cooling and I am looking to replace the fans that came with my case or I had lying around (they're Bitfenix) to quieter fans. I have a couple of 120mm fans on the front and 1x 120 at the back (AIO up top). I would usually just buy Noctua, but are they still "the best"? The current fans come together to be quite loud when gaming and I think they're 1800rpm PWM models so I would be looking at 1200rpm or so unless this is a bad idea?

EsaT · 1 Oct 2020 at 18:57

If you have enough money to raise cattle by feeding them banknotes, then NF-A12 is certainly good.
But for bang per buck you can get get like whole five Arctic P12 PWMs for that price of single fan with marginal differences.

Lowering fan speed always lowers potential for airflow and especially pressure in case of airflow restrictions.
Though Arctic P12's design copes well with restrictions.

pp111 · 3 Oct 2020 at 15:49

I always think that proper control of the fans is more important than which you bought. Most fans at the same speed, same pressure, or same airflow make about the same noise as their competitors. Then again there are always some really good value ones like the Arctic EsaT mentions. But really, I think you might do better using some software to control the fans you have, to ensure they don't go above 1200rpm ( and I agree with you that this is a good limit for "quiet operation" ).

B1gdeano · 5 Oct 2020 at 20:44

Im still a huge fan of Noctua

Not long replaced the fans that came with my case - Fractal Design - with Noctua ones. Dont get me wrong the Fractal ones were good, but the Noctuas are better

Pushing more air and quieter

Petrolhead · 6 Oct 2020 at 07:20

They are great fans but i suspect the competition are not far behind these day and cheaper

crazy8s · 6 Oct 2020 at 09:05

My NF-A12x25 fans are inaudible with the BIOS set to quiet mode, and good to know the extra grunt is there if I ever need it.

ttaskmaster · 6 Oct 2020 at 10:55

almoststew1990 said:
I'm upgrading my cooling and I am looking to replace the fans that came with my case or I had lying around (they're Bitfenix) to quieter fans. I have a couple of 120mm fans on the front and 1x 120 at the back (AIO up top). I would usually just buy Noctua, but are they still "the best"? The current fans come together to be quite loud when gaming and I think they're 1800rpm PWM models so I would be looking at 1200rpm or so unless this is a bad idea?

As above - Max fan speed is not what you base your purchase on, as you're not likely to run them maxed out all the time.
Ideally, you want to chart each fan's performance (airflow and static pressure) at different RPMs with the resulting noise level.... and then throw that all away, as the actual noise created depends more on exactly which model of radiator/case/fan grille/mesh/filter you're pushing air through.
You can do all sorts of modelling with airflow spread, cones, blade resonance and all the other features of any given fan, and some reviewers have done this.... but unless you're using the exact same kit as that particular reviewer, your results will likely be very different anyway.

To answer your question, yes Noctua are still highly popular, especially the NF-A12 series.

NewbieOneKenobi · 6 Oct 2020 at 21:57

Purely on the basis of reviews and tests, without ever having touched those fans, Noiseblocker Eloops in the B12-PS line would be slightly better than the Arctics and the Noctuas, provided they (and this is on the basis of forum complaints) didn't run into some kind of positioning they don't like, which puts them in epic whine mode.

Re: Arctics, what I hear from people who do have them is P12s' acoustics deteriorate from ~1000 rpm (~1200 for P14).

Ross Thomson · 11 Oct 2020 at 11:09

no acoustic issue with my P12 fans. Guessing the resonance is due to the connection between the fan and the frame/radiator.

Mine are currently running at 1100rpm

doyll · 11 Oct 2020 at 11:26

almoststew1990 said:
I'm upgrading my cooling and I am looking to replace the fans that came with my case or I had lying around (they're Bitfenix) to quieter fans. I have a couple of 120mm fans on the front and 1x 120 at the back (AIO up top). I would usually just buy Noctua, but are they still "the best"? The current fans come together to be quite loud when gaming and I think they're 1800rpm PWM models so I would be looking at 1200rpm or so unless this is a bad idea?

While Noctua have one of the very best fans (NF-A12x25) and good fans (NF-A14) they are not the only brand and often cost more. Phanteks PH-F140MP / PH-F120MP are quite good and 2-packs are £16.26 / £14.99 making them £8.16 / £7.50 each.

How you have case airflow setup is easily as important as what fans are used. What case do you have and is AIO in top intake or exhaust? You might find link below to basic guide of how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow of interest. While its for air cooled systems, the basics are same. Fan size and placement depends on case vent size and placement, as does having rad as intake vs exhaust.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Kashinoda · 11 Oct 2020 at 12:41

I've used Noctua for years now and have no problems with them, however I did catch this test video from Hardware Scientist a while ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1S9RhABa8&feature=youtu.be

The Arctic P14 performs the best (and quietest) using it as either a case, CPU or radiator fan. It also has a 10 year warrenty and costs half as much.

COYS · 11 Oct 2020 at 14:04

On the subject of the Arctic P14 fans, I see there are PST models and non-PST ones. Is the difference simply that the PST ones can be daisy chained?

doyll · 11 Oct 2020 at 16:32

COYS said:
On the subject of the Arctic P14 fans, I see there are PST models and non-PST ones. Is the difference simply that the PST ones can be daisy chained?

Indeed, that is the difference. "PST stand for "PWM Sharing Technology".

NewbieOneKenobi · 11 Oct 2020 at 16:43

Just by the way, the manufacturer's suggestion is up to 4 per chain.

And my 5-pack has just arrived. Also bought rubber gaskets (I somehow prefer gaskets and tight normal screws over rubber bolts) and a bunch of zip ties. I'll let you guys know more on Tuesday or Wednesday if nothing extreme pops up at work.

Can't wait to 'see' what's gonna be the audible rpm threshold on the front of the case (mesh + filter).

COYS · 11 Oct 2020 at 16:57

doyll said:
Indeed, that is the difference. "PST stand for "PWM Sharing Technology".

Thought as much, thank you

zaphod-159 · 12 Oct 2020 at 20:29

Kashinoda said:
I've used Noctua for years now and have no problems with them, however I did catch this test video from Hardware Scientist a while ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1S9RhABa8&feature=youtu.be

The Arctic P14 performs the best (and quietest) using it as either a case, CPU or radiator fan. It also has a 10 year warrenty and costs half as much.

You just saved me over £60 for that video. Im going for a new build and was just about to spend over £90 for 4x NF-A14s...

NewbieOneKenobi · 12 Oct 2020 at 21:15

zaphod-159 said:
You just saved me over £60 for that video. Im going for a new build and was just about to spend over £90 for 4x NF-A14s...

Dodged a bullet. Well, just a financial wound, but still.

Noctua's going to release some sort of next-gen 14cm fan some time hopefully earlier in this decade than later

, which is then probably going to be better than P14, which would be a good time to go Noctua. Meanwhile the Arctics will (more than) do. This is what I'm planning to do.

zaphod-159 · 12 Oct 2020 at 21:20

NewbieOneKenobi said:
Dodged a bullet. Well, just a financial wound, but still.

Noctua's going to release some sort of next-gen 14cm fan some time hopefully earlier in this decade than later , which is then probably going to be better than P14, which would be a good time to go Noctua. Meanwhile the Arctics will (more than) do. This is what I'm planning to do.

Every little counts when doing a new build, £60 saving on the fans, find £40 somewhere and I can get myself another 1TB SSD

Almost sad to see that Noctua aren't leading anymore, got so used to the name and the brand over the years. Pleasantly surprised with arctic though, the more I look into it the more it seems like they are the top dog at the moment in terms of performance, both in cpu aio cooling and case fans. Quiet cheap too!

NewbieOneKenobi · 12 Oct 2020 at 21:56

zaphod-159 said:
Every little counts when doing a new build, £60 saving on the fans, find £40 somewhere and I can get myself another 1TB SSD Almost sad to see that Noctua aren't leading anymore, got so used to the name and the brand over the years. Pleasantly surprised with arctic though, the more I look into it the more it seems like they are the top dog at the moment in terms of performance, both in cpu aio cooling and case fans. Quiet cheap too!

Yeah.

And what are you getting for the CPU? Asking because I've already heard from people replacing A15 fans on their D15s with P14s, well, at least one guy I know, but he knows his stuff. So a cheap old D14 heatsink + 2*P14 suddenly becomes the best air cooler or as close as it gets. More sense than a D15, unless D15 does a better job cooling the VRM section due to the way the fan is mounted. But then, if the Freezer is cheaper than D15… A while ago I missed a NIB Freezer II 280 for 64 pounds.

COYS · 12 Oct 2020 at 22:36

NewbieOneKenobi said:
Yeah. And what are you getting for the CPU? Asking because I've already heard from people replacing A15 fans on their D15s with P14s, well, at least one guy I know, but he knows his stuff. So a cheap old D14 heatsink + 2*P14 suddenly becomes the best air cooler or as close as it gets. More sense than a D15, unless D15 does a better job cooling the VRM section due to the way the fan is mounted. But then, if the Freezer is cheaper than D15… A while ago I missed a NIB Freezer II 280 for 64 pounds.

Actually that's not a bad idea. You could keep the middle Noctua fan to help with VRM cooling, and use a P14 for clearance for taller ram sticks. I was wanting a D15 for my new build but worried about ram height limitations